Happy Birthday!

D's third birthday today. Happy birthday boy! And he had a lie in until 6am which was nice. Shame Z decided to get up with the joys of spring at 430 instead. She couldn't have been happier. We, on the other hand, could have been. No matter, when D arrived in the living he was chuffed to bits to see the balloon we had for him. The fact that it was attached to his brand new sparkly bike seemed to pass him by. Then a little sly smile came over his face. 'What's that bike daddy?', he said with all the coyness of a boy who knows exactly 'what's that bike'.
2 minutes later, to the howls of derision from Z who had already made up her mind that it was hers, he's on and riding. Amazingly well too for a boy just turned three. The apartment bares barely any scars from the ordeal and three hours later we set out on the open road..... of the complex. Well, don't run before you can cycle, eh (hmmm, something like that)?

Aside from birthday plans I've been spending plenty of time getting acquainted with the buses out here. Now I know some of you will think 'he's been there nearly six weeks!', but I was reliably informed that taking two kids and a buggy on a bus was a bad idea. And from what I've seen so far that advice was absolutely sound. The service itself is fantastic and in certain respects more convenient than getting on the MRT. But just don't get kids and a buggy involved! One child is OK as I've proved with D. It's easy and I've been taking him to nursery and back on one. But man alive does that bus driver take no prisoners once you step foot on the bus. No sooner have I 'tapped in' than he's off, auditioning for the upcoming Grand Prix I shouldn't wonder. I've taken to grabbing D around the midrift to stopping him sailing into the rear seats of the bus (or worse). Now with a buggy you're supposed to fold it up before you get on. Right! Then once you're on board you're grabbing two toddlers and 50kg of buggy unless you're looking to watch them career into the rear window. Yesterday a chap and his wife (I guess) got on with child still strapped into buggy. It took the driver (or captain as they're supposed to be known) a couple of stops to notice. Then all hell broke loose. As you can imagine I'm not fluent in Cantonese yet but, the gist of it was 'get that kid out of that buggy' to which the reply was 'I'd really rather not old fellow if its all the same to you. We're only going another couple of stops'. Which, as you can imagine, was fine by the driver so he replied 'OK, sorry to trouble you'. Rather loudly I thought. After which the woman and man rather hurriedly and very sheepishly pulled the young lad out of the buggy and closed it up. Maybe that wasn't what bus captain said after all!
So, you see, I won't be taking the kids on the bus, at the same time, in a buggy!

Tree surgery

Once again (with the boy feeling somewhat under the weather), we are watching the trees in the complex being pruned, with extreme prejudice! D can't get enough. Noise, destruction, smell, trucks, its got it all. Apparently it's the law in Singapore that they can't get too much foliage on them or they get dangerous once they're met by the inevitable forces of nature in this part of the world. In a country of what to some seem fairly arbitrary laws, this would seem like quite a sensible one. Although why it needs to be law is another question. Obviously some highly disreputable tree surgeons out there!

Got 'em

Time flies when you're having fun!

Where to start. It's been over a week since my last update (way over a week!). Our new home-help, nanny, cook, cleaner and general all-round housekeeper started with us nearly two weeks ago. From the Philippines, Mary's been in Singapore for twenty years and her experience shows! It's felt a little strange getting used to someone else living with us but its starting to feel a little more normal now. The kids have taken to her really well and she's very good with them. She's taken our lead on how to treat and although she appeared a little quiet to start with she's starting to open up a bit now. Her cooking is outstanding and I'm being spoilt rotten with two cooked meals a day. Fish for lunch today followed by beef rendang tonight. You can't argue with that can you? I've a sneaking suspicion that T is a bit jealous (maybe more than a bit!). For the first time today she took Z to the wet market to do the weekly shop. She reckons she can get the whole weekly shop in for around $50, about 50gbp. That is for all the fruit, veg and meat. Not bad. We just pay extra for the beer! Which contrary to popular belief is not that expensive. In the shops. In the bars it's extortionate! Anything from $15-$20 a pint (well 500ml). Not a had a glass of wine yet so I couldn't comment!
So, as Mary is our babysitter too (of course!), we've had a first bit of time to ourselves. A Saturday night out to Chijmes in the City which was very nice. We were invited out by a Kiwi we met at the pool. He asked if I liked rugby to which of course the answer was yes, so we met up with other friends to watch a match and drink a couple of beers. Topped off by some Thai food and it was all good.
I went out the following Thursday to take some night photos of the lanterns on Clarke Quay. It went OK but I still need to fathom out my new camera a bit and remember how to take decent shots (you can see some of them here). The night was topped off with some (an understatement as it turned out), beers with another expat from Glasgow. He's been here 4 months but has lived in various SE Asian countries along the way. And has a big entrepreneurial spirit about him (as well as a big interest in photography). Be interesting to meet up with him again now that the haze has disappeared from the morning after.
Anyway, off to buy the boy a little bike for his third birthday. Then I'm going to try and order a cake from our local Chinese bakery. Should be fun. Hope he likes it. First though, I have to pick up our tickets for the F1 this weekend. Should be a great experience!

More food...

Lovely weekend culminating in a visit to Law Pa Sat hawker centre. A giant circle of a food centre with a central drinks counter and the hawker stands radiating out from it like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. There are over a hundred to chose from. It was quite quiet on arrival as most of the stalls were closed. Never mind, we met up with the Silburns for a beer and mulled over what we might get to eat. Chris apparently had a top ten of foods that he wanted to try when he got here. One of those was boiled chicken and egg (a traditional dish). He got to try some too. And he won't be doing it again by the sounds of it! I had some very nice shrimp wanton soup and there was also various curries, spring rolls and other delights on table at one point or another. D decided that today was the day for naan bread, chapati and some daal. A few beers and several dishes from several countries later and we decided to call it a day. I must be starting to live here. I  slightly begrudged the fact that the chapatis were 30 cents more expensive than the day before in Little India.

