Emma Watson's Unexpected Seatmate on a Long-Haul Flight to Singapore I sat in my first class seat on the Virgin flight from London to Singapore waiting for the ‘plane to taxi to the runway for takeoff. The flight attendant had informed me that they were just waiting for a few stragglers and that we would be off any time now. Stewardesses came and went, bringing the passengers who were already settled drinks. Every now and then, a new passenger arrived and took up one of the empty seats until the only seat left was the one adjacent to mine. I sipped at my vodka martini and waited, my seat belt already fastened although the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign was not on at that moment. Looking over the menu I had, I checked off the items that I wanted to eat. It all seemed so very indulgent, and I had some hard choices to make. Eventually I chose to have chicken soup, a well-done rump steak accompanied by bacon, eggs and chips. For desert, I chose strawberry shortcake. A simple meal as far as I was concerned, not too taxing for those who actually did the cooking. I was not an extravagant person by nature and pâté faus Graz, caviar and the like, was not on my usual menu. Being from a small northern city, I was born into a normal family, with normal values. I had begun my working life at 16, having left school with little or no qualifications. I went to work with my uncle at his computer parts and repair shop. I gained a good working knowledge of computers, peripherals and the like. Within five years, I was a partner, five years later, I was CEO and my uncle retired. We expanded into software, hardware and right now, the company was doing research and development into new CPU’s and other advanced chips. That was the reason for my flight to Singapore. I was attending an expo exclusively for computer manufacturers – we had reasoned that this would be a good place to advertise our new CPU. Try to build up our clientele base. At last, a flight attendant appeared with the last passenger who was apologising to her about being late through the gate due to paparazzi and fans wanting autographs. It took me a few seconds to recognise Emma Watson as she took her seat. …but everything was about to change
