Blog

Writing In Small Moments

In the last month or so I’ve been considering, through thoughts and feelings, the place of writing in my life. In part, this interest has come from a series of conversations. I visited a former senior colleague, who is now approaching a time in life where health concerns become very real, who has been a creative writer in various genres all his life but, to his bitterness, now can no

Time Shift

It’s early February, and I’m caught up by a growing tug of time. In October and November, especially, there was a feeling that our time in Singapore was limitless, and that we had months ahead to explore. Now our return to Vancouver in early April is visible on the horizon, still very distant, but approaching, after Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Fasting Month. In the last month

Big Wind Blowing

December’s over, and we’ve had, almost strangely given climate change, something close to a normal rainy season here. The heat and humidity builds during the day, grey clouds piling up in the sky, and then there’s a sudden wind, and the release of rain and thunder in the late afternoon. We visited Penang for a few days, and the rain was so regular in late afternoon that we could plan

Rainstorm

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with two students from the last batch of undergraduates I taught, in 2017. They were now both out in the world of work, one teaching at junior college and another, after a brief excursion into the private sector, now offering tuition. We met in a tiny café in an HDB block off Waterloo Street, and I got there first, leaving the MRT station

Two Singapore Novels

We’ve been here a month now, getting used to new rhythms of life. The time we spend outside in Singapore is much less than in Vancouver: we don’t cycle to the shops or walk downtown. Here it’s the MRT or the bus, journeys that often take an hour or more. There are signs of change in our lives, too. I have a little purple coloured senior citizen’s card for public

Goodbye South, Goodbye

In early October, we’re back in Singapore. Arrival this time has felt different from returning last year, on our first trip after two years of absence caused by the COVID pandemic. There hasn’t been that strangeness of the first few days, when you see everything with a defamiliarized double sight. Everything is instantly very familiar, as if we have never left, or as if our HDB flat in Bukit Batok

Not Standing Still

On Not Standing Still We’re now heading into September, and summer’s officially over. In a month, we’ll be back in Singapore, away from the rhythm of the change of seasons that gives shape to our lives here. In July, the days begin to shorten, but imperceptibly, a minute or less each day. By the end of August the change is noticeable, darkness galloping forward, with the sun now setting before

Writing Again, Slowly

In the last month I’ve been working my way back into academic writing. I’ve been blessed with time on the project on S. Rajaratnam I started a year ago now. Since I have no formal institutional affiliation, I can work at the pace I want to, and at times it’s been useful to let things sit and percolate, and then to read more. Yet the archive is infinite and at

Two Movies, Two Lives

It’s been a calm month here in Vancouver. We’ve been spared the smoke from the wildfires in the north, in Alberta, and further East. A few weeks ago, when I wrote my last post, we almost seemed to be heading into drought, the grass on English Bay and near Lost Lagoon burned the colour of straw. Then we had a week or two of cooler weather, with some rain, and

Still Looking Back

After almost a month back in Vancouver, I’m bedding in. It’s been a beautiful early summer, the catalpa leaves, always the last trees to leaf in the West End, now at full size, the horse chestnut blossoms fallen, turning from pink and white to brown, littering the pavements. A few years ago, I’d take unqualified delight in such weather. Now, with climate change, I always feel a hint of anxiety.