A tourist in my own town

Mrs. Clean-Air System arrived safely at 7:30 AM on Thursday, although didn't clear customs until nearly an hour later. By that point I'd already been at Heathrow, waiting, for at least 45 minutes. That wouldn't have been so bad except I'd been up late-ish the night before -- the usual trip to the Apollo after the last class of the term -- and of course the day before I'd been up until about 4:00 AM finishing my final paper of the term.

So basically I've been kind of crispy and crunchy around the edges for the last couple of days, as if the usual sleep deprivation wasn't bad enough. At least most of the undergrads have gone back home to mommy and daddy, where they will be fed and washed and mollycoddled and given more money with which to drink their dumbass selves into a stupor and come home raving drunk at 4:00 AM next term, too. But for now the halls are quiet. It's kind of spooky, in a good way.

We hit the ground running and did loads of touristy things. If I weren't so tired I'd post some of the photos and tell you about what we've been up to, but I feel the the Clean-Air System Family Curse coming on. (This is the standard-issue cold/flu which attacks the entire Clean-Air System clan every year at this time, without fail.) So I'll have to exercise some self-care and save those for later. I've been popping garlic and echinacea like it's going out of style. Right now my eyes are drooping and I'm so tired from having walked halfway around London over the last two days showing the missus the place that I'm just going to crawl into bed and sleep until we leave for Paris on Tuesday.