Today we did a lot, compared with the boring Saturday we had just had!

First there was riding in the morning, which we made in record time, thanks to Mario Andretti at the wheel. Twenty five minutes to Pasir Ris, not bad at all. Though it's far away enough, it's always pleasant to sit at the cafe and enjoy the quiet and greenery while the children have their lesson. Jonathan had the nasi lemak but I saved my stomach for Jones the Grocer later.

That's where we had brunch, after riding class. The children loved the candy and the big white hall. We had scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage with sourdough toast. Afterwards we bought some cheese, Turkish delight and caramel fudge. Then it was home to studying, or more like squeezing blood from stone.

I made chicken noodle soup for a late lunch, then we left J behind and went for dinner at the Straits Kitchen with the Muirs and the Alsagoffs. It's a splendid spread, isn't it, and very popular during Ramadan, I noticed. Around 8.15 we rolled out of there and headed to Chinese Garden for the lantern festival at Rabia's behest. She and the kids were the most enthusiastic. The men simply envied J for escaping the torture.

The lantern exhibition was predictably cheesy but the kids got to light lanterns, play with sparklers and take a ride on the mini-Viking. Even so, Isabel sulked that they didn't get to do all the rides. There's no pleasing some people!!!

It was 11 before we got home and then of course I got some hints that I shouldn't have stayed out so late with the children. THERE IS NO PLEASING SOME PEOPLE!!!

Today was dad's 67th birthday. We celebrated it at Fortune Cuisine in Sunset Way. Not the best of buffets but the service was unreproachable so I'm not complaining.

Alan and I bought mum and dad the iMedic Pro, which was delivered in the afternoon. Mum says it was Alexis who figured out how to use it, without having to consult the manual. I can tell she's going to be very helpful in my dotage.

I had lunch today with Tzin Yih at Il Piccolo next door to News Centre. Midway I got news that Sharon had deteriorated and was not likely to survive. There was nothing else to do but abandon my desk and go to SGH to say goodbye. Other old MGS friends were there, a reunion none of us wanted. Sharon and Ken had bought 14 presents for their children -- for each of the days mummy would be in hospital. The operation went well and the tumour was benign. How quickly things can change!

I talked to Isabel later about this. It was sadder for Sharon's daughter, she said. "It's done with for your friend, but her daughter will have to bear with the sadness." Her daughter is seven and only knows her mum is in hospital for an operation.

Today I learnt that my old schoolmate, Sharon, whom I have known since we were 7, had a pineal tumour diagnosed two weeks ago. She had it removed on Wednesday night in a marathon operation which went well (the growth was completely benign) but deteriorated rapidly the next morning when she began bleeding in the brain. Intracranial pressure is tremendous -- she is not doing well.

I saw her in July at the Founders Day dinner. She was her usual sweet self. Earlier this year we had met for lunch when she contacted me. We ate at Hooked on Heads in Thomson Rd -- her recommendation. It had been years since we hung out and we spent the time catching up on long long lost time. She was the same sweet, calm and wise girl I remembered from school. Why do bad things happen to angels? Please get well.

Today Isabel got on the wrong bus. She thought she was following Poni and Alexis up No. 74 but she was actually on the bus in front, No. 157.

Seated on the upper deck (and wondering where the others were), she realised she was on the wrong bus only when it continued on Upp Bukit Timah Rd instead of turning into Clementi Rd.

Bless the child, she could have sat tight and cried; instead she hurried downstairs and told the driver she had taken the wrong bus (through tears though). The captain drove to the next stop, where he asked the passengers if somebody could take her home.

I wonder what he would have done, if a male adult had volunteered. Instead, it was an MGS girl, probably a secondary school student, who said she would take Isabel home. Together they got off the bus and began walking back to Clementi Rd.

Meanwhile Poni and Alexis were shitting themselves having discovered that the little one was not with them. They quickly got off at the next stop when they realised she must be on the 157, and jumped into a cab to follow it.

Luckily, before they had gone far, Alexis spotted her sister walking on the pavement, holding the hand of a bigger girl. While Poni paid the cab driver, she dashed out after Isabel.

They forgot to get the name of the kind stranger who was taking Isabel home.

I'm glad Isabel had the presence of mind to go to the bus driver for help instead of freezing on the spot. I wish I could have been there to prevent her from making such a mistake but I guess you can't be there always for your kids. But I was there to listen to her exciting story and give her a hug for being so scared and so brave. After that, we went on the canal and lit our lanterns for Mid-Autumn. Su Yin and Warren brought their kids to join us.

