dealing with my baggage

that whole fear of plummeting out of the sky aside- and really, what are the odds of another NTSB disaster, based on the last 2 months of cardiac arresting pilots, faulty sensors, crappy weather conditions, and a lackadaisical approach to aircraft maintenance- the ritual of "what the hell should i pack for a bipolar british summer?" serves as my pre-boarding turbulence.

matching colours, that complement assorted temperatures, by coupling layers and sleeve length to appropriate footwear, requires the kind of thinking necessary to pencil in 3 crosswords that bridge each other. this may explain why i usually wind up rotating the same two t-shirts and a token pair of jeans that were worn (but not since washed) on the '6 hours of recycled air, flight and sitting in manky departure terminal chairs', and also why 2 down and 9 across- "5 letter word; the name of a mouse 'tom' used to chase in the hanna barbera cartoon"- are the only squares with letters in them.

should tradition prevail, then any effort expended on selecting and folding will be for naught, because the delsey will undoubtedly become waylaid on a luggage carousel at jfk, long after my arrival at heathrow's very own version, several time zones away.