Wednesday, October 9

Sleep didn’t really happen on the flight from Johannesburg to Paris, which is to say that it happened after a fashion. I never slept for a long period, but on the other hand I did realise that time had passed since I last realised that time had passed.

We arrived in Paris thirty minutes early and I found myself wandering through one of the most inhospitable airports in the world at dawn. After walking about two kilometres, boarding a bus with baffling signage, having my luggage screened twice, and passing through a door labelled Warning: Final Exit I arrived at terminal 2D.

Here I am wondering what to do for the next hour. I don’t want breakfast and there is nothing to see except corridors. I will decide to walk to Gate 42 and sit.

This time the plane will only be about one third full. Everyone will get a row of their own. The breakfast roll will be fresh and delicious and my request for tomato juice will produce positive results. We will get to Helsinki about twenty minutes early and all will be going well until I realise I am the only person left at the luggage collection and my luggage has not arrived to be collected.

I will end up going home in shorts: the only person in a very autumnal Helsinki so attired. As soon as I get in I will have a glass of milk and a shower. Then I will settled down to answer emails and prepare for tomorrow’s classes. Auo will arrive home about 14:30, Naa about 16:00 and Irma about 16:30.

Irma and Naa will spend the evening packing. Iwill go to bed at about 21:30 and fall asleep about 21:31.