Last couple of weeks

The week went by quietly with a bit of Xmas Shopping with Maria on Thursday and on Friday I went for A "birdie"walk at Tampines Eco Green which is an eco-friendly park that offers a sanctuary for flora and fauna and a place for nature recreation.

It has various natural habitats such as open grasslands, freshwater wetlands and a secondary rainforest, so we saw a good selection of birds. The highlight was definitely the brown-throated sunbird. The photo on the left is from the internet and the others are Eric's. Considering how quickly this little bird flits from spot to spot he was very lucky to catch it at all. We also saw the blue-tailed bee eater, sooty headed bulbul and a water hen.

After work on Sunday night we headed in to Outram Park to farewell Bev. She has been in Singapore with MAE for a number of years and has decided it is time to return to Australia. We serenaded her with a special rendition of 'Way Out West" as she has been the leader at Jurong and often reminds us how far she has to travel in order to socialise. I expect we will catch up with her back in Australia as she takes up a job with the Immigration Dept in Canberra in the new year. A good night was had by all and a few of us managed to front up the next morning for the Monday walk.

The walk was from Vivo City to Fort Siloso on Sentosa Island. It was a first visit for me and was very interesting although extremely hot.
In the 19th century, Singapore became an important sea trading port for the British. To defend the island from sea invasion, Fort Siloso was one of three forts that were built on Sentosa Island.
During World War II, the Japanese troops invaded Singapore from the north through peninsula Malaya and the guns in Fort Siloso were turned landwards to support the ground troops.

Today, it is the only preserved coastal fort in Singapore, and is an historical attraction with a rich memorabilia of pre-WWII and WWII-era guns and remains of fortified military structures and tunnels.

The rest of my weekend passed quietly with a trip to the movies to see the latest James Bond "Spectre"on Tuesday evening. 

The Circus

After a day of recovery I met up with Libby, Eric, Peter and Yuan Yuan at Satays by the Bay before the Cirque du Solei performance, 'Totem'.  Wandering through Gardens by the Bay on the way to the venue always provides some stunning picture moments and tonight was no exception.
Cirque du Soleil describes Totem's theme as the evolution of humanity from its primordial, amphibian state toward the aspiration of flight, taking inspiration from many of humanity's founding myths. The staging, costumes and performances were amazing and it was hard to believe that the human form can bend in some of the directions we witnessed! One of my favourites were the girls on the unicycles. While keeping upright they balanced a metal bowl on one foot and flicked it through the air where it was caught by another girl...on her head!

The bottom gymnast on the left is actually bent over backwards!

After such a mind blowing show we decided to end the evening with a nightcap at a bar in Marina Bay Sands.

I was kept busy through the rest of the week with Parent Teacher Meetings and some work I had offerred to help Jo with. This turned out to be a much bigger job than anticipated so she came over on Friday to clarify a few things. 

I ended the weekend with dinner at Saturday's with Libby and Eric.

Monday's walk was Clementi to Haw Par Villa, through the very pretty West Coast Park, and we even managed to (almost) avoid the rain.

As we had all been through the Villa and no one really wanted to revisit it we caught the train back to Bishan for lunch.
Last week Libby had seen a ruddy kingfisher in Bidadari, a natural area near their place. Next year it will be removed to make way for more housing which is rather sad, as it is a stopping point for many migratory birds. The ruddy kingfisher is one such bird. On Tuesday morning Libby and I went looking for it and we were very lucky to spy it shortly after entering the park. We saw a number of other species but the kingfisher was the highlight of the day.

The one on the left is Libby's (just to prove we saw it)!

Mum bought me back a flower tea from her recent trip to Hong Kong so I decided to test it out. I wasn't keen on the tea itself but the "pod"turns into a flower which you can display for a number of days.

After such a pleasant walk I headed home and spent the afternoon being domestic before preparing for the Punggol/Kovan Xmas Dinner. We had a delicious meal at the Mandarin Oriental, with good company and a sensible amount to drink! We had a secret Santa where you could steal gifts from each other if you saw something you really liked. I did begin with a set of headphones but alas it didn't last. Still I ended up with a practical gift of a luggage tag and a 2016 diary...very happy!

