Michael heads home

I said farewell to Michael when I left for work on Wednesday as he was due to leave about the time I finished work. Peter met him at the airport and had dinner with him so he didn't feel as though no-one had noticed he was leaving...and also to celebrate the arrival of Peter's first grandchild. He is one very excited Grandpa, although the distance to Ireland is quite a hurdle.
Before work on Thursday I met Libby for a coffee, as she is suffering a painful knee injury which is keeping her outings limited.
After work on Saturday night Kathy and I caught up with Peter in Kovan to 'wet the baby's head'. He is full of excitement about his first grand child and also investigating a variety of avenues for a future in Singapore. We are all hopeful that he will find something soon as he is not a person who is happy to be idle.
After work on Sunday I went to Joe's in Kovan with the Smiths and Robert and Maria. It was a while since my last visit there so it was nice to be welcomed back with a smile. Hopefully future weekends will see some of our new staff members join us for end of week drinks, but at this point most of them are still settling in to their new roles.
This weeks walk was from Bishan to Ang Mo Kio, an oldie but a goodie. We had a good size group of 12 with a number of the new staff joining us for what they thought was going to be a gentle stroll. One poor girl was rather warm by the end of it as she was wearing long track pants...not great attire for midday in Singapore!

lotus flower in Bishan Park

After an earlyish swim on Tuesday Helen took me in to the Albert Centre at Bugis to do some shopping. On ground level there is a comprehensive hawkers centre but we headed up to the third floor which sells dried food and nuts. Helen was originally sent here by an EA at her workplace, as the place the locals buy their dried fruit and nuts...and I can see why. Apart from some rather 'unusual' varieties of dried seafood there are many choices of dried fruit and nut so we had fun deciding what to buy for our scroggin packs!

we by-passed the dried sea creatures

lots to choose from

I met up with Libby and Bev for drinks at Sque Bar where we were studiously ignored by the social committee members having their first meeting of the year at a distant table. After the meeting finished we were invited to join them over dinner. It was good to see some new faces amongst the old, with Craig and Melisa from Kovan staying on to eat with us.

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