For me, it was the water pressure. After a week of dribbling taps & spluttering shower-heads in England, the contrasting flow when I got home was the starkest and most visceral reminder that I wasn’t in England anymore. I guess I was too tired to notice all the others.
Monday was a very long day. I went for a run to get breakfast, did some work, and then headed to Paddington where I met Z and JW for a quick lemonade in the sun. It started raining. Heathrow was the fastest it’s ever been, I was at my gate in under 20 minutes.
The direct plane journey back is no picnic: I napped but 14 hours is far too long and I regret not having a layover. Managed 5 films, of which by far the most interesting was Mickey 17 (2025) which I’m giving a 3.5/5. Top Gun Maverick (2024) also gets 3.5/5 but in a different way.
Did you know you can get a push notification whenever anyone jumps out of a plane in Germany or in the UK? Squawk codes 0025 and 0033 respectively. It was fun for a few minutes. Turns out there’s a lot of parachuting in both countries.
On average the air is at least 10 millibars lower in Tokyo than it is in London this time of year. Travelling between the two mechanically changes your mood: A fall in air pressure results in increased serotonin release.
After I received summons, CL ordered me the worst cocktail I’ve ever had, and now there are a bunch of compromising photos of me drinking it. I think it was some kind of martini? Otherwise a great evening with good people. I learned a lot about overtime.
The day after I answered different summons, and it more-or-less went the same way, only without any cocktails. I learned less about overtime.
Prompted by a storyline which has quietly percolated through recent notes, I’ve been writing and rewriting a small piece for myself, and I just can’t get it right. It’s not something I will ever publish, but I’m still stuck somewhere between writer’s block and over-editing. Tips on unsticking are welcome.
The delta on rescheduling my trip is in, and it was 212, which is not bad for relatively last minute. Thanks Azealia Banks.
Spent a lot of time at the weekend in an outdoor cubby-hole working on a secret project, which has involved a lot of reading & talking. It’s good: I’ve learned a lot about all aspects of the media industry, and I now have a road-map to learning more.
So: Sunlight, tightly controlled food and coffee windows and a moderate amount of alcohol. Have these helped regulate the jet-lag? Not yet, but let’s see.
