And Danes...
Readers may or may not be familiar with the lyrics of the satirical Noel Coward 'song' whose commentary might not be entirely politically correct in 2023, but as it takes the proverbial out of Britishers and their mad habits it doesn't seem to have been banned by anyone you can still find it online here.
When my Danish colleague suggested on Friday that we go for an East Coast walk on Sunday I imagined a pleasant early morning stroll along a beach and a liesurely coffee or a chai in a shaded Singaporean equivalent of a Greek seaside taverna..... or perhaps an evening promenade along an esplanade and a cold beer in a suitable establishment with a view across water and a soft breeze to take the edge of the heat.
I readily agreed having nothing else particular to do.
"Meet me at 11" he said and a door in my mind opened on Noel Coward...
Hence the hat I so desperately sought out yesterday; and the long sleeved shirt.
Long story (very long 28.5km story) short, my Danish colleague clearly had designs on a hike. Serves me right. I clearly have a workplace reputation for rising to a challenge.
It was indeed along the coast. Being Sunday 100s of families were having picnics and parties. Most, it was explained to me are the 'home help' workers - maids, nannies, gardeners etc - who get Sundays off and come to this park along the coast. Lots of barbeques, karaoke gatherings, dancing, swimming, people fishing, cycling those side by side carriages, and generally enjoying themselves. I have no photos - I swear we were walking too fast!
Which is a shame because about 2/3 of the way back we were on a bit of track through some relatively jungle-like vegetation on the sides of a small fresh water stream, when suddenly two otters scrambled up the bank of the stream onto the path. Seriously? Otters? I've never seen otters in the wild in the UK.
It's not exactly wild here, but there they were. They loped along the path towards us while we simply stood transfixed. I enjoyed the moment rather than scrabbling for my camera. They passed within a couple of feet, all wet fur and sleekness, leaving their wet footprints all along the path and vanished into the undergrowth about 30 yards back in the direction we had come from. My Danish friend assured me that even though sightings of otters were quite common, they usually dash from cover if they see a humsn, so we were blessed by that encounter.
It was absolutely delightful and made the whole trek absolutely worth it. (That and a meze platter for lunch that was nearly as good as any you might find in Greece.)
I admire your stamina - a very long walk in that heat! Madness indeed.
ReplyDeleteYup, but sometimes not knowing what distance you have covered makes it seem just fine. The conversation flowed well, and the passersby were entertaining.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteCrikey... the moral of this story is always ask questions about invites to walk - and then go anyway!!! Hope the hat served you well... YAM xx
I had been sort of warned but the warnee suggested about 10km. I just slopped along chatting away wondering if 10km felt a lot longer because of the heat and humidity.
DeleteMy goodness, that was quite a trek. How lovely to see otters so close. I've only seen them on the Isle of Skye, many years ago. There are otters in Blandford Forum, too.
ReplyDeleteA good friend lived on the Canadian North West many years ago and describes with glorious humour her late night encounter with sea otters. They had tied their small sailing boat, in the dark, to one of those makeshift jetties used for rafting logs and she had been the one to crawl along the log 'jetty' to secure lines. As she dragged herself along on her tummy too afraid to stand up and try to balance on the rounded surface, she wondered what the awful stink was. Back on board, in the light from the lantern she discovered she was covered in bright pink otter poo. Bright pink because of the shrimps they eat. It was a story made even funnier for me because my friend is (besides being a really 'toughened' sailor) a beauty consultant.
DeleteI'm not sure even the promise of otters would tempt me out on a 28.5 km hike in the Singapore midday sun. (I might be English but I'm not totally mad and I've always wilted in the heat - which perhaps explains why I happily settled in NE Scotland!)
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
To be fair, the East Coast path is tree-lined for most of its distance, and for quite a bit of the walk a high haze filtered the sunlight, so it was in the shade in the midday sun-ish. There are also regularly spaced shelters (roof, no walls) equipped with water points, seats etc (with lightening rods on their roofs, but that is another story).
DeleteArghghgh, now I have the earworm of Coward singing it!
ReplyDeleteTee hee - although he doesn't so much sing as 'rap' it (very quickly and rather tunelessly for the most part)
Deletehaving read in our local news 3 or 4 weeks ago, of the attack of a man walking his dog, by a rabid otter, i would have freaked. i had no idea they could get rabies. the man was bitten 42 times before it ran off and attacked a dog on the path. aren't you glad you did not know this? now i am wondering if they have rabies in Europe or Singapore or other countries. the time of 11 is way to late for me and to hot and he would have been shocked i refused to go.... also CROWDS of people? yikes. the two things you suggested I would certainly do though. glad you got out and had fun and did NOT get attacked
ReplyDeleteRabid would scare the life out of me, and I guess people who live where rabies is endemic have to learn to spot it.
Deleteyou were safe, just checked and it says Singapore has been rabies free since 1953. i wish we knew how they did that..
ReplyDeleteNo rabies in UK, a d only a few 'hotspots' in Europe. Singapore is so 'safe' that I'm fairly sure that if there were rabid otters on the loose the government would 'deal' with otthers. People here live 'blessed' in the reassurance their government will keep them safe.
DeleteNot sure about the trek. I think I would of collapsed if I could actually walk fast. But the otters were a blessing. I’ve only seen them once in my life, in real life, and that was at the London zoo. Amazing little critters
ReplyDeleteI have seen otters in captivity in a couple of places since I was a child but never in the 'wild' (if you could call Singapore wild). I know they can be vicious but they are such endearing creatures when getting on with their own business. They play, they stand up like meercats do, they can grasp stuff like they have opposable thumbs, and have the cutest faces - what's not to like about them?
DeleteAnd they make the cutest noises. Which I’ve never heard before.
DeleteEast Coast Park is across the way - well across the highway and a bit more - from where we lived (Sea Avenue) in Katong all those years ago. If I remember rightly only tourists and Expats are fool hardy to walk those long distances - locals take the bus.
ReplyDeleteI can feel another trip coming on . . just haven’t let on to The Golfer yet!
You won't recognize the place.
DeleteYou’re right- we’ve been back several times and it’s very very different now. Still feels comfortable though
Delete