Getting back to Wellington this morning must be something of a deflating experience for Teflon John Key who’s spent the past week rubbing shoulders with the big league.

It’s been hard for him to wipe the smile from his face. At times at home he’s been accused of having cops talking into their cuffs, walking a few steps behind him at home to make him feel important.

That’s nothing compared to the fawning he’s experienced in Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia over the past week. He’s gone from air conditioned building, to air conditioned limousine which leads a siren wailing motorcade from one venue to another.

Many have looked on in bewilderment as his car swishes by. They ask who’s he, and when they’re told they ask where he’s from and when they’re told they ask where’s that?

Key may not be recognised but then neither are most of the leaders who’ve been bringing traffic to a standstill as they’ve made their way around the cocktail fests in Manila and Kuala Lumpur.

The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who was once the President before Putin pushed his way back into the Kremlin and they swapped jobs, was staying on the same floor as the Kiwi media. He arrived at one point in a Hawaiian shirt and jeans and no one turned a head.

As he was passing by me I gave him a nod and asked how he was and he gave a curt reply, good thank you, looking slightly delighted that someone recognised him. Certainly he was looking happier than his burly security detail at the exchange.

By comparison Teflon John’s a jolly sort of leader, who’s prepared to stop and have a yarn as the Aussie media discovered when he was on the way back through his plush hotel foyer from the pool in dressing gown and bare feet.

He always gives the appearance of being overwhelmed, indeed infatuated, at being in such esteemed company as the American, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indonesian and the Russian leadership. Onlookers may have wondered who he was, but those who count do know, even if his golfing buddy Barack Obama refers in unguarded moments to him as John Keys.

So over the past week there have been declarations that add little to the sum total of human knowledge, let along to the English language, other than stating the bleedingly obvious about the two Ts, trade and terrorism. They love one and loathe the other.

But for all that, when Key walks into his Cabinet room today, he can justly feel that the past week was a job well done. The flea was most certainly in the parade of elephants ears and for a country our size, that matters most!