Final drama of the day was when the candle on Isabel's plastic Hello Kitty lantern burnt through the base onto his hand. It took half an hour under running water and two tablets of panadol cut with codeine phosphate to numb the pain!

Today is Mum's 70th birthday.

We surprised her with dinner at Hua Ting restaurant in Orchard Hotel. Amy Ang very kindly arranged for a private room with complimentary peach buns and birthday cake. Apart from us and Alan, Mike and Siew, Chris and Chin and their children were also invited. We put up a happy birthday banner, and we had Tattinger champagne and a bottle of Chateau Margaux to start. Mum didn't know of course so we all hid behind the table in the dark and jumped out yelling "Surprise!!!" when she walked in. She seemed pretty chuffed. Alexis got it on video.

The children had cards for her and flowers. Ethan gave her a scarf which he apparently decided not to reimburse his dad for. "I'll choose it?" he offered.

All in all it was a satisfying evening, marred by Isabel scratching Alexis on the arm over the video camera. It took off the top layer of skin and had to be bandaged. Isabel spent the rest of the evening, which she had looked forward to, in disgrace.

Afterwards J and I disagreed over whether she should be punished for it. I argued she had been punished enough with the disgrace, and also she did genuinely feel bad for her sister. But J felt she deserved more to deter her from hurting her sister again in the future. Alexis pleaded for Isabel not to be punished too much and Isabel was in tears when I suggested grounding her for a month. Such drama.

Today we went on the slopes for the third time. It was very cold in the morning and as we approached Coronet Peak, we could see the snow machines whirring merrily away to create that lovely powdery stuff for us to ski on.

It's amazing how much more comfortable one gets with all that STUFF -- the clunky boots, the skis, the poles, the gloves, etc etc!! -- by day 3. I felt positively expert getting everything on and then making my way out to the slopes. On day 1 I could barely move without falling over. By day 3, I felt confident that I would not disgrace myself by tumbling all over the place, especially when getting off the various lifts. That is, until Kheng had her accident...

But before that happened, Bret had us ride the chair lift up to the Big Easy, where we had come to such grief on day 1 with W**ker Dave. We all managed to get on and off the lift without incident, and even enjoy the views on the way up (at least, I did). The scary part of course was having to come down. I don't know how Kheng does it but she merrily speeds straight down the hill. For me, not hurtling down was the incentive for making those turns that Bret wanted us to do! I'd do anything to turn! But neither of us fell! Hurray!

After lunch (which I had very little room for, after a breakfast burger which consisted of bacon, egg, cheese, and hash brown between a bun!!) Kheng and I decided we should attempt the Big easy ourselves. This time I was not so successful. In fact, I managed to lose my way coming downhill and ended up in a heap when I realise I was headed for an intermediate ski jump. That little detour meant I had to take my skis off and trudge upwards in soft snow to get back to the start of it. Boy, was that a tough 10 m.

The third time we got the chair lift up, Kheng came to grief. The chair came around and she must have been looking in the wrong direction because she only half sat on it and when it lifted off, she fell sideways and hit her head on the edge of a metal box which housed the monitor panel for the lift. I turned around to see my friend slumped motionless on her side, and there I was, dangling seven feet in the air and not able to get down. What a pair of aunties!!! Luckily her shades took the brunt of the fall and saved her eye from getting gouged out on the corner of the metal box. But she's a game auntie and once she had recovered her composure, we went back up again. This time Ember and Bret were waiting up top for us so it was a much more successful run downhill.

The festivities over, we headed home to rest a bit. Then we met Bret for a drink at a pub in town. This one, like all the rest, had a fireplace. I'm going to miss this.

Second time round on the slopes was a much better experience than the first, thanks largely to the fact that we had a much better instructor this time around and to ourselves too. Bret was great and LK and I felt a lot more confident and were much more competent after our two hours with him. We managed to get some of the basics right and are learning to turn. Tomorrow we have a final session with him but who knows when if ever I will get to ski again.

The weather was also beautiful and very mild. I think spring has truly arrived.

After skiing we went to town and bought some gifts to bring home. I am going back with a ton of teeth rotting candy. I miss having the kids and J actually. I think they would really enjoy Queenstown. Nonetheless, it's fantastic to have all this time together with ET and LK. We're having a ball. Tonight we had another splendiferous meal at Fishbone, where we had the best oysters I've had a in a long time. They were fresh, firm, creamy and completely delish... The grilled crayfish was also excellent -- sweet and buttery with a wonderful crunch -- and the accompanying Pinot Gris was very elegant. I was in heaven. To top a great meal, I had a hot choc from Patagonia Chocolate.

