What I'm Reading Now

is Paradise News by David Lodge. It starts off pretty well, I can tell you that:

"What do they see in it, eh? What do they see in it?"

Leslie Pearson, Senior Representative (Airport Reception) of Travelwise Tours plc, surveys the passenger swarming in the Departures Concourse of Heathrow's Terminal Four with an expression of mingled pity and contempt. It is mid-morning in the high summer season and, adding to the normal congestion, there is a security alert in operation, because of a recent plane crash thought to have been caused by sabotage. (Three different terrorist organizations have claimed responsibility, which means that at least two of them are trying to obtain a reputation for indiscriminate murder without exerting themselves. That's the modern world for you: the more Leslie Pearson sees of it, the less he understands or likes it.) Passengers are being closely questioned at the check-in desks about the provenance of their luggage, this morning, and their persons and handbaggage scrutinized with more than usual zeal by the security staff. Long, slow-moving lines stretch from the check-in desks nearly to the opposite wall of the concourse, crosshatched by two longer lines converging upon the narrow gate that leads to Passport Control, the Security gates, and the Departures Lounge. The queueing passengers shift their weight from one foot to another, or lean on the handles of their heaped baggage trolleys, or squat on their suitcases. Their expressions are variously anxious, impatient, bored, stoical - but not yet weary. They are still relatively fresh: their bright casual clothes are clean and pressed, their cheeks smooth from the recent application of razor or make-up, their hair groomed and glossy.

No one writes good old-fashioned, realistic prose better than David Lodge. Not only are descriptions of swarming passengers and heaped bagged trolleys pleasing in themselves, but it is just this sort of attention to detail that helps launch observations such as the one about three different terrorist organizations claiming responsibility. Brings to mind Stevens' dictum that accuracy of thought is equal to the accuracy of observation. I may not have that entirely correct, but it's something like that.