ANYBODY WHO EVER SPENT six or seven hours in an airport, waiting to see if there is the remotest possibility of the departure of flight AZ 437 to Frankfurt, knows that there is no arguing delays ‘due to technical difficulties’. Such difficulties, by their very nature, cannot – must not – be explained to the common traveller, for that information would be useless if not actually harmful to him. Besides, the news-stand is always there (though not always open), should he need assistance in whiling away the hours. With luck, he may find something in the current-affairs magazines which is not depressing.
And here in fact is Issue No. 2 of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is dated May 1870, but has been on the news-stands since yesterday, April 30. What better occasion for dipping into a couple of chapters? We are not waiting for a plane to take off but for the Drood group to re-open their session – delayed due to technical difficulties – in the Dickens Room.