It’s been good to get back on the road.

The last couple of weeks I’ve visited Génova, Milano, Frankfurt, Boston, Chicago, Albany, Saratoga Springs, New York, Frankfurt, Milan, Génova, Milano, London, Las Vegas, London, Milano, and Génova.

Quite a trip.

Things were going smoothly until I collected my car at the airport in Milan last Friday and headed home for the weekend. Thirty minutes later I was rear-ended by a young woman who had been distracted enough to miss the queue of stopped cars in front of her. I guess she hit me at about 50kph, which was enough to deploy her airbag, total her little Daihatsu and send my car into the one in front.

We blocked the road for 90 minutes until the tow trucks could get to us through the traffic. I got a taxi home and rented a car Monday to get back to the airport for my trip to Vegas.

Despite their promises, the insurance company did not organize me a replacement car, and so I rented one myself with a pickup at midnight, but when I arrived Hertz was closed.

I tried to catch a taxi home, but there was a strike, so I got a room in a hotel, and 4 hours later I was at again at the airport to pick up the car.

The final insult was when I arrived at Hertz in Génova which was “closed for a holiday” – necessitating a trip to the airport and a taxi home. The total elapsed time from the end of my presentation in Vegas to arriving home was 39 hours…