It's always been my belief that when the leprechauns were run out of Ireland (along with the dragons?), they took the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and set up lotteries in the New World. No one believes in leprechauns any more but boy, do they believe in lotteries.

That's irrelevant. I'm trying to think of something other than my churning gut. It's a lethal combination: getting ready for a huge trip AND trying to do my income tax. And you know, when I say do, I don't mean do, I just mean I gather together all the papers and dump them on my accountant's desk, well, not dump, exactly, and I do collate things and I paperclip stuff together and I always date my donations in chronological order, things like that. But it's very hard on my nerves. And I still have to do my GST report.

GAK, as my friend Marla says.

Think of something else....

My concierge (that's what they call her, though she's not on the ship and I'll never meet her, so she's not my concierge) informs me that my plane leaves Toronto at 1:25 p.m.on Friday but my flight arrangement information sheet says it leaves at 01.25 on Friday morning. And Cathay Pacific doesn't give any flight information more than 24 hours ahead. However, If I go by today's and tomorrow's schedules, the flight to Hong Kong leaves in the early morning and not in the afternoon.

My gut hasn't settled down yet.

Why isn't anything simple?