EMIGRATION...

A very good friend of my Dad's Vince writes poetry and I've taken this one from his new collection "A Medley of Rhyme" :

Some folk leave home for far away,

They're youngsters living for today.

And thinking of their future time,

Decisions made while in their prime.

The world outside's a great big place,

The other side of the earth's face.

Is where our youngsters want to go,

They've never been, and do not know.

Their eagerness is evident,

The sun and sea is heaven sent.

If they can work and earn their keep,

A nurse, a doctor, herding sheep,

And many other jobs as well,

Their 'Shangri La', or living hell.

But, time will tell how they get on,

Some will return, some are 'long gone'.

The grass seems greener far away,

And some will go, and some will stay.

Very apt for me Vince! Look forward to reading more of your work in the future. You are now world wide published. 

IT'S CHRISTMAS...

Scenario A recently bought Christmas to Singapore with a fantastic gig at the Prince of Wales on Boat Quay. A great gig complete with snow machine that got everyone in the mood and kick started the festive season perfectly. 

CONGRATULATIONS JENNIE AND STUART...

ELEPHANT PARADE SINGAPORE...

Craig recently invited along to join him at the launch of Elephant Parade Singapore on the 11th November. TANGS on Orchard Road launched its highly-anticipated yearly Christmas campaign with a spectacular light up of the building’s façade and decorations, while at the same time unveiling the most precious elephant of Elephant Parade Singapore 2011, “Pretty & Pink” by jewellery designer Sabine Roemer (below centre). I missed the Elephant Parade London so I'm really excited to be able to see it here in Singapore.

Image courtesy of http://elephantparade.com

The evening began outside the main entrance of TANGS Orchard, where 10 life-sized painted baby elephants were installed the night before as part of the launch of the Elephant Parade Singapore 2011. In amongst these elephants are two designed by Cat Deeley and Leona Lewis. To officiate light up the guests-of-honour each placed a crystal vase of tulips, symbolic of TANGS’ enchanted forest Christmas theme, on individual light boxes to initiate the store’s Christmas light up sequence to Johnny Mathis’ “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” The 300-strong crowd of invited guests from TANGS and Elephant Parade, including business partners, artists and media, were then ushered up to The Christmas Shoppe at TANGS Orchard Level 4 for the next part of the evening – the unveiling of the most precious elephant of Elephant Parade Singapore 2011, “Pretty & Pink” by Ms Sabine Roemer, featuring a 3.3 carat diamond in a one-of-a-kind brooch worn by the elephant. I'll write more about the elephants early on next year as I have made it my mission to photograph all 162. So, I'm sure there will be rather large blog entry coming for that! Watch this space!

JILL'S 30TH BIRTHDAY PUB GOLF...

On 19th November Jill turned 30 and we celebrated her birthday by starting off the day with a Champagne Breakfast at the apartment followed by a round of Pub Golf along Boat Quay. Typically, we had been planning this for a few months time and the week leading up to it I fell ill. So, despite having my outfit ready to rock, I didn't feel up to drinking and didn't actually technically play "pub golf". It was a great night nonetheless watching 23 very very drunk people move from bar to bar and try to out do each other by scoring the lowest "par". 

The rules ...

The drinks...We had set a round of 9 holes, starting at The Penny Black and then finishing off at Bungy Bar (The Clubhouse) with a par of 26. On reflection I think I made the best choice deciding not to drink. Not sure how well this lot would have gone down on top of a heavy cold! 

I still can't quite believe that the winner of the game was Bel (dressed as a human scorecard), who completed the round in 10, taking each hole bar the first as a hole in one! What a legend! I wouldn't want to take her on in a drinking game! 

I hope Jill had a fantastic birthday and enjoyed all her celebrations. Jill was also at Elton John the following day - nursing a hangover of course! As part of her gift I put together a special edition RPG card...

ELTON JOHN CROCODILE ROCK-ED MY WORLD...

I know I've been a bit slack in keeping my blog up to date recently so I'm going to spend some time over the next few entries. Heading back to the end of November when Rachel, Tom and I went to watch Elton John at the Indoor Stadium. Wow! What a show! Despite the weather being absolutely awful, the stadium was packed and I knew as soon as Elton came on stage we were in for a good show. I think his words were "Singapore - we're gonna rock tonight!" and ironically opening the show on a Sunday with "Saturday Night's Alright". The last time Elton John was here in Singapore was in 2008. He seemed pleased to back stating "it's good to be back" shortly after belting out "I'm Still Standing". 

Elton's band was incredible! A prior to the three hour long concert kicking off he warmed the show up by introducing 2Cellos, a duo who made many people see the humble cello in a brand new light. No one really knew who they were, but they appeared on stage and blasted their way through a version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal followed by U2's "With or Without You" (a massive favourite of mine) "Welcome to the Jungle" Guns N' Roses, and "Smells like Teen Spirit", the Nirvana number. Originally from Croatia and according to press, a YouTube discovery, these boys were so impressive. Very talented boys. Check out some of their videos on YouTube. Here's Smooth Criminal:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQac1vOEc 


They stayed on stage for the duration of the show playing with Elton John and his band, who included drummer Nigel Olsson, the very first member of the band. The jam packed concert saw delivery of hit after hit:
Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
I'm Still Standing
Levon
Madman Across The Water
Holiday Inn
Tiny Dancer
Philadelphia Freedom
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Candle In The Wind
Rocket Man
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
Hey Ahab
Gone To Shiloh
Monkey Suit
Sacrifice
Honky Cat
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
Daniel
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Are You Ready For Love
Bennie And The Jets
The Bitch Is Back
Crocodile Rock
Your Song
Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Circle Of Life

Elton John is a true performer and didn't just sit still at the piano and play. After every song he was up and acknowledging his fans, thanking them and showing off to the who crowd, including those sat behind the stage with minimal view. He even called out to his dear friend Kevin Spacey, who was in the audience (he's recently been in town touring with a theatre group performing Richard III) At one point he clambered up on to the top of the piano and kicked his feet into the air! 

Spending the day and evening with Rachel and Tom to celebrate Rachel's 30th birthday was perfect and  the encore of "Your Song" and Lion King hits "Can You Feel The Love Tonight / Circle Of Life" nearly had me in tears. Another musical legend ticked off my list of acts to see! 

SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE AND ME...

The world's population is expected to hit seven billion in the next few weeks. After growing very slowly for most of human history, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years. Where do I fit into this story of human life? From the BBC website it was calculated that when I was born I was the 4,685,375,517th person alive on Earth and the 79,412,631,235th person to live since history began. Pretty incredible stats. You can find out your place in human history too. Just follow this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515

SYDNEY 2011...

Joe and I have just spent a lovely week in Sydney relaxing in the sunshine. It was really nice catching up and finally getting to spend time together. Arriving on the Saturday and spending a few hours out and about, we met up with Mikey and his new girlfriend, Caroline and Chris and Steve for a few drinks. Well, maybe a more than a few. Oops! I fell in love with Sydney back in 2008 and it was such a great feeling to be back. Lots of walking, wandering around the zoo and strolling along Bondi, where "Sculpture by the Sea" was on and thankfully lots of sunshine! A fab week!