Don’t look them in the eyes!

It took us a little while to re-acquaint ourselves with the character of London, the city we called home for almost five years. Jenny laughed at my foolishness this morning when I walked by a stranger on the early-morning streets of South Kensington, looked him square in the eyes and issued a hearty, ‘Good morning!’. The man winced and recoiled, as if I was threatening to brain him with a baseball bat, and scurried onwards.

London is populated by lovely, intelligent, polite people who consider any form of social interaction with a stranger to be a mortal threat to their wellbeing. They’re a strange lot, and this particular characteristic was one that Jenny then had to explain to Sam as we walked. He didn’t understand…

So we made it to London, and what a journey it was. The eight-hour flight to Singapore was remarkable mainly for the fact that the iPads kept the boys so utterly calm and enthralled. They both managed a bit of a sleep, too.

In the entertainment wing of our economy class Family Suite

And here are the sleeping quarters...

The evening and morning in Singapore was all about swimming in the brilliant, maze-like pool of Changi Airport’s Crowne Plaza hotel. We were waterlogged (and well fed – what a breakfast spread!) by the time we boarded the 14-hour flight to London, which stretched to 16 hours once an engine issue left us stranded on the tarmac before departure.

This flight was not much fun, particularly for Jenny. Rather than allowing us four seats in a row, this aircraft gave us three and one. Jenny offered to sit between the boys in the three seats and I chose not to argue. The flight was awful for me, so I can’t even imagine what it was like for Jenny. It turns out that Ben is not the pliable traveller Sam has proven to be. Our three-year-old doesn’t simply accept his economy-class fate as his nine-year-old brother does.

But finally we arrived. Our apartment, sourced on Airbnb, is lovely. It is located centrally between the glamour of Chelsea, the poshness of South Kensington, the Waitrose supermarket of Gloucester Road (Jenny’s favourite) and, of course, the home of Chelsea Football Club, Stamford Bridge.

Sam is the one in red ... Arsenal colours

That’s where we spent a lot of time and money this morning. Upon arriving at the home of the Blues, Sam said ‘I’ll never forget this day.’ It cost so much, he’d better bloody not!

Congratulations, Jose - it's a boy!

We've turned Sam back to blue, finally

After we all enjoyed a three-hour daytime sleep, we wandered out for a dark, wet afternoon stroll to our old haunts around Kings Road. On the way we visited a supermarket and stocked up for dinner. The person who served us was efficient and professional, and we left without having greeted them, looked them in the eye or thanked them for their service. It was a perfect London interaction.

A sunny afternoon in London