Tuesday, April 9

This morning I got Auo up, watched her eat breakfast and walked her to the bus stop. Then I walked home, fed the cat, locked it in Naa’s room, set the burglar alarm and left for the airport, via Itäkeskus.

At the airport I changed some money, in case my card refused to work in Dublin, and sat down with the free wifi.

The flight to Paris was half empty and I had the row to myself. I read two student theses, when I wasn’t being interrupted by the Irish girl sitting in the seat in front of me. I met Jertta Blomstedt on the plane, and we sat and talked for fifteen minutes. I had not talked with her since January 1999. She was on her way to Paris, where she has an apartment, and we were going to have a coffee at the airport until she realised she had left her iPad on the plane and disappeared.

Charles de Gaulle Airport is so confusing, oddly laid out and unsignposted that I decided after fifteen minutes that we would never find each other again, and that I would be better off finding the terminal where my next flight will take off. It was the right decision since this will take my over thirty minutes and three attempts.

The second flight will be run by Air France who will reverse the procedure on the first flight. Finnair gave me food and soft drinks, and asked me to pay for alcohol. Air France will give me a bottle of wine and ask me to pay for food.

It will be raining hard when I arrive in Dublin. I will look out of the airport windows and opt for a steak and Guinness pie at The Angel’s Share, a pseudo-pub in Arrivals. I will decide that I made the correct decision when I get soaked during the hundred metre walk from the bus station to the Townhouse where, as usual, I am staying..

I will have a shower and go to bed early.