From panic to Paparazzi in one day

Travel is always fascinating. I flew into Los Angeles late last night, got three hours sleep at an airport hotel then out to Salt Lake City before returning in the afternoon to take an evening flight to Auckland.

Settling down to sleep on the 0600 flight I discovered I was in front of someone who needed to phone all of her brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren, plus mother to tell them how much she loved them. The reason for this is that she did not expect to last the journey, but had been persuade to go to attend a wedding. The calls went on for twenty minutes and delayed take off. Pitying pleas for more time as she might never speak to them again finally fell on deaf ears with an increasingly impatient crew. Reactions ranged from amused indifference, to sympathetic panic. I was in the exit row and had to assure her that I would open the door for her and help her out. I think she may even have been disappointed when we landed safely.

I had a good day talking with various people in public health about SenseMaker™ marred only by the discovery that Salt Lake City is the only State Capital in the US which does not have a Starbucks City mug. I am not in the lounge at LAX surrounded the beautiful people awaiting flights to Cannes. I have heard more names dropped in ten minutes than I would hear on a whole season of reading film critics. I am really glad I am flying West, while they fly east! A casting couch conversation is going on next to me with a more or less direct offer of sex for a role in a film, I had no idea it was that blatant. God help us they are now swapping Madonna stories in a manner that would give any feline a bad name.