Michael's Birthday

After arriving at the Gold Coast it was only a 5 minute wait for Pauline to pick me up as she passed by on her way back to Ballina. It was timely that she had arrived back the night before from a 2 week trip to USA and after staying at her sister's in Brisbane was making her way back to Ballina today. After an afternoon nap on the new bed (verrrry comfortable) we met up with Pauline and Pam at the Shaws Bay hotel for dinner. 
Saturday dawned a perfect day...a might early as I am not used to the sun being up before 6! On our way to inspect the shed we dropped in to deliver a parcel to an MAE colleague, via his sister. I actually taught his niece and nephew at Lismore Heights many years ago and knew his sister. It was a pleasant surprise to find Richard actually in town, also in town for a 60th birthday celebration, his sisters. 
After inspecting the new shed, very impressive, we collecteced a few more bits and pieces to take back to the unit. There is going to be a massive job to do when I return! We spent the afternoon tidying a few things and getting a bit of shopping done before friends arrived for pre-dinner drinks on the front verandah in perfect Ballina conditions. Michael's cards/gifts all seemed to have a common theme...drinking and/or farting!

About 7 the taxi arrived to transport us to La Cuchina Di Vino. We had a good night although the restaurant was quite noisy and too much champagne was consumed.

I awoke on Sunday morning with absolutely no desire to go to Byron Bay and luckily the weather had co-operated with the feeling by being thundery and very wet! Michael wasn't keen either so we stayed in bed. After farewelling Sue and David we went looking at dining tables. as our last one was broken by the removalists. We decided on one we liked, which of course turned out to be the most expensive one in the store. We decided to think about it but since my return to Singapore Michael has ordered it.

 Duncan called to wish Michael a happy birthday, I spoke to mum and sorted some ideas for Xmas before we headed to the Gold Coast in pouring rain! After dinner at the local surf club it was an early night as be both had to on the move early on Monday morning.

A BIG week

The working week ended with drinks at Saturday's followed by a nightcap at the Smith' s...we didn't go long past our 10 o'clock curfew!

What promised to be an exhausting week started with the disappointment of a closed Maccas followed by a gentle walk around Tiong Bahru, one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore. It was the first project undertaken by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), a government body administered by the British colonial authority, to provide for mass public housing in Singapore. The apartment blocks in the main estate are made up of two to five-storey flats and the units are assorted three to five-room apartments. The construction style of the estate is a mix of Streamline Moderne and local Straits Settlements shop-house architecture. The flats feature rounded balconies, flat rooftops, spiral staircases, light wells and underground storage and shelters. 




Even with a coffee stop at Flock it was a fairly short walk so we continued on to Pinnacle at Duxton an HDB of 7 connected towers. The public are allowed to go to the 50th storey Skybridge. There is another skybridge at the 26th level which is only accessible to the residents.

 
 On returning home I spent some time helping Helen and Jo format some worksheets they had spent the morning working on before donning the gear for the Annual Dinner. This years theme was Shanghai Nights and the performance of the night had to go to Robert for his Indian Dance. I came away with a lucky door prize of a bluetooth speaker so was quite happy with that.
 After what seemed to be a very short night it was back to town for a Melbourne Cup function at Boomerang Bar in Robinson Quay. Although I didn't win it was a good day and Eric and Jo took home a prize in the Fashions in the Field Competition.
 After a much needed afternoon nap I woke with a croaky voice. By Wednesday morning it was pretty well gone, but with Parent Teacher Meetings starting that night, and a trip to Oz this weekend I felt I had to go to work, so my parents managed to understand me and I survived. It was slightly improved on Thursday and after a lazy day, I worked one session before heading to the airport for my trip to Oz.

Tennis Anyone?

This weeks walk was to be an evening one from Tai Seng, past Stadium and finishing at Satays by the Bay. Unfortunately the haze was in the very unhealthy range again so the walk was cancelled and instead most of us met up at SQUE bar for a drink, before meandering along to Wine Connections for dinner. It was only a short trip to the whisky shop and chocolate dessert shop before home.

On Tuesday Helen and I met up with Libby and Eric at the WTA Finals at the Indoor Stadium.  Our opening match was between the third ranked Chan sisters from Taipei and No.2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova. The final scoreline was 6-2, 6-2 in favour of the Chans and it was a very entertaining match with all players showing great hand speed at the net.

The 2nd match was between Flavia Pennetta (7), playing the last tour event of her professional career, who managed to beat Agnieszka Radwanska (5) in a close match after twice being a service break down. 

During the break we had a look at the practice court and saw Simona Halep warming up for her evening match against Maria Sharapova. We also checked the state of the haze and were very grateful that the play was in an air-conditioned stadium as I doubt the games would have gone ahead if it had to be played outdoors.

The evening session began with a legends doubles match with Martina Navratilova and Marion Bartoli against Tracy Austin and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in an 8-game pro set. It was very entertaining, as well as some pretty good tennis and the players actually looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Then Maria Sharapova (3) held off an inspired second set fightback to defeat Simona Halep (1) in a match which, for the first 45 minutes, was dead even on serve. She raced ahead in the second only for Halep to fight back. Really good tennis with amazing power.

