Update on Rocco, & the Perfect Winter Pavillion

Firstly thanks to those of you who rang or emailed messages of support for Rocco. The good news is; he's doing fabulously! In fact after the first day he couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about, although he was high for a week on painkillers which may explain that. Anyway I appreciated the good wishes and they at least partially compensated for the 125 new grey hairs which appeared overnight. Rocco had his stitches removed on Monday afternoon, and he is healing well. I've just this minute raced outside to take a photo so here he is:

I think his new look makes him look wily and wise, although it has been sorely tempting to put a pirate patch over his eye...
By the way this photo was taken in the bunnies new Winter Pavillion. After last year's cold and snowy winter I wanted to find a good solution for the rabbits this year that would allow them to enjoy their daily activities outside without having the discomfort of dealing with the snow and ice for weeks on end. I think Rocco is too much of a Senior Bun to have to deal with wading through snow, and sometimes last year the fur around his bum seemed to be wet and cold for days. So one afternoon in late November I had a flash of inspiration and sketched up the design for the Winter Pavillion. Our good freind Derek agreed to make it, and even drew it up professionally in 3D Auto Cad to make sure it was perfect!The Pavillion is basically a deep tray with an overhanging roof, raised off the ground to prevent it getting damp. Lower access points have been made on three sides, wheels at one end and a handle at the other make it easy to move, and the generous overhang keeps out snow and rain. With a deep layer of hay it's the perfect place to chill, hang out, and have your ears licked (if you're into that kind of thing). The main thing is, the bunnies LOVE it! Key to the success of the Pavillion I think is that it's open on all sides so they have a 360 degree view (well at least Punky Muffin does because she can see!) to patrol the garden, while still being sheltered from wind and rain. Once the snow started falling they literally spent all day in there, nibbling on snacks like veges or apple branches which I toss in a couple of times a day. If anybody wants the plans on CD, you can have them in excahnge for a donation to the Opvang Franky rabbit rescue; just send me an email via the comments button below.
With Rocco being blind (even before he lost his right eye), he relies on his sense of smell to navigate around the garden and the snow seems to mask many of the familiar scents; the first snowy day I saw him standing bewildered and a bit lost, nose in the air, trying to figure out where he was. So each day I shovelled the 'bunny trails' clear for him, keeping his regular circuit free of snow; the perimieter of the garden, his favourite pee spot, access to either side of the Winter Pavillion and to the ivy plant he's determined to kill by chewing through its ankles before spring. With these paths kept clear he would happy hop around, stretching his legs doing his circuit before snuggling back into the pavillion. We could almost hear him happily "bumbly bumbly bumbly" - ing to himself as he went along. As I tell my friends, my rabbits are not spoilt; they are much loved.

Tabitha Spring Silk Fair; Mark Your Diaries!

For those of you lucky enough to still be living in the steamy tropical shopping paradise that is Singapore, a highlight of your annual calendar is about to take place: the Tabitha Silk Fair. This is a fantastic event where you get the chance to purchase outstanding silk clothes, bags, home furnishings, etc for truly excellent prices, and all in the name of a good cause. Ladies, need I say more? I've blogged about this event before here if you want to see some photos.

As usual the fair will take place at The Shophouse, at 22 Lock Road in Gillman village. This year valet parking is available but in my opinion taxis are the best way to get to this location. You'll be so dazzled by the brilliant rainbow array of silks on offer who could possibly focus on driving afterwards! On Tuesday and Wedensday 11-12 May the Fair runs from 9am to 6pm, and on Thursday the 13th from 9 to 1pm.

On the Wednesday evening you can also attend a ticketed event to meet the Foundation Founder, Janne Riskes to hear her inspiring story and learn about the hundreds Cambodian of women and children helped every year by this wonderful organisation.

Check out the website Tabitha Singapore for full information, and take your credit card! Over 95% of the proceeds go directly to helping Cambodian families to earn a living and become self-sufficient.

