I hadn’t intended to blog about the annual Bournemouth Beer Festival at all because I had agreed to go to it in a moment of distraction (while I was busy writing an essay or something).

Beer isn’t my thing.

In fact, drinking isn’t my thing. I don’t mean just alcohol. I mean the act of drinking any liquid at all. I am seldom thirsty and I don’t really enjoy drinking liquids when not thirsty because it’s unpleasant. (Like maybe trying to stuff a huge hamburger down your throat when you haven’t got an appetite.)

I do enjoy drinking tasty beverages when I’m thirsty or when I’m eating food at the same time, but drinking just by itself is a chore. Well, I can’t explain it adequately without veering off the point of this post, so you may just put this down on your ever-growing “Sheylara is weird” list.

The point of today’s post is something incomprehensible.

The beer festival was to start at 6:30 pm, so Piers’ friends had arranged to meet at a nearby bar at 6 pm, the reason being that they wanted to have a beer while waiting for the beer festival to start.

Huh?

This makes as much sense to me as someone, say, making a quick stop at McDonald’s half an hour before going to a buffet dinner. (Keeping in mind that the purpose of the beer festival is for people to drink as much beer as possible from a selection of 200 types of beer, within five hours.)

After being in England for a year, I have concluded that the Brits have an internal trigger that shuts down common sense whenever the word beer is mentioned.

Still, they are very lovable people. Despite the fact that beer isn’t my thing, (and also risking the ire of my orthodontist because my Invisalign aligners were sitting in my handbag instead of on my teeth for the whole five hours), I did enjoy myself very much.

It costs £5.50 to attend the beer festival. For that price, you get a beer glass (which you can take home), a beer guide and £1.50 worth of beer. The beers cost £1.50, £2 or £2.50 for half a pint.

You basically use your own glass all night and keep going to the counter to refill your glass after choosing the beer you want.

Because there are 200 beer descriptions in the beer guide, Piers couldn’t be bothered to read them. He was going to choose his beers randomly, so I offered to choose for him, which meant I got to taste more of the ones I wanted to try! And, if I didn’t like mine, I would swap with him! Haha.

The first beer I tried was called Blueberry Classic Bitter. It’s award-winning and I liked it, the word “like” being used very loosely here since I am not a beer person. You can smell blueberries when drinking it and the aftertaste it leaves is blueberries!

But the highlight of my night was actually the pasty which cost a cutthroat price of £3.50. But I would have bought another if I had room left in my stomach. It was so tasty, like a giant curry puff, and actually as filling as a full meal.

I enjoyed it so much that I had Piers buy us pasties for lunch today. Now I’m convinced that they are very, very filling.

Back to the beer fest.

Piers had two giant hot dogs which earned him a lot of flak from all his friends, none of whom ate a single thing all night.

When Piers appeared at our table with his first hot dog, his friend Jamie actually looked astounded and said, “What is this, man? This is a beer festival, not a food festival!”

I’m not sure if Jamie noticed the crowd around the snack stand all night, where people were queuing up to shell out £3.50 for a hot dog or a pasty.

I really don’t know if Piers and I are the weird ones, or his friends are. Just remember that his friends are the same people who went for pre-beer-fest beers.

(Piers and I actually didn’t go for that because I had to wait a bit for Iron Man to finish his 4-hour training so I could put Black Widow on her 4-hour training before leaving home.)

((That’s me playing Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook. It’s a great game for which I willingly gave up 4 other Facebook games to play, cos it takes more time and I don’t have time to play everything.))

Anyway, when Piers appeared later in the night with his second hot dog (all nine inches long of it), I think his friends were quite ready to put a straitjacket on him. (But maybe they are the ones who need the straitjackets to keep them from overdosing on beer. Piers, on the other hand, just needs to be locked up in a room with his Xbox 360 so that he’ll leave me alone to play Marvel on Facebook.)

After a pint of beer and a bit, I had to change to cider for the rest of the night. There’s a small cider counter with about 20 different kinds of cider, which was lucky. They were sweet, therefore more pleasant to drink.

