Last day

Threat of rain and pampering my foot and doing laundry on the slow slow slow domestic machines in this country meant doing little today, Though I did finally investigate going to Paris. I was going to whimper about how the $2000-4000/week sticker shock might cure me of my procrastination, but when I moved from booking and tripadvisor to airbnb, I found something reasonable anyway. Well, reasonable for central Paris at the literal last minute, I wouldn't want to pay that rate for a whole month ($3600/month). But I even had choices! Once again, life conspires to keep from me from having to learn planning.

Though here I like to think of it not as being lazy but as making my plans based on the latest possible data.

Tomorrow perhaps I'll commit to actually planning the further week or two ahead (Amsterdam and Berlin?) but I don't wanna think about it now.

I'm on an island. Tomorrow I'll take a train to Paris. This still amuses me.

The "efficient private sector": I had trouble buying my train ticket, and when I call the card company I got handed between departments and I had to give them my information all over again.
The efficient private sector: the second department was indeed able to solve my problem quickly.

Quicksilver: still good.

Man, I haven't seen anime in months, not even the Noein on my phone. Though reading WhereIWatch/Read threads on Tutu and FMA and the Robotech novels give some vicarious pleasure.

Haven't seen Doctor Who either but that doesn't bother me. :p

Paris, day 0

Almost didn't get here on time! Tube strike in London, I called a taxi at 12:45 for a 2pm train. But it's an international high-speed train, with bag and passport checks. Taxi came quickly, but got stuck in traffic near the station; I got out and walked. Yay for GPS, so that I could! Made it to the train with less than 10 minutes to spare.

Nice wide seats, no fans and kind of hot though maybe that was me running with my bags, cleverly designed table that can fold up so you can get in more easily, plugs hiding under the middle of the table I realized much later. Ride started out very smooth -- at first I thought we were standing in a tunnel while some other train whooshed by, and only careful observation let me see tunnel blur that indicated we were moving. Bunch of tunnels through south England, for a while I wasn't sure if we'd Chunneled yet, until I saw English signs and a chalk horse on a steep hillside, which made me think I hadn't explored England enough after all. Faint smell of urine on the train, I note I was in the Standard Premium class, or middle class, of cars. Later replaced by a rather overpowering smell of perfume or something.

Actual Chunnel crossing was 20 minutes or less, was in England at 14:34 (before the horse) and in France at 14:56. Free meal:
One tiny chicken drumstick with peanut satay sauce, salmon
and potato tart, and spiced caramellised almonds. Rather strong spice.
Oh, and a bun. My introduction to European meal portions, or just a
light snack? Coffee too, and a dark chocolate with Earl Grey tea.
Tray has high friction with the table. I didn't get a chance to look
underneath it.
French landscape: flat farmland with empty fields or cows and treelines.
Oh, plugs seem beneath the table, in the middle. Hillier near Paris. Didn't see houses until 17:23 on an alleged 17:26 arrival, but we actually pulled in 9 minutes late. Took 3 minutes to walk off the platform.

ATM in the side of the currency exchange booth, in an international train station, did not have any obvious non-French menus. Unlike the UK ATMs, which typically asked "what language" right up front. I went out and found a bank ATM which did hold my hand. Got semi-lost from trying to follow a map without being fully online; I'd have had less trouble taking my hostess instructions literally. Nice place, a full apartment to myself as she and bf are staying at a friend's place as the friend is on holiday... musical flats.

Fifth floor, actually the 6th by US standards since they start from 'ground', not '1'. Different plugs than in the UK, fortunately I got a European converter kit.
Neighborhood is very immigranty, but also with random shops scattered
around, like clothing shops. Hostess is very well prepared -- maps,
even travel guide.

Wi-fi didn't seem to work for
eee, like A&L's place, but it did after hibernation. I was going to try
cable next, then reboot to older version.

I found food, though the close supermarket was closed, a further "big" one wasn't where she said it'd be, and what I did find there had no produce. Bread, salami, and cheese! And nuts, and bahklava.

Possible plans for tomorrow: walk around, figure out the Metro, stay in and cram some French.

Oh, I'm a few blocks north of Gare du Nord, the train station that is, and east of Montmartre, some important neighborhood.

Happy Sputnik Day!

possible ice chemistry of Europa
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-319&rn=news.xml&rst=2755

SF book like a Watts-Egan mashup
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/2671773.html

Japanese SF authors James Nicoll likes
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/2650811.html
especially Issui Ogawa

Milky Way Tube map
http://news.discovery.com/space/milky-way-transit-authority.html

JPL scientists sue NASA over open-ended intrusive background checks.
Caltech rolls over
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/NASA-v-The-Scientists.html

{the JPL employees asked NASA how exactly the information would be used. In response, NASA released a “suitability matrix,” which lists “sodomy,” “cohabitation,” “attitude” and “loitering” among the potential factors in considering whether JPL researchers should keep their jobs. NASA refuses to rule out that it might use any part of the matrix to evaluate JPL employees.}

Supreme Court arguments tomorrow

links not about space

( 19-21 Sep were very busy days )

Oy. Wifi died right before I posted this. Router hiccup? Computer's back to not wanting to connect; I dug out my ethernet cable. Mouse froze, as it did after the earlier connection, which I didn't mention; switching to a text prompt and back helped last time. This time... did that, did that again, minimized all the windows, logged in at the text prompt, finally it unfroze. :(