England, family, friends, memories and a trip to lovely Lisbon

 I spent part of May and most of June in the UK, catching up with family and friends. The weather was pretty wonderful for the first couple of weeks and unusually the late May bank holiday weekend was hot and sunny.  

I took the opportunity to watch my son playing cricket for our local village team, it felt so quintessentially English

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with my 'soon to be' 18 year old god daughter in London. We were lucky to see this amazing floral display outside the National Museum, 27,000 fresh cut flowers were used to recreated a Dutch floral masterpiece.

A few days later it was my mother's 90th birthday, an occasion I definitely wanted to be back in the UK for and although she wasn't well enough to go out our family enjoyed celebrating quietly at home with her

My sister's and I spent many hours over the following few weeks clearing and sorting through the family home, prior to it being sold. It was hard work physically and emotionally but we had fun  reminiscing over photographs and family possessions we remembered from our childhood.

 Living now in Asia I was fascinated to find an album of photographs my father had taken whilst he was a young Naval Doctor aboard the Troopship Empire Orwell. The album dated 1952 states it left Southampton on 19th November and called at Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pusan ( now called Busan in South Korea) and Kure (Hiroshima prefecture, Japan)

Below are the photos my father took in Singapore, most of which I could work out where they are, below the Singapore River and godowns

Raffles Hotel

The building below is now the Asian Civilisation Museum and Cavenagh Bridge

Taken looking across the Padang towards the Victoria Theatre ( now concert hall) and Memorial Hall, City Hall, Parliament House (now National Art Gallery) and the Singapore Cricket Club 

Commercial Square (now Raffles Place ) with Chartered Bank on left, Robinson's store on right 

The Fullerton building on the right

Chinatown has changed a bit but the method of hanging out the washing is still used today

As far as I know no kampongs (Malay word for village) like this still exist in Singapore, sadly

Whilst in the UK I was lucky enough to have time to catch up with some good friends, including some from the yard where I had kept my horse;  Flash, before we came to Singapore.  I had the pleasure of a enjoying a lovely long ride on him again, it was just wonderful to be riding in the cool fresh air and in open countryside again-a real tonic 

After three weeks Papa T joined me in the UK and together with BT and HT went up to Wembley for a long awaited event-seeing Coldplay. The concert was fabulous-my photos do not do it justice at all! 

We also took the opportunity to take a long weekend break to have time together as a family, just the four of us. We had planned this some months ago and wanted to go somewhere that none of us had been to before.This was quite a tough task as we all are fortunate enough to have travelled a fair bit but finally we picked Lisbon in Portugal and we were so pleased we had as it was delightful

Pretty tiled streets, trams, & tuk tuks, beautiful old buildings and lovely views

many of the houses are covered in tiles as well

The 'Elevador de Santa Justa', built at the turn of the 20th century, the architect was apprenticed to Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the similarity in style is immediately apparent 

with amazing views of the town and surrounding hills 

The Se, the city's cathedral built for the first bishop of Lisbon, the English crusader Gilbert of Hastings, a funny coincidence as Hastings is a nearby seaside town to our UK home

Castelo de Sao Jorge

We took the train to the nearby seaside town of Caiscais, a pretty place. There was a group of musicians and dancers in a small square

 We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch overlooking the bay

and then wandered around the streets 

our trip to Lisbon coincided with the Euro football 2016 and Papa T & HT were keen to watch some of the games, in Caiscais they found the match (I forget which) being shown at O'Neill's, possibly the prettiest Irish bar I've seen

 Back in Lisbon that evening again the boys watched the next football match, BT and I went off exploring and came across this shop devoted to the sale of sardines, one of Portugal's major exports of course, who would have thought there were so many different varieties?

Many of the Lisbon streets are very steep and some have their own little funiculars like this one

 and as the light faded the narrow streets filled with locals chatting and eating together, what a lovely place to live

We returned to the UK for a few more days of catching up with family and friends and then the day before we had to return to Singapore it was the Referendum. We were able to cast our vote at our local polling station and like many stayed up late to see the result which appeared at 1am to be for the UK to remain in the EU. We woke up to the surprising result that the majority had voted for the UK to leave the EU.  I went to to the airport feeling like we were leaving the UK at a momentous time, time will tell what the effect of this vote will be. 

Rugby, tulips, sailboats and fighter jets!

Goodness where does time go? It's been over 2 months since I last posted anything and in that time a lot has happened! First there was a wonderful family & friend's trip to Hong Kong for the famous Rugby 7's, three fun days full of rugby, beer and good humoured craziness

The infamous "South Stand'. A bit like "Where's Wally?", can you spot HT & his friends? Look for the a bare chested young man with a huge red hat on!!

 Somehow the red hat was exchanged for wings!

The following weekend it was Singapore's turn to host the 7's, their first time for a few years. It was a calmer and slightly quieter affair but still some great rugby was played, lots of beer consumed (not by me though as I hate beer) & it was good fun. It was good to see several people dressed up in costume and I even had the pleasure of meeting Batman!

Later that month I visited the Gardens by the Bay for their latest special display-Tulipmania. It was lovely to see the thousands of tulips laid out and reminded me that it was spring time in Europe and the tulips would be flowering there too

 Many tulips originate from Turkey and this years display reflected that

Recently Papa T and I have been doing a bit of sailing again. A local friend has a rather complicated yacht that needs a crew of about 6-8 people so for the past few months we have been spending many Sunday's on board Wild Card as she takes part in the Changi Sailing Club Sunday races. Wild Card is quite an old yacht but has an impressive racing pedigree, she had been neglected for many years until bought by our friends who are gradually bringing her back into good nick. 

