Carnies? Here? In Singapore?

We were walking through town the other day when I felt something that tingled all along the back of my neck. Yes, we'd come across some travelling Carnival folk, here in Singapore. We assured ourselves they were harmless (they were Belgian after all), but for a few minutes we though that the week-long crime-wave had made its way to Singapore, and that Singapore's reputation as crime-free had been taken as a challenge.

Happily, they were Belgian (no beer on offer, tho), and there were no dogs randomly tied up or cars burning. They were in town for the Chinese New Year Celebrations, and had freighted all of their rides from the low-lands of Belgium for our entertainment. In the end, it was kind of a shame that we missed the fair - some candy floss would have been very nice thank you very much, although perhaps the Belgian versions of fairs don't have candy-floss? Anyway, it marked pretty much the end of the Chinese New Year festivities for us here, with the last day last Sunday. We had dinner at home on Sunday, and then steamboat (see post a few weeks ago for more on steamboat), so that's the celebrations over and done with for another year.

Finally, we watched the football on Saturday night at an open air bar area, full of Man Utd fans. This was the first time I'd watched football in Singapore with such a big crowd (perhaps 200-300 people), and I had no idea that people would cheer and boo so loudly, it was rather fun. Until the 90th minute. I was a little under the weather all evening (I have had flu since Thursday), and I couldn’t really cheer, or boo for that matter. Well, only a little cheer, when Paul Scholes tried to punch Alonso. I’m still smiling at that one…

On a happier note, we watched the football this morning as well, through to the last 8 and more glorious days thanks to Rafa.

Adios.

Did the ground move for you, too?

Well, I’ve done it all now. I’ve survived not one, but two earthquakes. Not real ones, of course, but the ones that are safely several hundred miles away. Years ago I felt one at University in Wales, and this morning we felt some tremors in Singapore following a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Indonesia that was felt here in Singapore. Apparently, the quake originated around 30 miles from Padang, a city on the western coast of Sumatra (430 miles from Singapore).

As I said in my earlier post, I am suffering from flu these days and am usually a bit dizzy as a result, so originally I thought nothing of it. But once my water started to ripple (just like on Jurassic Park), and my bag straps started to sway, I realised my inner ear hadn’t been playing silly beggars and that this was the real deal. We’ve been getting a few aftershocks this afternoon, so it could be fun!

General updates from the orient

I’m feeling decidedly under the weather today – I seem to have come down with a dose of the ‘flu again. I seem to be quite susceptible to flu these days, and I spent most of last night either very hot or very cold. I’m at work now, and I seem to be feeling a bit better, although there is still a leprechaun with a flamethrower sitting on my head giving me cold-sweats. I had a banana for breakfast, which seems to have worked. What I’d really like, though, is a nice English fried breakfast…..bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, fried toast…..

I’m reading Darryn’s blog at the moment, which is making me crave a lot of the yummy food we used to eat in China, like xiao long bao.

We’re still absolutely obsessed with watching Silent Witness, which I had never given a chance in the UK but is actually really very good. We can catch that on BBC Entertainment, and it is usually followed by the Cathy Tait show, something else I’d never seen before coming here, but has had us crying with laughter.

I received confirmation in the post yesterday of my Viva pass, along with the official comments, which was good. I’d waited a few weeks for it, and when the envelope arrived it looked as though someone had been dragging it through mud. It arrived in a plastic bag apologising – which was nice. The long and short of it is that I have 3 month to make some reasonably minor corrections, including chapter structure and the inclusion of some tables. All being well, we I should be able to get that done fairly soon, and send it off to the UK. It seems to have take a long time (actually, it has – 5 years almost, including employment gaps), but it is only now that it is starting to sink in that it is almost over.