Updated: Never — Philip's Blog

This morning started off badly. Storm ("wind", they call it in Tokyo) managed to reduce the amazing mass transit system to a level the Belgian railways might be able to achieve if they work very hard at it for a couple of years. The local train which should run every five minutes on Sunday mornings had about twenty minutes delay and was correspondingly packed. Think "sardines" but slightly less comfortable.

When we finally got to Tokyo station, we discovered that the Narita Express had "undefined" delays. After a bit of me getting very upset at it all, a helpful local pointed us to an alternative train to the airport. It needed very many stops to find the airport, but we got there in the end.

We sailed right through Narita and Kristof was upgraded to the last free comfortable seat on the plane (at the checkin desk next to us, we heard "sorry, business class is full" -- we've all been there).

On the plane, I watched The Killing Fields. An excellent film, but I got some interesting looks from the lady sitting next to me when some of the scenes were a bit too gruesome to ignore. Humans are a pretty crazy species in general, but the Khmer Rouge were particularly nuts.

I think I've flown enough for a bit. Tomorrow I will take it easy to recover from jetlag, but part of "taking it easy" will be queueing at the Russian embassy to sort out my visa. I'm flying to Helsinki in two weeks and taking the train from there to Saint Petersburg. Doing my bit for climate change and all that.

No peace for the wicked.