Childrens' shoes

As the last week of the holidays started, we began going through lists of items and finding things for school - pencil cases, rulers, books etc and sharpening a mountain of pencils. With everything found and labelling completed, this only left the task of ...... buying new school shoes.

Simple, you would think, but not so. In the UK, we'd go to Clarks. We'd wait our turn, have feet measured (length and width) and be presented with a range of suitably sized shoes intended for the purpose we required - school, sports, sandals, etc. The assistant would take over the trying on session, advising on fit and suitability and we'd depart with new, correctly fitting shoes, albeit our wallets somewhat lighter.

Here, I greet the prospect of shopping for childrens' shoes wtih great trepidation.

We go to a shoe shop and browse the childrens ranges. An assistant comes up and asks what size we'd like. This is where the problems begin. For a start, there a numerous scales here - UK, European, centimetres... and, I'm sure, others. Hannah has just outgrown three pairs. One a size 8½, one a size 24 and the other a 15. If I don't know the size, the assistant starts to wander off, disinterested, so frantically, to get their attention back, I guess wildly at what I think they may be wearing in UK sizes - "umm, well, I think around a size 9, in UK sizes, but I don't know what that is in these......" I finish lamely, waving around a size 37 or 14 or something.

"Can we measure them please?" I suggest.

At this point, the assistant usually looks at me as if I'm from outerspace "we don't have a measure".

Having narrowed it down to a vague size range by discussion, we start trying things on. I have two children with narrow feet. Here, all shoes come in one width - wide. So even if they fit one way, they rarely fit the other.

So, nothing fits and at this point Hannah "Imelda" Landau will have fallen for a totally unsuitable pair - cue tears, because there is no way they will ever fit and she simply can't have too many shoes in her wardrobe. Meanwhile, the assistant thinks I'm completely paranoid when I start feeling for toes and saying pairs are too big/small/wide etc.

I did, finally, start to track down a very small number of shops that stock some Clarks shoes. Their stock is random and very imcomplete but one actually has a measure, albeit with limited undestanding about the width - but it's a start! More frustrating, if we get the size sorted but there is nothing that fits in stock, the other shops I've found are scattered far and wide in different parts of the island.

I'm given advice by the assistant such as "try Tanglin Mall". I say, "no, I went there two months ago and there are no Clarks shoes now. The shop has closed. I found some in Robinsons."
"No, won't find in Robinsons. No childrens' shoes there. Go Tanglin Mall" But two months ago, I bought some there....so where to try next?

So, after just two days of travelling around, trying on and shopping, and we had finally bought enough shoes for Hannah and Adam to start school in, do PE etc. What's more - they fit, in both directions, and seem to be comfortable!!!

Best of all, whilst looking for some school stationary, we found a small shoe shop tucked away in a large shopping centre that only stocks Clarks shoes and has a measure. Of course, we'd managed to buy almost everything by then -but it will be there for next time. However, as September approaches, with Clarks being a UK outlet, they are getting a nice range of winter stock in. But right now, if it fits properly and takes less than 2 days to track it down - do I care if it's a snow boot?

Hannah is 6 (and the ghosts are hungry)

Just after our arrival back from Bali, it was the beginning of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. This, according to Taoists, is the month when the gates of hell are opened and the spirits roam the earth. Having not done this for a year, they are hungry and bored. Incense sticks and offerings of food are placed all over the place and during the evenings we frequently hear music meant to entertain them.

Hannah was most concerned the other day when she saw some birds eating cakes left for the ghosts. She also wanted to know what a hungry ghost looks like. Like any other ghost, but rubbing its tummy? I suggested. Oh, it's good to experience another culture!

The week before last, the children attended a tennis camp each morning. This was at a location I had heard of, but had never been to, called Turf City. It is the most odd shopping centre, more like a market, and the whole thing is in the grandstand of an old, disused race course. It is, however, a great place for kids' activities. Along with the small tennis school, there is a covered football pitch, a judo centre, two childrens' gymnastics centres and a childrens' art centre. There is also a dance school called Swingapore. I mention this in case anyone from our early Ceroc days remembers a little Singaporean girl called Sing, who was the most phenomenal dancer. Swingapore is her enterprise and now does all kinds of dance classes for chldren and adults alike.

The tennis was a huge success. Both loved it and they have great coaches there. Hannah's coach for 3 days was gorgeous Swedish blond with an awesome figure. It would be so easy to dislike her if she weren't a good coach and such a friendly person. David is considering taking up lessons again....I can't imagine why.

We are now booked in for Saturday mornings next term. As Adam's class is longer than Hannah's, Hannah is also now booked in to a Hip Hop dance class at Swingapore. Hannah really wanted to do ballet (only because she wanted to wear the pink ballet shoes) but the class times don't work for us. She was so disappointed when she learned that for hip hop they wear trainers, a green T-shirt and black leggings and went off the whole idea.

However, when we asked for a description of Hip Hop (my attempt at an impression at home hadn't quite hit the spot), it was described as "like High School Musical dancing". At this point, not wishing to loose face, she said "OK. I'll do it .... if I must".

The idea was made even more appealing when we made a family outing last weekend to see "High School Musical on Ice". It was a great show and there, with us, was practically every other little girl in Singapore.

Last weekend, after staying up to watch the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday it was Singapore's National Day on Saturday. It was unfortunate timing for their show and parade - the Olympics were a tough act to follow!

This last week, a whirl of playdates and a visit to the zoo culminated in Hannah's birthday on Friday. We went to an indoor play centre (at Turf City) which is really good. It may seem odd here, but there are times when it's nice to be cooler! We went with one of Hannah's school friends and a great time was had by all.