Photo care of the NTU

As I sit and blog at 730 in the morning the kids are playing happily by themselves. A feature which has become more prominent over the last few days. And a welcome one. D playing and singing with his trains and Zoe studiously reading some random leaflets in her new cool egg Ikea chair.
Time for a cuppa I think.

A little bit of India, amongst other things.......

"Sarries, Sarries.....", that's what I can hear through my headphones as I start typing. The curtain raiser to the 2010-11 Aviva Premiership season. Saracens v London Irish. I'm listening online via BBC Three Counties Radio. Seems a little unlikely on a Saturday night, around 7000 miles from Twickenham, but there you go. I dare-say there will be updates throughout the blog update, apologies in advance!
I can't believe my previous update was last Monday, the time is starting to disappear quite rapidly all of a sudden. And that's a good thing. Nothing worse than it dragging, especially when you're living here. Plenty of things to report anyway. 
Firstly, the drilling (touching a large chunk of wood) seems to have ceased. We still have the chaps trawling up and down in the lifts with wheelbarrows full of goodness knows what! But they're nice guys and always say hello (to the kids) and are at pains to get out of the way (even when it's extremely inconvenient for them). But it would appear that the waterproofing of the roof on Tower B has hit a quiet phase, and long may it last.

The other day I decided, with some fortitude, that I was going to find postage stamps. I know that sounds a bit dramatic, but the fact is that a) we need stamps b) I have failed previously and c) we live here and we are going to need stamps. I don't know if I'm missing something obvious, but it ain't that easy! So, I know that I need either a Post Office (obviously) or a SAM. Given that there are no Post Offices on the horizon then the obvious choice is a SAM (you need to look at the previous link for what they are and do).  There are two close by (a 10-15 minute walk with buggy). No problem, take a walk, ask when I can't find it and hey presto! There it is. No problem. Type in what I need on the touch screen (two airmail, one local). $2.46 all told. How do I pay? Cash? No. OK. Debit card, of course. No. NETS only. A what? NETS (please look at this link too, I really can't be bothered to explain). OK, I don't have one of those, where can I get one? Now, at this point, my phone really earns it's stars. Type it all into Google. A list of outlets, none of which are anywhere near me, plus there are other indeterminate outlets that sell them (i.e. just guess). Right, I have a hunch that there might be a place in the MRT station at Buona Vista, a short hop away from where I am now. And it also has a SAM. How could I go wrong? Well, my hunch was right, I did find a shop selling a NET cashcard (plus sweeties for the kids who are now showing signs of incredulity at my single minded pursuit of stamps). I purchase one with the promise of stamps looming large. A SAM machine, as promised, as I exit the shop. Here we go. NET card doesn't go in, try again. Out of order. But of course. No matter, I know where the other one is, let's head back there. It's only a ten minute walk (when you aren't on the wrong side of the roadworks with no crossing in sight). Twenty minutes later I have it in my sights. Not only that but I have entered my postage needs and am at the checkout screen. Bang, it crashes. Wait a couple of minutes to reset. Bang, crash again! So, there you go, despite my best efforts (and one and a half hours of walking later), I am still stampless. "insert rude word here"
Half time - London Irish 6 Saracens 10. Couple of tries by Sarries but no Glen Jackson to convert so only 10 points and Irish are down to 14 men for ten minutes. C'mon Sarries, less of the silly pens.
Tuesday saw me meet up with a follower of my blog called Natasha. She is a proprietor of a rather fine site called www.natashabailie.com. She sells vintage clothing don't ya know and very nice it is too (I had never met nor spoken to Natasha before Tuesday except via email so that plug was entirely out of good will). It turns out that her other half was over in Singapore being interviewed for a job (yes, they paid flight, bed and board. Some kinda interview. Must remember to get one), and I thought she might like to meet up over a coffee to discuss the ins-and-outs of relocation (like I'm some sort of expert). Amazingly, she agreed to meet some random blogger (against her various friend's better judgement I'm sure). Coffee was pushing it to be honest, with two young children in tow, so we met in the already frequented Botanic Gardens to keep the little darlings entertained and under control. The fact that Claire, my teacher widow partner in crime, had also agreed to come along made the odds significantly better. Hurrah! This made it three adults to two children. Nothing could go wrong. And surprisingly nothing did! A very nice afternoon shared by all, albeit with some ice cream incentives (that the kids also enjoyed). Claire and Natasha found a shared interest in 50's clothing (I opted out of that conversation) and we whiled away the afternoon in a very convivial fashion. So it turns out that Natasha and hubby will, indeed, be moving to Singapore in the New Year. Congratulations and welcome! We look forward to our next meet up (New Years Eve sounds like an apt date).

Today, we ventured into Little India. It's a must see and I loved it. As did the kids and T. The smell of spices, beautiful garlands and Bhangra in the background was enough to make me feel at home right away. Indeed, it didn't take too long to immerse myself in a spice shop. Even D, notoriously fastidious about his food, couldn't resist the opportunity to smell touch and taste what was on offer. Not long afterwards, we found ourselves in the Tekka Food Centre, eating chicken curry with D scoffing a fresh chapati. After recent revelations about him eating my spicy noodles, I'm starting to suspect we were living in the wrong country altogether for his epicurean preferences. This was followed by the kids making friends with the locals, mostly by being a) Western b) and cute c) downright cheeky! We had a lovely chat with a Singaporean of Indian descent who as far as we could work out had six children, five grandchildren and an indeterminate amount of great-grandchildren. He was 78.... or 79 depending on which part of the conversation you had caught up with. Happy days!


BTW Sarries lost. Usual seasons start then!