1997
Diary for December
1st December
I was unexpectedly given a free ticket to the Charity Gala Film Premiere of "The Jackal" starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier. The gala was to mark World Aids Day. It was a splendid affair in the newly completed multi-cinema complex near my house.
A typical bloody, action film but I’m sure I’ve seen the plot many times before.
***
2nd December
Saw Michael Jackson (the Singapore version) this evening. He is next week going on his annual, two week national service refresher course. Apparently he will have to do a two week refresher for the next 13 years! (I think that's what he said).
3rd December
Having been to one or two countries in my time I think I now know that no toilet flushes like a British toilet!
4th December
A Big Mac Meal here only costs S$5 (less than £2). Surely they cost more than that in the UK don't they?
I was one of the teachers that didn't get invited to the Thai Embassy this afternoon for the King's 70th Birthday celebrations!
5th December
Teaching at an International School, we are kept informed
of policy changes which might affect our students. The
following is the text of a memo handed to me today:
"The European
Commission has just announced an agreement that English
will be the official language of the EU - rather than
German (the other possibility). As part of the
negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that
English spelling had some room for improvement, and has
accepted a 5-year phase-in of new rules which would apply
to the language and reclassify it as EuroEnglish.
The agreed plan is as follows:
In year 1, the soft 'c' would be replaced by 's'.
Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with
joy. The hard 'c' will be replaced by 'k'. This should
klear up konfusion and keyboards kan now have one less
letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond
year, when the troublesome 'ph' is replaced by 'f'. This
will reduse fotograf' by 20%.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling
kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated
changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the
removal of double letters, which have always ben a
deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the
horible mes of the silent 'e's in the language is
disgrasful and they should eliminat them.
By year 4, peopl wil be reseptiv to lingwistik korektions
such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v' (saving
mor keyboard spas).
During ze fifz year, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from
vords knotaining 'ou' and similar changes vud of kors be
applid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz
year, ve vil hav a reli sensibil riten styl. Zer vil be
no mor trubls or difikultis and evrirun vil find it ezi
to understand ech ozer.
ZE DREM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!!!"
6th December
I installed a skylight in my apartment.... The people who live above me are furious!
7th December
It's Sunday lunchtime here in Singapore at the moment and I've just returned from a morning ride to the beach (Click here for proof !) I stopped on the way back at a Chinese pavement restaurant and had Wonton Noodle Soup for lunch. I thought I'd got the hang of chopsticks but soup beats me everytime!
8th December
I believe there is a very large cash prize for the shop on Orchard Road that can produce the best Christmas decoration on the front of the shop. There are some huge creations with complete new shop fronts being built for the occasion. Here are some photos:
This evening I was invited out for my first Christmas dinner of the season ... very nice.
9th December
I received a letter from Navash in India. I was amused to read that his return address featured the phrase "Backside of post office" !! The contents of the letter went on to say "My sister has issued a female child"!
10th December
Staff Christmas "do" at school ... full turkey dinner. Everyone had to buy a secret gift for another member of staff and put it round the tree. My gift was a couple of video CDs ... one of them being Giovanni's Christmas Music ... it's playing on my computer as I type this to you... really putting me in the festive spirit .. or is it this red wine I'm drinking?
The evening ended with the staff of the Merchant Court Hotel, who live in the appartment at the top of my building, all dropping in for Christmas drinks. A good evening .. and they've invited me up for a Chinese Xmas meal on Friday :-)
11th December
Booked a flight to Thailand for Chinese New Year (24-30 Jan). Discovered the real China Town and bought lots of Chinesey Christmas presents.
12th December
Woops ... someone set fire to Heathrow airport .... still, I suppose it'll be easier to see in the dark when I come in to land!
Chinese meal upstairs ... very good ...followed by a staff "Bon Voyage" party.
13th December till 2nd January 1998
Back in England for Christmas
