The water came on about half an hour after my last post, and I was able to take a shower.

With the slight distraction that the toilet started flushing continuously at the same time. It's an industrial type, and I tried tapping on it to get it to close - that frequently works - but to no avail. Searching around for a shutoff valve was fruitless, and it was dripping onto the bathroom floor at a fairly nervewracking rate.

I decided to take the damn shower, and then see what I could manage. As I was getting out, Debbie came home, and handed me a large block of wood with which to hit it. Hard.

That eventually worked.

Apparently this is not a rare occurrence.

In any case, I grabbed a bagel downstairs (When a New Yorker says garlic and herb spread, they aren't kidding about the garlic), futzed around a bit more, then started the pilgrimage to the airport at around 2:20pm.

At least this time the bum that thought I was a rock star thought I was John Lennon. I don't mind being taken for John Lennon, at least, apart from that whole "dead" thing. He was actually kind of cool - we talked for a little bit.

Otherwise uneventful. I got here early, and took my time going through the various hoops. We're supposed to start boarding oh, about 5 minutes ago, but at least the plane is here. It shouldn't be too bad - plus I may have a row to myself again! Excitement! Thrills!

I'm a little ambivalent. Just hanging around Debbie makes me smile, even when we're largely having nothing to do with each other. And I like large cities.

But home is home, and I need to try to get on with things.