very weird here

I don't know if it has made the news at home, but we are in a very weird Singapore right now.

I remember experiencing weather last year sometimes where the air was acrid with smoke. A little in the air might be the Chinese burning paper tributes to their ancestors in the incinerators outside each building.

But when we came home from South Africa, the air was thick with smoke. I have sent pictures of the view off our balcony. I would take a photo to show you what it is like now, but you wouldn't see anything! I see only the apartment across the way, no water, no ships, no downtown skyline. It is like a thick London fog.

 I usually have all the windows wide open and only close the bedroom at night and put on the air con. I now have the whole place closed up and the main air con on. The air should not read higher than 100 something. 100 is high and uncomfortable, and aged and pregnant are told to stay indoors or wear masks. The reading here is 200 whatevers.

Tim, at Tiger, has been advised to wear some kind of mask when he does the walk around on the airplane, before take off. The Singapore tv station has had a special all day long on the haze.

The cause is the slash/burning of the Indonesian farmers. They ready their fields for planting by burning off the field. Singapore and Malaysia are in the down wind of Indonesia. The Singaporean and Malaysian governments are trying to negotiate with the farmers of Indonesia.

This haze happens every year, but this is the worst in 16 years. The whole city is under a pall. There is quite a strong wind, but it does nothing to move the smoke away.

You know like in a fog, cars come silently and people seem to appear out of nowhere. It is strange, mysterious, and unpleasant. I even went to the gym twice today because it has air con and there is no way I want to go for a walk in this air. Tim just came in on his bicycle wearing a mask!

We are thinking of going to Taiwan for his days off this weekend, to get fresh air! HA Now that is a laugh! (China having terrible air quality- but anything is better than what is here!)

This is the man I fell in love with thirty years ago.
More to the point I have stayed in love with him.
He is a stinker for having his eyes closed in a photo and he never smiles full on.
He has assured me that in this photo he is wide-eyed and grinning!