Simple = Special

Street circuits are like the crown jewels in Formula One. Monte Carlo twists its way through buildings of architectural or historical significance and Valencia runs along its stunning harbour. Marina Bay combines both these elements with the daunting skyscrapers that sit like potent reminders of the modernity and grandeur that bring Singapore and F1 together. Juxtaposing the nouveau and the riche with the glitz and glamour of Formula One makes for a blend more compelling than perhaps the sleepy and dour Magny Cours or the middle-of-absolutely-nowhere Hungaroring. This evening I walked along the tarmac that in a quarter of a moonshine's time will have fresh hot rubber from Formula One tyres laid relentlessly upon it. Under the bright and dizzying lights Singapore looks set to serve up a spectacle worthy of its billing.

I wonder though if it was the sights and lights that made my evening special. Some people really delight in the grandeur and lavishness of things, the once-in-a-blue-moon specials, the sensation of novelty. Not so with me. I think what I really enjoyed most about this evening was the company of two really great individuals, from dinner and drinks at Hog's Breath to the walkabout around the city. The ease with which conversation drifted from informal to highly intellectual, and effortlessly back to the realities of next week's Formula One race, made the evening calm and cheerful. Simple too. But special, really special. To speak your mind, to engage in banter, to talk History, with people similarly eager and receptive, is a happy thing. The knowledge that we could have been anywhere on the island and we would still have felt the same warmth, experienced the same cheeriness, lived the same friendship is a knowledge that is at once stark and empowering. The knowledge that human emotion transcends immediate and literal realities empowers our spirit with the confidence in the permeability of our physical world. Scientists and modernity-chasers will seek to devise ways to capture the intangibility of emotion, and attempt to invent devices to transport and unleash these things. But there is only so much your modern machines will do. The human mind is the sole arbiter of the infinitum of emotion. Tonight was a lesson in friendship. Choose your friends wisely and the rewards are vast. By the way, the reason I was out today was that the Scholars Cup Team ACS 7 needed to belatedly celebrate its special triumph this June. Somehow I get this feeling my enduring memory, perhaps in say 10 years' time, of my IB years would be the trip to Seoul in June for the aforesaid competition. As usual it is the people with me there, the people who triumphed with me there, the people who triumphed for each other there, who made it so very memorable. Long live ACS 7 (Regionals ACS 12).