blathing_from_an_airport epitome of incomprehensibility Just to say I did. But saying this without noting how the gate was at the very end of the airport, how weary my arms got, and how I should have looked up more to notice the sky out of the wide windows turning from azure with a peachy sun-reflecting cloud to grey-black is like writing "first" in a comment section. (So a very long pause before noun and verb it is. As for pauses, I hope the flight isn't delayed much longer. At least I didn't buy the London-Oxford bus ticket ahead of time, so I don't have to worry about the connection.) 220612 ... tender_square safe travels e_o_i! have an amazing time in england! 220613 ... e_o_i Thanks! (Now I'm in Gatwick airport in London, waiting for a bus. Such is my fate.) 220613 ... e_o_i ten_minutes 230626 ... e_o_i Earlier, Heathrow in London. Now Pearson in Toronto. I don't like connecting flights where I'm retreading the same steps (going east, then back a little west) and David had a bad experience where Pearson misplaced his baggage. But this is also a count-your-blessings situation. At least I didn't have to stay overnight in London. At least I found an outlet here to charge my laptop. At least I can be on blather! 230626 ... raze are you in the air as we speak (or type)? i think this might count as a new achievement unlocked. AIRBORNE BLATHING. ✈ 230626 ... e_o_i raze, I just saw your blathe with the little airplane! You might have written when I was in the plane itself; as for me, I was writing from a seated spot in Pearson Airport - on a sort of couch sectional in the hall, near a small shop with inordinately expensive granola bars. ...At least, I think I was there. Since I evidently can't tell east from west, all bets are off. :) 230701 ... ovenbird I am now in airport 2 of 3 for the day. Which means I am floating in limbo between where I was and where I will be and everyone seems to be taking for granted what a strange liminal space this is--neither here nor there, a nowhere, but one that could theoretically take you anywhere. I am eating a Greek salad in this hazy place and the olives are weirdly delicious. The briny tang goes nicely with all the tears I've already tasted today. There is a woman who I guess is in her early 20s touching up already perfect make-up at the table next to me. I think everyone in the airport should be allowed to look haggard (but maybe that's because I, myself, look haggard and I'm trying to make excuses). I can't see properly out of my right eye. I diagnose it with crying, dry airplane air, and sleep deprivation. But in the back of my head a little voice is telling me that my retinas are probably detaching. I try to ignore that voice then I apply eye drops, which makes it look like I'm crying again. I have a headache that's starting in my right shoulder and hiking up to a place behind my ear. I eat an emotional support olive and feel a tiny bit better. I think about lying down on one of those moving carpet things to see if it would feel like being taken out to sea, but I resist the urge. Instead I extract ibuprofen from my suitcase, swallow it, and hope it contains the kind of magic that staves of panic and blindness. There are too many hours still standing between me and something that looks like home. 250503 ... ovenbird Airport 3 of 3. This means I made it home. And my eye is working again, so that's a relief! 250503 what's it to you? who go blather from