Jkt1

The flight from LHW to SIN was uneventful. I declined the supper, having had Nanny's roast beef for lunch, and a decent tea in the Heathrow lounge (although I did have the satay skewers!). Watched a film - the second Kingsman one, which was even more far-fetched than the first - read for a little while, although not for long as I realised that battery conservation was the order of the day due to bringing a duff charger lead, and then turned in.

Slept reasonably well, albeit a little fitfully, but got a decent rest, and was up in time for breakfast and dozing whilst listening to music before arrival at Changi. We were a little late in, so not much time at the airport (enough for a trip to an electronics store for a new cable, and a quick pit-stop in the lounge) before on to the next flight. Read my book until the battery gave up (no obvious sign of a charger point in or around the chair) so listened to music for the rest of the way. My nano playlist hasn't changed in years, and mostly has music that only I like listening to, but in amongst its 400 song shuffle, something came on that I don't remember ever hearing before, or even choosing for the playlist in the first place. It was a song by Jason Mraz called Details in the Fabric, and it was lovely.

It made me cry a little bit.



If that wasn't enough, again of 400 or so songs on shuffle, the next one that popped up was Michael Jackson singing You are not alone.

You are not alone
I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart.

That made me cry a little bit more.

By now we were coming in to land, so I did a reasonable job of composing myself and thought that any redness of eyes was probably excusable by the length of the journey and the confusion over time zone. Getting through Jakarta airport was a simple exercise - a had a valid visa this time around - and we were collected and off into the city.

Straight to the Royal Kitchen for dinner with the PD before checking in to our regular hotel. Exchanged messages with home but didn't manage to speak as N was at the garage with the car. Slept ok until waking up at about 4am, feeling fairly hot, as I hadn't thought to set the air-con before getting in to bed. Had a very clear recollection of what I'd been dreaming about just before waking. N and I had been out shopping, in a clearly invented place, but a well to do gift shop in a well to do cathedral town. I'd found a rather nice 2018 diary, hand-made paper, lots of pictures, lots of gardening, lots or recipes, and I remember very clearly saying to N what a lovely Christmas present it would make for Mum - something to put all of her appointments in, and to look forward to the year ahead.

I didn't find the dream, or the remembering of it, all that upsetting, maybe even strangely comforting. Make of that what you will.

Anyway, back to sleep pretty much up to the alarm, and off to the office for the day.

Catch up

Time for a quick catch up for the record before getting on with reporting from overseas:

Friday
Getting up straight in the office, and successfully getting away early. A houseful of teenagers getting excited about booking a villa in Spain for a week in the summer (with all sorts of complicated financial arrangements being made, including alarming wads of cash appearing). A very large Papa John's order, as always, and this time a couple of bonus pizzas ordered for sharing with Kristen and Gavin.

Saturday
Rather disappointingly clobbered by migraine for much of the day, but rallied enough for a trip to Bluey in the evening for a meal out with N, J and I. Chose Bill's for the restaurant, and we were rather disappointed with the quality. Still, at least we were grateful that we didn't have the fish pie, which arrived at the table next door as we were finishing up, and which, we all agreed, deserved the description of 'rancid'. Beat a hasty retreat and got cupcakes, which Jake and I enjoyed whilst watching MOTD. Note also that J & I did our Premier League season end predictions, which I should post on here some time after I get back.

Sunday
Still not right in the head, but helped with packing by Nicky, and ended up having a quick nap before setting off in the taxi for the airport. Not ideal preparation, but head cleared on the way, and felt a lot better by the time that I'd arrived in the lounge and had some food.

Plane

Just about to board my plane to Singapore. Terrible form on the blogging over last couple of days. Will try harder over this trip. Might even do some offline blogging from planes for later uploading ...

NBA

Jake at the O2 to see the basketball this evening. Looking forward to hearing his stories when he gets back.

Mud

If it's been a rough day, or there's been disappointing news, always worth remembering people having a tougher time.

Last year we drove through the parts of Southern California that have been affected by the mudslides. Let's hope the worst is over for them and things might start to look up.

Cinderella

Today I have inserted a new 'widget' into the website - a holiday countdown. I had one before, but I deleted it, and so I've had to google to track down the necessary HTML code (as I don't want some crappy commercial widget with its associated advertising), and now we can see that it is 179 days until we go to Orlando in the summer.

This may not seem significant, but it is. Specifically it is less than 180 days, and this means that the window has opened for restaurant bookings, and so Nicky has already taken advantage, with a lunch reservation for 'Cinderella's Royal Table', the restaurant that is inside the Castle in the Magic Kingdom, where we will be going on the first day of our holiday.

This was, I believe, a special request from one the new members of our holiday party.

Fine with me, as I will have a whole new excuse for more castle photography, and not only that, I may even get my photo taken with a real-life Disney Princess! :)

Reshuffle

Is it just me or is this reshuffle a shambles, and apparently there's more to come tomorrow.

No question of any changes at the Home Office, Foreign Office, No. 11 or 'Brexit Dept.' and it seems several other ministers refused proposed changes as the day went on.

By the time the evening came one wonders whether Mrs May put her foot down when Justine Greening argued to stay at Education and said no. So, Ms Greening told her to stuff it and quit. Good for her!