Also can

I noticed, during my recent trip to the UK, that my English is deteriorating.  I had to book a physiotherapy session while I was there, and this is how the conversation went (abbreviated):

Me: Hello, I'd like to book an appointment for tomorrow.
Them: We have a slot at 8am.
Me: Great
Them: What exercise have you done recently?
Me: Well, on Monday I done yoga in the morning, and then I done a run in the evening.

I didn't even notice.  It was only when I put the phone down that I realised how bad that sounded.  I am obviously spending too much time with the wrong kind of people.  Singlish is English words using a Mandarin grammatical construction, so you do hear some very weird expressions here.  Some of my favourites are:

off/on the light - e.g. 'Please on the light'.  I really had no clue what the person was on about the first time I heard this - it's amazing how the omission of part of the verb can confuse the native speaker!

isn't it? or is it? at the end of every sentence, with the intonation rising and falling. I have no idea why the locals do this, but Tim and I have started to do this as well - sometimes ironically, but often not.

can - this means, 'yes, I can' example: Me: "Please can you take the next left". Taxi driver: "Can."

also can - 'yes, I can also do this' example: Me: "Can you take this next left?" Taxi driver: "Also can"

cannot - 'I'm sorry, I cannot do that'


And then there's pronunciation, but that is a whole other story....

National Pride Down Under

The Margaret River - the trees were white like bones sticking out of the water

In the last two weeks, I've been feeling very, very proud to be British, from 13,000 miles away.  For the last two weeks I have been asking myself, and Tim, why we weren't there to join in on the fun and celebrate in the city that for 12 years was our home.  I think, and I hate to admit it, that we were in the group of doomsayers who thought the whole thing was going to be a fiasco (travel chaos, huge crowds a la Twenty Twelve, if you caught it) and it was better to stay away.  But how wrong we were!  I got up at 4am to watch the Opening Ceremony live and since then, I have been suffering from a severe case of Olympic fever.  Team GB have given us so much to feel immensely proud about and to shed the odd tear over, which is what I was just doing as I watched a montage on ESPN.  I am wondering how I am going to fill my time for the rest of the summer holiday...

I did return to the UK briefly at the beginning of July and because I was a bit miz about coming back to Singapore (leaving my family, sniff) Tim booked us a week's holiday in the Margaret River, south of Perth.  It's an easy five hour flight from Singapore and then a case of pointing the car south and driving straight for another three hours.  It's winter down there at the moment, but it felt more like a British spring and we had a few days of absolutely glorious sunshine - t-shirt weather, with hardly a cloud in the sky.  Margaret River is a famous wine region, with a very similar climate to Bordeaux and that is why a lot of people visit, but it was the natural beauty of the region that appealed to me.  The skies were huge, the ocean a patchwork of different blues and turquoises and for the most part, the beaches were totally deserted.  The coast is bordered by a national park which runs the length of the peninsula and we were able to walk part of the Cape to Cape walk which took us past hidden coves (like Bob's Hollow) and on to fantastic beaches.  It was glorious to be in jeans and a sweatshirt, to get the walking shoes on, to eat (a lot of) fresh local food and feel close to nature (even if nature in Australia means a lot of things that could kill you).  It's the simple things.

We didn't get too many opportunities to rib the locals about the Australian medal tally but you could tell they were smarting from the lack of a gold rush!

Anyway, here are few snaps of our trip.

Dipping a toe on Redgate Beach

The tallest lighthouse in Australia apparently!

Having a picnic in Bob's Hollow