Thoughts of Home

Well I was up early again and have been contemplating the trip home. We didn’t check our booking early enough to be able to reserve exit-aisle seats (legroom), so we’re stuck back in row 35. I imagine I will spend most of the night pacing the galley and ruthlessly making conversation with poor, defenceless flight attendants.

Looking at the weather forecast for London isn’t inspiring me to return home either. Today in Dallas temperatures vary between 16°C and 25°C (60°F and 77°F) and there’s a clear sky expected for the rest of the week; comfortable outdoors & t-shirt weather. Tomorrow in London temperatures are expected to vary between 3°C and 8°C (37°F and 46°F) and on Thursday it drops to freezing and there’s hail expected…

Scanning the news back home, I see Scotland Yard are launching an anti-terror campaign which I find rather underwhelming. Firstly, the idea of fighting terrorism with a poster campaign seems ever so slightly comical to me, although I agree the posters make good points. However, I am not convinced the points need making. I don’t think that Londoners are so reticent about asking these kinds of questions these days; I certainly am not. Maybe I’m over-estimating people’s vigilance.

Having enjoyed the no-smoking environment in Austin’s public venues, I am anxious to see what happens about tighter regulation of smoking in England. Total bans in public places are either in place or planned for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but the Cabinet has come up with some half-way-house plan for England that most organisations and a lot of MPs seem to think is daft. The legislation is going to be debated shortly and I really hope this aspect of it gets amended so we get a total ban.

I am looking forward to seeing Memoirs of a Geisha when we get back. I haven’t heard a lot of hype about it so far, but what I have heard I like and I find the ancient oriental cultures fascinating, so this will be our first Orange Wednesday I think.