Straight on the plane

I mentioned that my experience with Emirates was mostly good. It was my first ever flight, and the fact that the luggage got delayed in Dubai was perhaps balanced by the fact that they didn't charge us for quite a bit of excess baggage! Apart from that, it was definitely good.

Now I'm having quite a new experience - I'm about to board a plane without a passport or any checked-in luggage. My only previous "domestic" flight was from Beijing to Shanghai with plenty of fuss at both ends. Mind you, this first one within Australia is longer than the flight from London to Geneva, which was the last time my flight was paid for by "work".

Official flying

It was interesting to see that the umpires appointed for the Trans-Tasman series were the two West Indian former soccer referees. But now it seems Bucknor is to be replaced by Koertzen.

The reason is "travel difficulties". With the ICC, the real reason could be anything, but I can certainly imagine travel difficulties if the umpires are still forced to rely on Emirates. I'm not criticising the airline (my experience with them is mostly good), but they, or any other airline, are not exactly in a position to offer the best routes between the different cricket nations.

...and on, and on.

Sunrise: before 5am China Standard Time (2100 GMT), somewhere several hundred km south of Beijing.
Sunset: 21:09, British Summer Time (2009 GMT), Bow, London.

That's what I call a long day!

Beijing was good - I definitely could have spent more time there.

I managed to read my thesis a bit somewhere north of Novosibirsk.

London is still grey, and still a very long way from Sydney.