Umbrella

"ultracrepidate" - to criticise beyond sphere of one's knowledge.




Umbrella


Today's post is titled "Umbrella" and I'm not talking about Rihanna's song of the same title. I'm speaking of the standard object called an umbrella.

In Malaysia, an umbrella is an essential accessory to combat the weather. However, as my daughter Lauren will show you, it can be used for many more things as well!

Lauren uses an umbrella on rainy days

Lauren shields herself from the penetrating sun

Lauren uses the umbrella as a walking stick

Lauren uses the umbrella as an imaginary gun

Umbrellas can act as a barrier from the wind, in this case, artificial wind!

The next series of photos shows Lauren using the umbrella as a dancing companion!

Next, Lauren demonstrates how to attack someone with an umbrella, or, in this short clip, how to inadvertently hit the chair!

Sometimes I will practice my golf swing with the umbrella...

Finally, if you're up for a laugh, you could try this in Singapore, like my dad:

So, as you can see, an umbrella can be used for many different things.

Can you think of anything else an umbrella could be used for?

Remembering Singapore Part Three

Raffles Place. This is the downtown Singapore area, the home of businesses, the Esplanade, and more recently, the Formula One race circuit. We were in Singapore a couple of weeks before the race itself and witnessed last minute preparations to the circuit and grandstand, and wondered how the atmosphere would feel when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are racing around the city roads at 250km/h in the dark of night.

Here is another view of Raffles Place just a way down river on what is a lovely walk way to fill up the warm sunny afternoons. A small Merlion statue awaits at the end, and as water gushes out of its mouth, excited tourists hurriedly snap pictures to show their friends back home. 

And here are the more childish things we got up to nearby the Fullerton Hotel:

Not the best way to deal with obstreperous children

Perhaps an umbrella up the bum would do the trick!

As you can see, Singapore is very scenic and there are opportunities for memorable pictures wherever on the island you may be. The river was a particularly nice spot for photographing.

Clarke Quay, with its line of eateries was rather silent by day but exploded to life at night

We had a lengthy walk from Raffles Place to Eye on Singapore, the huge wheel with bullet capsules giving marvellous views of the city-state. We didn't go on it, I think it was being repaired or serviced at the time, and would have made our wallets considerably thinner. However, the grounds were beautiful and we spent some time exploring and relaxing.

The Esplanade theatres is a place that I have photographed quite often but never actually been inside to see a play. I think the outer facade of the building itself, (known as the 'durian' building due to its striking likeness with the revolting durian fruit - how can they call it fruit?) is as famous, if not more, as what actually goes on inside. So here we are in another one of my pictures outside the building:

Our Singapore holiday was a great trip where we saw the sights, took pictures, recorded hilarious videos, but most importantly, I spent some rare time with my dad and enjoyed every minute of his company.

Remembering Singapore Part Two

The best place to go in Singapore is most definitely Sentosa. A tiny island on the southern tip of Singapore, with a plaque reading 'Southernmost point of the Asian continent.' I guess Indonesia is not included as it is a collection of myriad islands and not attached to the mainland. Singapore of course, is attached via the Causeway, a bridge linking strikingly different countries. Singapore's growth has been electric while many parts of Malaysia still lag way behind. A 30-second drive across the bridge is like leaving one world for another.

And so it is with Sentosa. That too, is accessed by a bridge from the Singapore mainland. And what a place it is! I have been there on numerous occasions and enjoy it every time. (Now of course, there is the new Resorts World Sentosa {RWS} freshly built which has added even more to this amazing place).

I became acquainted with this sloping palm tree back in 2003 and I revisited it with my dad in 2008. It was still hanging firmly over the sea, even if we weren't, as can be seen in these shots:

We took a sweaty walk through the jungle which was a relief from the penetrating Sun but like a sauna as the trees kept in the humidity. We decided to hang out there for a while, and you'll see what I mean in this next picture:

A wooden staircase carved its way up through the lush vegetation. The surrounding greenery provided a good setting for a snap.

There are plenty of things to do around Sentosa, although you will need a fully loaded wallet to experience all of the thrills that await its customers. For those on a tighter budget, there are always the sandy beaches which outline the island, jungle treks, free animal performances, cheap bicycle rental and various other things to keep one occupied.

Incidentally, the wooden staircase led to a hotel swimming pool as a back passage. It was a tough climb.

The Merlion is the main attraction of the island, a huge white stone lion spraying out a fountain of water sitting on a rounding pool. The carriageway perpendicular to the Merlion is lined with water features for children's pleasure and acts as a photo opportunity to capture the big Merlion. Here's my dad by the water games:

Remembering Singapore Part One

My father and I journeyed to Singapore back in September 2008. A number of good things happened during these few days. I firmed up my relationship with my dad, we experienced a stay in a luxury hotel, and Roger Federer won the U.S. Open!

We took up accommodation at the Swissotel Merchant Court nearby Clarke Quay in downtown Singapore. The vast majority of things Swiss are always of the highest quality - chocolate, the Alps and Roger Federer immediately come to mind - and Swissotel was no further behind.

We arrived in the heat of the afternoon but the hotel looked most stunning by night, as in the above picture. We enjoyed an exploratory saunter around the hotel corridors, swimming pool and grounds, and just enjoyed relaxing for once in a while. Most hotels in Singapore, like anything else in this city-state, were luxurious, but Swissotel was affordable and exquisite. The room was basic but comfortable and homely, with a Samsung flatscreen on one wall and 'leopard-skin' carpets as my dad called them, although it was more like a tiger-skin design, but anyway. That became the source of much laughter after we returned with videos!

The view from the swimming pool area was stunning as it panned across Clarke Quay and all the shops and stalls dotted along the streets as well as the very fetching alien spacecraft type roofs in the background covering more shops and restaurants. We later went for a stroll through the nightlife and got caught in a deluge! Luckily, as I mentioned, there was plenty of cover!

This is my favourite picture from our Singapore holiday! In our closet, as we feverishly explored our room like all customers do, we came across these stylish night gowns and had a right laugh wearing them and here, pretending to be some Japanese hosts welcoming clients to their hotel! They were in fact extremely light and comfortable and I still regret not bringing them back home with us.

Yes, we really did enjoy these night gowns! And then there was the beautiful red Swissotel umbrella, which followed us around on all of our treks through Singapore and unwittingly appeared in a number of our photos. Should have packed that in our cases too!

We made a few videos of the hotel, which was great and provided some very humourous moments, clips which will be treasured for many years to come.

Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow.

Happy Lauren

Aside from her tantrums and disobedience, Lauren is essentially a happy girl - and that is what today's post is all about. The above picture was taken on a lovely Sunday lunchtime after we had dropped off Abigail after our sacrament meeting. It was stiflingly hot in the car but Lauren still managed a nice shot.

Lauren now has no problems with mummy being at work during the day. She knows that mummy is coming back home later and will oftentimes bring back an edible treat for her. The late afternoon Sun shines on our balcony making it an ideal light for good pictures.

Here we demonstrate how happy we are and in the following picture we show our 'honey bear' pose:

Grandad Horne bought this xylophone for Lauren back in September 2008, and although the stick has been snapped in half by a certain little honey bear, it is still in decent working order.

Lauren is very happy with her toys, her cartoons and her sweets and chocolate! And she's pretty joyous in front of a camera too!