NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

Depends how I’m feeling. Sometimes they have gone. Sometimes both our mums pop down and pay me a visit. During the run on Sunday, just as I spot the halfway mark and feel a bit smug, Drop The Pilot starts up on my iPod and it is all of a sudden Mum who is cheering me on, not the person on the side with the loudspeaker.

Today at college the lecturer said that his mother ‘…ended up going to live in Ipoh where she attended a Catholic convent school.’

There is only one such school that I can think of; I’ve seen it. It’s the same one Mr PC’s lovely mum went to. An instant prickle behind the eyes. At the end I ask the lecturer what year his mum was there and we are ten years apart but still; it’s a nice little spiritual loop.

I am probably lacking in sleep; whatever. I like these happy visits.

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

Impossibly addicted to The Little Nonya

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

My sister thinks I’ve been abducted by aliens. Why else, she says, would I go running three times a week, and then (this morning) actually take part in an organised event (just a 5k, but still), and then post sweaty selfies on Facebook? And then – weirdest of all – talk about getting ready for the next one and THEN, think about making it a 10k?

Strange things happen when you move countries.

#GreatEasternWomensRace #bigfun #alienvoice

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

Saturday. Mr PC takes SM for football training, allowing me to get on with essential coursework. After a worthy amount of study I switch the kettle on and follow a link posted by someone in my group – cue repeat episodes of The Little Nonya. This is better than Kylie and Jason!

#hooked

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

Another museum college day, and another two-minute presentation in front of my group, which meant another restless night followed by another extra-early morning get-up to read and re-read and time myself and generally jitter about the place until it’s bus stop time. Two months in and already I am wanting to ‘get down from the table’. Am wondering if I’m turning into one of those serial adventurists who starts grand new ventures only to experience the pleasure of giving them up? Poor score. Could do better.

Meanwhile Rosy leaves us today to travel to Perth, the second leg of her SE Asia tour. She entrusted me with her passport last night and then reminded me about it this morning. No prizes for guessing the winner of the Ageing Brain contest; I think mine’s just full up.

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

We’re taking Auntie Rosy on a walk around the Botanic Gardens when she points at something and beckons.

‘I’ve got this in my garden,’ she says, ‘come over here.’

I’ve seen the garden of her little Malaysian front porch. It’s tiny. Still, I dutifully trudge across the woodchip mulch towards her, looking out for ants or worse. When I get to her she is muttering: ‘serai, serai, serai.’

‘Look,’ she says, ‘lemongrass.’ And sure enough, on a little plaque by the spiky, rushy plant, it says: Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) Serai.

Other words of wisdom from today: i) The man who walked past us earlier in the gardens, bare-chested, ‘had breasts’  ii) Standing with your knees bent and swinging your arms gently up and down was Mao Tse Tung’s way of keeping young.

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

Auntie Rosy is here! She’s great at chatting people up. In just over 24 hours we have already learned that:

• The old couple in the Flower Dome were from Hong Kong

• Our friend is actually Catholic and goes to a church around the corner

• The girl serving us lunch is single and agrees that it is because she is ‘choosy’

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

I’m bunking off college to go to a Melbourne Cup Party. Apparently it gets messy. Don’t wait up.

NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November

The For Real bird is back – I heard one high in a tree the other morning, and today as well, from our open upstairs window. It’s been on a leave of absence for a while, I don’t know where. This is all just as another person announces their departure.

Much is written about the bittersweet business of friends who move on. This is a person I met through the school and in fact the irony is it’s her who coined the name of that funny bird that toots a loud cry from the tree tops; obviously this is  because it sounds like the bird is saying: ‘For Real’. Funny that the bird reappears just as the friend who named it is on her way to Departures.

I’ve missed the bird’s loud, two-note call, but I wouldn’t call it a fair swap.

Christmas tree, Tanglin Mall

It’s not switched on yet but it’s here. The foam tree at Tanglin spits out Ibiza-type bubbles every evening throughout the festive season. Last year we didn’t make it – this year we’ve swimsuits at the ready

(NaBloPoMo: one post every day throughout November)