Certainly the most important news story yesterday was Bush’s speech on the Middle East. The most interesting one, though, hardly got any coverage at all. The first September 11th-related divorce has just finished making its way through the American legal system:

A man who worked on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center was seeing his mistress on the morning of the attacks. His phone was switched off, as was the TV and radio, until he left her house at eleven. He went back to his car, switched on his phone and almost immediately it rang. On the other end of the line was his wife, frantic but relieved that he was OK.

‘Where are you?’ she asked.

‘What do you mean where am I?’ he replied. ‘I’m at the office, of course.’

Hmmm…

A very good day today. Started off at the gym and stayed far longer than I’d intended. The trains were kind, though, and got me into the office on time. I have complained a lot about them in the recent past (and even moreso when they were taking between three and four hours to travel 30 miles for months and months a two years ago) but since the World Cup started they seem to have been running far faster. Perhaps there is a motivational factor in there somewhere.

Edited raw copy through the morning, and wrote reviews in the afternoon. Production has finished laying out my feature and it looks great - due in the most part to their design skills, as it’s the feel of the piece and the simplicity of the opening spread that appeals to me the most. I’m keen to see it in the mag so I can see how it looks on the proper paper, and bound into the rest of the book. That’s still another four weeks off yet, though. It’s a long time since I’ve been excited about seeing my work in print, but I can see some finger-drumming impatience on the horizon.

Took my mind off it on the way home by working on my German for the first time in a week. I’ve been so busy, or falling asleep on the train, that it’s been rather neglected for the last seven days. I think the break has done me good, though. I was pleasantly surprised how much I could remember, although some fairly fundamental stuff like the future third-person participle of ‘to be’ seems to have been filed away so securely that I can no longer bring it to mind.

brauchen .. need

shone .. already

…of course, my spelling is off-whack, but if I can make myself understood on the phone and in meetings then I can work on the writing later.

Popped into Sainsbury’s on the way home, just in time to witness a quite spectacular shelf-collapsing episode. ‘Be Good To Yourself’ chicken sauce all over the tiled floor. Drifted casually up and down the aisles, slowly homing in for a closer look, then returned to the veg aisle for my own safety.

The people I have booked Lithuania through seem to have sorted out transfers from the airport to the hotel only - nothing for the way back. Note to self: must call them tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 25th, 2002 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.