I eschewed the offer of a car to the airport because it was an early morning trip on a Bank Holiday and I reckoned the tube would be faster and quieter. It is also a rather pleasant trip on the Piccadily line once you emerge from the underground section - it's a gentle pace to be sure compared to the Heathrow express but does not subject its passengers to a very annoying, constantly looping TV.
It's also absurdly expensive and although my business class ticket was equally absurd you do at least get something in return. From the moment you arrive you get a separate queue and the satisfying sight of a bright orange label "priority" stuck to your luggage . You then proceed through the Fast Track security channel and are soon safely enclosed in the lounge. I wasn't very impressed with the lounge but that is probably because we were spoiled by the new facilities BA has at Terminal 5. Everything was there - champagne, beer, wine, sandwiches, cakes and the like - but it looked rather corporate and generic.
If that sounds pompous and picky that's because it is. It's just still a little new for me and everyone wants to fit in and the best way to fit in is usually to appear jaded and fed up. Still I was really excited when it came to going on the plane, which was the Airbus 380 double decker monster.
Decades ago aviation advances meant that we could fly supersonic from London to New York. Given its dreadful envirnomental impact it is perhaps no bad thing that Concorde flies no more. But something was needed to make plane travel a little more exciting than the prospect of having to find a quid to go to the toilet on a Ryanair jet flying to an industrial site many miles away from your intended destination. The A380 was surely going to be it.
And it is a wonder to look at - a little bit like a beluga whale from the front, strange and not appearing to be from this world. The bit I missed though was going upstairs - the connecting bridge simply glides up or down to your destination floor which makes perfect sense but means that once you're in it looks like any other aircraft and some of the magic is gone.
The business class seats are huge and could comfortably seat two John Prescotts. The service is excellent and the food sublime. No reasonable human being could want for more on a flight but even we esconced in business class luxury gazed longingly at the front of the plane. The first class on the A380 is spectacular - it is not a seat you get but a suite with a separate bed and seat. On the Emirates service you can even take a shower in the sky.
There are some who take the James song literally - 'If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor' - and sat bitterly bemoaning the fact that in first class you get Krug whereas you have to put up with Piper Heidsieck in business class. Two old crones I heard complained that the beds were uncomfortable and the designer 'should be shot'.
Don't worry - to keep me real I had only to think of the next flight I will take. Economy class to San Francisco with Harriet. Every time I thought of it I shuddered and downed some Piper Heidsieck and was damned grateful for it.
However, even the suite class passengers must be glad to get off the plane after 13 hours. Thankfully the label had done its job and I had picked up my bag and was out of the airport in ten minutes. My taxi driver gave me a history of the Changi airport and explained that it had all been constructed on reclaimed land. The motorway leading from the aiport to Singapore proper was long and straight and no matter whether his story about it being an alternative landing strip in emergencies was true it filled in the time and helped me to start adjusting to the accent or more precisely the speed at which people talk.
I checked in to my hotel and realised immediately that J could never come here. I was on the 20th floor and there looked to be a similar number above me. The internal lifts were transparent and even I preferred to keep my eyes fixed on the control panel. One of the big disappointments about leaving Field View was losing our power shower and the new one in London is frankly attrocious. But this hotel took the power shower to a whole new level - there were two showerheads built into the fixed unit and a separate freestanding shower just in case. It certainly blasted away the cobwebs and I set off for the office.
When I took over as the head of the front office model validation group I decided I had to visit Singapore. We have had a group there for several years and no one from the management team has ever been to see them. I wanted to give them the benefit of access to me in person and try to make them feel valued members of the group. Since we are setting up another group in New York too I shall be doing quite a bit more of this.
Singapore was chosen as a lower cost location but it has proved popular with some of the London managers who have chosen to relocate there. Quality of life is usually cited as the reason and provided you have the means I can see some of the attraction. You can have maids, cooks and nannies, pay low taxes and enjoy hot weather the year round. The main downside I could see at work is that because of the time differences people seem to work late to ensure they can have meetings with London and meetings with New York are really out of the question.
Still, every day we ate out at a different restaurant, first Chinese then Indian then Thai and then Japanese. It was comparable in price to our in-house restaurant in London but vastly superior in quality. On Thursday we went out for a team dinner. My local manager there is French so I suggested we tried a French restaurant and he obliged by picking Au Petit Salut.
For years I just turned up to work dinners, ate and left but now I was the one who had to pay for everything and scrutinise the costs. The restaurant was staggeringly expensive and the policy would just about cover the set menu. No one could be persuaded to try the escargot so we all went for the crab and avacado salade which was lovely except for the caviar, which I can't stand. For the main course you could have sea bream or veal. I went for the veal and was actually relieved to be told that it was out and would be replaced with more conventional beef. It was all of a really high standard and presented in a delicate and precise way. For desert we all went for the souffle and they all arrived perfectly and simultaneously.
On the other evenings a smaller group of us went out and tried different areas of town for drinks and entertainment. The first night we spent in the marina near the office gazing out at the mental casino. Imagine three skyscapers with a cruise liner stuck on the top and you get the idea. The second night we explored some of the standard ex-pat bars along the Singapore River and on the third night we visited the Arab quarter and later on I went for an exploration of China town.
There is a real incentive to drink cocktails in Singapore because they are the same price as a beer but actually I grew to like the local Tiger beer. There is something very pleasant in having beer from an iced pint glass while baking in the heat at midnight.
This strange place in South East Asia where the sun shines but where English is the dominant language, they drive on the left and even use our plugs will not appeal to everyone but I enjoyed my time there immensely. I was desperate to see J and H again but sad still to leave and I'd like to return.
But first there is the matter of an 11 hour flight with a 16 month old next month. Still, at the end of that flight we shall be in San Francisco so it is a good problem to have and you won't hear me complain. Too much.
