Can it get any hotter than this?

This is picture by Christopher Lee, he sent it to me online. Nice to see how the front lawn is getting on from the outside. There are more photos by him and a link to his site further down the page if you'd like to see more.

Are you hot in there?
Well let me think about that for a moment... Is my nose melting off my face? Mmmmnn, yeah it's getting a bit hot in here. I guess the fact tha t so many people are sitting around the windows restricts the airflow. Not that I'm complaining though. I've just come from Auckland where there is a horrible storm I am told, the power has been cut off to 50,000 homes (that's practically half the population in New Zealand standards).

Last night was a good one, helped by the fact that the noise outside wasn't as bad as last night so I had some interesting conversations.

There was also an autograph hunter, misguided perhaps but she managed to prize a signature out of me.


These guys moved here recently to study from Bankok, being new to town myself we had a bit in common. Like me, they find this place a lot more ordered than back home, it's like someone came in and combed the streets with one of those lint rollers.

Had a great chat to this guy too, damn I can't remember his name just now. He is also new to town and keen to find out what I was up to. I wasn't about to ask him to move in though, sometimes a guy has to protect his own turf.



It's the amount of people that really is strange to me. I live in a country of 4 million people and the grass that surrounds this miniature house represents the much desired quarter acre block. The idea is that everyone has their own house and their own patch of land and that space forms the kind of people we are. We like to have a bit of space around us. If people come by our house, we see them coming up the garden path so that with a bit of luck we're already at the front door to greet them. Luckily I'm not one to stick to nationalistic stereotypes myself, I'd say it's a pleasure to be surrounded by so many people, but it's weird none-the-less. This is the view from outside (taken by my friendly assistant Eileen from the festival who has been looking after me - photographed below - sorry it's blurry).






And this is another friend of mine who hung around for quite some time before she revealed her extensive piano skills.


Siobhan, this one is for you. Right by the front door.

The three sisters of Singapore.



And just in case you were wondering where we are, here's some photographs of photographers. Was speaking with someone last night suggesting that perhaps there is something in the way the locals use their cameras here, a bit like the way the Swedes use mobile phones, it seems to suit the way people see the world.





Anyone who where this one is from?

And finally - the way it is.


These are the photos by Christopher Lee at 'Dream Merchant Photography'. You can see more of his images on http://clprodn.smugmug.com



Couldn't resist this one. It was latenight at the museum last night (2am), but by closing time there were more than a few that were ready to go home.

Sing singapore Sing

So this is Singapore! I swear it is cleaner than last time I saw it (if that is possible). Last night I was parked under the tent at the front of the National Singapore Museum, I'm told the real estate here is top dollar so being a home owner on Orchard Road is no mean feat.

Very relieved to find my frieght box safe and in one piece. This is me in the dockway at the museum on Thursday. The box on the left is how I got it here, it all assembles together in a few hours. You know that feeling when you leave home for a few weeks holiday and you can't remember if you turned the power off, closed the cupboards, closed the windows so the cat can't get in? This way the problems follow you so there's no escaping things.

I have to say I have never seen so many digital cameras in my life. Is it possible that the evolutionary process will replace the obsolete eyes with a zoom lense? Perhaps it is easier to see things through a screen than it is to stick your face up to it.

These guys took the old fashioned approach of actually speaking to me and lighting up my living room with their smiles

And before we go on - this is the new Newater, which is the first of it's kind I'm told... water that is completely recycled from sewage water. No shit! None at all. Tasted sweet as a river stream.

Despite the noisey neighbours last night (Hairspray was playing outdoors a few metres away through the worlds largest PA) plenty of people popped their heads in to say hello. The girl in the doorway had a great chat to me. It took a long time for me to realise she was speaking Indian, but once we had that sorted we both got on with just speaking our mind without fear of contradition. Her reflections were particularly thoughtful and she agreed (I think) that the environmental impact of consumerism is at an all-time high in the public consciouness.
And this little girl is wearing the hand of Mr Chips, he was about 3 and his vocabulary consisted of 'Chips!' and 'hello chips'. When you know what you want, why waste your breath of anything else?





Answer: Steam it, smoke it in an oven, or leave it out in the sun for a couple of weeks.


I know parents like to encourage their kids to have high expectations for life, but I suspect this guy has a lot to live up to.


Where are the fine things? Damn, I must have turned around too slowly.




Great images. Would you like to put one inside my house?

This is from the museum which was open until 2am last night and was absolutely full of people. This is from an exhibition on cinema in Singapore. Why don't they make buildings like this anymore? And this is an internet image of a picture of camera screen image of a building being projected onto of an image of some other building. The building was invisible to me so I was grateful for the human element in helping to see it.
My piano room. A room with a view.

Thanks for the advice, I am hoping to build a deck and second bathroom. Can you please help me through the Singapore building consent process, I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

Many thanks to the these guys!

I tracked down the best dressed guys in Singapore earlier in the day, runway boys eat your heart out.

I'm told bureacratic work in downtown Singapore is very stressful. People find creative ways of making their offices pleasant places to be. Other's take a more extreme approach as I found on Victoria St.

And that was day one.