Singapore is great for shopping – if you’re a size 6! Needless to say it was very easy to deny ourselves the privilege. Public transport is great and not overly crowded, very cheap Ezilink passes lived up to their name.
Street food eating assisted me with some rather rapid, painless weight loss.
Annie and I split up one afternoon, she went off to explore the Gardens By The Bay and I chose to walk home along the river. The heat was very fierce and I was appreciating the shaded walkways. My route passed under the road a few times. The first underpass was deserted except for 2 street cleaners sleeping by their carts in the coolest part. Halfway through I saw a young man approaching from the other side. At first I thought he could not see me and was unzipping to do a wee. I thought he’s going to be soooooo embarrassed when he sees me! …Wrong, he was my very first flasher!! I felt like hitting him, however my anger turned to caution when I realised the street cleaners were well and truly asleep and a speedy retreat was the wisest move. As I wheeled sharply around with the words “For christ’s sake!” I pulled my sunglasses case out of my bag and walked away from him. In the dim light it looked as if I was using my mobile phone to report him. Scooting (walking fast) up to the road again a backward glance detected no one. I spent the rest of the walk stalking a harmless looking older man and woman, just for company.

…  but Annie had no camera to record the scene in the flower dome and by no means does this sketch adequately convey the cool tumbling green gush lush lush lushous relief from the heat outside the bubble, nor the long sad sighing of the trapped, no-longer fat-bodied baobs looking for all the world as if Africa itself is dying; nor the free full teeming glee of at least a hundred at last released inner children come alive to their wonderland through this peculiar kitsch mixture of fabulous engineering and nature under the thumb…

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