Well, I am home at last, but it has not been the best of days. Here’s the full story.

My original plan to have brunch at The Court of the Two Sisters was squashed because they were full – I think the courtyard was closed due to the weather, so they had a lot less seating available. The backup plan for beignets at Cafe du Monde was also squashed because of a long queue. So I ended up having breakfast at Starbucks in the hotel, where I did at least get to see the city’s Christmas parade going up Canal Street.

Talking of the hotel, I was hoping to have a photo of the nice “Santa in canoe pulled by gators” display that they had, but my digital camera died.

I had to get a cab to the airport because apparently the hotel shuttles book up 24 hours in advance. That was fine, except, as you doubtless all know by now the plane had technical problems. After much waiting around and confusion I was finally sent over to Continental in another terminal. In the process my number came up on the TSA lottery and I had all the joys of additional screening.

Continental’s flights had plenty of room and ran to time. Also their terminal at Houston turned out to be very nice, though Houston does still make those silly announcements about arresting you if you crack a joke. I bought myself a box of truffles. The burrito I had a Pappasito’s was a bit squidgy, and therefore messy to eat, but it tasted fabulous.

Eventually I got to SFO about 3 hours late. I should give a note of thanks here to Xavier, my teddy-neck-pillow, whose gentle embrace helped me to spend all but about an hour of my time in the air asleep. That was essential if I was going to have to drive home. Xavier would like to apologize to Daniel Abraham whose fine book, An Autumn War got a lot less reading than it might otherwise have done.

Of course they lost my bags, and those of everyone else United routed onto Continental. The ladies in the Continental baggage claim say that the bags are still with United and will be delivered to SFO tomorrow. There’s a web-based tracking system for them, which is a vast improvement.

Thankfully the van was exactly where Kevin had left it and I was able to drive home without incident. Now I am going to get some sleep.