Who needs in flight entertainment?

There's an alternative. For me it was watching the flight attendant trying to extract, using only a kitchen knife, a jammed table from the console so that the guy in front of me could eat. Before takeoff, the flight attendant tried brute force. It failed and the engineer had been called. He used a well known technique learnt during his engineering training called "brute force as applied by an engineer". It didn't work either..The table was very firmly jammed.  Once in flight, the passengers tried, but were taken off the job because of the risk, and the steward returned with the aforementioned kitchen knife which he brandished wildly as he pulled on the table. I'm glad it stayed put, as if it had suddenly yielded, a proximal elbowectomy on the adjacent passenger would have ensued.

The final solution? "Eat off the tray by putting it on your lap" . Genius!

Jet travel is a weird cacophony of inputs if you happen to be set to " attention deficit maximum plus". I'm watching the sunset, learning French, listening to Antony and the Johnstons, playing 2048, eating chicken (definitely not "Asian inspired" unless they are big gravy fans in Asia), reading about fat metabolism and calculating our ETA with regular adjustments based on the data that never rests on the screen just in front of me. Mary is sleeping, so I'm cerebrating for both of us.

Antony would have to be the best singer I have ever had the joy of listening to. He regularly moves me to tears. He's singing at my funeral. (No immediate plans..)

Singapore airport is fantastic. We have 12 hours here on the way home. I'd be content to wander the lounges for 12 hours, but Mary is sensible, so we've just booked a transit hotel room, with pool access. Hopefully a jet lag mitigation manoeuvre.. The alternative was a sleeping hostel sharing with several others at quite high rates.. Glad we have the booking for the hotel. Another hour and our big bird takes off.. A bientot!

I witnessed an amusing interaction on the second leg of the flight. A woman in front of us (who seemed obstinately entitled to do what she wanted rather than what was required by the airline) had removed her shoes. The steward asked her to put her shoes on for takeoff. "Why do I have to put my shoes on?" she demanded. "You must have your shoes on for takeoff and landing" replied a passing stewardess. "But why?" she asked. There was an awkward silence. The staff seemed to be silently considering telling her the truth, and you could hear her cogs grinding as the passenger tried to work out the answer to her own question. I was excited.. Would the attendants use the word "crash" or a euphemism like "event" or "incident"? Just as they were about to compose a reply, the woman visibly changed her expression as she realised and silently arose to retrieve her shoes which she put on. Crisis averted and most entertaining.

I only watched one movie. It was silly. I don't remember the name of it. A young boy could go back in time. It had some nice moments. British. Had Bill Nye in it as the father. I would give it 5/10 in real life but as airline fodder I give it 9.5. It amused me enough and whiled away the last 90 minutes of the flight.