On Saturday, Hannah had her party which was a bowling party, followed by lunch. 6 school friends and 2 new friends from her tennis group came along and displayed a range of interesting techniques, pushing or throwing (if only) the balls, often missing their toes by inches. The lucky ones managed to get the ball to the other end AND with sufficient momentum (just) to knock a skittle down. They all seemed to have fun. Lots of lovely presents, then a visit to the bird park on Sunday (dodging the rain storms) concluded a very busy fortnight.

This week (before we take our last short summer break) we are out getting the bits we need for next term, which starts next Tuesday.

Tomorrow we have be out before 10am. Why? Because we've just received a letter from the condo management telling us the power will be off from 10am til 1pm. This means, as they point out, that the lifts won't work, so we'll "need to use the stairs instead". WE LIVE ON THE 25TH FLOOR!!!! Well there's an incentive to get up and out tomorrow morning, if ever there was one!

Adam's Birthday - and what David has in common with David Beckham!!!

Well, 4 days after getting home from Borneo (that is 4 days of unpacking, laundry, play-dates and re-packing, with David at the office about 14 hours a day), we got up at the totally uncivilized time of 4am to head off to the airport again. This time, to Bali.

This was to be our main summer holiday - we've got 8 long weeks of it and a whole continent to explore - and after hours of research and bookings, we arranged 3 nights at a small hotel near(ish) to Ubud in the hills followed a week in a private, staffed villa near the sea.

The hotel, which was recommended by friends, was surrounded by palm trees and padi fields, with fabulous views and was stunning in all respects, with the exception of the food. Breakfast was OK, but after that it went dramatically downhill. The hotel was in a quiet village in the "real" Bali so unfortunately, we were captive as there were no other food options.

They provided a twice daily shuttle bus to Ubud which we took each day to go sightseeing, have lunch and shop and the late afternoons were spent back at the pool. In the evening, we used the spa concluded that masseuse there must be the lady with the strongest fingers in the whole of Bali. Ouch. But she was good!

On the final day we did find another restaurant locally where we had a lovely dinner and at a fraction of the price– if only we have known earlier.

Ketut, the driver from our villa, collected us from the hotel and proudly announced that he spoke "a little English". A little turned out to be correct. As we drove off, David couldn't strap Hannah in as the seat belt was broken.

"Ask him for a screw driver so I can free it up" said David.
I felt this request was a little optimistic and this view was quickly confirmed when the reply came "We go to Denpassar then to Canggu" - our route.

After some attempts at explanations and sign language that would have won no points in a game of charades, he pulled over and tied a sort of granny knot in the belt, saying “no problem”, but then did continue to drive to the villa at a snail’s pace.

The villa was vast and our Master bedroom and en-suite alone could easily have swallowed our entire apartment in Singapore. Both Adam and Hannah each had their own en-suite king size doubles and complained that they got lost in the beds as they were too big.

Ketut was our driver for the rest of the week and his bold claim to speak a little English (which we estimated at perhaps a couple of hundred words or so) soon turned into an apology for not being a good guide. The language barrier resulted in us taking 3 hours to get to an Elephant Park. He insisted it was at the Marine Park and we must have been only minutes from the Marine Park entrance before the penny finally dropped and we then took a sharp left turn to cover the same distance again but in an entirely different direction.



It was the Elephant Park that provided David's new claim to fame and name dropping opportunity. We took elephant rides into the jungle while the mahouts (elephant handlers) chatted as much as their English allowed, pointing out plants and giant spiders etc. It transpired that the elephant that David and Hannah rode (called Arume) was the very same elephant that David Beckham, Victoria and Brooklyn rode on their visit to Bali. Now how many people can claim to have ridden the same elephant as the Beckhams? (And how many elephants can claim to have had 2 Davids on their backs?)

Remarkably, after our epic journey to the elephant park, it then took only 1½ hours to get back.

During our time at the villa it was Adam's birthday - he is now 9.

He chose our day out which comprised a traditional Balinese dancing show, followed by visits to see silversmiths, woodcarvers and weavers in action. Then off to a volcano for lunch. The old caldera was enormous and a road runs round some of it. We had lunch in a restaurant perched on the edge with fantastic views (another buffet, so Adam was able to eat until he was suitably stuffed). Inside the enormous crater was a lake and a smaller cone of a volcano that last erupted 14 years ago and much of the hillside is still black from the lava. On our return, we visited a coffee and spice plantation and another temple, then back for a birthday dinner.

The staff bought a lovely cake and even got him a card.


We saw quite a bit of Bali, including various temples and stunning, coal black beaches and also succeeded in filling an extra suitcase with shopping. On this last point, our driver proved very helpful indeed, teaching us the Indonesian for “I have no money” (an unlikely state of affairs to the local’s ears) and "I'm not going to buy", the latter proving very useful when badgered by the numerous hawkers as it actually worked!

Bali was beautiful, but - er, well, a bit chilly. We didn't take enough (for enough, read “any”) warm clothes, because we thought it would be hot, like Singapore. It is not far away, after all and is only a little south of the equator, but it was probably in the low 20s. For us, now fairly acclimatised to 30 plus, we found it too cool to eat outside most evenings. But, for a week, we didn't cook or wash-up and that was a treat.

Now we're back in Singapore, some of the relaxation benefits having been lost due to our midnight flight being delayed to 2am so that we finally got to bed at 5am. But we're back to the heat and I've finally caught up with 10 days worth of laundry (does it ever stop?).

We're now half way through our 8 weeks school holiday and next week , the are children doing a tennis coaching course, so we'll see what adventures that brings.