This other un-great thing about travelling. For business. And very frequently.
When you just had a great Chinese New Year break with family and good friends and it feels too soon to leave.
And packing and calling the cab seems to be going against every grain in your body - like slicing salmon sashimi in the wrong direction.
And you're standing in the terminal, holding an overly sweet chai latte with scalded sticky fingers because it spilled as you pulled the lid off.
And you sigh enough to move the plane as you unfold your little tray table and switch on your laptop.
But little mercies - the comfort hanging around in a bookshop brings, good enough company from the stranger sitting next to you, airport acquaintances who will share the journey to this place not our home, and colleagues who do not piss the hell out of you when you arrive.
I will want what I have. Oh the realities are so real they make me shudder, but I'm taking them. With a nod and that smile.
