The Flight Home - A Handwritten Post Of Sorts

Yesterday I was on a plane flying back into London. I wrote some bits and pieces in my journal and thought that it would be interesting, a la Cerno, to publish it as a handwritten post. But I forgot two things; that my handwriting is crap, unreadable to anyone bar me, and even I struggle sometimes and that I'd have to take a decent quality photo with a tripod and things and that's quite hard to do when I'm knackered.

Instead I'll type it out for you and leave you with the feeble attempt at a photograph above. It's only a page but the real journal entry lasts for three pages, several hours and several different Countries' airspace. It's word for word, complete with any grammatical or spelling errors made as I wrote. Here we go:

28/12/08 - 8.02PM Singapore time, 5.32 PM CMB time, 12.02 PM GMT (I think)

As I write this I've got Starlight by Muse blasting into my ears via my iPod and my mind is in one of those "overjoyed with life but amazed by the power of music (yet again!)" modes.

It's THE song that has felt like the soundtrack to my life for the last 2 years, not really what I was planning to write about here, but I'm on a tangent now and may as well explore it before abandoning ship or pushing forward on this tangential journey.

And, talking of journeys, this post comes to you from seat 36J of a Singapore Airlines A380, my now definite favourite plane. In a minute I might write a sentence from either 36H or 36K, not because I plan to jump in the lap of my next door neighbours while they're fast asleep, but because I've got three seats all to myself and that's the kind of guy I am. This post is being handwritten into my journal and I fully intend to copy it word for word into my blog and hit the "publish" button. That is, assuming I can think of some vaguely funny stuff to say, which would appear to be in the "not happening" mode right now.

I'll take a break now actually as a tray of aircraft food is on its way to me. The SQ menu calls it a "light meal" and I wonder if, like Joey in Friends, I might be using too many quotation marks as I write, or "as write" See, I knew I'd come up with something "funny".

After my light meal I'll resume the random writings. I wonder if this might be a highly interesting post, kind of like a live feed, though published a day or two after it all happened.

1.05 PM GMT - Somewhere over Turkmenistan.

The light meal is over and the aircraft's lights have been turned off for all of us to sleep, something that won;t occur easily for me, what with the pounding bassline and spectacular drumming of Hysteria, live at Wembley by Muse, blasting into the RD ears. I was at the gig at which this was recorded and have to learn the song for a rehearsal in about a fortnight's time. Very nice, but I'll be lucky to perform it at Wembley Station let alone the Stadium.

The recently consumed meal hit the spot, no more and no less. Noodles with pork and things was good, the cold meat with its salad of unidentifiable vegetables was tasty in the way a Britney Spears gig in which she mimed to everything so perfectly that you couldn't tell she was miming, but you knew it anyhow, sort of way.

The menu said "Chocolate delight" for the dessert. The "Chocolate delight" was actually a Snickers bar. Frankly that was a let down. I had expected one of those little rectangles with a texture like Wattalapam and a taste like a pudding that would be eaten on a space station, not a Sri Lankan one either, as that would just be Wattalapam or Chocolate Biscuit Pudding. So that was a disappointment.

Chocolate Delight! - A bar of Snickers. Yeah right.

And what is it about Asian bread? I just don't understand why Sri Lankan and Singaporean white bread has got a texture and feel just the same as British and European offerings yet the have a slightly sweet taste, like someone's spilled some sugar into the dough by mistake.

The music has kind of gone full circle, the live version of Starlight this time. Isn't it a bit mad how I've got about 7000 or more songs on my iTunes but I have such a small core of maybe 50 or 100 songs that I listen to with so much regularity.

Now, with just over 5 1/2 hours until London, I'm spoilt for choice for things to do. There are 2 books on the seat next to me to read, the iPod full of its charms, the SQ in flight entertainment system stuffed to the top with entertainment and some tiredness looming largely over me.

A vague plan is sitting in my head. It's along the lines of some sleep, a bit more rambling afterwards, but only until the end of the page, so I can photograph the 2 and put that in the post, (that bit didn't work) though you won't be able to read my writing anyway.

3.20 PM GMT - Somewhere over Russia.

Just under 4 hours until London now, this bit is accompanied by Natalie Imbruglia and my desire to listen to the album, the one with "torn" on it. Pure pop, nothing really to write home about, or blog about. I've read part 3 of the epic novel I'm reading; World without End by Ken Follett. It's pulled me in and captured and captivated me in that addictive way that good writing does. The name "Ken" doesn't sound like a novelist though does it? AA, JK, PG or JR are proper writers' names, or Salman or Ashok. Ken is a bloke who spends hour after hour making sense out of a spreadsheet.

I'll take my leave now. It's rare that I can listen and enjoy music, ironic I know, and I've moved to No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, it demands my attention.

Laters x PS - Just a Girl - Absofuckinglutely fanfuckingtastic song!

And there it is. A word for word, error for error replica of exactly what I wrote in my journal. If nothing else it proves how much editing I have to do before I actually publish a post.

I wish you a happy and successful New Year and thank you for reading my blog so far.

RD