Countdown Time

This week began and ended with a some walks with MAE colleagues. On Thursday it was off to the Chinese Gardens so Peter, Libby and Eric could get in some stairs practice for their upcoming assault on Everest Base Camp. Much to their collective disappointment there was a sign on the locked door which caused a change of plans! We had to resort to climbing the much smaller twin Pagodas and try to stay out of each others way. 
I spent Friday helping Kathy put her bed together...we are becoming quite the experts with the 'Ikea allen key." After work on Friday I joined Libby, Eric and Richard at Kovan for dinner. On the bus on the way home I got chatting to a woman who turned out to live in the same condo, and I remarked how we got such a great breeze. She looked at me with a horrified look on her face and replied, "We never open the windows!"
The weekend went by with some absences at work but we got through with great teamwork as usual.









On Sunday night Eric and I traveled over to Holland Village for end of week drinks with colleagues at the Wala Bar. It was a good night and a chance to see people who work some distance from us.
It has been a Good news, Bad news, kind of week! The good news was that June has recovered enough from her recent stint in hospital to join us for our Monday walk, from Bukit Gombok to Jurong, and despite the humidity we all managed to finish it.

On Monday night I went to the movies and saw the worst Hugh Grant movie ever made... Rewrite. Kathy and Helen were both staying over and when I got home Kathy was in a happy state having been to her branch end-of-year function. A drink( or 2) were consumed over a couple of hands of euchre and suddenly it was 2am. 

Tuesday therefore got off to a slow start although I did manage a trip to Ikea before meeting up with Robert and Maria in town. Our night began with drinks at Kinkies, followed by dinner at Lau Pasat and rounded off with a nightcap at Level 33, a bar with great views over Marina Bay. 

Drinks at Kinkis

View from Level 33 Bar

At Wednesdays staff meeting the bombshell was dropped that Peter was finishing with MAE at the end of the year. This was very upsetting news especially the way he has been treated after 13 years with the company...it was all too familiar to me!

Fortunately I was able to join Libby Eric and Peter for a walk from Kent Ridge to Harbourfront on Thursday morning and I was pleased to see that Peter was in good spirits, having had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea. He will be sorely missed at MAE but as he hopes to stay in Singapore we won't have to start missing him yet.

Tiered Plaza area 

We followed our usual walk with a few little detours that took us to a couple of new scenic spots. At Mt Faber we found an area below the lookout which has a series of murals depicting the History of Singapore. A very interesting spot.