safety tips. never leave a candle--lit jack--o--lantern unattended. there should always be supervision. just imagine what may happen if the flame goes astray. and never put a lit candle inside of an artificial pumpkin. it's really very dangerous. there's a good chance that it'll melt and catch fire. just don't risk it. On the plane home, I think about the whole notion of translation. Perhaps translation is one of the most accurate barometers of the power of a language. It seems to me that works are usually translated from weaker into mightier languages. The more a language is threatened, the stronger the urge becomes to translate from that language. The mightier a language, the stronger the urge to be translated into that language. England or America could not be bothered how many of their major works are translated into other languages, whereas Holland, Sweden, Germany, France not only ensure that books by J.M. Coetzee, John Updike, John le Carré, Chinua Achebe are translated into their languages, but also that the important works in their own tongues are translated into English.