# Home

Goddamn it hurts to fly when you’ve a cold! The going up is okay, but
the coming down hurts a bunch. And, then, after the plan lands, you
spend the next three hours struggling with a head that feels like it’s
been drilled through from ear to ear with a one-inch bit then plugged
with snot.

I’m back in Melbourne now, and back at work. I suppose travel has
focussed me a little, made me a little more determined to live a life of
greater vigour. Here’s another gratuitous difference between America and
Australia: in America you can buy gum in big flat sheets; you used to be
able to get such stuff here, but for some reason you now can’t. You can
get different flavours (like cinnamon) in America too, but I suppose
this is not so surprising. (I do find it odd that the colour associated
with a particular flavour varies from country to country. Why is _salt
and vinegar_ purple here and _blue_ in America?)

Here’s some footage of the very strange automatic-door situation in the
U.S./Canada.

![](/lately/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/2003-02-13_home.jpg)

Large
([1.4Mb](/lately/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/2003-02-13_home-lge.mov)),
small
([0.43Mb](/lately/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/2003-02-13_home-sml.mov)).

Note the barriers on either side of the doors and the general inelegance
of the solution.