Getting off my flight yesterday I encountered an announcement that was novel to me. “Use of your cellphone is subject to fines of up to $1,000.”
I’d always known you weren’t supposed to use your phone when going through immigration, but for many of us, turning on the phone at the end of a flight to check messages, and to call home, is an ingrained habit. But this fine apparently applies to any use from the plane until immigration is cleared.
I suspect, if they want to enforce it, US immigration officials could raise tremendous revenues from that fine.
I’m in California on business and, as usually happens, I woke well before the crack of dawn. It’s a good time to check the news before the press of events rule the day.
I have to confess that I had little interest in the result of the Super Bowl, Condi Rice’s diplomatic swing through the Middle East (what a fawning piece in today’s New York Times — but she seems to have exactly predicted the Super Bowl result), or Chelsea’s slipup yesterday.
What I wanted to know was how is Ellen doing?
Ellen MacArthur seems to have passed the US by, but Britain and France are totally captivated by the small 28-year old. Sometime in the next 24 hours, barring catastrophe, Ellen will break the solo round-the-world sailing record.
She has been at sea for over 71 days, not touching land or seeing another person. It’s an extraordinary story of determination, technical mastery and physical endurance. Far more thrilling than a few hours of American football.