But I kinda wished I enjoyed beer because there were many really wicked sounding ones I wanted to try because they sounded cool or cute, such as Diablo IPL, Empire Strikes Back and Rabbit Punch. (I tried Diablo and it was horrible, like really strong and bitter.)

Like all parties, it got more fun as the night wore on and people had more beer in them. People start doing crazy things, don’t they? Such as breaking a pencil with one hand and trying to karate chop one of the halves into two again.

Here is a picture of Nick (on the right) holding out a shortened pencil in his hands and Lewis (on the left) helping Sarah perform a flying kick at the pencil.

I regret to inform viewers that a pencil was harmed during the photography.

But that’s life.

We move on from mourning the pencil to showcasing another bit of tomfoolery performed by the noteworthy Rich, whose life purpose is to prank people.

He was telling me how he had no qualms at all about walking up to a total stranger to have a chat for no reason at all, maybe to show that he’s very confident or something. Then, he proceeded to prove himself by suddenly dragging this bloke over to our table and making me pose for a photograph with him.

Apparently, he had told the bloke that I was the one who had sent Rich to get him to come over and have a photo with me. What a cheat!

Here’s Rich (on the left) and his victim, Alex, who turned out to be really nice; it was near closing and he had a whole stack of beer coupons left so he gave them all to us.

Not that anyone needed anymore beer, is my opinion.

It is probably a good thing that I don’t really enjoy beer. One can always do with fewer fattening vices in one’s life. I already have too many of such vices, as it is (cream, butter, chocolate, fried chicken…).

But I’ll probably go to the beer festival again, next year. The Brits may get really silly around beer, but I guess that makes them quite fun to be around with.

As long as they don’t come near my apartment to sing drunken songs in the middle of the night while I’m trying to sleep.

I was eating hot cross buns for breakfast today, so I sang the hot cross bun song to Piers, who was eating toast and bacon.

“Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!” I sang.

He stopped eating his toast and bacon and gaped at me. “What on earth is that?” he managed to say past his stupefication.

I gaped at him in return. “What do you mean what on earth is that?! It’s the hot cross bun song!”

He just looked blank, or shocked, I’m not sure.

“How do you not know the hot cross bun song?” I said, “Do hot cross buns not come from England?”

“Yes,” he said, “But there isn’t a song! You must have made that up!”

“Also,” he protested, “They do not cost a penny each!”

Which is true. They cost about 20 pennies each at supermarkets (and 80 pennies for the ones we got because they are branded hot cross buns).

Still, Piers is so ignorant of his own culture. Here’s a video of the song in case you haven’t heard it, either. There are many different tunes for this rhyme, but this is the one I know.

I remember when I first visited England last year, Piers took me to the supermarket and bought up all the different kinds of breads. He would, for example, pick up some crumpets and go, “I love this,” and I would say, “I’ve never had it,” and he would say, “What!!! You must try it!”

So he bought hot cross buns, crumpets, bagels, muffins and crusty bread, and then tried to serve them all to me in one meal.

It’s silly, but it’s one of the things I love about him; He doesn’t mind being impractical for the sake of happiness, joy, laughter and gluttony.

He does mind very much, though, when I put his photos on my blog, but I don’t care, lol.

So, here’s another photo of him, holding his newborn niece.

Okay, another one…

LOL. I think that’s a funny one.

But enough.

Here’s one of me or he’ll be really mad at the injustice.

That’s about it for today, really.

But I don’t want to end this post with my photo, so here’s a photo of trees to round things up.

This is a famous street in England called Beech Avenue, which is a long straight road flanked on both sides by — wait for it — beech trees!

There are supposedly 365 trees on one side and 366 on the other side, one for every day of the year and the extra one for the days in leap years.

It’s quite a spectacular experience driving through this road and seeing the trees looming up endlessly.

Okay, that’s all. It’s dinner time and I must go. We’re going to have fish and chips from Chez Fred, which is really good.

There is, apparently, also a fish and chips song, but I think we’ve had enough of kiddy songs for the day. Kthxbye!

I am at the moment dog sitting Basil in Piers’ parents’ house, which I thought is a great setting for starting my blog going again.

