View from the top

Last week I was leaving the shores of Dubai heading back home - again! I was rostered onto this flight and weighed up the offers of swaps from other crew and decided that it was far too cold in Europe to be giving up a sunny Brisbane just yet.

We were blessed to have two truly delightful cockpit crew who were very encouraging of the rest of the crew to use the spare jump seats in the cockpit for take off and landings. Luckily I was in an "additional" position coming into Brisbane which meant I wasn't responsible for operating a door and was able to take up the enticing offer of a front row seat for touch down. The flight path which we take coming into the airport leads us over the heart of Brisbane city. I gazed down over the glassy, snaking river and the cluster of tall city buildings, with their tops reaching up into the golden morning sunshine. Looking out over the city made me feel very lucky to think that not only was this beautiful place my 'home', but that I was experiencing the view from inside the cockpit! Had someone told me two years ago that I would be enjoying an early morning vista of my hometown from behind the pilot I wouldn't have believed it for a second. Of all the views we see on landing, my favourites by far are the Australian cities.

The day before our Brisbane arrival we spent a night in Singapore. For lunch that day I shared, with one of the other crew, a very large selection of freshly steamed dumplings before we perused the shops. I really enjoy looking through the markets and shops there, I have found that the clothing and accessories are so very cute with such interesting little details - the shoes I bought are testament to that! I stumbled across these gems and instantly fell in love, but quickly recalled my previous attempts at shoe shopping in this fair city and how my measly size 36/6.5 foot was not catered for in this civilisation of pint-sized citizens where the average shoe size must be equivalent to that of a small child. After a few minutes of standing and staring at the heels, imagining them on my feet in a scene reminiscent of a 1950's musical with tuxedo clad men and a spiral staircase, I decided to give the shoes a go. Yes, they fit (just) and my faith in Singapore's shoe industry has once again been restored.