Slippers

Now that it’s starting to look like winter really is about to start, I’ve started hunting for slippers. You’d think that this wouldn’t be difficult, but have you seen what’s available out there?? If you eliminate the fluffy, the impractical, the pink, the prissy, and the downright ugly, the list is very short my friends. Very short indeed.
Currently I’m swishing around in my last pair of embroidered blue silk slippers I picked up in China Town, Singapore, during the Chinese New Year celebrations, but they won’t last forever and frankly despite having a high drop-dead gorgeous factor, they aren’t exactly warm.
Today I wandered through a couple of shoe shops in Zutphen looking for something wearable. I spotted some Ug Boots – if you’re not an Antipodean you probably call them sheepskin boots – and out of sheer nostalgia picked one up and looked at the price tag. Holy shit, I kid you not; they were 149 euros!! We used to slop around in Ug boots as kids on the farm, back when they were fashionable the first time around (yes I’m that old). I’m embarrassed to admit to actually having worn these outside of the house on several occasions, apparently convinced I was making a bold fashion statement rather than looking like a Neanderthal twit.
Mind you, I was tempted to order these Play Boy slippers from Amazon, not because they would be practical or functional or even comfortable, but simply because left unattended in a corner they would remind me of several real house bunnies I’ve had in the past, trying to look inconspicuous while actually plotting to chew through the telephone cable or strip the wallpaper.

On the website they are right next to the ‘Bedroom Athletics Women’s Muffin Slipper’- now if that isn’t a name created to grab your attention, I don’t know what is!
What I really want is for the companies who make kids slippers to start turning them out in adult sizes. I mean check out these Dr Who slippers; who wouldn’t want a matching pair of Daleks on their feet??

What about these ‘Junior Dare’ slippers – I would TOTALLY answer the door wearing these!

And how about these froggy ones…how cute are these?

Come on slipper manufacturers, you're missing out on catering to a major market segment!

Yokohama Quilt Show

Now before you all start laughing and pointing out that I am the sewing fraternity's equivalent of an illiterate red-neck, I'll point out that I am not claiming to be able to quilt myself. In fact I'm not particularly gifted when it comes to little crafty things at all, although I did a hugely satisfying book covering course today (and I will gloat over the results in another post shortly, don't worry). Also I'm still ridiculously proud of my efforts at a recent glass fusion and silver jewellery course where not only did I produce something wearable, I didn't manage to trip over and throw myself into the kiln in the process.

However a friend recently visited Japan to attend the Yokohama Quilt Show. In my ignorance I never realised that there were international events arranged around what I thought were basically bed spreads which just took a lifetime to make, but my eyes have been opened. These quilts are quite literally works of art and when I saw the photos I couldn't believe the detail and imagination that goes into producing them, let alone the thousands of hours of painstaking work.

I don't think these things are for sale - and frankly who could bear to part with one after spending so much time making it - and I can only wonder what happens to them after the show is over.

Take a moment to have a peek at these - click on the photos to enlarge them, it's worth it.

The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

You know how sometimes you hear a song and you just love it so much you keep playing it over and over on you iPod until your ears bleed and you probably induce brain damage? Well that's how I feel about this track from The Ting Tings, 'That's Not My Name'. Best played at maximum volume, especially if you are working out. It's not a fantastic video, so I recommend letting it completely download before cranking up the volume and listening to it, and I bet you can't stop youreself jiggling along to it.
The fact that music like this exists is the only possible reason that I can even considering getting on the rowing machine for a 5km session. I think the decibels drown out the pain.

Getting It Together

I’ve had such an awesome day getting totally organised. This may not sound like a lot of fun to many but I HATE clutter, although my nearest and dearest will, I’m sure, be quick to point out that this doesn’t mean the place won’t descend into a state of near chaos before I’m moved to tidy up. However as we’ll be leaving Singapore in the not-too-distant future I’m going through the cupboards and tidying up/chucking away/re-homing stuff we don’t need.

A couple of days ago I found the PERFECT shop for anyone like me. Howards Storage World was mentioned in a magazine I read recently as having ideal storage ideas for hand bags. Well that got my bells ringing so off I trotted to Harbourfront, a hitherto unexplored shopping mall on the southern coast, near the Sentosa Gateway. This place has storage ideas for all those little bits and pieces we accumulate and desperately need but just can’t keep tidy. Think shoes, handbags, makeup, out of season clothes, books…and don’t even start me on the kitchen ware section.

