Huh. It's a strange, frightening feeling to look at the map of bombings in London and realize I passed through almost all the affected terminals. I even wandered around to the east of Hyde Park one evening, in the very general area of the bus explosion.

I only know one person vaguely well in the whole of Britain, and that's our guide, John. So several people I know have very good friends there, and I had to think for a moment to place geographically my (for all intents and purposes) former employee. Layers of isolation could probably be symbolized by that.

Anyway - he's probably fine. He told us in the pub he'd be heading from Glasgow to Bristol to visit his family and take up a teaching job.

For the past ten years, Creed has been speeding down rock and roll’s steep decline like Calvin and Hobbes in a rickety toboggan. When they stumbled upon mainstream rock in the mid-nineties, it was still in stable condition but yearning for fresh air. Creed came to rock and roll with smothering-pillow in hand, dispatched it with surprisingly little struggle, and took over its identity like a glassy-eyed pod person.

Have you ever been to a college? Then you need to read this.