The Sunday races were initially rather tense as we and the other crew members on Wild Card were learning how this complicated yacht worked. We experienced several problems as elderly ropes and sails broke mid-sail, equipment failed and we even ran aground briefly as the sand bank has extended beyond it's charted area.  However our friend and skipper KW, has always remained cool and calm and has been working hard at repairing and updating everything on board.

 We were lucky enough to be invited to join KW & JW on the sailing club 'away weekend' to Nongsa Point Marina on the Indonesian island of Batam 

Our destination was only a 4 hour sail away, although due to lack of wind we had to motor instead. Batam is so completely different, and the marina was delightfully quiet with pretty countryside behind

We enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at a simple restaurant built over the water

and the next day we visited Batam town for a wander around and a very enjoyable massage session

 Two days later we returned to Singapore, this time under sail as the wind had picked up. We left the tranquility of Batam, as we approached Singapore we had to keep a close eye out for the huge vessels that fill these waters. Despite their size the container ships and tankers move surprisingly fast and bear down on you frighteningly quickly...

plus they cannot turn quickly so it was up to us to keep out of their way

 Of course we had to clear immigration before re-entering Singapore, this is done mid channel, the Customs boat approaches you, a big net is held out and the crew's passports and immigration forms dropped in. 

It seemed a delightfully old fashioned and simple system but worked well and once our documents had been inspected the process was reversed and we were clear to sail back home.

A few weekends later it was the Singapore Airforce Open House at Paya Lebar Airbase and for want of anything better to do Papa T and I went along not expecting much.  However it was really interesting and we were impressed with the range of aircraft on display as well as the the static and  flying displays.

 Papa T first spotted a Hawker Hunter, the plane that his father used to fly when in the RAF, although this plane was in an area out of bounds to the public when we told the security guard of the connection he let us go closer to have a good look

Lots of different planes were on display and we were allowed right up to many of them and in some cases you could queue up to see inside or even sit in the pilots seat

 There was a long queue for all of the planes and this armoured vehicle, the service people seemed very patient with all the young children who of course were particularly fascinated in the guns

 The fist flying display showed the versatility and precision of a Chinook helicopter in delivering an armoured vehicle to the ground

 Then with a huge roar 8 fighter jets took off and gave an exciting acrobatic display

All the service personnel were very friendly, this poor chap had quite a queue wanting to have their photo taken of him and his chopper...I wonder why!!

 In fact even some of the planes seemed to be smiling!

Horses and babies-volunteering in Singapore

I think that many people have the impression that I spent all my time "on holiday". It is true that I am not in paid work whilst being here in Singapore and although I need to spend time doing the usual chores i.e.cooking, cleaning, shopping etc I still have time to try new things like learning to play Mahjong, attend a walking group, visit museums and of course I am extremely lucky to be able to travel and visit many fabulous countries.

A few months after arriving in Singapore I realised that I wouldn't feel satisfied with a daily routine of housework, keeping fit and meeting friends and wanted to do something helpful and meaningful as well so looked for volunteering opportunities.

 I started volunteering with the Singapore Riding for the Disabled and have been helping out there for over 18months. (if interested please see the post I did in April 2015) or http://rdasingapore.org

I volunteer here 1 or 2 mornings a week and love it, I enjoy the contact with the horses and it is incredible to see how the therapy sessions benefit the riders. Above is Lucas, the therapy horse that I currently prepare for and then lead in the sessions. He is gorgeous looking but can be rather lazy and cheeky and I have to have me wits about me all the time. Although he is gentle and patient with his disabled riders he has a nasty habit of becoming a bucking bronco when exercised by the stable staff and none of them like to ride him now!

Then about a year ago I also began volunteering with another organisation called DaySpring which provides a "voluntary welfare service to women and youth-at-risk in Singapore".  http://dayspring.org.sg It is self funded and operates two centres, the first- a residential treatment centre for abused teenage girls and the second- DaySpring New Life Centre, a residential centre for unsupported pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies. I was so excited when I heard about the New Life Centre were looking for volunteers and completed their application form. I went for a meeting, the centre manager seemed quite pleased when I explained about my nursing and Health Visiting background and asked if I would set up a health education and parenting skills programme to suit the residents. 

Unsupported pregnant women can apply to come to the centre and if accepted may live here until their baby is 4 months old (unless they choose to have the baby adopted then they will leave straight after delivery).

I think that pregnant unmarried Singaporean women have a pretty tough time. Some are thought to bring shame upon their family and may be rejected unless they opt to have a termination or adopt the baby. Termination of pregnancy rates in Singapore are reported to be every 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 pregnancies. 

Unmarried women who choose to proceed with the pregnancy and are in work currently only qualify for eight weeks of paid maternity leave, instead of the 16 weeks received by married mothers. However this month the government announced that it is looking into changing this so all pregnant women will benefit from 16 weeks maternity leave. They also are not allowed to apply for an HDB (a housing development board apartment) until they are 35years old.

Every Thursday morning I visit the centre and spent time with the residents, discussing subjects such as preparing for labour & delivery, baby care, breast feeding, home safety, child development & mothers mental health. Sometimes they just want to chat and offload and this has given me an insight into some of the issues and difficulties that these young women face.
In a lot of ways it feels a bit like I'm Health Visiting again and by helping out even in a small way  helps me feel more settled here plus I have the pleasure of cuddling beautiful newborn babies!

There are many different volunteer opportunities in Singapore, I'm sure there is something to suit everyone whether their interest and skills are in teaching a foreign language, reading with young children, fostering, hospice care, training as a museum guide, selling handicrafts to fund the building of a women's hospital in Cambodian, the possibilities seem almost endless. I feel very happy with my current 'duties' and also lucky to have found a means of continuing with two of my interests i.e. horses and helping young mums with their babies