"Is it always like this?" *

asked a nice American woman above the din on the tube this afternoon as we were detoured, herded, assembled and packed into airless - well, tubes, of course - once it became apparent that the circle line had somehow vanished.

ahh London in the summer, so sublime (beer gardens, cricket, Pimms) yet so wretched (everything else). Even the dog doesn't want to do anything today. He's just moping around before he flops listlessly onto the floor, quietly groaning and looking reproachfully at us.

I'm reading Dispatches by Michael Herr - his book of his experiences in Vietnam in the war. Amazing writing. I keep having to go back and read bits again - he makes every word count. Somehow the humidity and stink of London provides fitting atmosphere, and makes me think about what must be going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* yes, pretty much