The sense of thirty years

6AM, FIFA waiting room again.  Passing the time reading Alan Rickman's diary instead of entering time.  "But mostly - looking up at the gallery at the T-shirted students looking down - the sense of 30 years.  And a shy pride at being there once."  A nice line.  More frequently the sentiment as the time passes.

Time is such a weighty and magical thing.  Never again will there come a first flight with AA, first trip to the Thames with M, etc etc.  Never never.  But the returning is where a lot of the joy lies, even as you always remember the first.