The cleaner of our condo, who I had asked to clean our place after-hours for some extra money, has been moved on. I took this as a sign that we could do it ourselves and began late last week with the cupboards as we empty them. I've done the biggest room in the place, including scrubbing the walls so the rest should be easy shouldn't it? It is the most physical work I have one in a long time but can't do any harm, except softening the callouses I am developing on my left fingertips from playing the guitar. Speaking of fingertips, on Wednesday morning I went to the Police Cantonment Complex in Outram to be fingerprinted. Yes, but not in trouble. Just to get a Certificate of Clearance which may be useful when applying for a new Ochre Card to work with children in the NT next year. The word cantonment refers to a group of lodgings assigned to troops. In the case of Singapore, the area of Cantonment Road was the site assigned for barracks for the East India Company's contingent of Indian sepoys stationed here who had accompanied Raffles to Singapore and were asked to stay. Sepoys were Indian soldiers employed within European military garrisons to provide the much-needed manpower for the defense of European colonies in Asia. Apart from helping to maintain law and order and defending the island, the sepoys also helped to clear land for settlements and build batteries for defense. British troops were also later "cantoned" here between 1824 and 1858.
After work last week we took the train in to Sque Bar at Clarke Quay. They always look after us so well there. A few others joined us and we ended up at the Crazy Elephant again. It is open mike night on a Sunday so we didn't get to hear Edu and the Blues Machine but those that got up could certainly play well. I have since researched and found out who Edu is, he calls himself Eddie and his family name is Strada and he's a well known Brazilian, no wonder he was able to break into Portuguese when we saw him a few weeks ago.
This week the walkers did a night walk on Monday, from Farrer Park to Kampong Glam. This took them through the Jalan Besar area and they stopped in at the Thekchen Choling Temple with its giant mani wheel. It stands at 3 metres high and measures 1.38 metres in diameter.
Between Jo and I we only have 2 good legs so we joined them for coffee then went to Blu Jaz to hold tables. Very magnanimous of us we thought, and we were there for happy hour as a bonus. For both of us, it is our left legs that are giving us trouble, otherwise we could have combined as a 3-legged race entrant. Below they passed the state mosque in Kampong Glam and then found us at Blu Jaz.
In the afternoon on Tuesday we decided to see what we could buy with my Time Club voucher from the annual dinner so went to Jurong Point at Boon Lay. As I suspected it was a watch shop and they only sold watches, not even clocks. So now I have a new watch and a perfectly good one that is just a little scratched on the face and a men's watch that I hope somebody in the family might want. Not that I am into watches. After picking that up we went to the Pink's condo for a few hours and shared a meal at the local hawkers before coming home.
We have began our last 2 weeks of work here. Our classes are considerably smaller in some cases as families leave for holidays now the school year has finished. We are removing wall displays and generally clearing out unnecessary odds and ends that have collected over the year (similar to home really). Outside work, Eric is back to his daily walking routine which he had to give up for a few weeks while he threw off a cold and then slight tummy upset and headaches, nothing serious enough to need time off, but not pleasant.
After work last week we took the train in to Sque Bar at Clarke Quay. They always look after us so well there. A few others joined us and we ended up at the Crazy Elephant again. It is open mike night on a Sunday so we didn't get to hear Edu and the Blues Machine but those that got up could certainly play well. I have since researched and found out who Edu is, he calls himself Eddie and his family name is Strada and he's a well known Brazilian, no wonder he was able to break into Portuguese when we saw him a few weeks ago.
This week the walkers did a night walk on Monday, from Farrer Park to Kampong Glam. This took them through the Jalan Besar area and they stopped in at the Thekchen Choling Temple with its giant mani wheel. It stands at 3 metres high and measures 1.38 metres in diameter.
Between Jo and I we only have 2 good legs so we joined them for coffee then went to Blu Jaz to hold tables. Very magnanimous of us we thought, and we were there for happy hour as a bonus. For both of us, it is our left legs that are giving us trouble, otherwise we could have combined as a 3-legged race entrant. Below they passed the state mosque in Kampong Glam and then found us at Blu Jaz.
In the afternoon on Tuesday we decided to see what we could buy with my Time Club voucher from the annual dinner so went to Jurong Point at Boon Lay. As I suspected it was a watch shop and they only sold watches, not even clocks. So now I have a new watch and a perfectly good one that is just a little scratched on the face and a men's watch that I hope somebody in the family might want. Not that I am into watches. After picking that up we went to the Pink's condo for a few hours and shared a meal at the local hawkers before coming home.
We have began our last 2 weeks of work here. Our classes are considerably smaller in some cases as families leave for holidays now the school year has finished. We are removing wall displays and generally clearing out unnecessary odds and ends that have collected over the year (similar to home really). Outside work, Eric is back to his daily walking routine which he had to give up for a few weeks while he threw off a cold and then slight tummy upset and headaches, nothing serious enough to need time off, but not pleasant.
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