Me: I’m flying back to D.C. this weekend! Life: There’s going to be an airport workers strike in Portugal, so yeah, you might not be flying back after all. Me: Caramba. Fine, I’ll rebook through Iceland. Will anything happen there? Life: Oh, just volcanoes erupting.

Gotta love these World War II fortifications located at strategic points throughout Switzerland. This was on the curve of a small country road; that little window was for gunners to take out approaching enemy. Could be repurposed to remind people not to speed, no?

Everytime I fly Icelandair I wager that there’s no way I’ll make my connecting flight out of Reykjavik in the 45-minute layover window the airline offers, and yet somehow the airport staff always make it happen.

Update: My flight from Zurich to Iceland was delayed, giving me a *10-minute* layover in Reykjavik. But I still made it. (Will the bags? Who knows!)

Temporary Maryland license plate for sale CHEAP. Speed and blow through red lights in D.C. virtually without consequence! (No tickets on it yet!) Sure, it expires in two weeks, but does it really *ever* expire? NO! Bitcoin accepted! (OK, I am not really selling this.)

I’m on my first day back in D.C., and I’ve already run into Phil Mendelson. Outside the Tenleytown Container Store, no less. This truly is a small town sometimes.

I’ve started shopping around for a new e-bike (I sold my last one last year when we moved to Switzerland), and there’s still that lovely feeling of childlike excitement whenever you start pedaling and the motor kicks in. E-bikes are just so much damn *fun*.

$14 Million in fines issued In first 9 months since DDOT DC & Metro Forward began using cameras on buses to enforce priority bus lanes. The District has issued 147,251 tickets for $100 each. Maryland tops the list w/ 51,978 D.C.  41,703. Virginia 38,908 NBC4 Washington

Just a few horseshoes in the sidewalk in Cleveland Park, D.C.’s version of horse country I guess?

Sure, putting that “e-bike” license plate on your gas-powered motorcycle makes it totally street legal.

We're cooking up some fun stuff for The 51st's fall launch and I want to know: What are your favorite fall-themed D.C. events?

Makes sense drivers don’t want to pay a $100 fine. Why not interview a few bus riders to see if they wanted the bus to move faster? Shouldn’t be too hard - there are more than 300,000 daily boardings on Metrobuses.

The best news. Aaron was great at the City Paper, and he’ll be great reporting for WaPo.

D.C. always does D.C. really well.

The fun thing about moving is discovering the things that, in a total fit of desperation, you just threw in a box promising to deal with at a later date. This random box of tennis balls went and came back from Switzerland. Did we ever use them? Of course not.