13/08/16

Photos from Nat's incredible new camera

I planned to sleep in to 11am, tired out from a late night spent walking around giving gifts and this letter to the street workers in Geylang. But Mum woke Tim and I up at 9am, with ‘Joseph Schooling is swimming!’

It isn’t every day that you see history made within 30 minutes of waking up.

Mum and I walked down to Phoon Huat and then to Holland Village to pick up some groceries (including dragon fruit) and as I walked back, a man whizzed past on his bicycle and called out ‘Hi, love!’ which made me miss the easy greetings and smiles in the Cambridge market place and the fruit and vegetable stall man that call me ‘love’ as well.

Back home, I made aubergine arrabiatta and chocolate chip cookies (look at that gastronomical alliteration), and thought I’d made a complete mess of the cookies and was in quite a tizzy when I turned up at 4.35pm at Botanic Gardens for a picnic with Alicia, Amanda, Cheryl, Luk Ching, Nat and Niki.

I hadn’t seen Alicia and Niki since coming back and oh my I missed them so. I was enveloped in a Bear Hug by Alicia and Niki had brought the most beautiful red pepper dip and crostini from her work place (Baker and Cook) and with everyone else, and all the food we had (and we had so much food) it was such a happy evening. And my cookies weren’t disastrous!

Cheryl and Amanda were two people I hadn’t really talked to before, but talking to them was easy, and Ching managed to steer the conversation so that we really learnt about some of our struggles and stories. Nat had brought jackfruit which I tried for the first time ever - it tastes like bubblegum! After the picnic (and two rounds of categories) we all said goodbye, and then Nat and I went into Cold Storage (which is by far easier to navigate than an Italian or Spanish supermarket!) and continued our conversations on the train ride home. Things are changing and new adventures and journeys are coming, but I am so glad to have friends by my side.

So today:

Joseph Schooling won Singapore's first ever Gold Olympic Medal (and set an Olympic Record).

I found dragon fruit on a crazy sale of 6 for $3.

I met like-minded friends, both old and new.

I had light-hearted fun and deep, meaningful conversations.

I experimented with 2 new recipes that were rather nice.

I’d say that was pretty darn perfect.