Somewhere over the Atlantic

2003-07-13

Today I shall be mostly sitting on an aeroplane.

It was a bit of a hair raising start to the day. Knowing I had to get up at 5.40, I inevitably woke at five, then quarter past, then... half past six! Disaster in the intervening minutes we had had a power cut and the mains alarm clock had reset itself to midnight. Fear and loathing, and the trip to Las Vegas hadn't even started! Rapidly I stirred myself, washed my appendages and got on my way.

Ironically, from that point on everything has been a breeze. The clear motorways and the just-subsonic speeds I achieved meant that I got to Gatwick in an obscenely fast time, wondering all the while whether I would meet anyone official on the way. I didn't, and as I had a hire car, the arrival was slowed only by having to top the car up with petrol before I returned it. Phew.

So, now I'm sitting on a plane on the way to sunny Vegas. Extremely sunny apparently, that kind of shirt-sticks-to-you-as-soon-as-you-put-your-head-outside sunny. The occasion is CA-World, an event that Computer Associates are very kindly flying me out to. I've just done a bit of work for CA, a video (my first - I was told in no uncertain terms that I wasn't a natural), and as I spoke for free at CA-World last year, I think they took pity on me! It should be stimulating. Really!

After that, I shall return home via Boston, to meet up with some friends, go whale watching and take in a couple of gigs. And why not.

So, back on the plane. So far, I've finished reading a book that I can't tell you about, got to 5,000 words with my first novel (can I say, just writing the word "novel" feels really pretentious? It'll be interesting to see how that pans out!) It's now called The Knowledge, a great title until I find out its been used already. The good news is, I've worked out the plot from start to finish, so hopefully now its just a question of filling in the blanks. And making it readable. Hmm. Not out of the woods yet then.

I've also written some more of the next music book, but my heart wasn't in it and the words weren't flowing, so I've shelved it for today. Oh and I've watched a film - Phone Booth. Cleverly done, with the usual "get out of that" formula transposed onto a corner of a street. I enjoyed it, and was relieved to see a modicum of Hollywood creativity. I would say "for a change," but I don't see that many films these days!

Three hours, 47 minutes to go, as we fly over Canada. Ho, hum.