Strange Math

As I ponder my plans for Christmas I realise again that distances are a strange thing. When I moved to Recife back in June, I actually moved closer to home [home being my P.O. Box at the corner of Sparks & Elgin, for the purpose of this exercise] as Recife is 7207km from Ottawa while 8220km separate São Paulo from the world's second coldest capital. Flight patterns, however, laugh and snicker in the face of these distances, as the flight from Recife to Ottawa crosses 10,676km while the flight from São Paulo to Ottawa crosses a mere 8,548km. Living in São Paulo, I could head to Canada after a full day of work and arrive first thing in the morning (ah, the night flight), whereas I now have to take an extra day off to arrive at the same time, as all flights north still have to route south through São Paulo. Ditto for the trip back. There used to be a direct flight between Recife and Miami, but 9/11 put an end to that nonsense. So sad. On the other hand, only 5,848km and a direct flight separate Recife and Lisbon! Good thing I have a healthy disrespect for distance in the first place.