Keeping the World in Perspex

Today I spent the day drinking good coffee sitting in a comfortable chair (7D) beside a window looking out at the Arizona desert from a height of 33,000 feet. I was supposed to be writing, but on a clear morning, flying from LA to New York, I was mesmerized the stunning topology below. The land winds and folds through canyons, escarpments, plains and badlands punctuated only occasionally by human activity. A Joycean stream-of-consciousness passage from the planet itself.

United has given up on the cattle-car economy market for the main coast to coast routes. They've ripped out most of the coach seats and converted all their 757s to business class busses. Even the food is great.

Not that I'm letting them off the hook. Earlier in the month I had to fly up to the Bay area, which should be a simple one-hour hop. It took 8 hours; 2 more to fly than if I had just driven the distance.