How does it feel ...

To be back in India

Back to Hindglish - the gist is key.
Saw my first stray at the airport and my heart missed a beat.
White small cars abound and scurry like ants across the lanes.
Most straddle two, others squeeze into one.
"Rush hour"is a euphemism and a Porsche I saw is destined never to thrive.
Throat clearing and spitting, mouth curved down.
Pedlars songs early morn, brought a smile.

Hazy smog fog
Dust dust dust
Brahmini kites soar
Minah birds scavenging on tarmac
Rape seed fields in yellow bloom,
Slowly edged out by a frenetic building boom.

Trust transferred to Balwant Singh.
To negotiate motorway madness
Headlights deemed permit to travel
Wrong way to traffic flow.
Saw my first camel cart
And a new Japanese Zone.

Changi's best kept secret

Forget the Louis Vuitton and the Prada. I have discovered a whole new angle to Changi Airport in Singapore which is so much more preferable then window shopping for items on display I would not be caught dead with.I am all for diversity in this world, and there is still a market for them, but they are not my cup of tea. I did find another and the cup was full and overflowing.

Did you know the airport has a Butterfly Garden in Terminal 3?  I pushed the heavy door open and was momentarily thinking this was Kew in the Hot House or Brisbane last week. The air was heavy and the moisture palpable but the plants love it and it shows. The pitcher plants were full, the leaves glossy and the flowers bursting with colour. The blossoms were just the kind of triggers that the butterflies are looking for, inviting and sweet with nectar, and ready for indulging in a good feed or some old fashioned hanky panky.

I wandered round taking in the information and the beauty of the butterflies around me – what a perfect way to while away the time a flight is delayed, open to all, but you have to look for the sign and be curious enough to follow it.

Now you know, it’s a perfect little Singaporean secret.

Cold and hot snap

Happy New Year Everyone - we left the Uk which despite its state of limbo - ness was remarkably welcoming and peculiarly unseasonal. There were however what I would call some cold snaps, when the frost lies on the ground, the ice forms on the ponds and the grass is spiky and crackly. There is a beauty in this cloak of cold talcum powder and we were able to enjoy a few walks in the early morning, before the sun had a chance to work its magic forming strange tree like structures on the sea  front wall as the frost turned to water.

And then SNAP back in the heat of the sub tropics where the trees are exploding with colourful  energy and the rain has washed the garden fresh and pushed the weeds up in numbers which will have the head gardener aka C tossing and turning in his sleep. And here the warmth of colour signals invitation to others to come and join the fun with wheelbarrows painted by Papua New Guineans and now in the Gallery of Modern Art. 

Paulson Square

I was walking around London today and I came across a square I did not know. It was called Paulson Square and I walked around it attracted by the beautiful Xmas wreaths on the doors. I dont know if there is an annual competition in the Square for best wreath, but I found myself stopping outside the doors admiring them. They were carefully chosen to match the door, very individual and showed a great sense of pride of place and these were only a few of the ones I chose to photograph. 

Xmas right at your door. 

Winter Solstice

Here in London on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day will soon recede and be over for another year.  The lights shine bright everywhere and the voices rose, in mostly harmonious song, from the wonderful Albert Hall Carol Concert where there were more Santa jumpers, reindeer head bands and twinkly lights to last us a lifetime. We sang with immense joy and love and lots of false notes but oh what cheer. It remains for me to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year with more thought, care and consideration for all around us. 

Christmas au naturelle

I cant say that it isn't bizarre to think about snow bells and sleighs in the heat of the Antipodean sun - but perhaps the way that celebrating Xmas has evolved here might be rolled out a little more ...

Some clever clogs somewhere sorted the season so that as December approaches the whole of the outside world is coming into the right blossoms and colours, the festive red, the reflective white and the evanescent green. So my neighbourhood does a sterling job of putting a red bow on a poinsiania or letting the light shine out of the red berries on the palm, while the coral tree seems to take the task seriously to heart and turns completely red. The gentle white candles of this garden plant and the flame reds set the tone magnificently and make the season so natural, so warm and inviting. Hot even, so as the Santas prepare for the season of gift giving, it is only natural that they should stop off for a cool beer along the way. 

All a - flutter

Following nicely on from my last post I walked out today and saw these birds which were not the usual sulphur crested cockatoos - well I was all a flutter - some new birds on the block. Aren't they just lovely. Identifications welcome - a type of corella perhaps ?