9/2/12 - A sense of normalcy

 A sense of normalcy.  We spent the weekend essentially doing what we would have back home.  Last week we discovered that Asahi sells their beer in cans slightly larger than average.  You could even say they were "me sized."  Pretty nice when the two of you can share a beer on Friday night at the cheapest bar in Singapore..... our porch.

It was needed too.  First major travel hiccup ocurred Thursday evening when my one hour flight turned into a 5:30 hour delay getting me into Singapore at 1 in the morning instead of 7:30.  I almost left the airport and went back to the hotel, but my luggage was on the plane already and who knows where it would have turned up if I wasn't at the airport to collect it when we landed.  At least traffic wasn't an issue at 1 AM, but I did have to pay the 50% up charge on the taxi for the after midnight service.

Each morning this weekend we got to drink coffee, read the newspaper, catch up on magazines, Sarah played with her iPad (Facebook, Pinterest).  The usual, just a touch warmer.

Saturday we had dinner at Smokey's BBQ, which seemed to get everything right.  They actually have a meat smoker and served brisket, ribs, pulled pork, coleslaw (coleslaw!) as well as microbrews from the U.S.  We all joked that we were actually "full" after dinner.   If it wasn't on the eastern side of the island we could easily end up there more often.  I also saw my first Singapore cockroach on the walk back to the train station, so that made me pause for a second.  But only a second.  If you can find good beef brisket over here, you have to go for it.

A follow up point from last week.  Mike Wilkinson is allegedly playing in Macedonia and Kirk Penney had most recently been playing with the New Zealand national team.  Full disclosure, neither one of those facts have been verified and they are just as likely playing against each other on teams from Mars and Jupiter in the Solar System basketball world cup next month.

Dinner time.  We had lunch again at a ramen noodle and dumpling stand in the Empress Market hawker center that was really good.  We can use chopsticks for a full bowl, but Sarah looks much more coordinated than I do.  Becoming a weekly staple, but it can only hold you over for so long.  Plus Meet the Press is on at 10 PM.  I'm holding out hope that they will interview the empty chair that Clint Eastwood did.  I think it has more stories to tell.