Sitting Still

I'm enjoying a moment of stillness here at Dublin Airport. In fact, more than a moment. I have several hours to kill before I can move on and I'm hoping to spend at least some of them sleeping. I finished one of the two books I brought to read on the flight from Cardiff, having read a fair amount on the flight out of Singapore on Thursday, and I'm intending to make a bit of progress on the other when I feel awake enough to do so. The tome completed was one Karen kindly bought me as a birthday present - Stephen Greenblatt's account of the influence of Lucretius's great poem On The Nature of Things on European civilisation, inelegantly entitled The Curve. (Sounds like it's going to be about baseball somehow.) When I originally unwrapped it my delight in ownership had been tempered by a sense that I would have to delay reading it until I was less busy, but I just couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't. When I got to the bit on Montaigne in the last chapter I was cheering and cheerful. The volume that I sort of put aside for Greenblatt - Chandler's The Long Good-Bye - I anticipate as another delight. (It's a re-read so I know how good it's going to be, and the first fifty pages have not disappointed.)

I'm also contemplating getting on with some actual work as I have scripts with me to mark, but I'll need to dig deep to find the wherewithal.

One thing I haven't been able to do all day is to message the Missus as any sms I attempt to send remains stubbornly stuck in my phone. So if you're reading this, dear, I apologise for not getting in touch, and a flight with me on it should be touching down at Changi Terminal 2 at 06.50 on Wednesday, insha'allah. (It's amazing the uses a blog can be put to, when you weigh up!)