Do Not Disturb....

I've got both of the kids in bed at the moment - Alex is due to wake up in probably 10 minutes or so and Tara - well who knows - she's been a bit erratic the last 2 days so we'll just wait and see. I hung out the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door for the first time since we have been here in the apartment as the cleaner is due today and hasn't been yet (it's 3:15pm) so the last thing I wanted was a loud doorbell to wake my 2 sleepers! We had this on Sunday. Alex was really difficult to get to nap, he eventually went down and Gary and I were laying down chatting away and then 'ding dong'. Not only did he ring it loudly, he rung it 3 times in quick succession! It was Gary's birthday cake from the apartment people being delivered. A lovely gesture, made even more lovely by the fact that they didn't actually wake either of our babies.

So the weekend just gone was Gary's 40th birthday weekend. We started our celebrations on Friday night with dinner at The Fullarton hotel. Gary sent me a text at 6:50 saying he was still at work and wouldn't be out any time soon. Oh no, I had both kids to get to bed - the babysitter to let in, I had to get ready and work out what plan b was. It all came together though - Alex went down very well, I was feeding Tara and sent a message to the babysitter that I would be down to meet her 10 minutes later (thank goodness for sms!) Both kids went to sleep very well, so I let Lorena in, had a chat to her, got myself ready to go and went to get a taxi to collect Gary on the way to the hotel.

In my opinion 99% of the taxi drivers in Singapore are lovely and friendly. I scored one of the ones in the other percentage point. I got in the taxi and told him we were going to The Fullarton but that I needed to pick up my husband at International Plaza along the way. He told me "He'd better be ready as I can't really pull up there". I phoned Gary and we organised that he would walk to a different building where the taxi driver could pull up. We got there and Gary was still coming. The taxi driver says "Where is your husband?" in this very gruff tone. As Gary said, he was getting paid to wait - what was the issue? Anyway, we ended up getting to our dinner reservation on time and both heaved a sigh of relief. We started off with a glass of Taittinger champagne. That was very nice. We had the "Peking Duck Extravaganza" which was 7 courses. I meant to keep the menu but forgot! It was sublime though. The first course was the best duck pancakes I have ever had. There was another course with truffles and a fois gras course. It was superb. On about course 6, we were eating the rice with prawns and commenting that there was no duck to be seen. A waiter came up and apologised - we had been served the wrong thing. They whisked it away and brought back our moneybags with duck and rice. Funny thing was we were halfway through and really enjoying the prawns also! At the end of the night, one waitress asked us if we thought it was too much food as she said a lot of people don't get through the dessert course. No such problem for us!! We adjourned to the hotel bar for a nightcap before returning home. It was a lovely night and just perfect to celebrate Gary's birthday.

A funny thing happened last Friday. I was shopping at Cold Storage and went to the deli counter to buy some ham. Groceries in general are very expensive in Singapore, especially meat. I asked for 100 grams of ham, and noticed that the scales already had a weight on them and the price (with no ham) was 27 cents. I pointed out to the lady that she hadn't zeroed the scales for the weight of the tissue paper. She didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. I told her that the scales had a tare function that she should be using as I didn't want to pay $30 per kilo for tissue paper. Anyway, after a discussion with 2 of the deli counter staff, I got nowhere, so I walked away. I sent cold storage an email later that day, to say that I didn't believe it was right for them to be charging for packaging materials and that in Australia, they would incur a fine for such a practice. Within an hour, I got a phonecall to apologise. They explained that staff training does include this and that I shouldn't have been charged for the paper. They then offered a refund - I said no, don't worry I don't have the receipt anyway, it's just the principal of the matter and I just wanted to let you know. She then said, no, I'd really like to offer you something - how about chocolates or a bottle of wine. Hmm, I'll take the wine please! So, on Sunday, I went down there and got a store manager come up to me and personally apologise for the misunderstanding and I was presented with a bottle of kiwi Sauv blanc. So there you go. We haven't had it yet, but it is in the fridge chilling.

So, both of the kids are still asleep and the do not disturb sign is working. In saying that, I'd better sign off and get some jobs done - the dishes from lunch are still on the table and the laundry needs sorting and hanging.