Changes ahead

Following a busy and slightly hectic weekend, Nick and I headed into our respective offices hoping for a nice relaxing day and a slightly more gentle start to the week. For me this was all looking possible to begin with. Emails were being ploughed through; calls were being scheduled for later in the week to make Monday nice and manageable. And then Nick had a quick team meeting in his office before the Big Boss Man arrives in Singapore for a week this evening, and everything changed.

            We had our own little life plan lined up following our wedding this December. One more spring out in Singapore and then a shift back to London, ready for house buying and life setting up by next summer.

            What we didn’t count on was the head of Nick’s desk handing in his notice to move back home this December, and another of the boys following quickly after to be back in time for the birth of his first baby.

            Where this leaves us, we’re not quick sure. Here for longer seems like the most likely result, but with the Big Boss Man not landing until this evening, and with a week of meetings and planning sessions to follow, the wait starts here I guess…In the meantime I will just do what I had planned – keep on ploughing through my work, keep on veggie cramming and keep on heading to the gym whenever there’s a spare hour in the day. 

Entertaining on good behaviour

Two weeks after their Grand Prix and engagement Singapore weekend extravaganza Nick and Elly were passing back through Singapore on their way home this week, and so we had some houseguests to keep entertained for the past few days.

            After a Saturday of ticking off wedding jobs and gym efforts, Nick and Elly landed at 6pm, heading over to ours just in time to shower, get ready and head out for dinner.

Whilst there are all sorts of places in Singapore to visit, we decided that seeing as we had shown Nick and Elly some great Singapore sights the last time they were in town, now was the time to show them all the other nationalities that we have tucked away in our neck of the woods.

            On Saturday night we took them to Mustard, our favourite Indian restaurant that specialises in slow cooked, dry spiced meats, like amazing banana wrapped fish and spicy lamb ribs. From here we also got to wander through Little India, which was dressed up in Diwali lights, making the central street feel a bit more like an Indian Christmas than anything else. It’s always a fun part of town to visit, but when they are getting ready for festivals it gets even more exciting!

Following our night out in India, and a very long, food coma induced sleep, the following day we continued our tour of the world. After a brief stop off in America (Starbucks for coffee), we went to Chinatown for a little bit of a market rummaging and tat purchasing, before moving on to Arab Street for amazing Turkish food, with the call to prayer echoing in the background.

            After lunch we then gave up on our travels and headed back to the flat for a nice relaxed afternoon while Nick and Elly did their best to top up their holiday tans by the pool before heading off to the airport.

            It’s always tiring having people to stay, especially as our flat is so small that it makes the presence of an additional two people slightly overwhelming, but it’s also always a ridiculous amount of fun!

            I can’t wait for the Americans to get here next. Only a month or so to go!

Farewell Liv!

Once a year, for around two months, Liv gets sent back to Europe to work from their head office. This means that I lose my walking to work buddy, but weekend coffee buddy, but occasional hiking buddy, and my gin loving buddy. It’s not much fun!

            This Friday her flight out of Singapore was at midnight, and whilst she would normally go out and drink all the gin she can find on a Friday night, she decided that the best way to prepare for her flight was to come and have a healthy low key dinner with us at the flat.

            Salmon was poached, cauliflower was mashed, and apples were baked for a healthy two-course effort as we bid farewell to our buddy Liv for the next few months. Boo!

It’s October!

October! 

            It seems like a few weeks ago it was mid-June, and now it’s October! Living in a world with no seasons is confusing at the best of times, but when Christmas and December has an even bigger build up than normal, it’s slightly terrifying to suddenly realise that another month has powered on past and it’s already October!

            OCTOBER! 

Surviving the smog

The ‘haze’ that has settled over Singapore normally only hangs around for about two weeks apparently, and yet here we are almost a month later, and I still have to dress like I’m entering a nuclear war zone before I can leave the house.

Whilst I complain about third world problems, like the fact the facemasks make it hard to drink coffee while I walk to work for 6am calls, and the heavy air means that swimming for ten minutes in our outdoors pool is on a par with chain-smoking a whole pack of extra strong cigarettes, the reality is that there is still a lot of industrial development going on out here in Asia. Outside of our tiny city of Singapore the rest of Southeast Asia is very much still a developing country, and slash and burn farming out here is the most efficient and cost effective way for small tiny, poorly paid farmers to get the most out of their land.

            The Sumatran slash and burn that causes these great big smokey clouds of ash to drift over Singapore (and then settle, thanks to the lack of air circulation and strong breezes here) has been outlawed by the Indonesian government because it causes so much pollution, and impacts so many countries in the area, but it’s still being used to clear land in the most cost effective and fastest way possible.

            There is the added fear that a portion of these fires (set in peat which makes them virtually uncontrollable) are also being used to ‘accidentally’ clear large areas of the rainforest for big international corporations to then use the space for palm oil plantations.  I can understand the small time farmers needing help to speed up their work, but if this is big US companies ripping down the rainforest to set up plantations then I hope that Singapore stands by its legal threats to start holding the Indonesian government accountable for it’s actions.    

             I also hope that we get some fresh air and some clear skies in Singapore soon. It's been almost a month of heavy white smog hanging over the city, and I'm getting close to having had enough now...