Saturday, 31 December 2011

The Chapman's Singapore Christmas

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Christmas 2011, a set on Flickr.
So Christmas has been..... and gone just about. All-in-all it's been a real nice time and a lot more fun than last year's somewhat forced affair. This year we were lucky enough to have genuine friends and family here to celebrate with. Thirteen for lunch (including three under fives) and not a hitch, probably because I stayed out of the kitchen! Good food and good company. The dinner was a traditional turkey affair (and beef.... and ham) although there were suggestions (threats?) of salads from the antipodean faction (thankfully quashed). The food was great thanks the work of the girls (and a boy, not me) and we all sat down with paper hats on heads and proceeded to eat more than we should for any normal week. As is traditional, evening approached and the remaining survivors settled down with the Monopoly set (Singapore edition) which remained completely untouched as the 15 year old malt made an appearance and with that Christmas Day was slowly put to bed.
New Year's Eve now and getting ready to go to Marina Bay with the in-laws to watch the fireworks. That, of course, is on the assumption the our daughter gets rid of her 39C something temperature or it's going to be a quiet one at home!
We're finally getting some blue skies and sun after several weeks of rain, rain and more lightning and thunder. The in-laws have been stunned about the lack of sunlight. Granddad had visions of a sunny Christmas with BBQs, Aussies and beers. Well, he's had the beer part! Maybe we'll manage the BBQ and Aussie bit in the New Year before they depart for the UK.
Time for a G'n'T before the sun disappears I think!
In other news, I believe this is my 100th blog post. Seems it should be a milestone so, HURRAY!

Friday, 2 December 2011

Singapore Christmas on the Esplanade

Esplanade Christmas by SingaPaulie
Esplanade Christmas, a photo by SingaPaulie on Flickr.
Christmas is starting build in Singapore (well, has been for a while with some Christmas classics being played in Fairprice since early November). Standing in the same place but turning 180 degrees gave a good impression of the changeable nature of the weather here at the moment. Black looking towards the theatres and bright sunshine towards the Swisshotel in the other direction.