Friday, October 22, 2004
Knackered
Thanks to my usual impeccable ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the one day I didn't manage to get my hands on the car to wander down to my fencing lesson was the one day it pissed down hard, complete with lightning and thunder.
Naturally, at the time, I was on the road trying to flag down a taxi with limited success (initial plan of trying to walk to the train station was quickly abandoned as a clear blue sky suddenly turned into a heaving mass of cumulonimbus stormclouds).
Okay, I'll admit that I secretly like walking in the rain, it's probably an English thing or something. And after a hot, sweaty session of... fencing (funny how sex seemed the most appropriate word there, damn alliteration) I guess a walk in the rain is the next best thing to a soak in a hot tub.
The experience soon turned into a soak in lukewarm to chilly water as the wind picked up, so whilst I felt like a fish in water I decided to shelter the storm out in the nearby Ubi Driving Centre. That and the lightning bolts which I swear someone was hurling in my general direction (ha. lightning. that's something we don't get in london)
Naturally I couldn't resist the temptation to drip into some local fare (hmm tasted strangely of salt water) and I had the following cathartic realisations over lunch :
1) there is something out there called Pepsi X energy Drink. It's pepsi with loads of caffeine in. How ingenious. Whoevercameupwiththatplan?whatarush!
imeanseriouslyaguycouldgetseriouslyhookedonthisstuff.......................
anyhow.
2) the one local taste I could never find in all of london - and yes, the only one. because believe you me, london has almost everything in, as well as a lot of other sick stuff you dont get here - was the familiar, soothing taste of a fifty cent cup of teh.
I think it's probably something to do with the water - in england the water doesn't have all this healthy and nutritious added flouride and chlorine in it... but a nice cuppa teh is simply. marvellous. swoon. I could never replicate it, try as I might with any amount of sugar and condensed milk, and dammit i know i was using the same tea bags.
During the cab ride home I realised that there's something quite wonderful about the silvery light cast on a rainy day, the way it wetly comes off tree trunks and flowers and the road in a slightly opalescent sheen.
Having a natter over my bloody mary last night with a friend, I couldn't help but pause when she said there was nothing to do in Singapore.
Actually, I think there's plenty to Do in Singapore. There's just nothing to See.
I guess the trick is to start looking at other things, like the people around you, and how they interact with you, and each other... Sigh. How mundane.
Naturally, at the time, I was on the road trying to flag down a taxi with limited success (initial plan of trying to walk to the train station was quickly abandoned as a clear blue sky suddenly turned into a heaving mass of cumulonimbus stormclouds).
Okay, I'll admit that I secretly like walking in the rain, it's probably an English thing or something. And after a hot, sweaty session of... fencing (funny how sex seemed the most appropriate word there, damn alliteration) I guess a walk in the rain is the next best thing to a soak in a hot tub.
The experience soon turned into a soak in lukewarm to chilly water as the wind picked up, so whilst I felt like a fish in water I decided to shelter the storm out in the nearby Ubi Driving Centre. That and the lightning bolts which I swear someone was hurling in my general direction (ha. lightning. that's something we don't get in london)
Naturally I couldn't resist the temptation to drip into some local fare (hmm tasted strangely of salt water) and I had the following cathartic realisations over lunch :
1) there is something out there called Pepsi X energy Drink. It's pepsi with loads of caffeine in. How ingenious. Whoevercameupwiththatplan?whatarush!
imeanseriouslyaguycouldgetseriouslyhookedonthisstuff.......................
anyhow.
2) the one local taste I could never find in all of london - and yes, the only one. because believe you me, london has almost everything in, as well as a lot of other sick stuff you dont get here - was the familiar, soothing taste of a fifty cent cup of teh.
I think it's probably something to do with the water - in england the water doesn't have all this healthy and nutritious added flouride and chlorine in it... but a nice cuppa teh is simply. marvellous. swoon. I could never replicate it, try as I might with any amount of sugar and condensed milk, and dammit i know i was using the same tea bags.
During the cab ride home I realised that there's something quite wonderful about the silvery light cast on a rainy day, the way it wetly comes off tree trunks and flowers and the road in a slightly opalescent sheen.
Having a natter over my bloody mary last night with a friend, I couldn't help but pause when she said there was nothing to do in Singapore.
Actually, I think there's plenty to Do in Singapore. There's just nothing to See.
I guess the trick is to start looking at other things, like the people around you, and how they interact with you, and each other... Sigh. How mundane.