I’m on a plush sofa. I have in front of me my laptop, a crackling fire and a sleepy dog snoring in his bed. Perfect.

The TV is on because Piers, after he dropped me off here and before he went back to the office, turned it on for me, worried that I would want to watch TV and not be able to turn it on.

I told him I didn’t want to watch TV because I have lots of other things to do but he said to leave it on mute just in case. Apparently, the TV is hard to turn on or something.

I couldn’t imagine how hard turning a TV on could be but I didn’t protest. Life is simpler if you just let people do what they want to do if what they want to do doesn’t hurt anyone.

Now, though, Piers’ worry has gained a new validity. I have just tried to turn the TV off and it wouldn’t go off.

There is a power button on the remote control. I am quite sure the symbol on it is the universal indicator for on/off.

So I pressed it but instead of going to sleep, the TV told me, “No channel found. Please check aerial or local signal availability. Press OK to start Auto Setup.”

It didn’t turn off even after a long wait, adamant that its warning not go unread for the next hour or ten.

Either people are bent on making my life difficult or I am terribly backward. The TV stays on for now.

But never mind the TV. Let’s do updates.

There are many reasons why I haven’t blogged in months. These will remain unannounced because I’m quite sure your life won’t be made better by reading my rambling excuses.

But, since my last post in November, I have been very productive. I have:

• Showed Piers around Singapore and acquainted him with what he’s been missing out on all his life (for example, chilli crab).
• Played a lot of Facebook games.
• Read half of the book I’m supposed to have finished reading by the time school starts (in three days’ time).
• Bought a lot of winter coats from cheap China shopping websites and then thrown away half of them because they don’t resemble the product photographs so much as they resemble chopped liver.
• Usurped half of Piers’ storage space in England because I’m moving in for a year.

Today is my last weekday of freedom. That is, I start school at the Montessori College the coming Monday and I still have half a book unread. I had planned to either read the book or write a blog while dog sitting today.

Write a blog won.

That is not to say that the book is boring. It is in fact a very good read and I can’t wait to learn everything there is to learn about the Montessori Method.

It’s just that there is a very strong procrastination gene in me which sometimes makes me procrastinate even things that I look forward to doing.

Can’t help it, you know. Genes are fixed things. I try to colour my hair brown but it keeps turning black again.

That’s why I don’t do new year resolutions.

Basil just left his bed to seek my humanly warmth.

Actually, he’s probably warmer than I am. The temperature outside is 9°C but it’s quite comfortable indoors with the fire going and two layers of clothes on my body and a warm dog across my lap, passionately licking my left hand like it’s a hunk of juicy beef.

Life is quite good right now and Basil is starting to create a puddle on my hand so I’m going to tell him to stop drooling all over me.

Bye, Basil.

Well, now that I’ve started to blog again, I’m gonna try and keep it going.

Thanks for all the admonishments. “When are you going to blog again!?!?!!”

It’s very nice to know that I’ve been missed.

Have a great 2012. In fact, have a blast. It’s supposed to be the very last year of our lives.

I don’t really believe it but no harm having a blast anyway.

Happy New Year!

I was considerably nervous about attending Piers’ company annual dinner until I saw photos from last year’s dinner.

Although declared black tie, an atmosphere of fun can be detected from the photos. There’s a Laurel and Hardy impersonating duo mingling with guests, a Michael Jackson impersonator as the night’s entertainment, and there’s disco dancing. Many women wore simple cocktail dresses instead of formal gowns.

So I went to this year’s event thinking I was going to be overdressed. (I had bought my dress before seeing the photos.)

I know it’s a bit weddingy.

“Is this for your wedding?” my alterations seamstress had asked.

“Oh, you look gorgeous. Are you getting married?” the greeters at the dinner event had quipped.

“Great! You don’t need to buy a wedding dress anymore!” Piers had said.

What, can’t a woman wear a white dress to any occasion apart from her own wedding?

This year’s dinner was a lot more formal than I had expected. This year’s theme, unbeknownst to us, was Phantom of the Opera, so everything looked really grand and majestic.

