"Welcome home"

This morning began at 4:45 GMT. As I write this, it's approaching 8:45 CST, or approximately twenty-two hours later. I'm still going somehow. A taxi, a bus, two planes, a three-hour car trip, Chinese food, a crazy puppy, and one most welcome shower later, I'm still hanging on to consciousness.

This will be remedied within the hour.

Coming home was a little on the insane side today. I'm not in the most coherent state of mind at the moment, so here are a few highlights:

-Edinburgh is ridiculously quiet at 5:45 AM. Seriously, everyone finally leaves Princes Street and the stores close. The Ferris Wheel looks rather eerie, actually.

-A full moon over Waverly Bridge is a lovely sight.

-The same security guard questioned me twice today, once as I was checking in ("Has your computer been out of your hands since you've been here?") and once at the gate ("Since I last saw you, have you purchased anything?") He seemed to feel bad when I had to move my makeup kit to the checked piece.

-There was a handful of 50-something Scottish men out for a "boys week" in Philadelphia on the flight, as well as a 7-year-old kid from New York. "Where are you from?" the kid asked. "We're from Scotland," one of the men replied, "the greatest country on Earth!" The kid then followed this with, "Oh. Why do you talk so funny?"

-There's no sight quite as fascinating as the northeastern coast of Canada in December after having flown over open ocean for hours. It looked like the tundra down there, all white ridges and frozen lakes. I would upload images, but I'm currently too tired to fish out my camera.

-Continental had the best airplane food I've ever tasted, hands down. Now, if they'd only get Coke Zero...

-I'm not usually a fan of New York, but I got all excited when I saw the Statue of Liberty from the plane.

-Newark is...well, Newark, but there was nothing quite as sweet as the Customs agent of Italian descent and City origins welcoming me home. He did make a crack about my name ("Ashley Simpson, huh?), but I'll forgive him this once.

-Newark, I'm not going to pay $7 for a lousy sandwich. No. Bad, New Jersey. Bad.

-It seems that the people operating the Atlanta tram have tampered with the recording. Guys, I can read, but I want the voice to tell me the next stop. Come on. Concourse T, anyone?

-My puppy, Cali (or Ugly, to my father), is adorable but completely spastic. She has a bedtime ritual. This seems to be a subtle hint from my parents that I need to hurry up and give them grandchildren already.

-I have a television. In my room. It gets more than four channels, and there's no £137.50 license. There is House. Then again, there's no Jeremy Kyle.