Discount Pork

This week I have mostly not been shopping, unlike the rest of Singapore who have been shopping. The Great Singapore Sale started last Friday combining two of your average Singaporean's favourite occupations; shopping and getting a discount. Singaporeans would walk 42 kilometres over hot coals made of broken glass for a discount and they have descended on Orchard Rd in their droves. Even Ben Cheng Hian, local purveyors of strange pink meats, are in on the act, offering 20% on sliced pork.
In an effort to avoid the crowds last Sunday, they swell to twice with the maids' day off, we went to a Singaporean expat institution; The Sunday Brunch. The rules are fairly simple eat as much as you can and call the drinks waiter over every 5 minutes to top up your champagne in a 4 hour super session. Any time that a drink made up of a martini, a comspolitan, and champagne topped with a shot of milk seems even vaguely palatable, you know it's time to go 10 pin bowling.
The locals tend to take bowling quite seriously, so we were a noisy exception. We thought we were about to be thrown out when a woman from the centre approached us. Turned out she was the drinks waitress, which was fortunate because we needed a drink. Highlights of two frames of quality bowling included one unassisted fall, some stunt bowling from the seat and a late release that saw an 8lb ball hit the pins on the second bounce.
Bored with wrecking the bowling alley we decided we should be hungry and thirsty again we headed to the Wine Garage for a spot of dinner. We managed to make it there in time for a spectacular sunset, but not before stopping to stare in surprise at a promotion on the way out of the mall. A whole floor dedicated to visiting Canberra. Weird. According to the promotional bunting one of the highlights of visiting Canberra is apparently shopping. There are going to be some disappointed Singaporeans wandering through Australia's national capital. Driving into Canberra on a Saturday afternoon often leaves first timers thinking they had stumbled through a post apocalyptic movie set.
Speaking of Aussie eye wool pulling; the previously reported Aussie basketball export to Singapore have finally been christined; The Slingers> lot of thought went into that. I didn't know this had happened such is the excitement this team has generated here. No I had to find out by way of freelance sports reporter and semi professional drinker Matt Cleary. It is unlikely we will in fact learn the team song, nor wear face paint as he suggested and will in fact behave like every other castaway on this island and ignore them. If the strange quote on Channel News Asia web site is anything to go by this is going to be a brilliant piece of strategy by the NBA.
Said Ben Knight, Singapore Slingers forward, "We have got a fair bit of experience in our team already, then with the coaching stuff, I think playoff for us. I think if we are not in the top six or seven, top eight, I will be very disappointed during our first season. I expect the finals in the first year."