falling into grace

so after the last paper, i uncork a bottle of rosy's wine, and karen and i drink it while on the way to shanghai 30s. by the time john arrives, we are already pretty high. it was a good lunch though (karen's order: "uh, i want 3 'long's of char siew bao. (looks at us) and i'm NOT sharing with ANYONE!")) after recycling jokes about the nipple cameras in the nudie portrait of some random chink hung prominently in the restaurant, and sneaking sips of the wine despite the 15 pound corkage fee, we stumble out of the restaurant seeing double. karen says (pretty loudly): 'tonight, i am going to find a guy to SHAG!". i agree that this is a good plan. john, stone cold sober, pretends he doesn't know us.

i return home to PACK. it is a long process, ending with me carting 8 bags (yes people, and this is only for storage) to weelee's house. then we watch the england v. sweden match at the lincoln JCR, and it's filled with anxious brits, while i busy myself with deciding whether joe cole or john terry is fitter, and sheryl, john and i crack up everytime the commentator says: "and LAMPARD gets in there!"

fast forward to next evening. praying that my luggage is less than 32 kg, i return my key to the porters (for the last time! sniff) and get on the bus to heathrow. get off at the central bus station, which is a way away from terminal 3. so i set off for terminal 3 with a trolley on which my massive piece of luggage is precariously balanced. there's a tiny pavement next to the road with cars zooming by. i'm handling it until i look up and there's a LAMPPOST right in the middle of the path, effectively bisecting the pavement such that there is no way that i can push my trolley thru. i push the suitcase thru, then the trolley, and get on my way, the realisation that i am not at all sure that my flight is leaving from terminal 3 weighing heavily.

i get there, it's terminal 3, my suitcase is 31 kg, and it is like i have aged 10 years.

13 hour flight. (the highlights were: me asking every half an hour when the meal was going to be served and the stewardess' wonderful singlish "wah, hungry ar?", and reading vicki's awesome plane letter. and also, watching ricky gervais' "extras". so. brilliant!)

the plane lands 10 minutes early. so i emerge from the departure gates to see, absolutely no one. it doesn't help that some random in my plane too emerges to about 15 relatives. i wonder...hmm, what should i do now? so i go change some pounds, and get a 10 cent coin to use the payphone. but the ONLY coin operated phone in the damn airport is not working. the guy says, buy a calling card lor! only 5 dollars!". i say, "i don't want! let me use your phone!".

so i ring my sister:

her: sorry on the way!
me: where are daddy and mummy?!
her: dad's working, and mum has dance class.
me: DANCE CLASS?!
her: it's only once a week, she can't miss it.
me: this is horrific! DANCE CLASS trumps DAUGHTER?!
her: think what, you jesus ar?

ahhh, good times. it's been pretty surreal so far. bukit panjang plaza looks different! and boon lay has a new interchange. lol. thank god lot 1, my old homebase, is still recognisable. and i had sambal kangkong yesterday. ahhhhhh, my whole mouth just filled with saliva thinking about it.

Posted by chang! on Friday, June 23, 2006 at 10:31 AM | Permalink