Now I have a collection of handbags which, while modest in size to my way of thinking, threatens nevertheless to take over the entire wardrobe. The solution? This handy plastic double sided hanger which stores 14 handbags. And yes, I only needed one. The hanging shoe organisers next to it in the photo is actually from Ikea, although Howards sells a similar line.




On to the make up, which used to be stored in a wooden tray (also from Ikea) which was probably originally intended for cutlery. Now it’s all nestled comfortably in a compact acrylic tray, easy to find and on-hand when I need it.
By now you're all probably shaking your heads wondering how anal someone can be and still lead a normal life but hey, it works for me!

Software trauma

Goddamn, I spent FOUR HOURS tonight trying to update our Norton anti-virus software. Having taken my money in about 60 seconds flat my new subscription then failed to upload. I was about 5 seconds away from heaving my laptop out the window when I was offered the option of on-line chat with a member of the Norton support staff. Jeswin (is that a guy or a girl?) finally sorted out the problem and I was able to collapse on the sofa, gin and tonic in hand, to join hubby in watching Goodbye Pork Pie to relax.
Sometimes I hate computers.

Birthdays? Nothing To 'Em!

There are many good things about getting older. Speaking strictly from my personal experience it seems that surviving your crazy teens and reckless twenties frees you up to enjoy your thirties and everything after that with a wealth of wisdom and, well, wealth, that you just didn't have back then. Your confidence is better, self esteem higher, sex more passionate, joke repertoire fuller. You've traded the tequila slammers for Tanqueray and tonic, Maybelline for Dior and finally start to reap the benefits of slapping on sun block for all those years. Ok, the face is starting to show a few wrinkles but by now I know my PHA from my Pro Vit B5 extracts and frankly the new range of serums are better than botox. And as for later...well there's always going to be Botox, isn't there?

Making it into my thirties relatively intact means that my kids are now toilet trained, so although occasionally one of their rooms may look like a vomi-bomb has just exploded (see yesterdays post), I no longer have to deal with someone else's poo on a daily basis. They can both run around so even if my back aches sometimes, at least I don't have to carry them any more. Having survived the first tough years of motherhood I also don't feel guilty about indulging in a weekly massage from my favourite masseur Grace, who can produce diamonds from lumps of coal using only the fingers of her left hand. In your thirties it's perfectly normal to have a handbag for every occasion, as well as several that may look identical to the untrained eye but are each essential wardrobe items and indispensible in their own way. And while I could tell the scantily clad 20 year olds hanging out on Orchard Road that the line between looking like a sexy siren or a slut can be defined within a few heavy handed applications of black eye make up, they'll find out themselves in a few years and think back "if I only I knew then what I know now...".

By your thirties you have the fortitude to say no to a job offer, something unthinkable in your twenties; you have good friends you can turn to for advice; and most importantly you have a life partner with whom you can make the tough decisions and look back and see how previous choices have worked out. And on days like your birthday, not only do they know your favourite brands, they have the means to splurge on you a little and make things like jet lag totally disappear for a few hours.

Gotta Haves...

OK I know it seems a bit frivolous but here's a couple of 'gotta haves' which I picked up at a shop called Lims. Actually there are a few of them on the island and I believe I got these from the outlet at Parkway Parade, which is miles from here but I ended up killing half an hour before an appointment and....long boring story which ends with shopping. As you do.

Anyway, the Chinese paper boxes are simply gorgeous. Currently the green one is doing time as a pen holder and the other two are on stand-by. Every panel features a different hand-sown Chinese figure, some complete with hairy moustaches and hair dos. Very cool. They cost $4, $6 and $8 respectively.

The sea-shell plates ($6 each on sale) are perfect for snacks and tasty tidbits and look simply fab. Who says nothing good comes cheap?

iPhone-a-say; OH YEAH!

