Watching a storm roll in

Now you see it..........

Now you dont!

I am going to miss living on the 19th floor. We have the most amazing view down towards Orchard road and beyond towards the Quays. We can see a long way towards the east and the west coast as well as up towards Bishan and Serangoon. On sunday afternoons we see people training their dogs in a school field opposite, sunday mornings see cars arrive for church and later the wet kitchen fill with parisioners in white preparing sunday lunch. Every weekday morning I see an elderly Chinese lady in traditional garb slowly pedal her bike towards Thomson road dodging school kids and their overloaded bags. Car horns toot and buses grunt as the kids are dropped off in two sessions and every now and again we catch a flag raising ceremony complete with the music of the national anthem (although no one seems to sing unlike the Kiwis who at least fake it or the Samoans who belt it out so loud you could probably hear it from here) and break times are filled with squeals and yelling.

We frequently watch clouds blow in, dump their contents, throw a few lightning bolts and then blow themselves right back out again. We have seen great fingers of energy stretch across the sky and others race down to connect with one or two of the highrise monoliths in front of us. Some have been so close that we have been able to see the green and blue hue as the target is zapped. Sadly although I have tried I havent been able to catch one of film yet, I am just not fast enough!

If we come back to Singapore we will probably come back to our condo and the view will be similar, unlike many a view on the en-bloc mad 'little red dot', we are very unlikely to be built out.

note: en-bloc means 'all together' and refers to a condominiums/apartment blocks individual owners agreeing to their condominium or apartment block being sold to a developer for redevelopment. This has been almost epidemic in Singapore in the last few years causing major disruption not just for ousted expat leasees but also for their neighbours as a redevelopment means dust and noise for those in the vicinity.