It started with a cocktail reception at the lobby of the Leeds Town Hall, a magnificent Victorian structure that hosts concerts, screenings and other events.

I don’t have a good photo of it so I’m going to borrow one from BBC. Here’s an amazing photo taken by photographer Adrian Wilson:

The lobby is not very big so the cocktail reception got a bit cramped with over 200 guests who, fortunately, did not all arrive at once.

We were served a few different versions of champagne punch. I only had one glass because I didn’t want to get drunk.

And also because I was having a drink with Invisalign on for the first time and I was uncomfortable about it. But I couldn’t remove them too early because dinner was going to be a long affair and I had a four-hours-a-day downtime to adhere to.

Just my luck that my Invisalign sponsorship came the very year I’ve got all these cool events to go to.

Steve chatting with a pretty lady I don’t know.

Ellie and David!

Me and Piers!

The reception lasted about an hour or so, during which time the boys (meaning Piers, Steve and David) kept running off to the bar (within the town hall) to buy beers.

The beer addiction in men is more severe than I thought if they choose to pay for beer when there’s free champagne.

The doors to the dining hall opened around 8 pm, revealing the magnificent sight of an old Victorian theatre turned ballroom for the evening.

Candelabras bearing slender black candles graced each of the 22 tables that awaited us as we marched in to the thunderous strains of the Phantom of the Opera theme song resounding off a giant pipe organ.

The effect was beautiful, filling me with an overwhelming sense of grandeur and adventure.

Seats had been pre-arranged, each marked with a personalised name plate. On the inside of each name plate showed the menu items that each guest had pre-selected prior to the event. We were told by our table captain to place the menu face up so the service staff would know what to serve each of us.

There were six bottles of wine on each table that we could immediately help ourselves to.

The dinner itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, being just like any other dinner. We had a three-course meal which was surprisingly tasty. I don’t have photos of my food because I didn’t think it was too appropriate to demonstrate blogger behaviour in the middle of a posh meal.

Between our courses, there were speeches, awards presentations and performances. Well, it was just one long performance by a female soprano singing all the popular Phantom of the Opera tracks.

It was quite nice, except when she sang Angel of Music, the duet between Christine and Meg. I love the song, but our singer sang both parts herself and that’s just weird because it sounds like she’s talking to herself.

Duets shouldn’t be sung solo, unless you’re in the bathroom.

A nice thing happened when the singing started and everyone turned their chairs to face the stage.

As I listened, entranced by the music, a male waiter came up behind me and whispered gently in my ear, “For you, madam.”

I turned around and saw him holding out a single stalk of red rose, smiling gallantly. As I accepted it and gave my thanks, I noticed that every other lady in the room was either receiving the same or had already received it.

At the end of the dinner, the lights went out and the disco started. There were quite a lot of drunk people eager to show their stuff on the dance floor.

Piers isn’t really into dancing. Neither am I, especially when I’m wearing a dress that kisses the floor, threatening to trip me at every turn. And Ellie, being pregnant, had to return to the hotel. So we didn’t stay too long.

Final photo before we said our good nights:

From left: Me, Piers, Steve, Charles, David, Ellie

The next annual dinner will be happening in April 2012 (this year’s dinner was delayed). If Piers sees fit to invite me again, I bet we’ll be having this following conversation some time in March:

Me: Time to shop for my new dress!

Piers: Why do you need a new dress?

Me: For the dinner, duh!

Piers: Didn’t you buy one last year?

Me: So? That was for last year!

Piers: Why can’t you wear the same one?

Me: ??!!!!?!!!!!??!!!

I leave you to imagine the rest of the strangulation conversation.

Tomorrow is Singapore’s National Day but I’m not in Singapore. So, I will have to commemorate by looking at the photos I took during a National Day Parade rehearsal.

It was such a great experience it made me wish I could attend the actual parade (happening tomorrow) but, of course, I can’t because I’m not in Singapore.

Nanny Wen went with me to the rehearsal a month ago. When we met up, the first thing she said to me was, “Why are you not wearing red?!!!!”

