... Tzzzer Phut Phut Kergrrrr Zzzummrurrg.....

... is as accurate a description as I can come up with for the sound of the propeller engines on Tuk-Tuk Airways' flight DoNotPassGoButPloughStraightIntoThatColdBalticLake 747 descent into Vilnius.

Quite what I was expecting for £37,50 between Tallinn and Vilnius on Golden Air,

*** PAUSE ***

Yes that was Golden Air.

, I do not know, put the pilot put on the finest aeronautical impression of a Disney-on-Ice meets Grand Theft Auto 4 landing. It truly was like a Commodore 64 flight simulator with a broken PowerShot 2 Joystick.

I had not been expecting quite such an entertaining landing, but it was perhaps fitting given the way I left this city the last time I was fortunate enough to grace it.

Flashback to rented apartment (£11 per night, not even per person, just per night) in January 2003 with Fabian, having just returned at 11am from a drive to a petrol station 14 miles out of Vilnius after an all-night bender with a brother and sister drinking machine team. The brother downs 0,5l of neat vodka from the bottle, the sister finishes it off, and the landlady calls the police for our flagrant abuse of rental regulations (ie not drinking pure gasoline).

Boy am I glad to be back here, and boy am I glad I am staying two extra nights... Unfinished business, bring it on!

And in the Beginning there was Tallinn...

I have always liked my job, but recently I have started to love it... I am currently undoubtedly mistaking this new-found passion as a sign of long-overdue maturity, and my mother certainly interpreted it in that way last weekend as I gushed about how huge an empire of glass sales I was building.

Was I on crack? I should say so... Perhaps even perma-crack, for the lifetime commitment to lunacy.

I have always liked the idea of a blog, of committing to posterity those fleeting thoughts that I think are so profound but are in reality would struggle to feature on a Channel 5 reality TV show. But for whatever reason, tonight is the night I have decided to start it. Some may say the beers on the plane may have given birth to these revolutionary thoughts. And some would probably be right too.

But I know why (flash of inspiration!), it is because of my unbridled joy at landing at Tallinn airport, whizzing through passport control, customs and no traffic to a nice boutique hotel in the shadow of the cathedral-type thingy on the main square. I have a beer in my hand and I feel great. I feel truly lucky to be here. Don't get me wrong, I am going to work my nuts off over the next few days, but it ain't bad being able to ply your trade by flying all around Europe. To paraphrase the much maligned Ronald McDonald: I'm loving it.

How is one supposed to end a blog entry? 10-4? Wilco? Does anyone care?

Nope, goodnight...