SQ322 - This was the flight that I took and was also the longest flight I have taken till date. Economy class seating really stretched my dollar to the limits. There was practically no room for any decent (or indecent) leg movement. It almost seemed as though I was caught in a tight fix.
The food that was served was edible and palatable. Hey, it came from a menu specially designed by a chef from London who is supposedly a renowned chef. Supposedly. My seat was originally a seat smacked between two girls - Clare and Sophia. However as Clare had a sudden realisation that she frequents the toilet far too many times while on board the plane, we made a mutual exchange The window seat (where there wasn't much of a view either considering that it was a night flight) was no better for sitting just in front of me was a girl who could not stop throwing up. Yes, she even threw up before the plane departed. Behind me - was a young African-American child who couldn't stop kicking my seat throughout the flight. I kept to my silence and diverted my attention to other things (like Surf's Up - one of the movies for in flight entertainment)
Welcome to London! So said this woman with a phony-accented English over the intercom for all on board SQ322 to hear. 13 hours and 30 minutes. My legs were numb from the sitting and lack of movement. Somehow, the suggested periodic exercises to perform to avoid cramps and whatever not didn't seem plausible.
London-Heathrow Terminal 3 was a mess. One serious HUGE mess! There was a serious lack in structure and organisation plus the queue was ridiculously long. In addition, the staff there (perhaps due to the heavy workload and meagre salary) were kind of rude and somewhat obnoxious as well. Well, welcome to discrimination at its finest. My consolation - holding on to a Singapore passport. At least I was still treated with some dignity and civility that amounted, perhaps in their definition of according respect to another individual, to some extent. I could not say the same to those who held on to an Indian or worst, Pakistani passport. Yet what befuddled me most was a simple fact that almost all personnel manning the customs booth were of migrant descent and would have therefore experienced similar discrimination if not ostracism. Well, perhaps this would be a fine showing of the sage old adage 'a tit of a tat'. So much for liberation!
Finally I managed to collect my luggage at the conveyor belt. All in safe hands and intact. Thank God!
What caught me in surprise was how one entire group (and I really mean one entire group) of ***** scholars (let's try to be sensitive here especially when it involves the stars and how much we love to A-ppreciate it) were standing clustered together, anxiously waiting for their luggage to come out of the conveyor belt at row 6 (which read Bangkok) when it was at row 9 (which read Singapore). I was indeed dumbfounded - hoping for someone to knock some stars (oops I meant sense) out of me.
En route to Imperial via the school shuttle bus. Exciting and invigorating. I can't wait to explore this new environment and of course, start school.
An error in judgement will lead to repercussions.
I made a serious lack of judegement recently (just before I departed actually) all in a moment of haste and fleeting excitement. While I know the end user understands my intention yet I think I am once again reminded of the simple fact of having to think of the bigger picture, the larger scale.
I have indeed learnt dearly from this lesson and yes I have to be more cautious in the future.
The consolation - the other party isn't holding it against me which I am indeed thankful for.
My prayer: the repercussions will not be devasting and will be easily containable.
While I was watching random videos on youtube, I stumbled upon this particular video:
The song is 'How Great is our God' by Chris Tomlin
This is the lyrics for the song:
The Butter Factory at Robertson Quay was where UK Bound 2007 was held for this year.
I was lost! I couldn't find my way. There was no light at the end of any tunnel that could lead me to the right directions. So much for my optimism and my trust in my gut feeling. After having walked endless rounds Clarke Quay and by the river (trust me I walked passed a flier distributor 5 times that on the sixth time, it almost seemed that we knew each other for an eternity!)
Finally I reached! With the help of Xing Cong who came at 7pm (the event was supposed to start at 8pm) to lead his LSE friends there.
My purpose for attending UK Bound 2007 - to support Reuben and Clare. Pity they weren't paired up together. That would have indeed been a great show! Surprisingly (actually owing to an act of sabotage), Xing Cong and Ashraf were also pulled up on stage for the pageant together with Reuben and Clare. It almost became The MOE Show (Ta da!)
Vodka lime (quite a refreshing taste actually) and Asahi Beer (both complimentary drinks by the way - note the grin!) plus some silly dancing around, I left at about 12.30am hoping that the Night Rider will be in service but to my disappointment. It was not Friday, Weekends or a Public Holiday. The painful taxi ride home!
On my way home, I tried to rehearse the lines I would say to the school for Teacher's Day but somehow, my mind was drifting away to a land far far away.