It's 5.22 a.m., body time.

For the very first time in two decades of trying, I’ve managed to visit Europe without once purchasing a newspaper or logging on to the Internet.

Apart from a free International Herald Tribune aboard the flight to Detroit from Amsterdam today, a few inadvertent minutes of BBC television news in a hotel room somewhere, and a surreptitious glance at the baseball standings when the Brugge newsstand owner looked the other way, it’s been a complete news blackout.

There’s been no writing, either, just a few scribbled notes to help recall certain exquisite Belgian ales and the seasoning used in the broth for the pot of mussels accompanying them.

Accordingly, I’ve spent the past hour perusing the discussions that have taken place here at NA Confidential over the past days, as well as checking in at Volunteer Hoosier.

Jeff: Thanks a bunch, and don’t even think about slipping back into the woodwork. We need you here in some capacity, and we can talk about it when the time is right. Feel free to carry the ball through the remainder of the week!

We’re unpacking and waiting for the promised delivery of our bicycles, which for reasons unknown remained stowed in Brussels while various vehicles, winged and otherwise, brought us back to New Albany. The NorthWest Airlines agent helpfully provided a tracking web site to access if we care to follow the progress of the bicycles on their way home, with their arrival scheduled for about the time the City Council meets on Thursday night.

A council meeting on jet lag? What a concept …