Day One

01.20.06 (4:38 am)   [edit]
Pre Departure Got to the airport early. Had dinner at BK but couldn’t eat, as the reality of the departure kicked in. Bought a cute luggage tag from Times. A Yellow Ferrari. Finally went on board. Lousy seats, sat next to a vegan chick. Departure was delayed supposedly due to London curfew timings. SQ crew was as usual infatuated with Ang Mohs – couldn’t even get their attention for a glass of water (although the AMs were given tons of attention. No real cutlery – had to make do with plastic – security issues. Day One Arrived in Heathrow at 5.30 in the morning or so. No Skycab porter, no airline rep. Stood around like an idiot, saw another equally clueless Chevening fellow also waiting for someone to meet her (turns out she’s Vietnamese) then after fifteen minutes finally spotted someone with a Chevening clipboard/file thingie. He was just as clueless, and also looking for the airline rep. Finally went to the Travelex counter and got my cash - £200 plus another £400 in travellers checks – must learn how to use those. Got to know some Filipinos. Not sure if I like em – one parē was very irritating, with his American accent and inane questions – “you must save a lot of money cos you don’t switch on the aircon in your hotel/car” – duh … every heard of heaters? Even the Vietnamese chick lost interest. And he kept wanting to take pictures galore. Talk about trigger happy. Finally reached Hilton and had breakfast with Fidrus – he got there at 6 a.m. and had to wait til 9 to get his day room. The briefing was inconsequential – just got a file, and some Malaysians – very the kampung! One guy had his luggage torn cos of lousy handling. I told him to check with the airline, and he eventually managed to get a new bag – although he was treated like crap by the airline rep. Had a long drive from Hilton (which is actually within Heathrow – I noticed you can walk to Terminal 4) to UoB. Was a pleasant drive, slept thru some of it, awoke and was already in the outskirts of Birmingham. One word: low rise. All the shops were one storey affairs, saw shops like supermarkets, a bike shop, a pet store. The houses were all brick affairs, mostly two storeys. Quite quaint, reminded me of the houses along Tanjong Katong Road. Reached UoB, driver had difficulty finding Chamberlain Hall, where we were supposed to stay – Malaysians were grumbling that he should be asking for directions. Got checked in, found my room by myself. There’s no phone in the room! Must get that sorted out. Unpacked. Discovered they’ll be issuing me a laptop – won’t get that til Monday, though. Read all the documentation – Meeting a rep tomorrow afternoon. Its cold. Set up all my stuff, had a few quick sms’s. had a coffee. Checked out the building, went out along the path, learned all about the access codes and what the other key was for. Had a smoke, walked along the path and saw some ducks. Man the ducks are huge – saw a couple of white swans earlier – also huge. its still very bright. Haven’t eaten yet. Not sure what to do for the rest of the day. Got some readings for the course – some material is in Arabic – Yikes! More later – I think I’ll check out the place – need a jacket and must wear beanie and gloves. Maybe I’ll shed the upper thermals and see what its like. Night Woke up at a quarter past one and fixed myself a cup of coffee. Walked round the halls – it feels quite inhospitable cos everyone’s got their doors locked. Not at all like Temasek Hall when things would still be buzzing at this time. Nobody’s in the kitchen, everything’s quiet. I guess that’s winter for you. Went out for a smoke. There were some lads by the lake mucking about and shouting at the top of their voices. Some things are the same in all countries – they reminded me of drunk Indian boys running around with their drums at East Coast Park or other beaches, after some barbecue or what not, one too many Tigers in their bellies, shouting and yelling with rampant machismo. Also heard some young lass shouting her lungs out as well, this one from another block down the road – again sounding suspiciously alcohol related. This is the Midlands, in the middle of January, and the only witness to any drunken debauchery would be the ducks and geese in the lakes (whom I did faintly hear complaining at the unwelcome intrusion). After a while the cold got to me – I wasn’t wearing boots or gloves or a scarf or my beanie. I shall have to think about getting a pair of sneakers – the boots are too cumbersome to slip on all the time. Perhaps today I shall see about going out and buying a pair. Yes I’ve started to miss home already. I quite like the cold, except that it’s inconvenient to have so many things wrapped around you – I’m always a “less is more” kind of guy. It can sneak up on you. I miss it all.