04/05/12 – 11:08AM Eastern – Thursday – In air

I wish there was some way I could adjust my watch to automatically account for the shift in time zone. Set it to go faster to catch up with GMT from Eastern time. Alas, the Casio digital model W-71 – the same kind of watch, not actually the same watch – that I’ve been committed to going on 20 years at this point is not equipped with such amenities. Time is a construct anyway. The watch is a counting machine.

We took off at about 10:30AM for a 9AM flight. “Welcome to Newark.” I apparently had enough extraneous wires in my carry-on that they stopped me at security and a rude woman fished through it. I was in a hurry, though if I knew then how long I’d be waiting for United 18 to take off from gate C125, I might have had some breakfast or bought a bottle of water so as to not be at the mercy of the periodic visits of the flight attendants for sustenance. No matter, I’ve already turned down lunch and have a protein bar in the bag if I get desperate. That’s just one of the ways in which I’ve sought to prepare for this trip – more on that after I land, whenever that might be now.

I paid extra for a seat with room enough for me to unfold the laptop, and – in what I’m taking as a sign that whatever gods might be in charge of such things have blessed my passage – the middle seat in this row of three is unoccupied. I’m in my usual window spot keeping an eye on the wing so as to assure it remains fixed to the aircraft.

It’s been a year since I’ve been on a plane. In short, since last time. That was British Airways, if I remember right, but this plane is more modern. Some bumps in the air, but no shortage of distractions coming from the in-flight this-and-that. Tv, movies, music, newspapers, whatever. I have the flight map up on the screen in front of me and will assume yet another official duty (in addition to monitoring status of the left-side wind, that is) in tracking our progress to Heathrow. For entertainment, I have a copy of 1Q84, this week’s Aquarian to do the rock and roll crossword, and for the first time ever, an iPod.

That’s right. Mr. Physical Media is flying with an iPod. I brought the CD player and figure I’ll use it to listen to things I pick up along the way on the flight back, some 11 days from now, but for today, it’s The Patient Mrs.’ iPod, which I took to the office yesterday to fill up with digital promos and assorted odds and ends, figuring I’d have some time to maybe listen to a chunk of the review to-do list and at least be able to truck through upon my return, however behind the travel might have put me.

Some 50-plus albums I loaded on – unceremoniously removing The Patient Mrs.’ stuff in the process before asking if she actually had the files stored anywhere else (it was early, and fortunately, she does) – and in the terminal, it was Ararat, but as soon as the flight attendant came on the P.A. and said we could use “approved electronic devices” again, I put on Astra’s new one, The Black Chord, and have found their ultra-King Crimson-style, organ-heavy prog well suited to the climb into the sky so far. So much so, in fact, that I may never be able to listen to this record again without seeing in my mind the image of the coastline disappearing beneath as the oceanscape takes hold. Doesn’t seem like the worst problem to have.

Come to think of it, the first time I heard In the Court of the Crimson King was on an airplane as well.

Not sure what I’ll put on next – another review record, probably; I also ripped a bunch of CDs people have sent in for review to bring them – though sadly there are a couple landmarks I failed to load into the thing. I have the Truckfighters documentary, should I get bored of music and want, well, more of it, but I don’t have any of their records, and I also have neither Goatsnake nor Neurosis on my person, which is an error on my part and nothing but. If I can find a copy of A Sun that Never Sets at some point on this trip, I may have to buy it on principle alone.

Desertfest starts tomorrow and I’m staying in Camden, so maybe after I land and check-in at the hotel, I’ll go for a bit of exploring and have more to report later. Gotta get there first, I suppose.

Tags: Desertfest & Roadburn Adventure 2012, London, UK

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2012 at 7:46 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.