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Diary for
November 1997
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| 1st
November |
Saturday:
Returned from Pangkor and Ipoh with sunburn and a need of
sleep. I'd had a great time but the overnight bus journey
back takes it out of you despite the aircraft type
reclining seats. |
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2nd
November
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Sunday: Day of school work :-(
ready for quarter 2 which begins tomorrow. |
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3rd November
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Monday: When we all thought
the haze situation was improving it starts to get worse
again ....... |
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4th
November
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Tuesday: Take a look what I had to eat this
evening: |
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5th
November
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Wednesday: Can it really be
bonfire night? So hot and sunny (occasionally) that
autumn seems far away. They've opened yet another
shopping mall in walking distance of my mansion. New
World City. In the basement is a fantastic, state of
the art food hall featuring a wonderful Taiwanese kitchen
where you sit on a stool round a giant hot plate on which
the chef cooks, in front of your very eyes, such
delicious delights as:
Sliced beef with chili & garlic, king prawns in lemon
sauce, pepper steak.
I had a beautiful two course meal for £2.50.... I'll be
back there soon.
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6th
November
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Thursday: Watched the Under
18 basketball team play one of the other Singapore
schools this evening. Wow they were good. Even seeing
them practise their set moves before the game was a sight
to behold! |
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7th
November
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Friday: First visitors arrive
from the UK, Kathryn and Adrian.We walk through Little
India to see the Deepavali lights .... taxi to Clarke
Quay ... drinks at Breworkz ... then a Satay and Seafood
meal in front of a live band right in the centre of the
Clark Quay shops and restaurants.... Back to my house for
an alcoholic night cap. |
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8th
November
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Saturday: The obligatory
"Singapore Sling" at
Raffles Hotel. Walk through the Padang, Cable Car from
Mount Faber to Sentosa. Rest of the day spent enjoying
the attractions on Sentosa
followed by drinks in China Town then dinner at an
outdoor Thai restaurant in Boat Quay. |
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9th
November
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Sunday: Lunch at Newton
Circus... A tiger prawn the size of a shoe and a crab
(expensive)...hard Rock Cafe .... Orchard Road ... Ngee
Ann City (superb Christmas tree) .... said good-bye to
Kathryn and Adrian at 5:30pm.... met next group of
visitors at 8pm... Lyn and Barbara. |
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10th
November
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Monday: Writing reports ....
yuch!!! |
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11th
November
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Tuesday: Mr Flannagan is an
Irish teacher at the school. He teaches some maths. Today
a pupil came up to him and said: "Sir, I couldn't
do these homework questions"
"But they were easy, a monkey could have done
them!"
"But my father wasn't home last night"
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12th -
16th November
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Teacher's
conference in Kuala Lumpur
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17th
November
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Monday: I've got the flu (Ahh
- choo) |
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18th
November
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Tuesday: Can you believe it,
my local little Indian food stall actually ran out of
paratha!! So I trusted the management to choose for me
... what a mistake that was! I don't know what it was
called but this is how I imagined they made it...
- Take tinned spaghetti and mop it dry with a paper
towel;
- Sprinkle it with pepper, chili powder and sand;
- Serve it on a dirty plate.
... well that's what it tasted like anyway :-(
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19th
November
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Wednesday: The durian is the
strangest fruit I've ever come across. It is a large,
green rugby ball shape with a pale fleshy centre. It's
great claim to fame is the fact that it really stinks.
Having just tasted one for the first time I can also say
that it tastes like onion flavoured ice cream, a taste
that lingers and keeps reminding you of what you have
just eaten.. Because of the smell, durians are banned
on the underground and in most hotels here. They are
supposed to be the only fruit that tigers eat!
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20th
November
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Thursday: Staff
room talk today was of travelling to a nearby island for
the weekend. Now that I have settled in it is a real
possibility and I felt I could get a trip in before
Christmas. I bought the "Lonely
Planet" guide to Indonesia
which lists the islands in the South China Sea which are
close to Singapore. There are as many islands, locals
say, as there are grains in a cup of pepper. 3214
Island's in all, more than 700 of them uninhabited and
many of them unnamed!!! I think
it's about time I went out and discovered Tranter Island!
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21st
November
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Friday: I think I must be
spending too much money in my local pub. They gave me a
free t-shirt this evening! |
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22nd
November
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Saturday: At last I managed
to get the "chat" page working on the
"Birmingham Maths Web Site" It's
at http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/ufa10/chat.htm
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23rd
November
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Sunday: Given
a list of "safe" dishes to ask for at the
Chinese food centre by a local Singaporean. Trouble I'm
still not sure exactly what they mean! Bak
kut teh
Hokkein mee
Har fan
Bee hoon
Yi mee
Fish head bee hoon (What!)
Fried kway teow
Saw Mohendran this eveining (Singapore's
No.1 Michael Jackson impersonator) and his dancers do a
show. They were superb, so well practised.... just like
the real thing!
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24th
November
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Monday: Thanks to Shirley for
giving me this information: Think
about this for a second.
A herd of buffalo can only
move as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is
hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
that are killed first. This natural selection is good for
the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health
of the whole keeps improving by the regular culling of
the weakest members.
In much the same way, the
human brain can operate only as fast as the slowest brain
cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills
off brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and
weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular
consumption of beer eliminates the weaker cells,
constantly making the brain a faster and more efficient
machine.
The results of this
in-depth epidemiological study verifies and validates the
causal link between all-weekend parties and computing
performance. It also explains why, after a few short
years of leaving university and getting married, most
professionals cannot keep up with the performance of the
new graduates. Only those few that stick to the strict
regimen of voracious alcoholic consumption can maintain
the intellectual levels that they achieved during their
university years.
So, this is a call to
arms. As our country is losing its technological edge we
should not shudder in our homes. Get back into the bars!
Quaff that pint! Your company and country need you to be
at your peak, and you shouldn't deny yourself the career
that you could have. Be all that you can be.
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25th
November
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Tuesday: I added a
"guestbook" to my web site today. So come on
all you avid diary readers ... |
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26th
November
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Wednesday: Having just walked
along Orchard Road I think I'm right is saying that the
most popular T-shirt being worn here in Singapore, after
the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood is the "Fine
City" T-shirt. On the front it declares
"Singapore, A Fine City". On the back however
are a number of statements such as "No littering,
FINE $1000, no importing chewing gum, FINE $10,000, no
bird feeding FINE $1000, no urinating in lifts, FINE
$500, not flushing, FINE $150, no flower picking FINE $50
etc....." |
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27th
November
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Thursday: Janette, Sara and
I, after meeting with about 20 sets of parents each at
the Parents evening, went to the Col (Colonial) Bar for
some beers and an English style mixed grill. I hadn't had
a fry up like it since leaving the UK. It was superb. |
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28th
November
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Friday: Three questions about
Singaporeans:
- Why when riding scooters and motor bikes do they
wear jackets on back to front?
- Why do some people choose to sit on the bus seat
near the isle rather than the one near the window
even when other people are standing?
- Why do the say "lah" at the end of the
sentence and what does it mean?
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29th -
30th November
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Weekend
on Batam Island, Indonesia
Turi Beach Resort
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