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+Diario - 4 Sep
+==============
+
+last day in Australia. morning at Uni for last-minute e-mails. Closed bank
+account, got an international cheque in lira (exchange: 1215 ITL/AU$). Payed
+Markus for yesterday, and gave him the key to the office (so Alessio can use it
+from the start when/if he comes). Wanted to say goodbye to Gina and Angie, but
+I didn't find them, so I sent an e-mail msg.
+
+Now I have to pack everything again! Obviously it didn't fit the same way as
+before, so I have to somehow reorganize the space. Oh well, the backpack is a
+bit heavy, but it contains all of the books.
+
+Ellen and Sarah are a bit late, but about a quarter to four they arrive. Some
+discussions (Sarah wants to visit a friend of hers before going to her music
+lesson), but in the end we get into the car and they drop me at the station. I
+buy the ticket, and I board the first train heading north. Checking the
+timetable, it seems to be the 1623 train a bit early, but I discover (just a
+second before getting off at Thirroul) that it reaches Sydney Central, so no
+need to change. Actually I suspect it to have been the 1559 train running
+really late. Anyway, change train at Central for the airport, and finally I
+reach the airport, at about half past five.
+
+At check-in the computer system locks up, blocking all check-ins (at least all
+Emirates check-ins) for half an hour. The girl behind the counter says that
+it's not the first time today. Finally my baggage is labeled and sent to
+wherever it needs to be, and I get my boarding pass. I take hold of a pram and
+load it with my backpack. The scale at the check-in read 25Kg for the other two
+bags, thanks Allah they allow up to 28Kg! The backpack should have been under
+7Kg, but it's more of 10 or 12. Hence I need the pram.
+
+I use the time before boarding (two hours, roughly) to eat some dinner (rice
+and pork) and look at shops. I point a couple of Samsung free web-booths at
+`Slashdot`_ and `my NNetLib docs page`_, just for fun. I finally seat at gate
+57 waiting to board. There are some little problems with the system, but they
+get over them. Seat 17D, aisle on my left, Italians all around, and we take
+off. Today seems to be a day of little problems: the safety procedures video is
+interrupted, lights go out, nothing to worry about, but all summed up
+together...
+
+Nonetheless, the flight goes through undisturbed, and we get to Singapore. It
+is about 2am local time, and all shops in the Changi airport are closed. I walk
+around a bit, then wait to board again. The airport is equipped with both
+IP-over-IrDA stations, and 802.11 radio system, both connected to the internet,
+and both available free of charge. Interesting use of technology.
+
+The flight to Dubai is uneventful. In DXB we change plane, so I have to carry
+my hand baggage with me. Fortunately just inside the gate I find a pram, and it
+gets quickly loaded of my burden. The shops have not changed much in two
+months. I see some plush camels, but they are all laying, no one standing, so I
+don't take one. Boarding again, six hours to go for Rome. My seat is 12A,
+window on my left, but 12B is free, so I seat there. Moreover, 11B and 14B (no
+13, of course) are both free, so I can recline without fear of disturbing.
+
+Passing over Arabia, then the Red Sea, Sinai, Egypt, even form 39kfeet we can
+see the ground, both from the windows and from the bottom view camera: desert,
+canals, mountains, Cairo, Alexandria.
+
+Some hundreds of Km afterwards, I see on the forward camera some formations on
+the horizon: could it be Sicily? It's on the right direction, but can the
+horizon be so far? After all, we are still south of Greece. Oh well, we can
+find out: simple trigonometry. What is Earth's radius? Oops, I don't remember.
+But I have read a couple of days ago that a nautical mile is 6080 feet, and is
+a minute of arc along Earth circumference. And we are 39000 feet above ground.
+A lot of calculations later, we discover that the horizon is 390 Km away from
+our position. But how far is Sicily? I can see a map of our route, but without
+scale. I could judge the scale if I knew some distances or areas, but I know
+none. Luckily I can ask the Time Zone app to give me the distance between two
+cities: say Athens and Palermo. It is more that 900 Km. So it definitely is not
+Sicily. What then? Some ten minutes later the formations resolve into a bank of
+clouds. Still a long way to go towards Italy! However, the weather in this area
+is really clear: those clouds on the horizon were the only ones I could see.
+
+A turn northward lets me know that our route passes well north of Sicily.
+
+Actually, we just flew over Crotone, and are making our way north-westernly up
+Calabria. Here also there are very few clouds, and I can see the cities and the
+fields.
+
+.. _`my nnetlib docs page`:
+    http://nnetlib.sourceforge.net
+
+.. _`slashdot`:
+    http://slashdot.org