Checking In

Checking into a flight these days in North America is entirely automated. You enter your number into a faceless machine and it asks you lots of questions before spewing out your boarding pass, and sometimes even your sticky luggage ticket. Then you drag your bags to another desk where they take as long to process your bag as they would have to check you in. Cunning time-saving devices, these. (Not)

But this one today in Winnipeg was a new one on us - asking if among our luggage we had any of the following... (see above).

I thought antlers was weird enough. But surf boards! In Winnipeg? You can hardly get further from the sea. We could barely continue to the printing of our boarding passes for laughing!

But then on to Toronto where a car whisked us off to a suburban book signing, before heading downtown to our waterfront hotel. We shared a table with English author Ian McEwan at dinner before the evening venue at the International Festival of Authors then headed off to our separate events.

My event was shared with Scots writer Eric McCormack, who has lived in Canada for nearly fifty years. We talked about our respective books, read from them, then entered into a lively Q&A with the audience.

This was the last event of my N. American tour (apart from some stock signings around Toronto tomorrow morning). Tomorrow evening we will board our transatlantic flight not knowing the outcome of the vote taking place on the most momentous day of Scotland's history. We will land in Edinburgh just as the result is being announced.

I'm not sure that I want to hear it.