SINGAPORE

Went to Singapore (virtually) today to watch Lewis Hamilton drive the perfect lap to get pole position in tomorrow's Grand Prix.

The last time I was in Singapore, Raffles Hotel was at four storeys, one of the tallest buildings around. Now it's a midget :o(

Being (virtually) in the area got me thinking about Typhoon Mangkhut currently raging across Luzon & heading for Hong Kong.

As an apprentice deck officer on an old tub, the good ship M.S. Orna built in 1939, sailing empty from Yokohama to Osaka ran into a typhoon. I was awakened at four in the morning when the sea came crashing through the door of my cabin - leaped out of bed to find my drawers and the carpet sloshing about & I grabbed some clothes & raced up to the bridge...

The noise was unbelievable - the Indian quartermasters on the helm did a fantastic job keeping us face into the wind because, being empty, had we gone beam on to the wind, we would have been trashed. Also, since the length of the swells was approximately the length of our vessel - half the time the propeller was out of the water!!

This went on for three days - we went through the eye which was eerie.

It was the scariest & most stimulating experience.