Such a small world!

Amazing how the onset of holidays can make you feel better isn't it.  It is so nice to say 'on holidays next week..........'  What makes it feel even better is that on Friday we signed new 2 yr contracts so we are here for at least 3 yrs. More holidays to enjoy! Eric is being promoted to Annex Head which is essentially manager of a branch, interestingly it is the Punggol branch where  Wayne and Pauline Ash (ex-Butterworth) work. It means it will take him a little longer to get to work but it is on the same line and just one connection onto the light rail. The position means more money but no extra hrs and since he is good at the HR role it will work well we think. We have known about it for some time and can now tell you, as the contracts are signed, but we are still not telling anyone here. 

It is Teacher's Day here this week. The Company took us out for lunch ($12 per head) to start the week yesterday and some of the students brought gifts. Here is what my Primary 4 class did for me. You probably can't read it but they got to the room early and wrote a poem on the board, which was very complimentary. What a nice way to start the working week.

We are both over the colds and managed to join the walkers back up Bukit Timah on Monday, though it was a bit of a stretch and I didn't have much energy at the top. We keep bumping into this same group of ex-army Singaporeans at the summit and have a bit of a joke with them. One of them owns a stall in a Hawker Centre and we have been saying for weeks now that we will drop by one evening. On Tuesday night some of the walkers and a few other friends met at Yishun MRT and we walked to his stall. Funny, one of the others was worried she would have to front up to pigs entrails or chicken foot soup and there I was assuring her she would find something palatable. And then, when I looked at this stall my belly did a flip-flop at the sight of all the precooked fare. He serves each customer a plate of mee hoon noodles and then you add your selection from a choice of florescent pink sausage, battered prawn crackers, fish balls, squid balls, spring rolls......and a whole lot of other things I have no idea what they are made from, but all deep fried and who knows how many hours ago? I have always avoided these stalls but was obliged to participate last night or he would have lost face.   I guess it wasn't that bad as this morning I feel fine, perhaps my gut is now happily well oiled! Probably palm oil too. After all 8 of us ate he wouldn't accept any money from us to pay for our meal! How embarrassing. Eric snuck off and bought him some Heineken to compensate. 

I was talking to one of the friends who joined the group and somehow Healesville came into the conversation' she asked if I knew Dr Willox, turns out his son was the best man at her wedding. Not that I knew him as he didn't go to HHS but to know of Dr Willox! On the way home in the train we went right up the front to where you would normally have a driver's cabin, but in these computer controlled trains there is no such thing.  I took this shot as we were approaching a station where the doors of the carriages always lines up perfectly with the doors on the platform. (But its not really worth inserting is it?)

On Sunday after work drinks there was talk around the table of the Dempsey Hill precinct as a good place to go dining. Since we haven't been there yet and we have hardly left the house in the last 2 weeks we decided to go exploring on Monday evening.  Dempsey Hill is located across from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, but not on the MRT side, so we had to take a bus. It was originally a nutmeg plantation and later became Tanglin Barracks, the headquarters of the Far East British Forces. Later it became the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence; the first place young Singaporean men would go to front up for the compulsory National Service (which is still in place). During the early 1990s the headquarters for the military moved, and the facilities left were eventually leased out to the private sector. The first to move in were teak furniture and carpet wholesalers. After a number of makeovers its apparently now a flourishing lifestyle and entertainment enclave nestled in a rustic and quaint setting. We didn't get to appreciate much of that though as it was already dark when we arrived. We started off at a microbrewery for pre-dinner drinks, the beer was good and the menu looked tempting but unfortunately Mon night is karaoke night and the standard was terrible so we quickly moved on. The choices were prolific but we eventually settled for Oktober Restaurant which boasts a German inspired menu though we ate Australian beef stew and lamb tenderloin. My it was nice, I can't remember when I last had a red meat meal. Eric got chatting to the waitress and it turns out she has a relative who is manager of the McDonalds store in Katherine.  How often would she serve people who had lived in Katherine? And what a culture shock Katherine would be for her relative!

The other thing we did on the weekend was track down a t-shirt printing company, as the trekkers for Nepal have decided we should have a team shirt. Eric and I found ourselves in a very industrial neighbourhood, quite unlike anything else we have seen so far, and eventually found the workshop on the 7th floor of a building which probably houses something like 150 different businesses. Once we found the right building amongst all the others it was easier. If you think that was difficult, getting the group to decide on a fabric, style and colour for the shirts looks like being even more of a challenge.  As for the logo, Eric and I have decided to just do it and they can wear it! Speaking of trekking we have one of Eric's Hash House Harrier mates coming to stay for a few nights, he has just been canoeing in the Arctic Circle and hiking for 12 days from sweden to Norway. Should have some interesting experiences to share.

To top it off we got an email from Mum explaining how she has discovered her neighbours taught at MAE here in 2003, they knew the Crisps and would know Peter who is the Principal here now. Such a small world.