I'm so excited I can hardly sit still! Yes yes yes yes and yes! Before any of you start worrying that this is about to turn into an X rated blog I'll explain.

Isn't it wonderful that after being married for eleven years (tomorrow is our anniversary) hubby can still surprise me? Yesterday evening when he got home I was anxiously waiting to see his reaction when he first laid eyes on my anniverary present for him: a gorgeous lamp which I'd painstakingly picked out on a morning out with a couple of girlfriends to the Dragon Kiln (more on that at a later date). I admit, I was feeling pretty chuffed with having found the perfect gift; it's elegant, arty, utterly gorgeous and will last forever as long as the kids don't knock it over.

After finally getting the kids settled in bed I sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee when hubby strolled past and casually dropped a plastic bag in my lap with a mumbled "here you go". Clearly declarations of (continued) undying love and an eternity of marital bliss are as common as the appearance of wrapping paper and ribbons in the Dutch male culture, but believe me, there are compensations.

Curiously peering into the bag I pulled out a heavy matt-black box, turned it over and it was......AN iPHONE!!!!!!!!!!! Only the most utterly fantastic gadget on the face of the planet which I have been lusting after ever since seeing Phils' at the Beerfest back in 2007. It didn't have anything to do with the amount of beer we'd consumed because these gadgets are just downright sexy. Sleek, stylish, designed for beauty as well as functionality, the iPhone is for me a perfect melding of phone, email, camera, video camera and iPod. It has a 16 GB memory and a 2 megapixel camera. Somewhere in there is also the capacity to download maps and get on-line travelling directions and god knows what else. The large touch screen is simple to use and the technology downright stunning.

By simply touching your finger to the screen you can choose between functions and menus, zoom in and out of photos, literally flick through the albums in your iTunes folder, and physically move picture and maps around by moving your finger over the screen. If you turn it sideways the image flips over so that it's still upright, even if you flip the phone upside down. For a better idea to to the Apple site and click on iPhones for a tour but be warned! Excessive drool is a hazard for your keyboard.

As a non-techie I can't even begin to figure out all the other functions on it without downloading the on-line manual but believe me, I'll be doing that today.

So next time you get a text message from me, you know its been typed out in style. Now I've got to rush; iPhone-a play with my new toy!!!

Xacti What I need!

***Read the update to this posting as the bottom...

For ages I’ve wanted a new video camera to take clips of the kids and life in general. With a holiday in Bali coming up and prompted by Carl’s fourth birthday – they aren’t going to be small and cute forever! – I bit the bullet and started to look into what I really wanted. Back in Holland we actually still have our first handy-cam, a huge brick of a thing which records onto clumsy tapes which then have to be painstakingly edited via your tv and 15 km of multi-coloured cabling onto old fashioned video tapes. It was so much effort it put me off using it. Every minute of footage required ten minutes to get it onto tape. And these days, who even has a video machine??
Living in Gadget Land means that we are bombarded daily with marketing telling us how much we need the latest thingy-ma-jig, and High Definition (HD) tv, camera, videos etc seem to be the way of the future. Having spent some time looking on the internet and reading specialist magazines about video cameras, I set off with great trepidation to Singapore’s electronics Mecca: Sim Lim Square. **Read the update to this blog below.

