Well, my quest to find a turkey in Turkey has been unsuccessful. It looks like I’ll be eating the slightly less traditional Thanksgiving lamb kebab this evening.

My (particularly appropriate) Thanksgiving timesheet

I filled in my timesheet today. The way that they’ve set up the project codes made me chuckle, but I guess it’s only appropriate that the week of Thanksgiving is all coded to “Turkey Time”!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hope that you’re all enjoying a wonderful holiday with your families and friends.

I’m back in Singapore again, at least for a few days before I head off to Bangkok. British Airways tried to stick me in a middle seat again, but after a little negotiating I managed to snag an aisle.

I was running late. It was all the taxi driver’s fault – he arrived at the house 30 minutes early, so I went racing around the house to get everything ready. We set off about 15 minutes ahead of schedule and were making good progress towards the office when Aude phoned be to ask whether I’d left my keys at home on purpose? Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but my remote access token is on my keyring – and without it, I’m pretty much incommunicado. So we made a quick u-turn and were headed back to Canterbury. Aude met us mid-route, so it only cost me about 45 minutes in all.

I made it to the airport on time, thanks to a very heavy-footed taxi driver. Raced into the lounge, grabbed some dinner, then slept for most of the 14 hour flight back to Singapore. Headed to the hotel and did a little work, unpacked, basically got settled for the week.

Decided to treat myself to a Japanese steak for dinner, then a massage (how great is it that the massage places over here are open until 10pm on a Sunday?), now going to head into a hot shower and hopefully get some sleep. It’s a busy week this week and I need all the help I can get…

What to do on a rainy Saturday in Singapore? Singapore Science Centre, I thought, hoping to catch the new Imax movie about the possibility of a massive hurricane in New Orleans (filmed three months before Katrina) and it’s post-Katrina follow-up. Since I was going all the way out there, I thought I’d go around the museum as well to see what was on offer.

The short answer was: not much, if you’re over nine years old. I was the only person there without small children in tow. The only exhibits that I found really interesting were the ones that were sponsored by corporate sponsors and clearly aimed at a different audience – I learned quite a lot about oil production from the exhibit sponsored by Shell, and even learned a lot about the work that my former company did to help them maximise their existing oil assets.

I also discovered the “Pharmacopeia Arts” exhibit, sponsored by GSK and Roche. It’s no wonder Aude went into pharmacy. When clever pharmaceutical companies can combine the wonders of chemical science with a little fashion, it becomes the obvious career choice for any teenage girl…

The “Pharmacopeia Arts” exhibit at the Singapore Science Centre

The CNS (Central Nervous System) Cowboy Hat!

The CNS (Central Nervous System) Cowboy Hat!

The Diabetes Spaghetti Strip

The Diabetes Spaghetti Strip

The Antibiotics Handbag (Prada it ain’t!)

The Antibiotics Handbag

Still, it was worth it all to catch the film – “Hurricane on the Bayou” – that was showing. It was absolutely amazing – both the breath-taking cinematography and the excellent documentary coverage of Katrina and her aftermath. The Imax experience really brought Katrina to life in a way that even visiting New Orleans in person couldn’t. If this movie comes to an Imax theatre near you, definitely catch the film.

Thanks to my very tenacious secretary, I managed to get a ticket out of Singapore last weekend. Nothing available in business class, so I had to slum it with the jetset in first class. Which, in light of how good the new British Airways business class is, has got to represent some of the most poorly-spent money in the world. Never mind, I was able to get home for the weekend, which is what was really important.

Had I not been home for the weekend, for example, I wouldn’t have been able to watch England trounce France in the rugby. (Yes, I know what happened to the English last night at the hands of South Africa, but the less said about the better). And I wouldn’t have been able to see Alessandro’s rather spectacular do-it-yourself plastic surgery…

Sandro swears blind that this was self-inflicted, but we secretly all suspect it involved Virginie and a frying pan…

After a few days back in the UK, it was straight back to Singapore. The hotel are treating me like a long-lost friend – I was greeted this time with a lovely pot of tea waiting for me in my room, and they’ve been leaving me little treats all week.

Tea waiting for me…

Gina’s gone this week. Though she devoured most of the Cantonese food in Singapore, she’s left a little bit for the rest of us. So I’ve spent the past few days eating everything that isn’t Cantonese – Korean, Japanese, Lebanese, even a room service hamburger.

After a long flight home, I enjoyed a nice weekend in the UK. Highlights included watching England beat France in the rugby while surrounded by Frenchmen, having a traditional Sunday roast at the pub with friends, and some of the most glorious weather we’ve had in a long time. Lowlights included having to jumpstart my car (despite having recently replaced the battery – ugh!), seeing Sandro’s impression of a rugby player (post-ER), and spending most of the weekend in a jetlag-induced haze.

Today I’ve got to unpack and repack in time for my flight tomorrow. I’ve got ten days in Singapore then I’ll be back again to celebrate Aude’s birthday. She’s off to NY on business – we both arrive at Heathrow around 5am on Saturday morning. At least we’ll be jetlagged together, although our body clocks will be 12 hours apart…

“Confirmed first class” — the happiest words a business traveller can hear!

Singapore – London is one of the busiest air routes in the world, with limited capacity between the two cities. I’ve been desperately trying to get home for a long weekend in London but have not had much joy — there were 27 people reportedly ahead of me on the business class waitlist.

With some arm-twisting back at the office, I managed to get our MD to approve travel in first class — which was also booked solid. So I went onto another waitlist.

But all’s well that ends well — after several days on the waitlist I’ve finally cleared into a first class seat and will be back on my way to the UK in time for the weekend!