My first Deepavali

SO MUCH FUN! I went along to Deepa's family home (after much delay at the office :(.. for a great night of food and friends. Deepavali, the festival of lights, celebrates good over evil- a great idea for a party I would say!

The Balji's had (as always) fabulous food and SO MUCH OF IT- I had to even turn down a papadam as I couldnt fit it in! YIKES!

The best thing was that Deepa lent me her fabulous clothes- so I was right into the festival spirit from the get go! suberb!

We played with sparklers and drank wine- what a fabulous time- I can't wait for next year!

In case of fire- please do not leave the building

Last night all bells and whistles were ringing at 2:10am as our trusty building alarm went off.

I jumped right out of the bed- and went for my paddling bag, thinking it was training time...but no it was really the tinny old fashioned DING DING DING DONG going crazy.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not at all, Alan and I were the only ones to grab our keys and get out of the building...there are 18 flats in our building and  full occupied at the moment...and no one else dared to move.

I suppose in the end they were smart as there was no fire- but really who would know?

About twenty minutes after the alarms stopped (the crazy DING DING DING went on for at least ten minutes) the trusty local fire brigade rocked up...they must have been scared to leave their building too!

I suspect that a thirty minute response time might be normal someplaces but I am surprised they were so slow in Singapore. (I wonder if they brought their truck!)

A Fireman, with a very serious voice, came to my door knocking loudly and saying- "SFB are you alright?". 

I wanted to tell him, what is your hurry, the alarm all the fuss this was done 30 minutes ago...I am  like everyone else is back in my bed! zzzzzzz......

Pushing uphill but going nowhere

Today is just one of those days- a huge list of to-dos but nothing seems to have been completed. I am blaming the haze. It is still sitting at somewhere in the 100s and that is UNHEALTHY!

Mr. Lee should be handing out masks at the airport and we should get the day of work! haha wishful thinking!

Hazy Shade of Singapore

The big topic around town in Singapore is the "Haze" or  pollution from Indonesia as farmers and plantation owners go into slash and burn- I really didnt believe it could be as bad as it has been.

Since last Friday (today is particularly good- I can see the sun properly) and over the weekend, Singapore was covered in a thick fog that carried that unmistakable burning smell.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelo...

The 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) at 10am was 130.
At 9pm, it moved up to a new high for the year at 150 but later eased to 136 at 12 midnight on Saturday.

On Friday, before it got really bad, Alan and I went to the movies. I really felt as though the haze inside the mall- it was very werid.

Saturday night we went to Meetu's birthday- it was unfortunately outside so we were sucking in the "haze" at its highest point- lucky I think the Asahi Black that I was drinking balanced it all out.

But seriously, I am appalled at the "haze" and the fact we don't call it for what is it is - an environmental disaster.

Smarty Pants

See it really works!

Windows Live Writer Really Works!

Ok- If this really goes through to my blog I will not believe my own eyes! Super cool- Windows have the Live Writer tool- this means I can write from my desktop and it will go automatically to my blog space. So much easier than logging in each time.

Ok- I know. I am a complete geek. http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!...