martinlittle.com:thinkThin

Following a huge amount of planning and re-planning due to riduculous venue requirements, Grant, Maki, Alex and I went to the White Swan, where we hooked up with Eric and Karen (who finally has a blog here). We finally plunked for Diane Schuur was just too ... polished, or something. Overall, I like my jazz sans vocals, and Diane was offering a show, not just an act. We stayed for the second Dick Pearce set, then scurried off and got home about 2.30am.

Maki came through and ordered me to get going at about 4.30am, which I somehow managed. A car from Addison Lee had been ordered, which was an absolute genius way to get to the airport -- so much cheaper than a black cab, with a very reliable service. Unfortunately, I got to London City Airport even earlier than required!

Since then, I've had two good flights from London City to SFO via Amsterdam, with minimal drinking. Then the fun began. The passport guy gave me some funny looks, after silently staring unblinkingly at his computer screen for what seemed like minutes. He called another guy over, who also silently stared unblinkingly at the screen for ages, before finally asking me if I'd ever been in any trouble. "Nothing", I replied. "Even in another state" he enquired. "Nothing" I repeated. From then my card was marked (literally, with a big MI) and I had to go to 'secondary'. To be continued...