Apologies to you all for the lateness of this entry, but I have some very good excuses; namely family and sickness.
Back in May I took the opportunity to see my family in the UK; after all I haven’t seen my sister or niece for 7 years, and mum for about 3!! Sing Air was doing great deals to London, and I got to travel on the brand new A380 aircraft. I even got a seat upstairs. This wasn’t exactly business class (which looks fantastic), but with a smaller number of seats and heaps of legroom I got great service (with no lack of the red stuff just to help me sleep of course!), and no cramps or that very attractive side effect to long-haul travel, foot-swelling. I was very relaxed by the time I got to London.
Our Bev (sister) and Neil (her partner) bought a lovely B & B called Sampson Barton in South Molton, Devon about 18 months ago, so I was ready for country living at it’s finest – great ales, fantastic food, pastures green, wild flowers, barn owls, in fact everything you image of the English countryside - and she didn’t disappoint!
Sampson Barton is a genuine 17th century longhouse surrounded by the green stuff (not the green stuff you kiwis are thinking of!!). It was springtime and lambs could be heard bah bahing throughout the day and night. I think some of them got a bit a lost when it got dark. There was also a nest of swallows in the old barn attached to the property, so lots of tweeters from them too in the early morning. Of course no B & B is complete without hens, and they’ve got about 14 of them (I think) who also added to the traditional country noises with their clucking, and the breakfast table with freshly laid eggs! You had to be quick closing the gate when you went out though. It’s like something from The Great Escape as they all go running for freedom the minute they see it – thank goodness they can’t ride motorbikes!!
There’s plenty to do when running a B & B especially when you’re doing it on your own. The set up is Neil in the kitchen where he produces food to die for – don’t even think of the calories (specially the puds!) just eat and enjoy. Our Bev is everything front of house, and behind it! She looks after the guests’ every want and need, has immaculately clean rooms (I think she has the cleanest bathrooms in Britain – I saw her vacuuming the shower one day!!) and in her spare time (or after midnight) does all the marketing. Mum doesn’t escape any of this. Even as she enters another century of her life (I’m not saying which one here!) she does all the ironing of bedware and linen with no creases allowed! If you saw how much work she puts into smoothing the sheets you’d sleep on the floor so as not to crease them again!
I thought it best to earn my keep while there, so assigned myself to kitchen duty. I was thinking souse chef, Neil was thinking dishwasher. He got his own way!! I’m not saying I washed a lot of dishes, but I had minor hand surgery on my return to Singapore to remove the webs growing between my fingers!!! I did get voted Employee of the Month by Neil though, so it was all worth it!!
Of course, we had some fantastic days out in between guests including picturesque seaside towns like Ilfracombe and Woolacombe, the cobbled heritage walkways of Clovelly and dramatic drives across Exmoor. And, no trip to Devon would be complete with an abundance of clotted cream teas (clotted arteries more like, but very yummy!!) fudge and nougat, cornish pasties and ice cream. Yes, I was overweight coming back, but it wasn’t the luggage!!
To round the whole trip off I spent the last couple of days with Our Laura (niece) in London. She took me to all the trendy places of course, including Southbank to see artie movies, Brick Lane, home of Rough Trade records and a groovy little bar where they served cocktails in fishbowls!
I hardly time to unpack and wash my “smalls’ than Gareth’s parents (Bev and Alan) turned up for a 2 week visit. They liked being in Singapore - they loved being in the pool! We couldn’t keep Bev out of it - morning aquarobics before a jaunt to China Town or a shopping expedition, then nighttime cool downs as late as 10pm. I think it definitely helped her with the heat, which is quite intense at the moment. Alan did extremely well surviving the heat, the shops and even a presentation he was invited to give at one of the Polytechnics here – go Alan!! A couple of Chinese massages, some local hawker food and a good grasp of the transport system had them looking like they’ve lived here all their lives.
We rounded off their stay with a week end trip to Phnom Penh. I’ll fill you in on the trip next time, but we had a great time there apart from me falling sick. I thought they might not let me back into Singers as I had a cough, aches and fever by the Sunday afternoon. I still don’t know how I managed to get passed the temperature scanners at the airport, but I did. The next week and a half I endured a virus that spread to my chest and kept me bed-bound for quite a while. It’s pretty hard to keep cool and clear your airways when it’s so hot and humid. Much easier to get over a cold in the cold if you know what I mean!! Anyway, after much tea, soup, drugs and sleep I am now fully recovered and back in the game.
When Gareth hasn’t been playing nurse he too has been gallivanting about the place, working, but not as hard as I did at the kitchen sink! A few trips around Asia while I was away, then last week a trip to the UK himself to Middleborough, home of First Division football! He too got a taste of the good life staying in a country manor type place on the outskirts of Yorkshire where he was served kippers for breakfast and country fayre dinners. A local brewery serving home made ales made it a little easier to be away from home!! He too is now paying the price for such indulgences…..
So, what did we come back to after our trips away and what’s happening here?
WHAT’S HOT
Rising temperatures. Not just are we in the hottest part of the year with temperatures an average of 90 degrees a day, but human temperatures are rising everyday as piggie (much nicer term!) flu continues to spread. Singapore is currently hosting the Asian Youth Games and all but 3 of the Malaysian Team were pulled 2 days before the start thanks to the virus. Debates rage over what is necessary travel, should kids have to go to school and is the National Day Parade (due in August) in jeopardy. Taxis have been assigned to ambulance duties and extra health centres are opening up within hospitals. At one end of the scale some people are paranoid and don’t want to leave the house, whiles others don’t seem to care and continue to cough and sneeze over everyone! Like the rest of the world, we wait and see how much worse it gets.
WHAT’S NOT
The aforementioned Asian Youth Games. It’s just a non-event that not even the best of the media can hype up to anything. The torch relay and opening ceremony went ahead with most people not even aware it was on that day and ticket sales for events virtually non-existent (apart from bowling – go figure??). Intentions are good, and kids have to get a competitive edge from somewhere, but what with the flu virus and lack of support from schools this will be a flop regardless of whatever spin the government put on it after the closing ceremony.
AND FINALLY
No blog would be complete right now without mentioning Michael Jackson. Like everyone else we were shocked and saddened to hear about his sudden death, but let’s put things into perspective here. The self-proclaimed “King of Pop” was not “the greatest entertainer of all time”, and “the music didn’t die” when he did. Most of his more popular hits, including Thriller, were written by someone else, and Quincy Jones’s production work certainly helped to make his records sound like the classics they are. Having said that, he was a great entertainer and fantastic dancer. Like millions of others I helped make Off The Wall and Thriller best sellers and me and Our Bev waited for over 8 hours to watch him play a gig in Liverpool. Then waited about another 8 to get out of the car park afterwards!! No other artiste has inspired an entire prison of inmates to perform one of their dance routines like those at Cebu Prison, Philippines (check it out on You Tube). He was no John Lennon, but he gave joy to millions of people in every corner of the world and for that he deserves to be free from the human, mental and physical pain he suffered in this life. RIP Michael Jackson.
