Who would have thought what, you ask? At least I hope you do, as that means you continue to read and wonder at the exploits of Izinsing. So what have I been up to recently? Well, strangely enough, lawn bowls. Having previously mastered the arts of croquet, petanque and boules - it appears that there is a difference between these last two, all to do with the position of the feet, as it happens - it was time to acquire some grass stains on the lawn bowling green. This turned out to be a bit tricky, since the green in question is not actually grass, but some fancy green (well, obviously) synthetic material.
Chris and I played at the Tanglin Club, which has an amazing green, situated on the roof of the sports centre. I'm not sure if you know much about bowling, (I didn't know anything at all) but the green is structured in "rinks" or playing strips, of which the Tanglin has either six or eight, depending whether they are set up east to west or north to south. Chris and I turned up on the day of a match, so we were given some instruction by the lovely Roger, and left to ourselves to practice on the end rink, which we managed to do relatively successfully, only straying into the path of the players next to us a couple of times. The game itself is relatively straightforward, but getting the hang of the bowl, which is designed to travel a curved path, takes a while. There is the opportunity to practice in the week, which we haven't managed to do yet, but even if we do, I can't see us representing the club in competition any time soon.
When I say fish, I'm not talking about eating fish, I'm talking about fish eating me. To be precise, I'm talking about a fish spa, which I tried out for the first time last Sunday. At a fish spa, Doctor fish (species name Garra rufa) nibble away at the dead skin on your feet to leave them lovely and smooth. Chris and I went along with a new friend, the lovely Ann Marie, a fellow Scot who has recently moved to Singapore. Both of us were fish spa virgins, as was Chris, who was a bit doubtful initially, but we all got into the spirit of the thing once we were there. The thing about this particular fish spa that we were not expecting was the fact that there were three sizes of fish - little baby doctors (a ticklish nuzzle, quite pleasant once you got over the initial feeling of "What was I thinking?"), then mini doctors, more like a small electric shock, but in a good way, then the consultants, the big swinging dicks of the fish spa world, whose teeth you could feel as they gave your feet a seeing to, and who gave us a nip or two along the way. Not unpleasant, but we were glad to have had the nuzzling and nibbling first. The picture below shows the babies giving Ann Marie a ticklish introduction to the world of the piscatorial pedicure.
Each size of fish was in a separate tank, and when you had had enough of one, you moved on to the other. The three of us stayed together and each time we moved on, Chris attracted the most fish, then me, then Ann Marie. We couldn't work out why. Very odd. Would I do it again? I certainly would and I commend it to all of you who have never experienced it. It gives a whole new meaning to the words "Fish Supper" (my Scottish friends will know what I mean).
A message from Lola
Iz's regular readers may have noticed that Chris contributed the last post, so I thought to myself, he's not the only one with views on our life here in Singapore, so why don't I have a go? It wasn't hard to persuade Iz (I can wrap her round my little paw) and she very kindly agreed to help me with the typing, so sit back and enjoy this view from the ground - well, a foot or so off the ground if you want to be really picky.
One of the things I love best about Singapore is the smells. OK, so I know I'm a dog and dogs have a great sense of smell, (which is just as well really, considering our eyesight is crap), but there is so much going on in the olfactory department in Singapore that it's an absolute paradise for us doggies. There's the other dogs, for a start. I live in a pretty smart apartment complex and there are lots of us here, although I am the only black and silver mini Schnauzer, as well as being the favourite of all the security guards. Every time I'm taken out for a pee, I sniff round for one of the other doggies to play with. I have some special friends, and I'd know their smell a mile away. There's Benny, the little Maltese and Lucky, who's a lot bigger than I am, and Jasper, who is an absolutely HUGE golden Labrador, who lets me climb all over him while he just stands there - I think he's too old to run away.
And then there are the food smells, of course. You've probably heard that the two favourite pastimes of Singaporeans are shopping and eating, and while I can't tell you much about the first, as I've never actually been shopping, I get taken out to Lola friendly restaurants sometimes and even though I don't get to eat there (Iz is very strict about what she calls "people food") I can still enjoy the smells. My favourite place is an Italian restaurant called La Braceria. It's one of Iz's favourites, and we go there quite often. I get to sit outside and bark at the cats who live in the area - great fun! I think Italian is probably my favourite sort of people food, although I am partial to smoked salmon and a bit of duck confit as well.
