After a long flight, I have arrived in London. I’m glad I brought my heavy winter coat; the 40-degree temperature is surprisiingly frigid.

My flight on Northwest was quite pleasant, not the least reason being that it actually happened — the pilots have not yet struck. The plane was a relatively new A-330, which was equipped with a surprisingly enjoyable individual entertainment system. Each seat had a screen on which the passenger could watch one of several dozen movies on demand, watch the progress of the plane, or even play games against the other passengers.

It is amusing to watch people drive on the left instead of the right. This switch also applies to right-of-way on walkways — people habitually go to the left when approaching others.

It is nice not to deal with a language barrier. Sure, there are subtle differences, but the gap is nothing like the one between English and Italian. Everybody sounds so proper and British — imagine that! I swear, the airport train announcement voice sounded exactly like Pierce Brosnan. Unfortunately, the voice kept telling me that my train was running later and later; German trains, these were not.

I am somewhat underwhelmed by my first Tube experience. To be sure, it wasn’t a bad experience, it just wasn’t the zen that I was expecting. At this stage of my journey, I would still rank the Paris metro as my favorite subway system.

Jet lag sucks. Gotta stay awake…

I suppose it was bound to happen: geeksta rap.

Today’s forecast high in Minneapolis: -2° F. Current temperature: -7° F. Current windchill: -32° F. Brrr…

Of course, this hardly compares with Ojmjakon, Russia, which is currently clocking in at -45° F. The forecast high for Ojmjakon for Sunday is an incredible -48° F.

My hockey team won a game last night! The wins don’t come very often. In fact, our single previous win occurred back in November when we last played this team. Do I feel guilty about our only two wins both coming against the same team? Not the slightest.

I’d like to think that this win came about because of my new stick, but the reality is that we simply played well. It’s easy to stop shots when the shots never occur in the first place. Likewise, it’s easy to score goals if you keep pounding the net; eventually, something will go in.

My car is sentient.

I know, I know; it sounds crazy. But what other explanation could there be?

This past weekend, I replaced my car’s fog lights because one of them got cracked by a rock. After the new lights were installed, the car ran smoother, was quieter, and had more pep. The car seemed happy. Honest truth.

After I washed and vacuumed my car tonight, the same thing happened: everything got quieter, smoother, and tighter. The car was content.

A similar phenomenon emerges whenever I think about selling my car. The car spontaneously runs better, as if it were trying to convince me not to part with it.

The left half of my brain assures me that it is merely my perception that has changed, just a placebo-type effect. The right half isn’t convinced that the observations can be dismissed as illusion.

I was talking with my grandpa once about cars. He commented, tongue-in-cheek, that his cars kept running better and better as the years wore on. They just kept getting quieter and smoother! Never mind that his hearing was going out; that was completely unrelated.

Who’s to say that cars aren’t affected by human perception? The common adage that “the best way to have a strange noise go away is to have a mechanic try to hear it” holds some anecdotal water.

Obviously, then, the best way to fix a car’s mechanical problems is to replace a few cosmetic parts, give it a good wash, and have an old person bring it to a mechanic equipped only with a stethoscope. It’ll be purring after that.