For those of you who are going to be visiting Singapore in future and want to buy cheaper electronics, here are some words of advice. Firstly, avoid the tourist traps on Orchard Road such as Lucky Plaza in favour of Sim Lim Square, a 7-storey shopping mall filled exclusively with electronics stores. Once there, avoid the shops located right by the doors filled with predatory sales teams and browse the businesses further inside the building.
Secondly, decide more or less what you want to buy before you arrive – saving $200 on a camera is a dubious bargain if it takes half a day of your valuable holiday time to make the deal.
Having said that, I turned up expecting to buy a Sony HD camcorder with either 30 GB or 60GB internal hard drive. The first shop I visited was more than happy to sell me the 60 GB model (“special price for the pretty lady”) for about $2200 with a ‘free’ UV filter chucked in. Hmmm.
Further inside I came across Square United Cam, a modest business in the corner on the 1st floor. A very helpful (ie not slimy) sales guy actually listened to what I wanted to use the camera for and what my expectations were, then recommended the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG65. For those interested in the technical stuff, it’s MPEG-4 6 megapixel with a 60 x digital zoom. The lens is AVC (made by Sony)…and it’s NOT an HD camera. As the guy patiently explained, HD is fine but most people aren’t set up to work with it – it wouldn’t be possible to burn my movies onto DVDs without a special editing suite so I’d have to pay to have it done at a shop every time. Plus without an HD tv and DVD player you can’t see the benefits anyway. Also, can you imagine what your pc would do if you tried to download 60GB of video onto it??? A 4 GB card will record 5 hours of video plus different users can use their own memory cards so you don't mix up your holiday flicks with hubby's fascinating ship construction momentos.
At the end of the day I’m no expert and who knows if it was the best deal I could have got. But I am deliriously happy with my teeny weeny camera which also takes 10 MB photos (even while you are filming if you want!), has a voice recording function for when I’m doing interviews, and weighs about as much as an egg. Seriously. It’s the shape of a gun grip without the barrel and very simple to use. The fold-out screen is big enough to see what you are filming/photographing clearly with ease.

The price: complete with 3 free batteries, a hard case, two 4GB memory cards and 1 GB card (for voice recordings), and a cleaning tool… $1300. Now that’s what I call a bargain!

***Actually that's what I call a rip-off: I was actually conned when I bought this camera. A few months later I bought the exact same camera for my sister as Paris Silk in Holland Village for about half the price. Ouch.

Oom pah pah

This is a photo taken at the Octoberfest we went to last month showing me and a distinctly Asian looking fraulein. It's a cool photo for two reasons. Firstly, it was a great night out with good freinds, good food, and good beer (Erdinger), although my head was a bit sore the next day. White beer just doesn't agree with me unfortunately.

The second reason it's a cool pic is that it was taken on an iPhone. For those of you who have never had the chance to play with one of these amazing devices, you really don't know what you are missing. It's at the top of my wish list (and likely to remain there indefinitely considering the ridiculous price) not just for the sexy design but also for the incredible functionality of it. If you're looking at an image on the comparatively huge screen, and you tip the iPhone on its side, the picutre tips too so it's still upright! You can put two finger tips on the image and pull them apart and it causes the phone to zoom in. Drawing your fingers apart will zoom out again. Think how cool that would be if you were looking at a street map or a schematic diagram? It's made of course by Apple, the people who created the iPod, the ultimate toy without which my life would be devoid of meaning at least several times a day. (Follow this link to judge for yourself how attached I am to my iPod: http://thesingaporesling.blogspot.com/2006/10/finally-singapore-slinger-gets-it-on.html)

Hubby's colleague Phil had bought his a day before the Beerfest so I had ample opportunity to play around with it. I was showing all the functions to Holger ("look honey, isn't this amazing? And look! And look! And look! I've got to get one of these! How much was it? $1000? Wow that's a lot. Isn't this cool honey?")

Holger turned to Phil and said drily, "yeah, thanks Phil".

I guess I can't expect an iPhone in my Xmas stocking this year.

Eye'll Be Seeing You...

Yesterday I had my one-month post operative check-up with Dr Jerry Tan, the guy who did the laser surgery on my eyes. I now have “better than perfect” vision in my right eye (equivalent to 20/15, when 20/20 is usually considered ‘perfect’), and 20/20 vision in my left. It means I can read on the eye chart at twenty metres what others can read at fifteen metres. My right eye – the second one fixed – is better than my left, as expected. This is why he insists on waiting at least two weeks between doing each eye: based on how the first eye heals, he can ‘tailor’ the lasering of the second eye to get the best possible result.


