My friend Peter Wright pointed out to me that any two points are on a straight line - so Antwerp isn't just on a straight line with Nikolaevsk-na-Amure, it's on a straight line with Hanoi or Seattle or Cape Town as well. What I meant to say was that they are almost on the same line of latitude. I should've payed more attention in geography class or math class or whatever class it was in which I was physically present when my mind was somewhere else. So thanks for pointing that out, Peter, I'll buy you a beer on friday, at least if I can find a straight line from my house to the train station ;)