Home at last

Well, here we are, finally ensconced in our new home on the East Coast. I believe we are now living in the area of Bedok and very nice it is too. We now have bone fide neighbours, not just people who live above and below us. The house on the end of the street has a swimming pool (note to self, befriend the be-pooled neighbours) and we have space. Lots and lots of space. I say home because actually that's how it feels already. Unlike out previous place which felt kinda temporary this feels right. Right place, right house, right neighbourhood. Having said that we've only been here two nights! Last night the folks at number two had a party (which we weren't invited too!) and the noise was fine. But I realised it was the first time since we've been here were we've had people noisily socialising. Felt kinda good. It also meant that we weren't going to be the first of the street to have a party. Depending on how it goes it could have created a bad first impression. We may still manage that although I think the kids excited 'freedom-to-roam' volume may have painted them a picture already. The kids are well, very, very excited. And I'm not sure if they think we're on holiday or whether we've actually moved here.
So, the move itself went without incident or anything to report which was, frankly, amazing. My opinion of customer service is not exactly, erm, well, I think it's rubbish! But on Thursday, everyone turned up on time or even in one case early (UNBELIEVABLE!), did the job we'd paid them to do and in double quick time too. Removals guys packed and unloaded without a gripe or murmur and in best of spirits. Furniture guys had just arrived at the house when I got there, a full five minutes before their earliest arrival time in the 'time slot' and proceed to get everything unpacked and put together before I knew what had happened. Even StarHub out-did themselves by doing what I asked them to and within hours we had TV and broadband set up. I was, to put it mildly, taken aback. Those of you who live in Singapore will know what a triumph it is to get a tradesman to your house within a couple of days of when they said they would be there. This time...... well, I could go on, but you get the picture. I was, in the vernacular, 'well chuffed'.
Bought the kids a paddling pool yesterday in lieu of having no swimming pool which is pretty much the only thing I think we're going to miss. However, Singapore does provide some exceptional public swimming pools at a great price. As some of you will know, I used to swim in the UK. I used to swim a lot! In a lot of pools. And the quality of facilities here in comparison to the UK leaves the Brits standing. Must be why Singapore is so strong at international swimming! So, the kids are happy with that although our water bills are going to be enormous!
Which leaves us to explore the area. Mostly food oriented as things tend to be in Singapore, but there's some good looking places catering to pretty much the whim of locals and expats alike. Reckon we could eat out every night for a year and still only cover a quarter of a mile of the road we live on. Quite fancy getting out and down to Joo Chiat later to see what's what. Food of course, but also the old shop-houses being used as originally intended. And actually places to shop. Speaking of which, we decided we quite like the idea of having a hawker style table on our front terrace just for general use (I'm sitting at it at the moment). Now, we had less than no idea where to find, especially as we'd just moved. So, of course, I Facebook'd the question. Almost instantly I got a reply from another blogger Leone Fabre who pointed us in the direction of the Kitchen Mart (read Leone's blog post) in Eunos. Now, bearing in mind she lives over on the West Coast (which in Singaporean terms is absolutely miles away from us), I have no idea how she knew this place existed. But I'm glad she did. It is the proverbial Aladdin's Cave of cookware! Value for money (a rarity in Sing) and stacked with all manor of good stuff. From the food centre style of crockery (i.e. orange) to the most gigantic cooking vats, you could fit in two small children to stew with room to spare, and the suitably massive masher with which to mash them with. I like to cook so it was a revelation to find (be directed to) this place. Sufficed to say we went in for a table and came out with quite a lot more. We will be back.
Right, away to Joo Chiat! I get the feeling my next post may be rather foodie oriented!