Wow

I've taken the flight between Lugano and Geneva... well, most weeks for almost the last two years.

I've seen a lot of Alps, and a lot of sunsets.

But I've never seen it like it was tonight. The clouds were thick, so there was only a hint of mountain beneath them every once in a while, but far from ruining the view, that's what made it.

I've always loved clouds... I love the fantastic shapes they make, the way they seem so artificially three-dimensional poised against the flat backdrop of sky, like someone painted them there just a little too vividly to be real. I love the way the sun never leaves them unchanged... some tonight had rich, honey-colored highlights as the setting sun lit them up like giant rambling towers of wool. Some held the light within them but glowed ferociously at their edges, like they were unable to contain it. And some, dark with rain, just blotted it out and seemed, somehow, even darker and more impenetrable.

There are times when I see an absolutely stunning woman and I can't help but catch my breath - it's impossible not to react. And the flight tonight was like that, I started out absorbed in my book but by the end I was staring out the window, just wanting it to last forever. I didn't get any pictures... I knew that they would never equal what I had seen, so I didn't even try. But I wish you had been there.

It was beautiful.