Culture and Lifestyle

Singapore-London Transition

Saturday January 28, 2012

“To walk out your front door as if you’ve just arrived from a foreign country; to discover the world in which you already live; to begin the day as if you’ve just gotten off the boat from Singapore and have never seen your own doormat or the people on the landing…”
- Walter Benjamin “Arcades”

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Today was spent easing back into the rhythm of London life.

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But first, a familiar start with vanilla biscuits from All Good Things, Alison’s cake shop in Singapore.

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I am getting used to cheeks turning red because it’s blisteringly cold instead of blisteringly hot. The temperature difference is at least 20° C and the dressing guideline has gone from keeping cool to keeping warm. So a visit to the storage facility to sort out the wardrobe.

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Shorts and short-sleeves go into storage. The silk things, I am keeping with me, make comforting layers under heavy woollen things.

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The short jacket was swapped for a longer coat, the Algarve basket for an English one (for no reasons other than novelty), the sandals intended for boots but I couldn’t find them anywhere so a pair of loafers instead.

But something doesn’t look right…

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Better.

I am all for wearing printed silk pyjamas out on the street. Isn’t it the perfect uniform for The Idler?

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Hair has gone from humidity-infused fluffy to static-charged straggly. The old grey Borsalino, bought at Newark some months ago at a pleasing £10, is coming in useful. I also picked up a mohair scarf or, more accurately, a snood. But I find it hard to take that word seriously.

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Glad to welcome the ground floor back into my life. It makes sense.

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At Bumblebee, deciding between samosa or ganmodoki for a snack-to-go. Ganmodoki, proteins won out over carbohydrates.

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Catching up with friends – in person or not in person, over the phone or over chicken wings, cake and tea.

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Relishing the view from the top deck front seat.

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Remembering that there is no need to tap upon alighting.

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Lunch at Seoul Bakery. Their bibimbap is of a paradoxical nature. No bibimbap in Singapore comes close, yet when I am eating it in London it reminds me of Singapore.

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Checking out old books in Soho. Almost bought Jacques Derrida’s The Post Card but the copy was too tatty.

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Shopping for necessities in Covent Garden when I ran into this sheepskin coat at The Vintage Showroom. I pronounced it a necessity, don’t you agree?

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Getting out of the tube station to see the moon at 5:27 p.m. The slim crescent has fattened up through the lens.

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Observing the new ceiling view. I am very sleepy now.