Book - The Last Days of the Renaissance.

A very broad brush approach to understanding the roll of the Renaissance in getting us from the collapse of the Roman Empire to our, so called, Secular Society. After the demise of the Middle ages which emerged out of the Dark Ages, the Renaissance can be seen as a period of 200 years where Europeans reconnected with the natural philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans. And we must not forget the rediscover of art.

Right, I will go and lie down for a while now. Brain over heating.

Book - The Book of Senior Moments.

A good giggle for us Seniors, perhaps a bit depressing for you youngsters. Couple of favourite moments,

Men

Three retired gentlemen, each with bad hearing, are playing golf on a blustery afternoon. "Windy, isn't it?"
"N0", the second man replies, "its Thursday." And the third man chimes in, "So am I. There's a pub just round the corner."

Women

"It's the menopause. I've got my own climate" - Julie Walters

Also

"We learn from experience that that man never learns from experince" - George Bernard Shaw.

Youth Opympic Games

The opening ceremony was quite something. Begun with song,


and ending in song. I counted 6 Jacks in the flags, 7 if you count ours!!!!. And a Brit with a guitar. Magic!!!!

Book - The Penang Adventure.

Since we are moving to Penang, I thought it time to update myself on the islands history. Like Singapore, Penang was a completely British adventure. The third Straits Settlement, Malacca, was first sort of taken over by the Chinese, then Portuguese followed Dutch until finally the British. Nearly French too I think. Penang was originally part of the Malay Sultanate of Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island in honour of heir to the British throne. Light then received it as a portion on his marriage to the daughter of the Sultan of Kedah.

Seberang Perai (also known in English as Province Wellesley) is a narrow hinterland opposite Penang island on the Malay Peninsula, which together with the island forms the Malaysian state of Penang. The province was originally named after Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Governor of Madras and Governor-General of Bengal (1797-1805), brother of the Duke of Wellington, no less. In fact, the Duke did spend some time on the island himself in his younger days. Not many people know that.

Wushu

A demonstration of Wushu which is Mandarin, Kungfu which is Cantonese, but you knew that already, didn't you?

Called Fusion, the routines were set to current popular music. Very energetic.

Still quite intimidating. Gek loves this.

"So where did they all go?" she was quite transfixed by the performers. Bless.

Book - Coffee with Oscar Wilde.

Reading this little book, it is sometimes easy to forget that Oscar was a Victorian. He was the first to be famous for being infamous. He in fact left Oxford with a double first bent on becoming famous before he created anything of worth. How modern is that? If you don't know Oscar, then this little read is for you. Merlin Holland, by the way, is his grandson.

Baroque Night

(Video from UTube, not Esplanade Concert Hall)
An unexpected treat. Musica Fiata, Baroque music played on the original instruments with names like Zink and Dulzian. The Esplanade Concert hall came into is own with its exceptional acoustics. Our enjoyment was further enhanced by being 'bumped up' to the expensive, sweet zone seats. Not enough were tickets sold for the performance. Bumped up for flights, yes, concerts, never before.

Book - Puckoon

A re-read for me after quite a number of years. And I still laughed myself to tears. Not as many as the first time, I must admit, but towards the end of the book, I couldn't help myself. Spike. my favorite Goon. Off in search of Hitler - My Part in His Downfall. Never ceases to amaze me what Singapore National Library has on it's shelves.

Classics.

A Malaysia and Singapore Vintage Car Register day at the old Ford Factory.

Have one in bits, in Wales, in red.

And then there was the delight of the day.

A Morgan Roadster. What to say?