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Yesterday's excursion to the slopes was so exhausting for me and Kheng, the greenhorns, that we decided a lunch at a winery was all we could manage today.

Heh. Ember treated to lunch at the Amisfield, where we had a hearty repast of ham off the bone, chicken pot roast with puy lentils and pancetta (so good!!!), linguine with grilled prawns and pork belly with fennel with a most satisfyingly crunchy crackling, washed down with sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and riesling. It was a most lovely location of course, with a view of Lake Hayes, and like every restaurant we've been to in Queenstown, and a roaring fire (this one had two fireplaces!) .

What could we manage after lunch but a leisurely drive through Arrowtown, over the the Kawarau bridge (where you can do a 43m bungy jump), into Cromwell, and finally Deer Park Heights, where there were more gorgeous views, animals to eat out of your hand (I petted a bison!!!) such as thar and lamas and miniature horses and goats... and LOTR locations. This picture was taken somewhere on the heights. It overlooks Lake Wakatipu, with Queenstown to the far right. I like the gloomy light. This landscape makes me think of Scotland; it has the same kind of heather on the windswept hills... As we drove up into town we could see the lights twinkling on Coronet Peak for night skiing. They looked so much like bright jewels on cake frosting, like Christmas!

Dinner was Thai, at a place called @Thai. We chatted with a friendly Kiwi couple, who are stopping over in Singapore in December. We bonded over the rice they brought us, which had been pressed from teddy bear molds, and we were each thinking of creative ways to kill our rice bears... The waitress asked if we were Thai, and said we were ordering just like Thai people. I wonder what that meant!

The ski virgins took to the slopes today. Actually, Ber is quite the accomplished skiier by now and LK has had one outing prior to this trip so I was the only true newbie. Somewhat apprehensive about what to expect but it turned out to be more fun than I thought.

Like diving, however, it is fiddly, though not quite as equipment-intensive. First of all you have to get into water ski gear, which I had thanks to Mae generously lending me her suit, beanie and gloves. Then you need a pair of heavy ski boots which clip into skis. All this you must get measured out for. You also need ski poles, lots of sunblock and a pair of shades. Once we got kitted out we lumbered over to our beginners' class, which had about 20 people in it! Our instructor, Dave, made a weak joke about going slow for the sake of the Aussies, and we began. We learnt to shuffle sideways, make a wedge with our skis and attempt to stop ourselves that way.

It started to get fun but for the most part, Dave was a right w***ker. He was basically not psyched to be teaching us. In fact he concentrated his time on the best skiiers of the group, who needed the least help, frankly. There were two small ladies in our class who must have been in their 50s (they had Singapore accents) who just could not manage to stay upright on their skis. They fell many times and not once did he go over to help them. In the end they gave up on the class and didn't turn up for the afternoon session. I hope they got their money back.

We practised turning a bit before breaking for lunch, which we had at the cafeteria. Sitting down, I realised how tired I actually was... it is hard work! After lunch, we went back for more. This time we got on a higher part of the slopes via the Magic Carpet and then the chair lifts. I also knew I was getting tired because I had not fallen one time in the morning and in the afternoon I had six or seven falls. Not once did w***ker Dave come to my, or anyone's rescue. In fact, he got very stressed that a few of us was holding the class up. Everyone's waiting, he kept urging, as though we were deliberately stalling. I wanted to smack him with my skis, and probably should have. By the time we got to the bottom of the Big Easy, he had actually f***ed off. Great job, Dave. It was Ember who came to my rescue a couple of times and another time, the instructor from the other group helped me release my ski. I wish we had gotten her instead.

Well, five plus hours of skiing left us in no shape for any apres ski, at least not yet. We rolled ourselves home and rested for a bit before we went for dinner at the Bunker. That was completely awesome. It's a tiny place, about six or seven tables, and a roaring fireplace. The waiters were extremely attentive (one occasion when Ber inhaled wrongly and began coughing, all three of them whipped their heads in our direction to see if she needed help), the wine was good and the food was simply heavenly. I had crayfish risotto to start with and wished I had a main course serving, as it was divine. Delicate flavour of shellfish, crunch chunks of crayfish in a lovely stock and shavings of parmesan drizzled with crayfish oil. I was in heaven. LK had the most tender lamb rack for a main and I had a delish duck confit. Ember had the tenderloin but neither of us wanted to try it as she of course had to have it done to a crisp.

We rolled out of the place and my two greedy companions insisted they had to have hot chocolate for dessert. I do admit the hot choc smelt amazing but I would have thrown up to eat or drink anymore...