airplane notes: "Luton Airport. Around five in the morning Jocelyn time. Yay.

Well, it's official: I am a master airport navigator. It helps that my TO-> Heathrow flight was mostly full of an old-people tour, who were very concerned and kind to me and once or twice called me "love." It was like an excursion into the world of grandparents... Weird things about airplanes:

  • in flight programming very surreal without headphones
  • people evacuating burning plane in safety brochures are smiling beatifically
  • Christmas music piped through the cabin-- Why, God, why?"

the graveyard where david hume is buried. I spent several minutes being sceptical in his honour.

Edinburgh castle.

me demonstrating the many uses of the ovens in Edinburgh castle.

All mysterious and academic at stonehenge. "the question remains: who brought these stones here... and why?"

"Well, it's a great location... right on the main road." -me, on the benefits of Stonehenge.

Gatehenge. [Obviously.]

jocehenge.

top 5 running jokes:
  1. linear models
  2. "henge" jokes-- Jocehenge, sheephenge, woodhenge, etc.
  3. weird audio commentary cellphones-- "No, I'm at stonehenge. No, STONEHENGE. Look, you're dropping off... I'll have to phone you back."
  4. "I see red people!"
  5. "What do you think, should be buy the crown jewels?" "Well, I don't know... I mean, I never wear red, I would have nothing to wear them with."

The town of Avebury. It has a ring of stones similar to Stonehenge, but the ring is larger and the stones are older. And there's a town in the middle. Yeah.

The signs reads in 5 languages: Welcome all international visitors. Please remember to drive on the left hand side of the road.

This is what James looks like.

This is what tired Jocelyn looks like.

Going home: "Bye, Europe!" the child in front of me calls. The babies begin to cry with the change in pressure in their ears. And there appears the world beneath us: manmade lakes containing tiny boats like tub toys, rivers snaking among lines of trees, roads-- a perfect system. The sun catches the sides of houses-- tiny brick houses with long, narrow backyards and even tinier outbuildings, and huge manor houses with carefully planted gardens. Then we are going higher and the sun catches me full in the face and I close my eyes; higher still and we are above the first level of clouds, stiff and impermanent like whipped potatoes.

Everything is single-serving, in English and French.

Surreal moment: Air Canada has an "independent" on-air music channel featuring Radiohead (from their obscure live CD no less!) and PJ Harvey, along with a bunch of other bands I've never heard of. I think they may be Air Canada employee garage bands, hoping for their big break via some record-company exec flying business class.

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