It’s absolutely amazing to get up in the morning and not have to put on glasses. I can read the clock at night without squinting, can jump in the car and drive without checking I’ve got my glasses handy, can actually see in the swimming pool – it’s like being born again. It feels fantastic.
If any of you are thinking about getting your eyes lasered, don’t hesitate a moment more – this is one of the best things I have ever done. Check out Jerry’s website for full information: www.jerrytan.com, as there are several different technologies available, even for weird shaped eyeballs like I had with astigmatism, which basically means your eyeballs are more or less football shaped. He even altered the contour of my eyeballs to achieve the best result, as they were an 'abnormal' shape! All without using a knife - the Intralase machine uses a new type of cold laser to create a three-sided flap which is then lifted, and a second laser removes a microscopically thin peice of your cornea to re-shape it to achieve perfect vision.
The best technology such as Jerry uses - Lasik with Intralase - actually corrects pre-existing conditions such as night blindness and glare problems while correcting your vision! The technology has leaped ahead in the past couple of years so the old clichés about it not being permanent or causing glare problems are well and truly a thing of the past, if you choose your surgeon carefully.

One down - one to go

Well here I am back behind the laptop, with one eye lasered. The procedure went very well and with the exceptional level of before and after treatment care I feel really pleased to be able to have had the procedure done by Jerry Tan. My eye is not painful at all, but the vision is still slightly blurry and will probably remain so for a few days until the cornea flap which is made so the laser can reshape the cornea, heals. I have to wear a plastic shield over my left eye while sleeping for a week to make sure I don't rub my eye during my sleep and put in eye drops, but that's a minor inconvenience. Despite the blurriness, I can already read the small text in the newsbar on the bottom of the BBC World News tv channel with my left eye, while I can hardly even see the bar with my right eye! So that'a already a big improvement, I can't wait to find out what the final result will be.
Tomorrow at 8.30 am I'm back at the clinic for a check up.
Dad and Maureen just jumped in a taxi to head off to the airport, so it's a quiet evening over here. It will be strange not to have any visitors in the house for a while. The next one is Christime (my sister) who will be celebrating her 40th over here next month. Party time!!!

'Twas the night before...

OK, this is a big day. Firstly I should say a big sorry to those of you whom I should have contacted before now to say that yes, we are back in Singapore, yes we had a nice Christmas and yes we are all well. BUT, there have been bigger fish to fry. Issues to mull. Eyeballs to laser. Whatever.
The point is, this is the last time that I will be writing this blog while wearing glasses. Yes…tomorrow I get my first round of optical laser surgery!!!! Yaaaaaaayyyy!!!!!
For those of you who may not realise it, I have wanted to get my eyes lasered for years and years and years, but the cost has always been a big hurdle. However my Dad very generously offered to pay for me to get it done as a Christmas present, so I hurriedly phoned around in the week we had before heading off to Holland in December and found the best clinic here.
Last Monday I spent 5 hours at the Jerry Tan Eye Clinic (http://www.jerrytan.com) being assessed and tomorrow morning, at 9 pm, my left eye will be surgically corrected from short-sightedness using Wave Front Guided Customised Lasik surgery, hopefully forever. In a couple of weeks I’ll get the right eye done. (In case you are wondering I will wear one contact lens in the meantime). There are good reasons for doing your eyes one at a time, the main one being the surgeon can carefully monitor how the first eye heals, and depending on the result after a few weeks when healing is complete, can fine-tune surgery for the other eye accordingly. This gives the best possible chance of achieving 20/20 vision or better, as everybody heals differently and it may be best to over or under correct the second eye to achieve the ideal result.
In the mean time I am just about bursting with anticipation. Dad and Maureen are leaving here late tomorrow night so we have just managed to squeeze all of this in while they are here to look after the kids for the day. And pay of course.
So I’’ll keep you updated. From tomorrow we will be visitor free for a significant period for the first time since October, so I’ll also have more time to focus on my blog which has been sorely neglected, at a time when there has just been so much to say. Never fear, I’m prepared to wax lyrical for as long as anybody out there is prepared to read it.
Well I’ll blog again soon, next time will be as someone with much better vision – at least in one eye.

Finally, the Singapore Slinger gets it on!

