The Chicago office is now back from London. Many thanks for the tips from various offices around the globe: all were greatly appreciated. Whoever put in the Soane museum is doubly praised. Best vacation tale is of trying to steal John Major's seat at a production of Ghosts. He was quite nice about it: apologized for taking his own seat back, gave me a two hander (handshake plus shoulder touch), and sat next to Sara throughout the second act. Two cheers for him! Alas, John Major was a bit more interesting than Ghosts: it's too easy to make the moralizing character (a preacher) look like a total fool and that's what the actor did. Plus they did a weird miking thing: when one character buries his face in his mother's lap, his voice suddenly booms throughout the theater and it echoes through her microphone. Oops. Still, the lead was good. A better play was Boris Gudinov with a Russian cast. Russian just sounds cool.

Back in the city of broad shoulders, I went to a Martin Amis reading last night. Something about it seemed familiar. Of course it did: I've read about it already. He begins with droll remarks about America, the reading is basically all about about fighting with Christopher Hitchens while visiting Saul Bellow. As in Canada, the show ends with a dog telling Kingsley Amis to fuck off. No remarks about our national speech impediments, however. Coulda saved the train fare.