The flight from Boston back to Heathrow was only 5 1/2 hours and our ground speed was at one point 678mph - so the TV in the headrest in front of me announced. I wasn't so lucky with seating on the return journey; the plane (a Boeing 787-9) was full and the gentleman in the seat next to me was of such generous proportions that he had to share both my footwell and the girl's sitting on the other side of him. I declined his request to take my aisle seat - trapped is not something I like to be.

The Ambassador's Daughter flew in from Santiago on the same day (I think the part of the city pictured above is nick-named 'Sanhattan') landing 20 minutes after me so we were able to share our adventures on the way back to Suffolk. The interesting thing was that, as I'd taken the penultimate flight out of Boston (about 10.20pm Eastern time) and landed at Heathrow at about 9.20am local, after grabbing probably a couple of hours sleep on the plane it was just like a long night out and in the following days I didn't suffer any jet lag at all. The Ambassador's Daughter - after 15 hours in the air and with a stop in Madrid - didn't fare so well.

My favourite of the Diplomatic snaps was this Dali-esque scene of an as yet uninstalled swimming pool - I don't know why it appeals; there's a good joke in there somewhere but I haven't quite got to it yet.

And staying with the slightly surreal, this church in a suburb of Boston couldn't help but be noticed. Which theme brings me to Christmas and how I might occupy the holidays.

The first thing was that I had to go and retrieve the Morris Minor gearbox because I'd forgotten to lock the locking ring with the wire pin. I remember thinking when I was doing the final re-assembly that something wasn't quite adding up and in the middle of the night, it came to me. Fortunately, the box hadn't been put in the car.

And then I spotted a Cooper Stewart 90mph speedo for sale. As the current Cooper Stewart speedo in the Hillman reads up to only 70mph and, as the gearing doesn't match the Morris Six box - it reads almost double - I thought, as an educational exercise, I would hook this one up and see what difference it makes. I know I should do the job properly and get a 2:1 reduction drive, but as the instrument was only £5 it's got to be worth a pop. I can't think it would be too difficult to make a reduction drive, nylon gears are available at next to nothing and all I'd have to do is the casing and the input and output thingys; an interesting little project for an idle moment.

Which I shouldn't have because I realise that since I've been home, the racing car has remained untouched. I really have to get a grip.