The change of pace has been noticeable. Whisked away from London in some style on BA ( a windfall trip first class), I find Singapore surprisingly cool and pleasant. There’s a stiff breeze on our 11th floor balcony, and my plants are swishing and swooshing while the sunbirds chirp a merry greeting several times a day. The  orchids have sprouted great long flower stems and I can admire them as I sit on my chaise longue, reading my friend Sarah Helm’s harrowing story of Ravensbruck death camp, If This Is A Woman. At times I weep from the gratuitous cruelty of this untold story.

Meanwhile I am back to yoga, meditation, healthy eating and cooking. I have been experimenting with some Ayurvedic dishes like kidney-cleansing kichadi, Chinese sitr-fried pork and some Ottolenghi for spice-shy guests. I have  also been doing quite a bit of writing and research on cancer-related issues on my living with cancer website – take  a peek for delicious recipes and the rest! Next week, back to acupuncture.

We have been busy at the movies too – see my reviews of The Imitation Game and Birdman on vickyatthemovies. Big Eyes will join it shortly.This leisurely pace of life encourages us to plan the year’s outings – we have just added a long weekend diving in Lembeh, Sulawesi, in April to an otherwise packed schedule of skiing in in Japan in Feb, seeing leopards and tigers in India in March, a Swiss easter, and then a trip to Dali, Lijiang and the recently re-named Shangri-La on theTibetan border in May.

Sunday is a day for an outing so today we wandered round the Botanic garden admiring the recent installation of the Ju Ming sculptures that we  first saw in Taiwan.