The final match for the day was the Spanish pairing of Carla Suarez Navarro and Garbine Muguruza (8) against Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik (5). The Spanish pair got off to a fairly sluggish start and were actually down 5-1 before fighting back and being the eventual winners. By the time this game ended it was 11.50 and Helen and I bolted for the MRT, just making the last train to Serangoon, where we connected with the last train to Hougang, then the last bus home...phew!
As the final of the Rugby World Cup was between NZ and Australia there was a bit of discussion in the Lady Cave about the likely result. When an All Blacks supporter had her her toenails done to show where her allegiance lay I felt it only fitting to join in...perhaps the wearing of shoes too soon should have served as an omen when the 'paint'job became a little scrunched!

We had a PD session at Bishan on Thursday, and also received news from Lawrence that our landlords are prepared to reduce the rent to what we were asking so I don't have to relocate. Pip came over after work on Saturday to see how smoothly a weekend run goes and seemed quite happy with it. 

Mum's visit part 2

Robert and Maria took mum to Hong Kong for a few days to catch up with Elizabeth and Andy, to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday. They did invite me to go along but as I am off to Oz in a couple of weeks I though I would stay put. 
After dinner at Joe's on Sunday night it was up early for the Marsling to Woodlands walk as there was an hours travelling to get to the starting point. Even though the haze was still in the unhealthy range there were the die hards ready for a stroll. The walk took us to the Singapore end of the Causeway across to Malaysia which was a hazy blur in the distance.
I arrived home to the news that Kathy's tests had confirmed a bout of Dengue fever so she will be resting up for a bit longer.
On Tuesday I went to the recently re-opened Coney Island (also known as Pulau Serangoon) with Eric, Libby and Sally. It lies just 100m off the north-eastern coast near Punggol with Pulau Ubin further out. 

It hosts a wide variety of habitats, including coastal forests, grasslands, mangroves, and Casuarina woodlands and is known as a stop for migratory birds. The different habitats in the park allow for a high diversity in bird species, which should make it an ideal location for bird watching. Apparently there is a chance to see the nationally endangered spotted wood owl. Today we saw Baya Weaver nests, the pied fantail, Oriental Magpie-robin, a flock of parakeets, a lone tiger shrike and a number of kingfishers and woodpeckers among others. Thanks to Eric for the great shots of the collared kingfishers, tiger shrike, and brahminy kite below.

Remains of the villa

The island was purchased in the 1930's by the brothers who developed Tiger Balm and Haw Par Villa and they built a beach villa here but then the war came to town. Sometime after WWII an Indian businessman, Ghulam Mahmood, purchased the place with the intention of turning it into a resort like the one in Brooklyn, however his plans failed too, and the place was once again left idle, some locals visited for boating and fishing. With recent reclamation works, the island has almost doubled in size and the URA's Master Plan reveals that a part of the island (about half) is going to be developed for residential purposes while the other half will be left as an eco bird watching and fauna/flora sanctuary. The area on the map to the right below that looks like a big sandy beach, isn't. It indicates the area set aside for residential waterfront development. I hope that by the time the bulldozers are ready to move in a large number of residents will rise up and say enough is enough and save it....not very likely I know but one lives in hope! The villa stands in a mangrove area and is only accessible on a guided walk conducted by NParks now as the building is structurally unsound.he 2.4 km pathway on the island is part of the park connector network and it is hoped they will make a connection to the one through Pasir Ris Park. We tried to negotiate our way but ended up calling a taxi! We were all getting too hot and tired and had walked too far on sealed road. We had lunch at Pasir Ris Lake and then I went home for a swim and a spot of cooking for a change. 

In the evening I met up with some of my colleagues at the Kazbar in Capital Square near Telok Ayer MRT. We shared the Cold Mezze platter then each had a very delicious main course.
The rest of the family returned from Hong Kong in time for work on Wednesday and had an outing to Gardens by the Bay on Thursday. The chrysanthemum is the Chinese flower for autumn and there was a magnificent display in the flower dome. I also saw many new sculptures in driftwood and stone since my last visit.

We had planned an outing in to Arab street on Friday but the haze was particularly bad so a day indoors at Robert and Maria's condo was as far as I ventured. I returned there after work on Saturday for dinner, to find Maria feeling very unwell and staying home on Sunday. After work on Sunday night a group of us convened at the Five Rabbits in Pasir Ris Park for dinner, an opportunity for Mum to catch up with some of our colleagues who she had met on previous visits. It was not a particularly late night as Mum had an early start for her return to Australia on Monday morning.