Work Resumes

I've been sitting in front of the tv watching the tennis. The Hopman Cup is on and it feels like a regular Aussie Summer but with Hewitt beating Federer this week in Brisbane, maybe I'm in a 10 year time warp. I can't believe this is the 26th year of the Hopman Cup already.  

Work has resumed; fortunately just a short week with the public holiday for New Years Day on the Wednesday. It gave us a gentle start while we managed unexpected enrolments and staff changes. One of the new staff at Eric's branch didn't arrive and so there has been some unexpected shuffling. They are also still awaiting the return of a staff member who had a bicycle accident late last year. She is due back in another week's time. The returning students seem genuinely pleased to be back and we both have many of them in our classes. What we are missing at both branches is experienced office staff and it can make for some challenging situations. On the positive side we have a lovely Irish lass, Maree, joining the staff at Kovan and Eric has a young woman, Angela, from NZ at Punggol. To finish off the first working week all staff were invited to Penny Black at Boat Quay on Sunday night and we had a really good turn out. It was a good opportunity to meet the new ones not at our branches and it turns out one couple have mutual friends of ours from Ballarat College days. 

We have been experiencing some shut down issues with our laptop over the last few months and it got to the point where we couldn't cope with it any longer. We are hoping to get it back up and running but in the meantime we bought a new one during the New Year sales. While it is lovely to have all the latest and fastest programs the operating system is Win 8 which has created lots of new learning. But we love that don't we? I'm sure in time we will laugh at the moments of frustration we have experienced this last week, but it will take time. Fortunately we were able to save all the data off the last laptop so we are now busy sharing pictures with all the other trekkers and the family history doc of life as a youngster in Dixon's Creek has essentially been finished (though in truth it is a living document that can always be added to). I couldn't help myself today, I came across a picture of the caravan Mum and Dad towed around the country a couple of times and realised I needed to add another paragraph. 

On Monday the walkers met for a stroll around Labrador Park and on to Vivo City for lunch. It had been a very wet night and we did consider not going, but actually it was lovely to walk in the cool. Our group was reduced to only 7 with some moving house and others hosting visitors. On the way home we dropped into Spotlight to buy some bias binding for a mending project and found a new sewing machine for sale. It was half price and I couldn't resist. Turns out they were out of stock but accepted a rain check so I will have a new sewing machine in a week or two. I haven't seen the old Singer I bought in our first year here for months, since I lent it to friends. 

Yesterday we went back out to the wetlands at Sungai Buloh to see the birds. We were blessed with a very close view of a stork billed kingfisher within minutes of arriving. We've seen these before but never so close and we decided there and then that we were happy even if that was all we saw for the day. 

As it turned out we didn't see as many migratory waders as we were expecting, but plenty of other species. On the way out we met a ranger casually photographing a 1.5m paradise green tree snake on the handrail of our bridge, he explained that the best time to see the migration flocks is when they are travelling south (Sept) as they tend to funnel past here and Broome. On their way home they just head north, in no particular flight path. That's why we don't get the numbers in such high concentrations here. Then he went on to share with us that the serpent we were standing far too close to for my comfort, can leap into the air, using the powerful muscles in the lower half of its body to glide. It doesn't just swing down to the next branch but launches itself, stretches out its ribs to flattening the body and taking on an s shape. The belly region of the snake takes on a concave shape that acts as a aerofoil so it can glide and control its direction. Only mildly venemous he assured me. 

The structure of the mangroves always make me feel like I am walking through a primeval landscape and it is hard to believe modern Singapore is just a short bus ride away. 

In the evening we went out to a restaurant on the banks of the Punggol River to share dinner with Heather and Michael, Robert and Maria and Pat. Pat is Heather and Robert's Mum. These are the Mahjong group I was teaching last year and on Friday we are going to have another game, this time using the set that Maria bought Robert for his birthday in December. It was a lovely evening, all day has been cool and overcast so it was lovely sitting out. 

I read an interesting article this week about living in Singapore. It seems some people are aghast at the idea of a law against chewing gum and question why anyone would choose to live in such a place. The fact is you are allowed to chew gum, just not spit it out. They ban chewing gum from being sold in stores, but they allow you to import it for personal purposes. Singapore is certainly a cleaner place because of it. Despite the dense population, people have a very strong sense of civilized conduct, and I always feel safe, even walking home alone after 9:30 pm. There was a riot in Little India while we were away. We don't know the exact details but many of those found to be involved will likely be deported. There is zero tolerance to civil disobedience here, just try to find one of the bus drivers that went on strike last year and disrupted the very orderly public transport system. You'll not find them here either, they were deported. There are racial issues and the gap between those who have and those that don't is widening, but these are issues facing every country aren't they? It is a very wealthy country and they can afford to do much better on the local social welfare issue, as well as take up responsibilities to the wider community of nations beyond their shores but that might be dreaming. Its not perfect but we can see ourselves enjoying the benefits for a while yet.