Sunday
08Feb2009
Return To The UK: Part 1 - High Wycombe
Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 9:21PM
For a change, I'm not going to apologise for not blogging for over a week. This past week has been the busiest of my life by a long way! I would like to point out though that I did start writing couple of blog posts on the airplane and a few since then on my iPod but for some odd reason the Wordpress app kept losing the drafts - so I gave up.
The journey back home was fine. There were no delays and no lost baggage. We had to spend seven hours in Singapore airport which, actually, was not as bad as it might sound. The place is massive and has lots of shops, bars and eateries as well as plenty of free internet access points and a giant free wifi network! They also had these nifty little cabinets where you could lock your mobile phone, iPod, etc behind a perspex shield whilst you charged it - completely free of charge.
The worst thing about Singapore airport was that I got some terrible news in it; the MX-5 that I had been eying up for weeks and weeks bloody sold whilst I was there! I was so pissed off that it had sat on a forecourt somewhere for ages with no interest whilst I was halfway around the world and then sells when I'm just 18 hours away. C'est la vie I suppose.
The final leg of the journey back (Singapore to London) was on the new Airbus A380 (the so-called 'super jumbo'). It was great. Fi and I had exit row seats and, consequently, had masses of legroom. The entertainment on-board was excellent with a large screen and on-demand movies and TV shows. The service on the flight was flawless. I would definitely fly with Singapore Airlines again. As is customary on all long-haul flights, I was asked to attend a 'medical emergency'. It was just some woman who had woken up after sleeping upright for 8 hours with swollen ankles - she was worried she had had a DVT. Nonsense, but easy to sort out.
13 hours after getting on the A380 and 27 hours after leaving Adelaide - we arrived at London Heathrow airport. Mum and Dad collected us just after 07:00 (we actually had to wait for them as customs and baggage handling worked incredibly smoothly for a change!). It was -2 degrees when we landed. That's a reduction of 47 degrees from what we were experiencing in Adelaide the day before. Quite a shock to the system!
After getting home, showering and having some breakfast (pain au chocolat, thank you very much M & S!) we drove to Chalfont St. Giles to look at my second choice MX-5 (afterall, a guy has to have a contingency plan). The car I wanted was the Euphonic special edition in metallic red. This car was the stock 1.8 2004 model and it's list price was £1000 cheaper. It's gorgeous. I took it for a test drive and it's an absolute hoot to drive. It feels like you're driving a go-kart! The asking price was £6000 and I managed to haggle him down to £5750 with a year's MOT. The MOT was a bit of a sticking point actually - it couldn't be done that day so I'd have to come back and collect the car on Monday (the day we were due to head to Bristol). Fine, I thought. How wrong was I? More on that later.
After leaving a deposit on the car, Mum and Dad drove us to the Hyundai garage in Wycombe to take a look at the new i30 which Fi is keen to buy (although she hadn't decided against the VW Golf). The i30 is beautiful. The stock model comes with loads of gadgets and nice touches (like iPod connectivity, air-conditioned glove box, etc). The finish on the car is of an excellent standard too. To sweeten the deal - Hyundai have dropped the list price by about £1500 which means you can pick a brand new one up (with metallic paint) for £10,000. Fi was very tempted to order one then and there but we've decided against it. Even though my MX-5 is not the most practical car, I'm the only one who needs a car to get to work at present so we're going to hold off getting a second car for a bit.
After the garage, we headed into the town centre and treated Mum and Dad to lunch at M & S before going our separate ways for a bit of shopping. We both picked up an Apple iPhone (the 16GB versions). I went for the slightly more expensive £45 per month option which gives me 1200 minutes of talk time and (I think) 500 texts as well as unlimited internet browsing. The main reason for taking the more expensive plan was that it meant the phone was cheaper initially (£50 instead of £150). I also picked up a lovely new Hugo Boss shirt in the House of Fraser sale for £30.
We headed back home to get a couple of hours sleep before treating Mum, Dad and Tammy to dinner at the William Robert Loosley (a new Weatherspoons pub) which was nice. After that we headed up to the club to see some of the regulars. I had a nice chat with uncle Graham and Ash. We didn't stay too late - it had been a long day for us afterall!
Sunday was busy too. We woke up feeling refreshed, welcoming our first sleep in a bed for 48 hours. In the morning we did a little bit of shopping with my sister. Fi bought a new suit for her interview on Tuesday (it looks gorgeous) and I bought a sat nav (the Garmin nüvi 265W). We had coffee with my sister in Caffe Nero and I introduced her to the mocha (I'm not sure she appreciated it fully though).
After shopping, we headed back home and spent a couple of hours with Danny and his family before going out for food at the Harvester which was nice.
Monday was a nightmare. I woke up, looked out the window at 06:00 (jet lag was still interfering with my sleeping pattern) and saw 6 inches of snow. Bollocks. When you're a kid, snow is fun. When you're a grown-up and need to collect your new car and drive to Bristol it's a nightmare. I waited until 09:00 to phone the garage and was (unsurprisingly) told that I wouldn't be able to get my car as it hadn't been valeted or MOT'd. Bugger. Fi and I packed up a small amount of stuff and walked to the train station in the thick snow and ice and caught the train to Bristol (via London). The journey really wasn't too bad once we were on the rail network, although it did set us back £120! The snow caused complete chaos over the south east with all buses in London being cancelled and most of the tube network suspended. It took my poor Dad nearly 3 hours to get to work (via foot and bus) when it normally takes about 30 minutes.
