It’s been non-stop visitors since we got back, in case you were wondering what had become of me! First Cindy and Guy from Mumbai, then Louise’s best friend Lulu dropped in after doing some extraordinary free diving to create an underwater apsara installation to celebrate reef protection in Bali, and now Christine and Diego are here for a week before we set off for Burma next weekend.

 

However many times one goes to see the botanical gardens and the Cloud Forest dome, they remain spectacular. I have stopped taking photos, that’s all, apart from the people!  On my birthday visit, the ticket girl, no older than 18, asked me if I wanted a Seniors ticket! I cant look THAT old surely???  We had a long excursion to the zoo with Cindy and Guy – 5 hours of walking, which really did my back in for some unexplained reason (delayed reaction to all that finning while diving perhaps); and a lovely sunset boat trip round the marina. Grey light reflecting moodily against the massive shiny glass buildings in the CBD. And visits to Chinatown to buy tea, look at Traditional Chinese Medicine shops and eat – of course!

With Lulu, the sky park, this time we had a yummy lunch as well as a sneaky lunch-time cocktail. It’s always hard with Louise’s friends, as we talk about her of course and this unlocks the sharp pain of remembrance and grief that I manage to tuck away in a secret place most of the time. It’s also Halloween weekend, when Louise, like all her friends of FB it seems, loved to dress up and compete to be the most outrageous ghoul. We make do with spying on the condo kids partying below, dashing round the pool, shrieking in their fancy dress. A balloon wafts silently past us as its distraught owner looks up in amazement.

I take Diego and Christine off to Melaka for a couple of days. Be warned: Melaka with no night market – Fri-Sun only – is dead, but rather nice. You can eat in the good restaurants like Nancy’s (if they are open) without queuing, and you can enjoy the sights unimpeded. However, the buzz of the night market is missing – so I would recommend going on a Thursday and Friday in future!

Good news from the physio, who says I don’t need to come regularly anymore, maybe just now and then for a little massage. The treatment to unstick my flesh (what’s left of it) from the tendon and bone has been successful, even if incredibly painful. It involves cupping along the back of what was my calf and deep, deep massage; plus lessons and exercises on how to walk correctly,  hard as I have to balance on my bad leg while doing strange things with the other, making sure that the bad leg remains upright and unmoving.

This week was also my birthday, with Ross’s to follow on Sunday, when we will be in Yangon. So we had a little party for our Singapore chums – sushi and satay of course! With some Peranakanpineapple tarts as well. I count my blessings – what a cliché – that I am now 57! This time last year I was in agony and was diagnosed with my tumour, so it has been quite a year…

My achievements this year (permit me to boast please): finishing my book and finding a publisher; creating http://www.healthylivingwithcancer.co website; walking – tick; cycling – tick; diving – tick; now for skiing…hopefully tick too!