When they got home we made a quick turn around and traveled across to the other side of the island for an afternoon of 10 pin bowling for an MAE social club challenge. I was the cheerleader for all four teams.
We followed up the bowling with a meal at the local hawkers and then a poolside debrief at Syd and Kim Pink's apartments in Jurong.
We caught up with our friend Bernard from the florist shop for CNY and he mentioned that all the photoboards under the HDB to celebrate Singapore's 50 years were actually made using his photos. He then talked about the original Colonial Building on the site where our condo now sits and explained how it was abandoned for many years before its demolition. According to the locals it was haunted.
According to my internet searches, bungalows like these, mainly single-storey built on brick piers, were a common sight in plantation areas. The designs of the bungalows were modeled after those in India, which had the rooms cooled by under-floor ventilation and were effective in the tropical countries. There is a pitched roof over the main section and a defining conical roof over the pavilion.
In the early days, the region of Upper Serangoon was dominated by large farms and plantations, which gave rise to the naming of the arterial roads after the fruits or vegetables cultivated in the farms. Thus, the likes of Lorong Lew Lian (Durian Road) and Lorong Ong Lye (Pineapple Rd). Sadly Bernard told us the Former Paya Lebar Police Station on our corner, which also features lovely Colonial buildings has been listed to be demolished. No doubt the trees and birds will go as well.
Peter had some vouchers for meals he wasn't going to be able to use by the due date so we volunteered to relieve him of 1 or 2. On Tuesday night we tried out a new restaurant in Serangoon Gardens called A for Arbite. Their food was delicious and since I would be fasting for most of Wednesday we made the most of it with dessert as well. Nice wine at a reasonable price so it gets our tick of approval and we expect to return or try their new branch near the Sultan Mosque in Kampong Glam sometime soon.
Yes, on Wednesday I spent the afternoon at Tan Tock Seng Hospital having an arthroscope on my left knee. Peter was free to come by and sign my release in the evening as everyone else was at work. I was able to walk from the taxi into the condo, the pain not too bad at all. I found I was not needing pain killers even the next day but I had a borrowed pair of crutches to take to work so I did't overdo it and just to remind the students that they need to look after me.
Heather brought lunch over on Thursday and I spent the afternoon in blissful peace reading, researching more on Myanmarr and watching the "Water for Elephants" movie which I enjoyed but not nearly as much as the book. I went back to work on Fri evening as I really wasn't in much pain and I was confident I could manage to keep it elevated most of the time to avoid excessive swelling. I managed the long days of the weekend with lots of help from my workmates. They carried my classroom resources around, walked the students to the toilet and made me cups of coffee. I was very tired each of those evenings but glad to have been able to go.
Caught up with my Mum when she skyped us on Friday. She is very well and very happy to have had a little rain lately. Says her garden is looking ok for this time of the summer, which is a good thing as she has the garden club visiting this week. Had also been out to visit a local art show and doing her usual classes. Hard to catch her at home.
This coming week is the last one for term 1 so to end the working week, Eric joined most of the other staff from the different branches at an end of term celebration at Potato Head Folk in Outram.
I was weary from work so came home to spend the evening on the couch, leg up, and watched a movie. 'Gone Girl' was a bit of a psychological thriller, not my type of movie at all, so I don't think it was a good idea to watch it one my own.
On Monday we enjoyed a sleep-in together, quite unusual for us as normally a group walk is scheduled. This week it is an evening one starting at Gardens by the Bay and ending at the new stadium. The fortunate thing was we were home to catch a skype session with Adrian. He was able to show us his new set-up in Alice Springs. He usually does a welding course if he is in town on a Monday but it was cancelled as his teacher was away so he had the morning off. The stars aligned for us. He has just shifted from the spare room in his mate's house down the back into what was the office for the dog kennels. It is being refurbished but from the look of it, there is still a way to go before he has it set up the way he wants it. Still, he sounds happy and so is his dog (who wasn't allowed in the house). He has been on a couple of bush trips to Yuendumu already, notorious for all the wrong reasons and home to Liam Jurrah, ex Melbourne AFL star.
Looking across the river to the new stadium.
I met the walkers at Stadium which is an easy trip from here on the MRT and we had a drink together at Brewerkz by the river before a hawker meal. Some of us then returned to Peter's for a nightcap to celebrate Michael's return after a few months back in Oz.
PS It was 40 years ago today that we first saw each other on the grounds of the then Ballarat Teacher's College in Gillies St, attending an Orientation Week Event. We didn't actually speak to each other until much later in the night at a college party. I remember he had long wavy golden brown hair and I was wearing flairs and cork platform shoes!
No comments:
Post a Comment