Last Week

Every last week of summer in Singapore always seems like I’m packing in an entire summer’s worth of everything in a few days of frenetic activity.

Everything I eat must be carefully considered – can I get the same in London? If so, what do I have to pay, and how easy is it to find? In light of this, Sunday’s excursion to Rice Table for their S$12.80 (£4.50ish) a la carte buffet was time and money well spent, even though their tauhu telor (tofu omelette, a lot nicer than it sounds) is nowhere as good as Kartini’s (in Parkway). Mum grilled some stingray tonight, but we might also go for the real roadside thing before I leave – eating it at your home dining table with placemats and a tablecloth just isn’t the same as eating it on the pavement of East Coast Road under the night sky.

The shopping imperative, too, becomes that much more acute. I’m not going to have access to so wide a range of various frivolities at so low a price for the next year, not to mention the fact that everything in Singapore fits me wonderfully, while in London I have to scrounge and beg for size 8’s and 6’s.

This last week, the mix has been right. I’ve fed my frivolity during the day, divided nights between family and friends, and indulged my food fetishes pretty much all the time. Late at night I Internet and read (finally finished Kavalier & Clay, now on Amsterdam). Met scholarship and UCL folk on Sunday (Happy birthday Kaka!), lunched poshly with my sister (Saint Pierre’s, lovely) and bubble tea’d with Pei Ee today. Tomorrow I meet the Orgers for Goldmember and mudpies. Wednesday will either involve clubbing with Fay, or packing (boo), hopefully both. And Thursday I fly.