No one else on SNAFU seems to be updating much, so some stuff thats been buzzing round my head for the last couple of days all the way from .hu

50 Cent Off

Was hanging round JFK waiting for my flight, when what I can only describe as an entourage went past: a bunch of guys, a couple of cops, and a general flutter of interest from the nearby passengers. I asked one of the security people what was going on as they suspiciously eyed my trainers (which are falling to bits and so have big holes in them, although that just makes it more diffuicult to hide bombs in them, since they'd just fall out). Turns out it was famous wrapper, 50 Cent. You know, he of "Go shorty, it's your birthday, gonna party like it's your birthday'. A bit mean not to party like it's someone's birthday when it is, unless the whole song is about an elaborate scam to take advantage of free drinks offers when it's someone's birthday, but usually they ask for some ID for that, but anyway...

(my brother assures me that "shorty" is now a general term of affection for any woman or specifically a girlfriend, but I'd like to see the etymology of that one).

Anyway, he seemed to get through the metal detectors all right, so I guess he wasn't packing a weapon. (Um, although if you do want to take a gun with you to an airport, apparently it is all right if you are "packing it" in your suitcase. Apparently that's all right. Odd). He does have something of a reputation for getting into a strop and shooting people or getting shot at. Perhaps he should change his name to reflect this, to something like Temper Cent.

Speaking of which, it turns out that 50 Cent is the going rate for spending a penny in the Eurozone, or Amsterdam at least. You may ask why I was in Amsterdam when I was supposed to be getting a direct flight to Hungary, and in fact a similar question was going through my mind at the time. Turns out that Malev Airlines cancelled my flight (here's a tip, kids: never trust any organisation which begins with the prefix "Mal-"), and didn't bother to tell anyone. So they took my fancy, secure ticket, filled out a bit of paper by hand, and sent me via Amsterdam on KLM. Very weird.

In some sense this worked out in my favour, since I've been to Budapest before, whereas I've not seen any of Amsterdam, so I got to spend a full afternoon there wondering around the city looking at the canals before heading back to catch the connecting flight in the evening. Still a very weird experience to be a tourist in a city you had no idea about visiting 12 hours before hand. It was also the first time I got to spend Euros, despite the fact that they've been out for ages (almost two years, I thought it was longer but that was just Euro credit cards and bank accounts and stuff). I felt very European for the day, but I think what that means is just that most of the signs were in English, and everyone spoke English, so I didn't have to worry about the language. Which makes things a lot easier as a tourist.

It being Amsterdam, I had to make sure I visited one of their notorious coffeeshops, although generally that stuff makes me feel nauseous and unwell, so I had a cup of tea instead. No idea why, since they both have caffeine in, but for some reason coffee affects me much more. I also saw only one hen party, looking distinctly quiet as they floated down the river. This I suppose is the advantage of visiting on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night.

I finally got to Budapest, gave my talk yesterday, and have spent most of the rest of the time feeling generally jet-lagged and tired. I'm not going to make too much effort to adjust, since I'll be flying back on Friday, provided the airline doesn't screw up again and the impending hurricane has cleared out of the way. I once thought about what it would be like to be continually travelling, since they feed you on flights, and you can get some sleep on planes and in airports. I think basically it would be pretty awful, and you'd end up in some bizarre sleep deprived semi-conscious state the whole time.

But anyway, I should go -- I'm typing this in an internet cafe, which seem to be very popular round here, and my time is almost up. The prices are pretty reasonable though. In fact, the whole time I've been here writing this, and it's only cost me the equivalent of 50 cents. Speaking of which...