Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Stayed up late packing, slept a couple hours, then got up again and have been going for 26 hours and counting w/o more sleep. Am home (if it counts as home before I've picked up Perrine and brought her back here). Check-in at BA was going to charge us a whole lot of money for extra baggage -- nearly 2/3 of what their published policy said, so less than we expected -- then there was a long period of waiting and confusion and phone calls between BA staff and then all of a sudden we weren't being charged anything for extra bags and they handed Mom's credit card back. Don't quite grok what happened but didn't want to jinx it (or add still more delay) by asking. Larnaca security confiscated a bottle of Commanderia and jar of watermelon glyco from Mom's carry-on (no, I don't know what made her think these didn't count as too much liquid to carry on. Heathrow security was annoying as %$^# but I don't think I lost anything there this time. Company that does all the weelchair assistance for all airlines at Heathrow screwed up so the four wheelchair passengers (including Mom) were 20-30 minutes late boarding (they'd been very helpful right up until then), but pilot flew very fast and made up most of the time. Near end, pilot announced the flight was being rerouted "east" to avoid weather; I had trouble recognizing what terrain peeked through clouds, thought I recognized the Magothy river but didn't think that made sense, then I saw something that looked rather a lot like the US Naval Academy, which would mean "east" was really "east and south"; at end of flight, pilot beamed a huge smile when I asked whether we had flown over the Academy and confirmed that we had. US Customs took a long time (mostly waiting in line), opened all of Mom's bags and none of mine, and let everything through after asking what stuff was and how to pronounce "dra(c)hana". Guitar and banjo survived trip as checked baggage in inadequate cases (saz went as carry-on) but the backgammon/chess set I bought in Ledra wound up with a busted latch despite being in middle of suitcase with soft stuff inside & around it. Have done most of what I really needed to get done before I could go to bed (including making the bed, finding the charger for the PowerBook, and getting Mom to find her pills). So: good night. Don't forget, The Homespun Ceilidh Band is performing at the Green Man Festival in Greenbelt, MD this weekend. I think I can wake up by then.

(Stella: like I said, when tired, I babble. Now very very tired but tried to keep this short anyhow.)