Preface

The idea was a simple idea with little behind it except a recognition, a self-knowing, that on a long set of aeroplane flights I was bound to write. It’s unpromising, of course, for there can be nothing more tedious than long flights overseas. And not just overseas. Being in a plane – especially a large plane – is a form of imprisonment, an actual incarceration. It’s not good behaviour they demand; it’s no behaviour at all they demand. What a kindness it would be if we were all anaesthetised. For these flights are without doubt misery.

Unbearable.