YES YES YES YES YES! Finally I have some music back in my life after months of living in a tuneless vacuum. For those of you who are not ex-colleagues, you probably don’t realise that at work my pseudonym was ‘The iPod Queen’ because my gorgeous black 30GB iPod has practically been surgically attached to my head like one of those weird undeveloped Siamese twins ever since I was given it last year. I know that addiction is a serious issue, and who am I to trivialise those who really can't live without their fix – but the relationship I have with my iPod is so close that hubby once told me he has the feeling that if iPods came with a vibrating attachment, he’d be out of a job.
Let’s just say I’ve got a pretty good idea how badly a heroin junkie craves their next hit after I forgot (just the once!) to take my iPod to work. Quite why I love that cute little gizmo is as much a mystery to me as anyone else, but I get such a thrill out of downloading music and listening to all sorts of new bands and artists that I would spend hours doing so, if only I had that sort of time to spare.
As I said, I was given my little black friend last year, and although I don’t want to sound mysterious (ok that’s a lie, I do) it was a gift from a man other than my husband by way of thanks for services rendered…and I can’t say any more than that! A lot of you already know the story but out of good manners I’m not going to incriminate the guilty parties here. Thank you, R, for sparking what is bound to be a life long addiction. Hubby may be slightly less grateful, but hey, Apple aren’t making that attachment yet!
Anyway, I digress. The reason that today is such a fabulous occasion is that our budget has finally developed enough slack between furnishing the entire apartment and forking out a small fortune each time we fancy a bottle of wine (and let’s face it, the empties are mounting up) that I was able to buy speakers for my iPod. A seriously momentous day.
When I left my job in Holland my colleagues generously chipped in to buy me a cool little gadget called a Belkin TuneBase which allows you to dock and charge your iPod in the car while broadcasting your music over a dedicated FM radio frequency into the vehicle. Pretty cool, huh? However due to the difficulties in ordering it in Europe I was given the cash and decided to buy it here. Once in Singapore however, it transpired that I actually hardly ever use the car because hubby dearest takes it to work everyday. I tend to potter around in taxis which are ridiculously cheap and make use of free home deliveries when necessary. Today for instance I went to the supermarket, paid, and popped into a cafe to have a coffee. I was just getting in the taxi to come home when the home delivery guy called to say he was on our doorstep and where was I! How’s that for quick service. So I don’t really need a car. However music is another story.

Yesterday I did my final research in stores and on the internet and finally decided on an Altec Lansing inMotion IM3C mobile speaker in sexy black from the Apple Store online. It cost Sing$299, roughly 150 euros or NZ$300. For those of you who are interested (and in my twisted reality it is inconceivable that there may be living breathing people out there who are not) this is the link to view my latest plaything: Apple Store Warning: this website may induce excessive drooling on your keyboard.

So now I had to sit back and wait, potentially for up to four days, before my sight-unseen purchase would materialise. But lo and behold, last night at 8pm I got a phone call from the Apple Store delivery man and he was …downstairs with my purchase! YES! YES! YES! and YES! all over again. Delivery within 7 hours of ordering - God I love how efficient this country is.
With a mixture of trepidation and mounting excitement I started unwrapping the incredibly small package and finally, there it was in all its glory. But surely this unit was too small to produce a quality sound? In the midst of me removing the lovingly wrapped components with shallow breath and trembling hands, hubby returned home from a work function and his chit chat was greeted with either silence or a monosyllabic grunt - the foolish man should know better than to get between a woman and her iPod. Finally the moment of truth had arrived. I docked my iPod, hit the play button on the tiny yet elegantly proportioned remote…and wow! What an incredible noise! OK I have to admit I’d neglected to adjust the volume and it was on full so I woke up both of our kids, and our upstairs neighbours who are in the midst of Ramadan must have been jerked out of their meditations in the most unholy of manners – but what a great sound. Gutsy enough to belt out HIM and Black Sabbath, balanced enough that even the famous soprano solo from my favourite opera Lucia di Lammamoor played faultlessly, and yet still fantastically small and sexy. The ultimate accessory.
As I leaned back on the sofa, fully satisfied that I’d made the right choice, I felt all the scene was missing was someone languidly smoking a cigarette.

Alright hubby, now you can talk.