The journey back home was fine. There were no delays and no lost baggage. We had to spend seven hours in Singapore airport which, actually, was not as bad as it might sound. The place is massive and has lots of shops, bars and eateries as well as plenty of free internet access points and a giant free wifi network! They also had these nifty little cabinets where you could lock your mobile phone, iPod, etc behind a perspex shield whilst you charged it - completely free of charge.
The worst thing about Singapore airport was that I got some terrible news in it; the MX-5 that I had been eying up for weeks and weeks bloody sold whilst I was there! I was so pissed off that it had sat on a forecourt somewhere for ages with no interest whilst I was halfway around the world and then sells when I'm just 18 hours away. C'est la vie I suppose.
The final leg of the journey back (Singapore to London) was on the new Airbus A380 (the so-called 'super jumbo'). It was great. Fi and I had exit row seats and, consequently, had masses of legroom. The entertainment on-board was excellent with a large screen and on-demand movies and TV shows. The service on the flight was flawless. I would definitely fly with Singapore Airlines again. As is customary on all long-haul flights, I was asked to attend a 'medical emergency'. It was just some woman who had woken up after sleeping upright for 8 hours with swollen ankles - she was worried she had had a DVT. Nonsense, but easy to sort out.
13 hours after getting on the A380 and 27 hours after leaving Adelaide - we arrived at London Heathrow airport. Mum and Dad collected us just after 07:00 (we actually had to wait for them as customs and baggage handling worked incredibly smoothly for a change!). It was -2 degrees when we landed. That's a reduction of 47 degrees from what we were experiencing in Adelaide the day before. Quite a shock to the system!
After getting home, showering and having some breakfast (pain au chocolat, thank you very much M & S!) we drove to Chalfont St. Giles to look at my second choice MX-5 (afterall, a guy has to have a contingency plan). The car I wanted was the Euphonic special edition in metallic red. This car was the stock 1.8 2004 model and it's list price was £1000 cheaper. It's gorgeous. I took it for a test drive and it's an absolute hoot to drive. It feels like you're driving a go-kart! The asking price was £6000 and I managed to haggle him down to £5750 with a year's MOT. The MOT was a bit of a sticking point actually - it couldn't be done that day so I'd have to come back and collect the car on Monday (the day we were due to head to Bristol). Fine, I thought. How wrong was I? More on that later.
After leaving a deposit on the car, Mum and Dad drove us to the Hyundai garage in Wycombe to take a look at the new i30 which Fi is keen to buy (although she hadn't decided against the VW Golf). The i30 is beautiful. The stock model comes with loads of gadgets and nice touches (like iPod connectivity, air-conditioned glove box, etc). The finish on the car is of an excellent standard too. To sweeten the deal - Hyundai have dropped the list price by about £1500 which means you can pick a brand new one up (with metallic paint) for £10,000. Fi was very tempted to order one then and there but we've decided against it. Even though my MX-5 is not the most practical car, I'm the only one who needs a car to get to work at present so we're going to hold off getting a second car for a bit.
After the garage, we headed into the town centre and treated Mum and Dad to lunch at M & S before going our separate ways for a bit of shopping. We both picked up an Apple iPhone (the 16GB versions). I went for the slightly more expensive £45 per month option which gives me 1200 minutes of talk time and (I think) 500 texts as well as unlimited internet browsing. The main reason for taking the more expensive plan was that it meant the phone was cheaper initially (£50 instead of £150). I also picked up a lovely new Hugo Boss shirt in the House of Fraser sale for £30.
We headed back home to get a couple of hours sleep before treating Mum, Dad and Tammy to dinner at the William Robert Loosley (a new Weatherspoons pub) which was nice. After that we headed up to the club to see some of the regulars. I had a nice chat with uncle Graham and Ash. We didn't stay too late - it had been a long day for us afterall!
Sunday was busy too. We woke up feeling refreshed, welcoming our first sleep in a bed for 48 hours. In the morning we did a little bit of shopping with my sister. Fi bought a new suit for her interview on Tuesday (it looks gorgeous) and I bought a sat nav (the Garmin nüvi 265W). We had coffee with my sister in Caffe Nero and I introduced her to the mocha (I'm not sure she appreciated it fully though).
After shopping, we headed back home and spent a couple of hours with Danny and his family before going out for food at the Harvester which was nice.
Monday was a nightmare. I woke up, looked out the window at 06:00 (jet lag was still interfering with my sleeping pattern) and saw 6 inches of snow. Bollocks. When you're a kid, snow is fun. When you're a grown-up and need to collect your new car and drive to Bristol it's a nightmare. I waited until 09:00 to phone the garage and was (unsurprisingly) told that I wouldn't be able to get my car as it hadn't been valeted or MOT'd. Bugger. Fi and I packed up a small amount of stuff and walked to the train station in the thick snow and ice and caught the train to Bristol (via London). The journey really wasn't too bad once we were on the rail network, although it did set us back £120! The snow caused complete chaos over the south east with all buses in London being cancelled and most of the tube network suspended. It took my poor Dad nearly 3 hours to get to work (via foot and bus) when it normally takes about 30 minutes.
Reader Comments (2)
Hello, sorry to seem random but I usually looked forward to reading your Heroes review but you haven't done the last 2episodes. What's going on? =( Hehe, hope you're alright and enjoying the UK. I live in London so I guess you're hating the weather here. :p
Hi Aaron. Thanks for the compliment :-)
I don't currently have internet access at home so I haven't seen them! It's gutting. Should remedy that soon so hopefully I can get back to reviewing (and enjoying) Heroes!