The Black Rabbit
Life through a looking-glass
Singapore memories
Back only two days and those memories are fading. Fading like city lights of Glasgow in my rea-view mirror. Only, unlike most Glasgow memories, the Sing memories are treasured.
Getting out of Scotland at the end of the year has long featured in my plans. Having worked and and been a participating punter at many an Edinburgh Hogmanay, a few years ago I began to forsake the wind and rain-blasted streets of Edinburgh for sunnier climes. Combining a few days work with a few days more of r 'n' r in Sing became a regular thing.
This year, I stayed a little longer, walking everywhere and bloating with the heat and beer. Still, I find it a peaceful place, if rather expensive: the wine is astronomical, starting at £40 a bottle! One of the things that interests me over there is the propensity of fat, old whiteboys going around with pretty local (or mainland) girls. It has to be the money, surely!
The City-State's signature drink - the Singapore Sling - is also horrifically expensive and you have to seek out the bars that do a 2-for-1 and keep an eye on the bar-staff if you can for some of them - take note, Marriot Hotel on Orchard and Scott's Road - fiddle the measures or, indeed, leave out some of the spirits essential to the cocktail!
This year I found out that Sing has no welfare system. Anything for healthcare and medicare is paid up through contributions throughout a resident worker's life. No junkie scum in Sing but I can't help feeling that ill and desperate people would go without food or healthcare within that system. But, given the importance of the family unit, perhaps those incidences are few.
Still, faced with the weatherfront they are calling The Best from the East swiftly approaching the UK, I'd rather be back there in Sing. But reality and the economic and moral mess that is the UK is semaring its presence over me once more. Time to head back to Edinburgh, then.
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