Happy Birthday to my blog!

Welcome!

A few things to tell you about briefly.

My sister Annette, and brother-in-law, Tony came to visit us for three weeks. My sister achieved a personal objective of learning to swim. Having access to the swimming pool everyday really helped her. A proud moment for her and for us!

They left shortly after my birthday. No barbecue this year but it was great to have family with me. Happy birthday to my blog! The photos of my 50th birthday last year were the first posting. Thanks to all of you who have visited and who continue to do so.

While my sister was here we visited 15 Mornington Crescent. This is the house on the airbase that used to be RAF Seletar where my parents and my sister lived in Singapore in the early 50's. My sister was only 6 months when she arrived. She does not remember anything about it. We all found it moving to see the house and to imagine my parents and sister so young living there all those years ago. It was a huge adventure for them amd of course Singapore was very different then. There are a couple of photos below.

Other photos show moments from their stay. There are a couple on the beach in Singapore of the cutest little girl. Also the illuminations for the Muslim Ramadan fasting period that culminates in Hari Raya next week. Deepawali, the Hindu Festival of Light is also celebrated next week so it is a holiday week for many people. There is a photo of part of a Hindu Temple. My brother-in-law is a keen golfer hence the photo of Daniela worryingly (I was the passenger!) in the driving seat of a golf buggy on a golf range on Bintan Indonesia!

Smoke haze from Indonesia caused by farmers and plantation owners setting fires to clear land has been affecting the region badly this year. The last two photos show this. Everyone is praying for rain to put out the fires and there's a lot of diplomatic rumblings to try to prevent this from happening again.

Finally we are moving to another flat on Wednesday next week. So the next posting will show you some photos of our new home! Look forward to seeing you then.

Love

Alan

A walk in the park

Hi and welcome!

This week I have posted some photos of the Botanical Gardens in Singapore.

Just before leaving London to come to live here I saw a giant poster at London Bridge advertising Singapore. The designers of the poster had superimposed some of the most famous landmarks in Singapore onto a landscape from the Botanical Gardens. The slogan read:

"You have heard of cities with a garden. Singapore is a garden with a city".

There are a lot of green parts here and even the city has lots of trees, flowers, fountains and koi ponds. One of the advantages of not having a vandalism problem.

There is an orchid garden in the Botanical Gardens. You can go to ballet concerts under the stars and have picnics. Not to mention lots of people jofgging, doing Tai Chi and other martial arts.

I hope you enjoy the "walk in the park"

Love

Alan