Singapore marathon, accompanied by half marathon and 5 and 10km races has been conducted over the first three days of December this year. I say conducted, because looking down from the top of our building at the part of the route that goes along the Nicholl Highway, I see that over half those I was watching were walking, chatting amiably to friends and/or team mates.
Meanwhile I can report that 48 hours of being off-colour in a hotel room is tedious to say the least. English language TV is a steady diet of films on a loop...the same ones keep coming round again and again. That and multiple versions of Masterchef (Aus, Junior from US, US regions ....), and several US programs about doing up houses to sell. My impression from Greek and Singapore TV is that 'flipping' houses is a major US preoccupation. It is probably 'cheap to make' TV.
Subtitles (even where they might have been in English (being English language TV after all)) are all in Chinese.
There are channels in Malay, Chinese, varieties of Indian sub-continent languages, Korean, a Japanese channel in English (news mostly), and BBC Earth channel of which I can only take so much before the 'we are really messing things up' message gets a bit heavy. And there is Australian Broadcasting Corporation - which has produced some interesting documentaries but also had me shouting at the box at one stage - as much as I can shout with no voice.
I hate getting throat infections; I nearly always lose my voice.
And I don't have a Doctor Tigger to keep me company and sit, purring, on my chest.
I have just watched an ABC broadcast of Small World Stories... try this link for some really refreshing short (short) documentaries from Pacific Island Nations.
One more week of work out here, a few days holiday with a friend on her way through (en route UK to NZ) and Mr B comes out for a few days, then home for Christmas.
Everyone is blogging up their Christmas prep. I'll be doing none this year. The house will be strangely undecorated. I might go home and make a Christmas cake anyway - and eat it at Easter time.
If you had time for only one thing for Christmas, what would it be?
Hope your on the mend soon
ReplyDeleteIt will be nice to catch up with your friend and mr B
If I could only have one thing. It would be the tree. Even if it’s a tiny one on the coffee table.
Lunch in the sun
ReplyDeleteDon't know about sun in Blighty but you have nailed an essential for me.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteUgh, be better soon. Gotta tell ya though, all those home reno programmes are all over British telly too. Dad loved 'em. Ta for the ABC link. As for Christmas, I'll put the advent candle setting out today... time to do only one thing? Ooh, do you know, I am going to hold onto that one and create a post on Thursday about it! YAM xx
It's always rough to be feeling rough away from home. Nobby is ready to fly to Singapore to provide his well-developed one dog non-stop entertainment routine. We suspect that your home in the UK will still be boasting more Christmas decorations than you'll see in the Gail and Nobby household at Christmas!
ReplyDeleteNobby, i had promised Mr T a ride in an aeroplane but left it too late for him to enjoy. I would love to have your entertainment routine here but fear i would be weary company right now. Lots of sleeping going on.
DeleteI hope you get better soon. Its miserable being ill all alone. Only one thing for Christmas? My little glass bottle with the snow and twinkly lights I suppose. Just a tiny touch of festive being.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking on a midnight carols by candlelight somewhere. As students we used to go to midnight carols at Knox Church in Dunedin. I kind of want to join with people i think as my one thing this year.
ReplyDeleteIt's not nice being ill away from home. I hope you're feeling better now. My one thing would be carols from King's College, Cambridge.
ReplyDeleteSunshine outside my windows is my choice for Christmas, but since that is pretty much a given it might not count as for Christmas. for the first time ever, my nook only has the tiny tree with no ornaments, just its lights and a few earings to sparkle and my 2 glass reindeer. I can't get up the energy to decorate the nook. I am not sick like you are just fatigue. I can't imagine being sick in a hotel or anywhere away from home. When I feel bad i want my own bed. and hotel TV is horrible here to. We have hundreds of channels and i find it hard to watch any of them. hope you feel better today. Glad you get to go home for Christmas. Home is what is great for me. I think I just typed my answer, what one thing do I want for christmas, is to be in my HOME with bob and Beau.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy giving the four legged friends a good Christmas feed and me opening a bottle of Scottish Malt (Dalwhinnie) and lighting the stove and eating my dinner and talking and wishing everyone in blog land "Merry Christmas".
ReplyDeleteGet well soon. And those house flipping programs? They do it so viewers don't have to!
ReplyDeleteHope you're able to get out very soon. Nothing worse than terrible reruns on tv.
ReplyDeleteOne Xmas thing? Carols by candlelight. Yes ! My cousin in Wellington sends me videos of her choir and I remember my last carols in TePuke. I wish I could do that in person one last time.