Quiet time of chaos...

I've had nothing to say the last few days so no posts. I did a quickie trip to Belvedere, IL about 60 miles west of Chicago to pick up some books, so didn't even take my laptop with me. I had my phone for internet stuff and a book to read for A Place of Safety. Flew into O'Hare on a dinky American jet, Monday morning...and out Tuesday morning on an even dinkier one. Both of which put a strain on me from having to sit in a cramped situation.

The drive to Belvedere was easy and minimal traffic. I got there on time, picked up 4 lovely antiquarian books, and left. Stopped at a toll road rest area to have an excellent Subway sandwich -- turkey club on white -- then on the way back passed what looked like a private ambulance engulfed in flames on the 90 West. So hot, even though I was in the middle right lane heading east, I could feel the heat. Fire trucks and cops were still en route to deal with it.

I continued on to a UHaul to buy boxes and got bubble wrap, went to my hotel and packed the books in as solid as I could. Then off to drop at Southwest Air Cargo...which was a chore and a half. Turned out, there was no signage to tell you where they are. I went to four different offices in this one building, asking, always being told it's across the building, before finally noticing a sheet of paper on an intake desk window that said they were around the corner; if I hadn't found it, then, I was going to drive 25 miles to Midway, where I knew its location.

Fortunately, I wasn't rushed to get the shipment to them...because I'd have missed any flight it was going out on, that night. At least I did get a dinner at Panda Express. I love their Beijing Beef and Spring Rolls with sweet & sour sauce. Then some hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts settled me down.

The tightness of the return trip to Buffalo, and no drink service thanks to light turbulence so I started getting dehydrated, initiated a tension headache in me that did not go away before I hit the bed 14 hours later. Early. I used to enjoy traveling, especially air travel. Now? It's just plain hideous. I'd rather drive or take the train.

Anyway, today was a meander through the paperwork for the job and catching up on other crap, so no writing done. I'll dig back into Carli's Kills, tomorrow, now that I know what the ending is. Again. At least, until Carli or Zeke get pissy about it...again...

But I did get more of This Man's Wee Boy read, on this trip, and something that's striking me about it is the casual attitude people seem to have in the story about the riots and people dying during the first days of The Troubles. A child gets run over by an Army vehicle and killed, and there's more talk about the events sending people to the madhouse than the loss of a little boy. Like it's just another day in the life. 

It's rather disconcerting.