A Singaporean In Australia

I arrived in Perth during mid Spring. 17 September 2011. A date I may not easily forget for a while. Somehow, the years slip by. Have it really been 5 years already? Back in the Summer of 2011, if you asked me what I thought I would be in 5 years' time, I would have honestly tell you I didn't have a clue. I was grinding metal at work in tears on hearing my dog died in Singapore, just months after I left. My wife was heavily pregnant by Summer and my daughter was due soon. I didn't know which would go first, my job or my body. There wasn't a more uncertain period of my life till then. I wouldn't be able to tell anyone what would happen to me in the following month, let alone the next 5 years.

The journey was never a bed of roses. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be, for some at least. The same rules apply anywhere in the world. Some has it good, some not so much. Though life has became more routine and stable, it remains uncertain for me. I never felt settled, though I can say the same since Day 1 of my working life in Singapore. For one, I cannot tell you where I will be in 2021. I hope I am alive and well to tell the tale by then.

Just when I think I am beginning to know the place well enough, this Summer has been extraordinary cool. "Har! Don't speak too soon," my wife would go. No. This one is something different. Being out in the open so often, I am more sensitive to the surroundings than her. This Summer will be one interesting one, notably different from the past five. It may be one that we can expect a reprieve from those hellish scorchers we experienced so far. Rainy days are extremely rare during Summer in Perth yet we have already see 3 days out of 12 with some rain. We will still experience a couple of hotter days of course. It is Summer after all. However, this one should be noticeably more comfortable to cope with.

I have to take the opportunity to get the landscaping done up. There are simply too many items on the task list to dwell. I have to starting cross them out quickly, so that I can focus on the things that really matter. It is already my 6th Summer here. I have to make haste.