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!

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!