All Right Here?: June 2005

Sting Ray, Dragon Fruit and Cheesy Socks

He's right, it is alright here!!

Jonny and H here and we are with Mikey and Ella in a stinking hot Singapore. And it is all good. I have Mike watching me type this over my left shoulder so I am under pressure from the literary genius.

So what have we done since we arrived? LOADS... Went to Raffles last night and had the Sling, went to a hawkers market and ate Sting Ray. And today, after a breakfast of Dragon fruit (well, one slice) we went to the Botanical Gardens (for Laksa and a walk to see the terrapins - H and Ella met Russel). From there it was to Chinatown where I came across the infamous Durian fruit, which is banned on public transport. So I had to have some. And it was true - just like Michael Palin said, it does taste of cheesy socks. Quite probably the must disgusting thing I have ever tasted. But I'm glad I did it. I also picked up a snow globe - so I will now have 25 on my desk at work. And then we did a river cruise at sunset before eating Thai on Boat Quay.

Tomorrow we will go up the Equinox tower (70 storeys up, top view) and then to Little India. And I expect there will be loads of other things to do.

It's great here, and damn hot. It's 11.25pm and the sweat is dripping onto the keyboard so I had best stop.

Pictures below - comment as you see fit. On Monday we are off to Perth to validate our visas, then Sydney. Our new life began on Thursday when we flew from Heathrow.....and its bloody good so far. Cheers Mike and Ella.

Cheesy Boat Trip

Cheesy Snowglobe

Cheesy Socks

Cheesy Grins and Slings

Home And Vietnam

Can't quite believe people are still visiting. Thanks for your recent comments, Andy and Joe. I was toying with the idea of removing the blog from the web, but didn't get round to it. It's quite hard work doing this regularly and once you get out of the habit, it's hard to get back into it again.

I've come to the conclusion that teaching is pretty dire wherever you do it. I'm asking myself whether the long holidays are enough recompense for the miserable life for the other 3/4 of the year. I expect non-teachers will find that last sentence intensely irritating.

Sorry.

I actually like teaching itself, but so much time is taken up by stupid pointless admin nonsense that I actually spend less time teaching than I do everything else.

It'll be better next year. That's my annual mantra. It's never true.

Anyway, that's enough miserablism. I'm back to Blighty soon for about 4 weeks and I'm in a state of rabid anticipation. Ever since I booked my flight back, I've missed the old place. It's the oldest place in the world, you know. It's where all the history comes from. Of course, I've missed lots of people the entire year, but it's only since I booked my flight that I really missed the place. I like the idea of snuggling into a warm jumper and a pac-a-mac on a lukewarm July morning. I had a little taster of this when I went to Hong Kong - it was so cold I had to wear a hoodie. I hadn't worn one for about 8 months and I used to live in one, so the pleasure was indescribable.

What else am I looking forward to?

Chips in greasy newspaper.
Proper West Country cider.
Seeing, for the first time in a year, examples of the Knowle Facelift.
Driving a car.
Not having prickly heat.
Reading a quality newspaper. The Sun, for example. Compared to newspapers here, it's unbiased, even-handed and sophisticated.
Good television. Here, that consists of American Idol (which was, actually, extremely good) and When Animals Attack (which wasn't).
Long summer evenings.
Not bumping into people all the time.
People not talking or answering phones in the cinema.
Taxi drivers understanding what "second left, please" means. I know, I should've learnt Mandarin.
Watching the animals fight in jaw dropping amazement in the centre of Bristol on a Saturday night.
Hearing "last orders please". You'll miss it when it's not there.
Adverts. They have shown the same adverts for the entire time I've been here. The worst one is for Honda or something and features a sheep winning a horse race. If I hear the phrase "and bolting out from nowhere, it's a SHEEP!" one more time, I'm going to eat nothing but lamb and mutton for the rest of my life.
Car boots and jumble sales.
Hills.

The list could and would go on, but I've a nostalgic tear in my eye and the scent of newly mown grass in a quaint country village up my nose, with the gentle chink of leather knocking bails off stumps in my ears and the taste of cucumber sandwiches and perfectly brewed tea in my mouth. So I'll leave it there. I wouldn't want to resort to cliches.

Anyway, went to Vietnam as Andy said, and here are some photos. We did Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. You know, touristy stuff. It was brilliant. Sadly, the photos don't do it justice.

Mike out, to paraphrase Seacrest.