A hectic social life

The Northeast monsoon season seems to have descended upon us a little early this year and we are getting regular heavy rain almost daily. Singapore has two main seasons, the Northeast Monsoon (December to March) and the Southwest Monsoon season (May to September), separated by two relatively shorter inter-monsoon periods. Although there are no distinct wet or dry periods, we do have drier weather conditions from May to July and wetter conditions from November to January. Not so different from the Top End as it reads, but in fact their weather is more reliable generally. In the Wet Season it's wet, and in the Dry, it's dry.

Our local bird haven hit the newspapers this week as plans to develop it into a housing estate accelerate toward a start date. The estate is to have state of the art gardens and an underwater reservoir but Nature Conservationists are urging a rethink which includes preserving the natural forest since the birds prefer that to manicured gardens. We have our fingers crossed but don't hold out much hope even though rare migratory birds are found here.


Eric has been struggling with a cold most of this week but soldiering on. On Thurs morning we walked Labrador Pk and finished up at VivoCity, the big mall overlooking Sentosa Is. We were with Michael and Heather. Michael has also been helping Bev with her new Windows 8 laptop and she had given him a voucher for Marche which has a restaurant on the rooftop at VivoCity. We helped him spend it on a sumptuous fresh lunch.
On Friday morning we travelled west to Lakeside, near Jurong, where Deb and Michael are living. This Michael is the guitar whiz and the focal point of the entertainment at the Annual Dinner on Monday night. We took the ukuleles along and Peter joined us so we could rehearse. Good thing we did, we were all over the place to start with but somehow by the end of it we felt we thought we sounded reasonable. Not sure if I told you last week or not that we were playing Israel Kamakawiwo's medely 'Somewhere over the rainbow/Beautiful World'. Not the easiest piece for novices.

Our final rehearsal was late Sunday night and we might have been better skipping that as it just got later and later. And we didn't get any better! As it turned out, the organisers had arranged for a DJ/Presenter to run the show and he was a hoot. A cross between Sanjeev Bhaskar of 'The Kumars at No. 42' and a Bollywood dancer. Very funny. Our number, to complete the Principal's speech, was short and sweet. A good thing since neither Eric or I could read the music from where we were positioned! All that practice for nothing.

Not to worry, Peter appreciated that support. Bev, in reclining position was responsible for all the colourful shirts collected at Salo's Recycle Shops around Brisbane on her last visit to Aust. There was also a caricaturist on hand to draw everyone's portraits. What do you think? Did he capture a likeness?

We backed up the next morning with a return to Kranji Turf Club for a day at the races. Being Melbourne Cup, we spent the day with all the expats of ANZAS, enjoying the benefits as guests. Like last year, it was a huge day beginning with a champagne breakfast and progressing through fashions on the field, best hat awards, sweeps and raffles. We got to watch all the action on the track on the big screens in the comfort of the flash dining room with full table service and the tote just outside the door. Peter had a good tip for No 3 in the first race which he shared with us - very kind but we didn't get our bets on, too slow at the breakfast! Pity, it came in third and paid very well. All up I came out about even for the day but Eric went down, a reversal of results from last year. It was a long train ride home for us to end the day, it has been a huge few days.

Think maybe Peter never got home between the Hawaiian Annual Dinner and the Race Meeting.

 In between all of that we managed to slip in a very special visit to the home of one of my students. Nidharshaan is in K1 and during 'Show and Tell' a couple of weeks back he invited me to his home to celebrate Deepavali. His older brother also invited his tutor Renee. On Sunday after work Eric joined us at the home in an HDB in Sengkang. The boys looked resplendent in their matching traditional outfits and the home was beautifully decorated. It turns out the father is from Sri Lanka so it was easy to engage in conversation with him, his wife is from Medan. We had the chance to meet and mix with other members of the family and their friends from all over the place including Vietnam and Australia.

The walkers opted for a trail through Bishan and Ang Mo Kio Parks that links you to Lower Peirce Reservoir on Monday, not too strenuous because we were all due at the Annual Dinner in the evening. It was very pleasant and then someone, who will remain nameless (June), came up with the bright idea that we could go on to Upper Peirce Res. This added another decent leg with rolling hills but well worth the view when we got there. Pity there is no bus service to take you back, we had to walk it too. "Enough already" my legs were saying. No pictures of any of that as we downloaded them to the laptop and then it died. Presently being resuscitated we hope at the local Service Centre. Over lunch we agreed to meet at the KPO Cafe Bar on the corner of Killiney and Orchard Rds, right by the YWCA where the Annual Dinner will be held in just a few hours. This turned out to be a terrific new find to add to the growing list.

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