On finding myself back at Singapore airport with spare time on my hands, I had a walk round. With zero interest in any of the shops, I had another look at the orchids dotted around the terminal.

There were also a few interesting variegated leaves on show too.

Plants are put into any nook and cranny in Singapore airport, which is a fabulous thing. Plants cheer the place up so much, and make the usual chore of moving through an airport far more pleasant.

That’s my brief transfer through Singapore Airport, on my way back to the UK for the first time in eight years.

Getting back to the UK, more specifically Gatwick airport, the story is very different. Both arriving into Gatwick and then departing six hours later for Belfast, I saw no real plants anywhere apart from a few sanseveria plants.

The rather amusing fake plants I’ve seen at Gatwick airport include a rather odd-looking plastic oak tree or two and some fake ferns that look like they have been sat on fairly frequently.

While both airports are 10, 877kms apart, the sorry excuse for plastic plants are I have found are rather horrible if I’m honest. I get it that real plants need maintenance, but if you can’t water a few plants weekly then plastic plants are not the answer.