Above: Nice upgraded car, considering we booked a Ford Focus.
Immigration at Heathrow was superfast for a 0550 arrival. The Premier Lane invitation for Business Class passengers was quite unnecessary. I was at the kerbside by 0620.
Kim picked me up at the departures level (illegally) as there wasn’t really a pickup area unless one parked. As it was still early, we went to his B&B for breakfast, something I didn’t need. Due to a miscommunication, I was served a full English breakfast when all I wanted was a banana and some cereal with a cuppa. Somehow, I tucked it all in without feeling bloated.
After a shower, we set off to my brother-in-law’s place in Downham Market about 2 hours away. We’d be there for a couple of nights before attending my nephew Paul’s wedding in Norwich on Saturday. We had a lovely Audi turbo-diesel which was a 4-class upgrade from the Ford Focus we had booked.
My brother Poh Hui and his wife Hilda were in Downham. With Amelie from France who was also coming to the wedding, it was a full house.
In the evening, Kim’s sister Jo messaged me from London to checked if I had seen the news. I looked on my phone to was shocked to learn about MH17 having been shot down over eastern Ukraine by the pro-Russian separatists.
I had just flown over the area this morning some 12 hours before. I had wondered about the wisdom of overflying Afghanistan and Ukraine during the flight. But obviously, this was not something expected as Singapore Airlines was only 2 minutes (25km) behind MH17 and Air India about the same distance in the other direction. Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa had been amongst the most active airlines in the area over the past week, while airlines that had been there on the same day included Austrian, Etihad and Emirates. Our lives are like the rolling of dice.
Over the next few days, MH17 made headlines. Singapore Airlines claimed that they did not fly through Ukraine when they had only just rerouted. Then ignorant journalists claimed that some other airlines didn’t fly through Ukraine or had rerouted, when in fact those airlines didn’t have any or much necessity to be in the area.
Worldwide condemnation of Russia and Putin followed from seemingly all Western countries. Western media reported that the rebels were not cooperating with access for investigation, release of the bodies and the blackbox. Malaysia was silent and to the surprise of most Western governments negotiated the release of bodies and the blackbox.