Arrival

Got a last-minute upgrade at the gate. Thank god! I could just make out baby shrieks from the back of the plane through my noise-cancelling business class headphones. Tried to sleep at least a little. Heathrow looked different -- better? Nice Indian customs lady didn't make me pay as much as I should have for the case of wine I brought. Steven's office sent Roger (their driver) to pick me up. The place (the "flat") looked much better this time. Last time it was so gross I hired a house cleaner. Totally worth it. At the bottom of the stairs is a plastic box where we put mail for everybody but us. I guess the house cleaner thinks that's where ALL the mail goes, cuz as I was sorting through it all, I found the note I sent Steven weeks ago, notices of attempted parcel deliveries, threatening letters from the TV police (you have to pay a TV tax here and they drive around in spy trucks that can detect if you're watching TV and haven't ponied up), a month-old letter from Patti, and tons of stuff from first direct, including those neat-o debit cards they have here with the chip in 'em. Gotta try that out at the Tesco Metro tonight. Which it is. Night. 9:30pm and it's still light out. Looks like maybe 6 or 6:30. Steven just called from Lapland and he said it's broad daylight up there (where it's 11:30pm!). Mmm-kay. Gotta go take a walk...