2 and a half months in

Hello again to those of you who managed to open the first newsletter and welcome to my Singapore blog. I write this having just returned from a punishing 20 minutes in the gym (I'm working my way up!) on Sunday morning. The sky is clear blue (not than common an occurence over the last week, which has featured some spectacular thunderstorms). For those of you who don't know Singapore, the weather here is hot (and humid). There are no seasons as such - it's eiather hot and humid, or hot and wet. The attached image is not, as you will have guessed, of Singapore. It comes from last year's trip to Greenland, and I find that just looking at it cools me down.

Weekends here are quite delicious. We have a live-in housekeeper - the lovely Ding - and so there are never any chores to do. Weekends typically include lots of swimming, a bit of shopping, and always a massage. Massage is big here - not just in spa type places - but also in the home in the form of massage chairs. It's a huge industry, with many shops devoted to nothing else. They come with all sorts of bells and whistles, like in-chair music, but we have not been tempted so far. We have, however, become devotees of Singapore cinema. Where we live is pretty central, and the multiplex down the road has become our "local". Apparently the average Singaporean sees more than 50 films a year, so we are trying to keep up. On a Friday we often toddle off to the 9.45 (pm) show, feeling positively cosmopolitan (or do I mean metropolitan?), and the streets are still buzzing when we emerge at midnight.

I rather fancied seeing Ang Lee's new one - "Lust, Caution", but Singapore has fairly strict censorship, so much of the Lust has been edited out, leaving mainly the Caution bit, so I'll probably buy it on DVD later. I figure I have enough caution in my life already.......

Work is pretty full on at the moment, especially as Standard Chartered has recently acquired Amex Bank and I am part of the integration team. I'm involved in a couple of other projects as well as the day job, but I'm loving it. We had thought of staying in Singapore for Christmas, but the lure of London and France was too strong, so we will be coming back. Book now if you fancy a catch up!

Keep in touch, and bye for now.

Isabel