(Friday morning, at Heathrow)

My friend L picked me up in Arlington and drove me to the airport today (funny how L has the same name as the airport...). Thanks, L! I could hardly believe him when he said we were about 10 minutes from the airport, but with the business end of the Big Dig finished, it was a breeze, at least once we were able to get out of Arlington. My one small regret is that I didn't get to take the new Silver Line to get to or from the airport, but I'll do that sometime when I don't have so much luggage.

Boston's international terminal is finally a place worth being in. They'd been doing construction on it for so long, it was always just concrete hallways in the cold. But now it's a real terminal. I was able to feast on clam chowder and a slice of Rosie's German chocolate cake, two Boston standards. At the bookstore they were prominently displaying two other Boston standards: books about the Red Sox, and books by Noam Chomsky. I guess he is something of a local landmark, after all!

Then on the plane. I like British Airways. This is the second time I've flown them that they've bumped me up, this time to economy plus (the other time they bumped me, a couple of years ago, was to business class, but I'm not complaining). Also, they give you a little packet with a sleep mask, a toothbrush, and socks. Socks! I would have taken the socks of the guy next to me too because he left them on the floor, but I decided I was classier than that. (It was a fairly close call though.)

Watched Pride and Prejudice and a Wallace and Grommit short on the plane, for those of you keeping score at home. Wallace and Grommit were a bit jerkier at first, weren't they? I mean mechanically, not personally.

We were the first ones in at Heathrow this morning, and I'm taking the first plane out to get to Paris. I'm pleased that they have connecting flights out of the same terminal, and my luggage is checked through, so customs is in Paris. Someone thought this one through.

It was nice to see so many of you while I was home, and I wish I could have seen more of you, on both readings.

I would have enjoyed staying a bit in London -- Boston friend T and family friend LM are there, not to mention that interesting French guy -- but again, with all the bags that seemed difficult. I'll be back later in January anyway, when my brother comes through on his way back from Singapore. I'll want to start looking at what I want to do there by way of touristy things. For all that I've been through London several times on the way somewhere else, I haven't really seen much of it.

Actually I am looking forward to being a little more touristy in Paris, too. I've still never been up to Montmartre, for instance, and I haven't been to the Louvre since 1993; I've never been to the Picasso or Rodin museums, or Butte-aux-Cailles, or any number of other neighborhoods.

I wonder what it's like to work an early shift at the naeroport. I guess it's like any other work, only it starts in the dark and you have to go to sleep right after dinner. There's something pleasingly hard-core about it, though.

Luckily it's Friday, so I am going to have the weekend to sleep before going back to work on Monday. I still don't know when the move is going to happen.

Ah, they're boarding my flight. À toute à l'heure.