#192 - Kino and MRT

This is our fourth day in Singapore. Our fourth full day. We are still finding out feet. Oisin and Ghin still have jet lag , I still have jet lag, but my jet lag is better... I'm sleeping from 2 till 4 pm and getting up at 4, which is really my idea of heaven. The boys are sleeping at 5 pm and waking at 3 am still. It usually takes a week. There is no point rushing it.

It is now cool and the breeze has returned. The past three days have been unbearably hot. Singapore never used to be this hot. I am now planning the rest of the holidays.

So... Monday till 22 August...

Get fit, eat well, plan the business, get ready for school, sort out my personal life, and just reset the compass - and follow it - to True North.

Being back in Singapore, despite all the usual complaints and distractions, always, ALWAYS reminds me of who I really am. The person I started out as and where I am. Where I am planning to go to - and oddly enough, it always fills me with hope.

Today we went to Kinokuya by MRT. Taking the MRT is one of those touchstones which tells us we have arrived. It used to be such an adventure for the boys and now it is old hat. They are now veterans of the public transport system here. We headed for Orchard Road. There were so many, many many women who were on their weekend break from doing the household chores. They were made up and their hair had been arranged prettily. Many of them wore trendy jeans and tank tops, showing off their shoulders. They carried several bags or a simple purse. They traveled in groups of two or more, sometimes as many as ten or fifteen. Their ages ranged from the early twenties to late thirties, possibly even early forties. They chatted and giggled, holding their phones in their hands, exchanging the news, giving friends advise. They did this in their national groups and by far the most visible ones were from the Philippines. I saw a few small groups of Indonesians conversing in Bahasa.

The train wasn't as busy as I thought it would be - in fact the underground world of the MRT was alright. I had seen it worse. It was possible to walk the entire length of Orchard Road without ever encountering the sun and blue sky. After an hour I began to feel uneasy. The relentlessness of artificial lighting, wifi and noise utterly tired me out. When I came home I slept for two hours.

The boys on the other hand played this game called Cash Flow. They are both utterly obsessed with money. It is sort of weird. I have never brought them up with a sense of lack nor feeling that money was important. And yet, the entrepreneurial spirit lives strongly in them. Oisin is determined to go into business and Ghin, ever adoring of his brother, wants to do the same. Given the state of the world, I fully approve. Things aren't what they are any more. Everything which was true of life thirty years ago is no longer true. To survive and thrive in this brave new world, you need to be willing, even enjoy taking risks.

After that we had dinner at Seletar Country Club. Again, a place with many memories. The boys would have been unable to stay still and I would have followed them to the pool or the play park. I would have watched them while they played. Then when food was served, we went back to the table and had something to eat. Now I see them, and they are all grown up. Ghin was actually trying to sleep because of the jetlag.

This year I have managed to blog almost every day of the year - I am missing three blog posts. But it is now just gone half the year. How quickly time passes and yet at the same time nothing has changed. Thirty years is nothing and yet at the same time, I have moved to the next generation. There are two others below me now.