Spanish fly

Off today to Barcelona, for a JuicePlus+ conference plus a couple of days r&r either side.

I am in my usual pre-travel panic. I have no idea what to pack.

My friend Amanda says each time she and Julian go away, he travels with a tiny bag saying 'All you need is a spare T-shirt and a clean pair of pants'.  She meanwhile, like me, takes one pair of clean knickers for every day she's going to be away (+ a spare).  And she takes enough clothing to deal with all eventualities of weather.  Just like me - immensely reassuring.

And it's the same conversation I have with Andrew each time. He claims you can rinse your knickers out and they'll dry in no time, so you only need two with you.  Amanda says her response to Julian is 'You pack your case, and I'll pack mine!'

I see the weather in Barcelona is going be around 19 degrees for the time I'll be there - so here in chilly England I am thinking - what the hell will I need to wear for warm weather? And yet it was that temperature here only a couple of weeks ago.

Andrew will drop me off at Ashford to be picked up by Nicky and some of the others in our party... we'll be in Spain by 4 or 5 this afternoon.  The magic of flight.  But at the moment, there are other (darker) worries about all this.

Should any of us be flying anywhere if we are to hold back climate change?

Will we be able to travel to Europe so freely ever again if Brexit goes through?  At the moment it seems that flights will not operate, we'll need visas, our mobile phone roaming charges will revert to extortionate rates, etc etc. 

The last few decades have been so blissfully easy - free of deep anxiety of the international political sort - and comfortable, relatively speaking - but we fear it is all coming to a horrible end, with fascism on the rise, alliances splintering, corruption and change everywhere.  I think the internet has been at the root of all this - computers favouring the counting of money over all other considerations, and the www sweeping through the structures of civilisation (justice, democracy, professional expertise, tradition, honour, truth, etc etc) like a hurricane.  Nothing can withstand the change, apparently, so greed and a lust for power are unleashed - here, in the US, and in many or all other places.

Going to this conference will be uplifting - the company has used the internet to spread honourable ethical standards of decency and good health. There will be 6 or 7 thousand people there.  I feel good to be going. So I had better go and pack.