On Thursday, I returned to Seattle from London; the two halves of the trip couldn’t have been much more different. The transatlantic leg saw me assigned a business-class seat very early, attended to by a sweet and maternal air hostess, and comfortably sleeping through the first five hours of a smooth, quiet flight in my roomy full-recline seat with a soft pillow and snuggly blanket. But for the transcontinental leg, I was placed at the last minute in the usual bolt-upright bus seat which barely has room for my rather petite self, much less enough room for either of the people I was stuck between. After pulling away from the gate we were forced to sit on the runway for two hours, increasing the total time I was stuck in that seat to about eight hours and increasing the amount of Valium needed to stay calm by double; on top of that the ride was bumpy most of the way, even on the approach to Seattle. By the time I got home it was nearly 11 PM and I hadn’t had any solid food for roughly 25 hours, so after an egg sandwich and some Vegemite toast it was straight to bed for me, and I only woke up two hours early the next morning. I’m still not quite back to normal; as I type this it’s only 9:30 PM but I’m already fighting off sleep, despite having retired and arisen at my normal times. Ah, well, in a few more days I hope to be rested up and back to what passes for normal in my world. In the meantime, you might be interested in this article I wrote for the current print edition of Reason; I’d also point you in the direction of Tina Dupuy’s radio show on Sirius from last Friday, but it was live and I don’t think there’s a way to listen to it now. But for the time being, I should probably get a strong cup of tea before I fall asleep and crash my head into this keyboard.
Diary #414
June 5, 2018 by Maggie McNeill
Hello: if you’re a Sirius XM subscriber you can find the interview in their on demand archive. The interview is at the top of the second hour!
I’m sorry the flight back to Seattle was lousy, but I hope that you still had a good vacation!
Excellent piece at Reason. Regarding “reviews:” One reason clients like them is that they let you know the provider in question isn’t a cop. In my region, cops routinely conduct stings and the reason men get caught is that they don’t bother doing any homework. Finding reviews is the homework.
Those stings, by the way, ruin lives. They run the names of the arrested in the newspaper under a “Named and Shamed” policy. A friend of mine got busted in a sting and his life basically fell apart. The cops also set up checkpoint for drunk drivers. They make arrests but these people’s names aren’t printed in the newspaper. So, in conclusion, the local cops must think possibly having sex is a bigger crime that possibly killing people.
I always love it when you include a selfie. 🙂 I hope you’re over the jet lag and flight stress soon!