Notes from the road. I arrived in England late last night and decided that on the way I’d make note of interesting things and conversations I observed on the way.

Nice idea, but since I kept falling asleep (did I mention I had to get up at 2:30 am to get to the airport?) I don’t have a lot to report. First, Reagan National Airport at 3:30 am is a truly horrible place, but I could have guessed that. The first leg of the flight was to Toronto, my first venture into Canada, or strictly speaking, a Canadian airport. The security people were charming. Really!

I started reading the third Stieg Larsson book on the plane, highly recommended. And then I went to sleep a lot. But we were lucky enough to fly over England with very little cloud cover and I was amazed at how much rural land there was (unless we were passing over France). You could see what were once iron age hilltop forts and I think–but I’m not sure–that we were over Dorset and the west of England, which would make sense. Lots of medieval field patterns and once a stretch of what must have been a Roman road. We passed over London and you could see the Thames loop around just as it does in the maps, which always surprises me, but I’m not sure why.

So today I’m going up to London on the train and then to Greenwich for the RNA Conference, and after that to Hampshire and Chawton next week. There should be photos. I’d hoped to get one of my extremely ancient father, who is looking very patriarchal and bearded, but he’s gone for a lie down.

And that’s about all the news so far. I highly recommend daytime flights to England, btw. You have to get up so early to get to the airport you’re out like a light on the plane and then you go to bed when you arrive. A great sleeping experience.

What are you doing today/this week? What are you reading?

Don’t forget A Damned Good Contest!