TAXI !!!!

I had the most eccentric taxi driver in Singapore the other day. I'm standing at the taxi stand, and a tired looking, mint green taxi starts to veer toward me. I think I'm hallucinating at first, but as it nears, it becomes clear that it has Texas longhorns mounted on it's front grill. Driving the taxi is an Indian man, sporting a cowboy hat atop a bushy head of black curly hair, streaked with grey. He is also wearing a bolo tie on his crisp, white shirt. (Secretly, I'm also hoping that he was wearing cowboy boots.) I also can't help but notice the Confederate flag on his dashboard. Unlike most Singapore cabbies, this one is chatty. In my 7 minute trip with him, I learn that he is a retired structural engineer who now drives a taxi and occasionally teaches mathematics for fun. He is married to a Chinese woman. He speaks Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay, and two different Indian dialects. Oh, and his name is Tony !



Though our ticket sales have slowed a little, the show is still selling 1,200 tickets a day and more than 215,000 people have passed through the doors to find their inner hakuna matata. The biggest surprise is that 85% of those people are Singaporeans. A surprise because the producers thought there would be a bigger percentage of tourists. Still, good news for us, who ever the bums in the seats are. Apparently, Marina Bay Sands is selling a lot of room/show packages to Singaporeans who like the idea of the 'stay-cation'. No passports, no airports, just check into MBS for the weekend and hang out. Not my idea of a getaway but ....

And speaking of getaway....

Lyall and I headed back to Bintan, Indonesia
for a quick, overnight fix of tranquility

I know there are always people who are
grossed out by food with eyes,
but this fish was so perfectly cooked
that it melted like butter in the mouth !

We were unimpressed that first class was full
on the ferry home and we had to travel with
the great unwashed in steerage.

I texted Tim and asked him if he had any cream
for a middle-class rash.
He said he usually just wears a condom.

Our dresser, Anuar, recently spent a week in Surabaya, Indonesia. This meant that someone had to be trained to deal with the complications of the Scar costume. (Or as Anuar calls it, the Scars costume. I'm always referred to in the plural for some reason. Mind you, this is also the man who left a note telling us that he used our bathroom to take a showel). The entertaining and slightly sassy Alfri covered for Anuar and only had two days to learn how to deal with all the mechanical of my costume. So, upon returning from makeup one night, I was greeted with this...

Alfri in my costume

Anuar thought that the best way to show Alfri how it feels if anything is wrong is to make him wear the costume. I only found out later that, because of the short amount of time to teach him the track, Alfri practiced by using Anuar as a stand in for me.

The shorter, Malay version of Scar

Singapore's National Day, which celebrates their independence from Indonesia, is on August 9th. We've been watching a huge, multi-level, steel stage being constructed at the floating stadium near our theatre. The work has been going on for months.
They've also started rehearsals for the grand spectacle that will take place with a cast of thousands. Getting to work for Saturday matinees will be hell until it's all over since the main approach road that we all use is blocked off for these rehearsals. Not to mention the swarming masses of people.

And here's a photo that will make anyone living in Niagara or B.C. cringe

That's CDN $18.13 by today's exchange rate !

You'll have to enlarge the next photo to really see it properly. It's my favourite tree on our pool deck. The deck and chairs often look like a deranged flower-girl has gone on a spree because it drops it's delicate pink blossoms everywhere. The thing I really like about it though is the fact that it's always swarming with dragonflies who are attracted to it's flowers.