Tuesday 31 October 2006

"Spooky" - Classics IV, 1967

After a LONG absence, I thought I'd write yet another catch-up note!

What's new? Well, John has sold his Hertfordshire home and will give possession to the new owner on Friday of next week. Therefore, my week of vacation this week is spent split between helping John vacate his house and finally getting rid of unwanted/unneeded stuff here in what is about to become our only residence in Oxfordshire. It's sad to be separated a good bit of this week, but it's for a terrific purpose. Besides, I've travelled enough in the past 2+ months anyway, and I'm delighted to keep my feet on the ground for awhile.

Besides not posting very often, I also am very delinquent in reading my friend's blogs. So when I take breaks from going through things here at home, I'm going to try my best to catch up with all of Lord Celery's friends. I hope I'm forgiven!

Meanwhile, Happy Halloween everybody! I thought I might share with all of you the "haunting" which has occurred here in the old barn in which we're living...but I can't get the photo uploader to work right now. I'll try again later.
Anybody else having a problem uploading photos today?

In the meantime, I found an interesting website someone has put together, full of "Halloween" songs!

More as I can...

Janet

Thursday 19 October 2006

"What's Your Name" - Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1997

Hello again from Singapore!

The courses I'm running all this week are in the Singapore Marriott, where I'm also staying. From Monday to Wednesday, I taught in the "Belimbing Room". The name sounds awful -- but then I guess it's not actually "DE-limbing", is it?

I asked one of the waiters what "Belimbing" means. He told me it's a type of fruit. In fact, he told me that all of the meeting rooms are named after fruit.

That made me curious...and this evening, I've looked up all of the meeting room names here, just to see if he was right. Not quite, it seems...

Firstly, here's some information about "Belimbing" -- which is otherwise known as starfruit.

For today and tomorrow's class, I've been moved to the "Lengkuas Room". "Lengkuas" seeme to be a rhizome.

And here are the other meeting rooms' names...

"Asam Room" - "Asam" seems to be tamarind.

"Terigu Room" - "Terigu" appears to be some sort of wheat flour -- take a look at the entry for "bubor terigu".

"Ketumbar Room" - I found "Ketumbar Jawa", which is a sort of Chinese coriander.

So there's your cultural lesson for the day!

I'm headed home tomorrow night...so I'll write more once I'm back in north Oxfordshire over the weekend...and after I've had some sleep!

Janet

Sunday 15 October 2006

"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" - Platters, 1958

I arrived in Singapore again last night -- only 13 days after I was stamped in by Singapore Immigration last time. That's a new record for me.

I've done a little window-shopping today but have mostly rested and gotten ready for this week's courses. The air quality here is again dreadful. Fires from Indonesia have created the most horrid smog, and I think the odor of smoke in the air is much worse than it was only a few weeks ago. A preview of tonight's news suggests it's going to get worse before it gets better. At least I'm teaching here in the hotel and don't need to spend much time outdoors.

I'll post a snapshot, taken this afternoon from my room, on the 26th floor of the Singapore Marriott. I think you'll get an idea how poor the air quality is at the moment...


(Click on the photo for a full-sized image.)

More as I can...goodnight from Singapore!

Janet

Tuesday 10 October 2006

"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" - Jerry Lee Lewis, 1957



There are so many things to be afraid of in the world these days. Jelly (or "Jello", as we Americans would call it) isn't supposed to be one of them!

Take a look at this story from Germany, thanks to the BBC's website.

Janet

Monday 9 October 2006

"Around the World" - Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1999

I'm back in the UK...temporarily. Sorry for not posting more than once during my recent 2-week trip. I tried to post photos from Singapore several times but couldn't get Blogger's photo posting software to work. And I have to admit that I was too tired -- and short on time -- to try very hard.

I got back to the UK from Singapore last Friday morning, after a 13+ hour direct flight from Changi Airport to Heathrow. And I spent almost all of the weekend sleeping, as I came back from the trip exhausted.

I had an amazing revelation over the weekend, though, in between dozes.

Within a two-week period, I had actually circled the globe!

Now I've had some extensive business trips in my time. I've gone back and forth between the US and Asia. I've flown from London to Calgary to Caracas back to London. But what I just completed is a first for me.

On Monday the 25th of September, I left London's Heathrow Airport and flew west to Calgary. Beginning at lunchtime on Saturday the 30th (but continuing through the entire weekend), I left Calgary and flew west to Vancouver, then to Hong Kong, and finally to Singapore. I got to my Singapore hotel around 1am on Monday the 2nd of October. And then last Thursday night (the 5th), I flew west from Singapore back to London Heathrow. I circled the globe!

I wish I could determine how many miles I've just flown. I'll bet I can once all of the airmiles have been posted to my Air Canada and British Airways accounts.

(Note: Since originally posting this blog entry, I have actually calculated the mileage for the entire trip: 19,493 miles, according to my two airline mileage statements!)

And would you like to hear the best part? Well, this Friday, I head back to Singapore to teach there again Monday through Friday of next week!

I still owe Lord Celery's readers some photos, and I'll see what I can do about that in the coming days.

Janet