Nothing like taking a couple of long flights, one of them international, when there's a heightened security alert. It was alleviated slightly by good timing and the frequent flyer express lane, thankfully. And by flying business class, so that I had enough water to drink.

The diversity of London really brings home the total whiteness of a city like Portland (whitest city in the U.S., have you heard?). The prices emphasize the weakness of the dollar. The coffee has improved greatly. No one's talked about the president, but at the V Festival last night Morrissey exhorted his audience to run over Condoleezza Rice.

Today I'm planning to spend hours at the British Museum. We have three days in London before heading out to Reading and I mainly want to wander around, look at old buildings, and try to figure out why America developed a culture of pride in ignorance. Maybe hit a British strip pub if I can. Apparently, at these establishments a woman passes a beer pitcher around and all of the patrons drop in a pound or two towards the goal of getting her to do a striptease. I wonder how you get one of those gigs?