To be honest, the thought of wearing red never crossed my mind. I thought people only did that on National Day itself. But I suppose the rehearsals are supposed to mimic the real thing.

I didn’t have any red clothes, in any case. Well, I do have one red dress but it was hanging in my wardrobe in England. (It’s technically Piers’ wardrobe, but my things are in it so it’s as good as mine, right?)

To make up for not wearing red, I decided to plaster myself with the patriotic tattoos given out in the fun packs.

The fun pack has a load of cool stuff in it such as the Singapore flag, a glow stick, a visor cap, water and snacks.

We didn’t have time to look through all the stuff because we were a bit late and the show had already started. Youths in red and white costumes were dancing on the stage and celebrities Gurmit Singh and Belinda Lee were warming up the audience.

The audience was very cooperative and enthusiastic, waving flags or screaming happily when told to.

It was my first time at the Marina Bay Floating Platform, even though it’s been around for about four years and is the biggest floating stage in the world. I’m a bit of a homebody, I suppose. In other words, suaku.

I’m glad I got to see it, though, because it has such an awesome backdrop. I think the beautiful Singapore skyline and the bay waters acting as backdrop probably contributes to heightened feelings of pride and patriotism during such events as the National Day Parade.

Too bad The Float can’t be the NDP venue forever since it can only hold half as many people as the new (building-in-progress) National Stadium will be able to.

After the warming up and singing and dancing, our Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers arrived. But they were fake ones since it was only a rehearsal.

Young men dressed in white waved cheerfully at the audience while holding red signs that proclaimed their roles: MP or CM.

They didn’t stay for the performances. They walked off the grandstand immediately after pretending to take their seats. I think they had to go get ready to pretend to be the Prime Minister and President, who would arrive later in the evening.

Then it got exciting.

It was time for our Red Lions to show off their stuff.

The Red Lions are the parachute team from the Singapore Armed Forces. They spend all their time training to perform at National Day Parades as well as to take part in parachuting and skydiving competitions.

They’re really good but I sort of missed a lot of it because I was busy trying to take good photographs. There were five of them plus one cameraman, who was also up in the air filming the performance that was simultaneously fed onto the big screen on the stage.

The landing was as much performance as the actual air show. Each Red Lion took turns to fly past our iconic skyscrapers and down onto the floating stage, accompanied by supportive cheers from the audience.

Look how the parachute had collapsed into a heart shape in the last picture, heh.

You can probably tell how much I love the Red Lions’ performance by the number of photos I’ve displayed on their segment.

I wish I could enjoy skydiving type of activities because it looks so exhilarating and free. But falling makes my heart jump out of my skin and sends icicles prickling through my entire body and I don’t like that feeling at all.

This year’s NDP features a musical in five acts. While the evening sky darkens, the story of Singapore and demonstrations of the Singapore Spirit are portrayed through a mother and son character with their family and friends.

As the story plays out, more performances and special effects are unveiled, including battle scenes with pyrotechnics, marching contingents and elaborately costumed dancers.

Interspersed within the musical were beautiful moments filled with fireworks, bubbles and confetti (not all together, of course), as everyone waved the blue and pink light sticks given in the fun packs.

The parade ended with more fireworks, reciting of the National Pledge and singing of the National Anthem.

At 8:30 pm, the event ended. Red and white confetti pieces were everywhere — on the floor, in our hair, in our bags.

Nanny Wen and I took a last photo together before leaving the premises. She picked up two pieces of confetti, meaning to form the Singapore flag in our photo, but she got it the wrong way, haha.

It was all very wonderful and emotional, especially towards the end of the night. I can only imagine what the atmosphere will be like at the actual event itself. Hope I get to experience that some day!

The theme of this year’s National Day is Majulah! The Singapore Spirit. Majulah means “onward”, which represents our strength and determination to strive forward in building a better Singapore.

The Singapore Spirit represents our unity and mutual trust as we forge ahead together to scale new heights.

This year’s logo:

You can learn more about NDP 2011 and the Singapore Spirit at these two sites:

NDP 2011 Official Website

NDPeeps Facebook Page

Happy Birthday, Singapore and cheers to the Singapore Spirit!