Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Time to go home

I'm writing this with a kind of low-level depressed feeling lurking around my head as tomorrow I've got to go through all the hassle of getting to the airport (the flight's at 1900, so I guess I'll just get to SFO really early and try to get a good seat) then sitting on a plane for 11 hours. All the hassle of packing, checking in, enormous crowds, security.. bleh.

Here on the second floor landing of the hotel (that's the first floor, if you're European) there are a couple of comfy chairs and a table within range of the lobby's wireless network access point and only about 20 feet from the coffee pot. I'm sitting relaxing and noodling around on the Internet for want of anything better to do, sipping lukewarm coffee (I let it go cold) and listening as the muzak in the lobby downstairs mixes with the sounds of Powell Street outside. Random shouting erupts occasionally while the blaring of car horns and sirens competes with the ding-ding of cable cars. The clock on the landing chimes the half hour. It's very peaceful.

Shortly I guess I'll go for a walk - maybe up into Chinatown and back - and hunt down something to eat once that's done. I've been toying with the idea of purchasing various expensive electronic items as well, but when it comes to the crunch I usually get all sensible. Which is a shame, despite being, well, sensible.

This is a very nice city indeed, and I'm sorry to be leaving tomorrow. At the same time, however, I'm not exactly pining to emigrate here immediately. I know that there's often a big difference between living somewhere and visiting as a tourist, and there are people who I've missed while I've been away (not to mention the cats) so I'm looking forward to being back in London. Not looking forward so much to being back at work because there are some fairly big decisions which I have to make in that department, but by and large, I think I'm ready to go home.

Expect a couple more entries before I leave tomorrow - I still have to write up my impressions of American television and road travel...

Posted by mpk at April 11, 2004 12:48 AM | TrackBack