A week of highs and lows.

The week began on a very colourful note with Peter's last day-time walk for a while. He starts work at an International school next week so his days will be otherwise occupied. In his honour Libby suggested we all go Hawaiian in deference for his love of a particular shirt. Despite having to start at Beauty World, a place not accesible by MRT, there was a great turnout. I'm not sure what the staff and other patrons of Maccas thought about all these crazy ángmos' dressed in such bright colours. Unfortunately Bukit Timah Hill is still closed (aaaahhh big sigh of disappointment!) so we walked to MacRitchie Ranger station then on to Thompson Road Plaza for lunch. It was Youth Day in Singapore and although we didn't see many kids about,we did run in to the army boys and a group of cute kids out with their youth leader.

On our way in to town for the mid-term dinner Kathy accompanied me to a spectacle shop called OwnDays, as it really is time for some new specs. I have realised that taking photos is very difficult when I don't need the specs to see my target, but I do need them to see the screen display. It is time for graduated lenses. Surprisingly my eyes have changed very little in the last 3 years and the best news was the total cost...$218 only, including the eyetest.
After meeting at our usual SQUE bar for pre-dinner drinks (dinner wasn't until 8) we made our way to the opposite side of Clarke Quay to Senor Tacos. On the way we crossed Read Bridge which is a pedestrian-only bridge. At the moment it has been set up as a Hawker-style food area. The picture on the bottom right shows what it normally looks like at night!
Senor Tacos provided a night of good food, extremely good sangria and great salsa style music. The saxophonist was Australian and the DJ was a very talented musician who kept us entertained all night. There was some talk of salsa classes, but we'll see where that goes! Unfortunately the night was spoiled again by haggling about who ate/drank what, but that goes with people not including the ++ (taxes) in their calculations.

 A few of us wandered around to the Crazy Elephant, but Kathy and I decided we'd had enough and headed home. On the way back to the MRT we saw some crazy tourists doing their best to bring their dinner back up! There are actually people inside that 'ball' on the end of a rubber band.

I spent a quiet day at home on Tuesday, just meeting Helen in Hougang to do a bit of shopping, where we ran in to Robert. Although we had had lunch we joined him for a chat over coffee. After dinner Helen and I had a game of cards...where I won for the second time in a row! That's a pretty big deal against Miss Card Shark herself. I'll be going for a trifecta next time.
Wednesday dawned with what we thought was going to be a perfectly ordinary day...not quite how it turned out. All MAE branches were having joint meetings so we could receive news about next years leadership at the same time. We suspected that Ang Mo Kio Branch would be closing (and this proved to be the case) and there would be responsibilty changes. As Kathy is the leader at Bishan/Ang Mo Kio she was ready to leave earlier than Helen and I, and asked us to come sit as she had something to tell us. Her announcement that she will be leader at Jurong next year came out of left field, and as Jurong is about as far away as you can get from Punggol we will not be able to house share next year. Already knowing that Helen has been offered Tampines, another branch that is not easily accessible from our current residence, my living arrangements for next year are in somewhat of a disarray. Hopefully we can work something out that will suit all of us as it is early days yet, but, on top of my last couple of weeks of uncertainty, it has rather taken the wind out of my sails.
I was very grateful when Libby offered coffee or birds for an outing on Thursday, so not having been for a 'bird'walk for a while I went for the bird option.We settled on an oldie but a goodie, from Farmway to Punggol. Eric came along as well and captured this shot of the flameback woodpecker.

Friday was spent blogging as I had a few weeks to catch up on. After work on Saturday night Libby and I had a couple of drinks at Sque Bar before heading to the bridge mentioned earlier in this blog. Unfortunately it didn't look all that appetizing with lots of uncleared rubbish on the tables so we continued on to Senor Tacos where we re-confirmed that the Sangria was very good...but only 1 glass as tomorrow was a workday!

We were entertained by the belly-dancer at the restaurant next door.