You hear that, Mr Andersen?

To the faraway towns

Now it may be the 30-odd hours without proper sleep, but when I swang by to go to lunch with Paul Thomas, and he was standing in the sun with a Yiddish chorus and a tuba thundering through something spritely yet mournfully Russian... well, it seemed slightly surreal. (As it turns out, there was a perfectly good explanation - the combination of a false fire alarm and a Kletzmer festival in the same building conspired to get my holiday off to an excellent start.

But let's rewind a little.

***

The night prior to leaving the country was a mad flurry of unpacking and tidying. One reason for this sudden burst of activity was wanting a full list of the books I own before I left; another was to spare my flatmates the complete disaster area that constituted my room every time they wanted to use the internet. (There was also a certain amount of displacement activity in there, I suspect. :) This mission was accomplished - you can not only see the carpet, you can actually get to the balcony!

Leaving the country was a surprisingly low-key affair. In an attempt to make the jet-lag better (possibly in the Invader Zim sense), my brother and I stayed up until 4am looking at various things on the internet (including the excellent Broderick and the Cracker). Dad dropped me off at Departures, and most of the Qantas counter people were just about to pop off to have a smoke, since it was so quiet. I sat in the terminal for a couple of hours, and then started my oddessy...

Wellington to Auckland was uneventful. Auckland to Hong Kong was actually pretty good - I had an aisle seat, there was only one seat next to me (and that was empty). Apart from the fact that Cathay Pacific seem to prefer their tea stewed, the food was very good, and the attendents were very pleasant. I watched a bunch of movies, listened to some music, and eventually got to Hong Kong airport.

I wanted to buy a digital camera while I was on this layover, so first I made sure I knew where the terminal I needed to get to was, and then I went looking at camera. My first attempt was thwarted by the fact that I wasn't sure about the exchange rate (5 Hong Kong dollars to every NZ dollar), and the guy I was talking to gave a definite air of trying to sell me something, rather than listening what I was asking for. A second attempt, after doing some research on the free internet kiosk that wouldn't let me log into my blog, curse it, yeilded a much more helpful salesperson, and a digital camera. Tonight, I hope to get it out of the box and read the manual.

Next, onto the plane that will take me to London. I'm already feeling a bit tired and dirty, and this flight turns out to be on a much bigger, much more full plane. I turn out to be in the window seat, and it looks at first like I'm going to have a Chinese couple next to me - a definite problem when I want to get to the toilet in the middle of the flight. Luckily one of them disappeared to an unknown location, so I was not reduced to fighting for arm-rest space. I haven't had a chance to check my tickets, but I hope that I have an aisle seat for the trip back. (Or a row to myself - that would work too. :)

Got to London, worked out how to look at the net , found Paul's number, rang him, and arranged to meet him just before he went to work. Wandered around the British Museum, then out to where comic-shop Andrew works (he wasn't there). Then back to Paul's work. Then the scene that greeted me was that given above.

***

It's sunny and hot - quite, quite hot. I'm spending quite a bit of cash on drinks, actually. One annoying thing i found is that there don't seem to be any popsicles, in the cheap and non-creamy mode, anyway.

Anyway, I *still* haven't gone to bed - and I'm finding it really hard to write this, with lots of lost trains of thought. Poop poop! Hope it's readible.

My new cellphone number is 07981 653 308. I'll try to get hold of Jack & Heater, so I can get to see them and the sprog.

Posted by svend at August 7, 2004 12:14 AM