Wow. That was a long break. Sorry [in all modesty]. I couldn’t even begin to summarize it, but it was good. The awful flight I feared turned out to be completely different flights, and awful for entirely different reasons. The day I left, I spent 11 hours in the Singapore airport. I remember once having a fantasy about living in the Singapore airport. No longer.

I spent a good deal of time in South Africa. On the one hand, sort of a homecoming, and on the other, a class. A good mix, but hardly a restful break. Then again, which one has been?

I was really looking forward to coming back to France and to so many people I haven’t seen for two or four months. Everyone always said I’d miss the Asian efficiency, but I was thinking about springtime country life. When I got off the plane in de Gaulle, and saw that there was one immigration officer to service two full planeloads of people, it was like the record playing my happy French springtime music came to a scratching halt.

That being said, I’m thrilled to be back in the country, in people’s houses, and with all the people I started with and most of the new ones I’ve picked up along the way. Let the games begin.