Police car lights up a wet day in Princeton

Early start for a 10 am flight from Heathrow to Newark, New Jersey and on by car to Princeton. The flight was squashed in the sardine can they call economy class but great because there was no internet and that allowed me to work for hours undisturbed on my book and read plenty too.

But, let's face it, flying today isn't great unless your company is forking out for you in business class or you have enough personal wealth not to mind spending four times the price the minions pay in the back. Gone are the days when you could get pie-eyed on multiple gin and tonics and wine top-ups. On Continental today if you want beer or wine in economy class you pay for it

I was in a quandary, still am, because I don't know when my Blip day ends while I'm in the US. Do I blip in UK time or in US time? I think I'm going to stick with UK time because that comfortably covers daylight hours here in the US.

But there wasn't much daylight left of this rainy day in New Jersey. After checking in and dumping my bag I pootled around a bit in the rain, straying not very far from the Nassau Inn where I'm staying. I'm here for an Earthwatch International board meeting and field visit that allows trustees to discuss the health of the charity and future strategies. I ended up with this police car for today's Blip, only because I like the way the siren colours came through the droplets of rain on my lens. It was toss a up between that and a giant Smiley badge or the Coca Cola machine, a staple of all American hotels worth the name.