As if a 7kg turkey wasn’t enough on Christmas Day, we had another lovely turkey dinner on Boxing Day with Don’s family and Drunkle Sri. Then the following day, on the Sunday, the neighbours threw a post Christmas potluck party. Sandy prepared green salad with mango and avocado, Phil cooked an Italian meatball dish. Somebody [...]
Category Archive for 'holidays'
If you’re suffering from Singapore island fever or tiring of Christmas shopping in featureless Singapore malls that all contain exactly the same shops, dim the lights, turn up the volume and enjoy this beautiful video of blue cranes learning to fly that was shot in South Africa by Christian Letruria with music by Sigur Ros [...]
mid-autumn festival (aka lantern or mooncake festival)
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Oct 4th, 2009
Last night we celebrated the Chinese mid-autumn festival with a mooncake BBQ-cum-lantern parade at Karen and James’ house down the road. Each of the five toddlers present carried their own lantern, from the traditional candle-in-paper variety to the battery-operated-musical-flashing-inflatable kind. I believe we were supposed to eat mooncakes but everybody was so stuffed after the [...]
Febrile convulsions … pt II
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Aug 28th, 2009
[Olive recuperating in Holly's back garden in London]
It’s been 48 hours since Olive was discharged from hospital in Nottingham and we’re still having trouble getting her to eat and drink. We’re now in London and we’re supposed to fly to France tomorrow to spend a week in a tiny four-house hamlet halfway up a mountain [...]
febrile convulsions
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Aug 26th, 2009
I’m blogging from Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where Olive has been hospitalized for over 24 hours following two febrile convulsions and dehydration due to a viral infection. Poor Olive was hooked up to an intravenous drip for about twelve hours but that’s just been removed and we’re hoping she will be discharged very soon. [...]
daddy ate my in-flight meal :(
Posted in holidays on Aug 20th, 2009
‘Daddy is such a greedy bugger. He ate my in-flight meal!’ Olive (photographed playing in the sandpit with cousin Oscar at Baxter Farm)
Embarrassing but true. The Qantas steward dumped a ’special’ meal in front of me. I protested saying I hadn’t ordered a special meal so he showed me the foil packet which had ‘TATHAM [...]
Living in one of Singapore’s only neighbourhoods with no cable access means we rely on Starhub’s wireless network, the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) system, for our viewing needs. We get a much more limited range of channels than regular cable subscribers but it’s better than nothing (also known as Singapore TV). We haven’t left the [...]
The Good
Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad with Sourdough Toast. Smoked Eel, Beetroot & Horseradish. Casual atmosphere. Reasonable prices (compared to Singapore). Minimalist decor. Friendly staff.
The Bad
Tasty but not outstanding; I expected more from a Michelin-starred restaurant. However, the menu changes daily and there are so many dishes I’ve read about which I still want [...]
birds in an English country garden
Posted in holidays on Apr 19th, 2009
Jay
I had lunch with Faith yesterday and marveled at the bird life in her walled garden. It was a beautiful sunny day so we ate in the conservatory and watched the birds poke around in the garden and feed on nuts from a hanging bird-feeder. In the time it took my grandmother and I to [...]
African setting for The Tempest
Posted in holidays on Apr 19th, 2009
Ariel played by Atandwa Kani (photo taken from the RSC website)
I’m back in England for London Book Fair and was very lucky to be invited to see a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Tempest in association with South Africa’s Baxter Theatre Centre. I’d never read The Tempest before but it translated well to a [...]
the adventures of Olive in Australia
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Mar 2nd, 2009
On Sunday evening we ushered in the Year of the Ox with Reunion Dinner at Sandy’s parent’s new house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Absent with apologies was Sandy’s brother, who had to work the following day up in Penang, but present at the table for the first time was baby Olive. I was kind of [...]
New Year walk on Cley marshes, Norfolk
Posted in holidays on Jan 2nd, 2009
Sandy, Olive and I joined Mum and Dad on a bracing walk from the windmill in Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, through Cley marshes to the shingle beach, and back again.
New Year in Norfolk
Posted in holidays on Jan 2nd, 2009
Sandy, Olive and I celebrated New Year in Norfolk, England, together with Mum, Dad, Holly, Nel and Oscar. We rented a tiny cottage in the village of Sharrington just outside Holt and froze our butts off in sub-zero temperatures.
Christmas with friends and rellies
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Dec 29th, 2008
As we live the other side of the world, in Singapore, this is our chance to catch up with, or meet for the first time in Olive’s case, friends and relatives in the UK. Holly has very kindly organised an open day at her house in London next weekend and we hope to see lots [...]
Olive’s first Christmas stocking
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Dec 28th, 2008
Olive awoke on Christmas Day to find her first Christmas stocking (surely that’s a pillowcase. Ed.).
Olive’s first Christmas
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Dec 26th, 2008
down on the farm
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Dec 24th, 2008
Singapore Zoo has nothing on Baxter Farm. Above are Nel, Oscar, Sandy and Olive choosing a bird for the table.
Basil the cat is the same size as Olive:
Reindeer in the garden:
Oscar’s best friend is Zozo the sheep:
4-star Bed & Breakfast in Willoughby on the Wolds
Posted in baby stuff, holidays on Dec 24th, 2008
[Olive, Sandy and Mum unveiling their new B&B]
Living in Singapore we forget people in other countries enjoy a sense of humour. Knowing that there are twelve people staying at Baxter Farm for Christmas, with fifty expected for drinks on Christmas Eve night, some witty fellow in the village has erected a fake sign announcing that [...]
Christmas in Willoughby on the Wolds, England
Posted in holidays on Dec 23rd, 2008
[The tree is up and the mince pies are in the oven ...]
Sandy, Olive and I survived fourteen hours with British Airways and we’re back home in England to spend Christmas at Baxter Farm in Willoughby on the Wolds. Olive was a star on the flight over and she didn’t cry at all. Had Sandy [...]
I’m blogging from the poolside of the Philippines’ dodgiest hotel, located in Pasay City on Manila Bay. At the table on my left is a party of loud Russians, sporting tattoos and thick gold bracelets on their massive, hairy arms. And those are just the girls. To my right sits a couple of chain-smoking Arab [...]
mobile blogging
Posted in holidays on Mar 30th, 2008
P: I love my iPhone! I’m blogging from my iPhone in the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok. It’s a Sunday morning and there are tens of thousands of Thais at the book fair (1.5 million visit the book fair in Bangkok each year); they’re just not in the hall I’m exhibiting in! It’s empty [...]
P: Blogging from Thailand, where I’m attending the Bangkok International Book Fair by day and drinking lobster blood by night. Last night I was invited to eat at Somboon Seafood restaurant in Bangkok’s Chinatown by the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand. The restaurant is apparently a favourite of former Japanese PM Koizumi, when he’s [...]
thailand 08
Posted in holidays on Mar 22nd, 2008










