Jet lag.

I woke up wide awake over two hours ago, midnight to be precise, after finally going to bed sometime around 8 pm. I'd been up for over 30 hours without any sleep and my head was vibrating with exhaustion. I didn't sleep much the night before the flight. When it was clear that sleep was not going to be on the agenda, I got up to do a few things and got ready for the taxi to pick me up at 5 am. The driver was a man in his late 60's who was financing his trips to Las Vegas by driving a cab on weekends. He told me that he'd been a student at UVic in 1964 majoring in wine, women and song. I am not sure if he graduated but later he trained as a pilot in the Air Force. He never got to fly because the Liberals came to power and cut the program. That same year, the government that nixed his flying career also took in thousands of political refugees from Czechoslovakia, my mother and I and brothers and sister included. Later I wondered whether he has ever voted Liberal. Tomorrow morning, I will be meeting my father's cousin's son, and his mother, who are taking me to Malacky to see where my family used to live. I am looking forward to it.