Debbie says hello from Singapore.

Dear All

I am sure you must all be saying "Out of sight - out of mind" but that certainly isn't the case.

I can hardly believe I have been here nearly three weeks and so much has happened in this time. I have to start off by saying that this is a truly beautiful island - the vegetation, the manicured gardens, the sunshine (unlike S A of late!!!) and some amazing people, makes me realise just how very fortunate I am to be here. Although I haven't seen a great deal of the island as yet, I have got around quite a bit and enjoyed every moment of it. Just seeing the beautiful orchids growing everywhere and knowing that I can buy an entire plant for the equivalent of R20-00 is wonderful.

From a work perspective, I am settling down extremely well and work with some delightful ladies. Owners are owners are owners - you have some friendly, enjoyable ones and then there are the ones we all know so well but we take the good with the bad. It is really hard to learn their names not only because they are strange to me but also because most of them race in 'Stables' - we don't mention the word 'syndicate' here as it doesn't have a very good connotation - so reading the racecard doesn't help much. I now print out the 'Stable Members' of each horse for each meeting in the hope that this will help me. For now I'm trying to learn only the surname - the rest can come later. As Patrick Shaw said to me the other morning "I call all the ladies 'Darling' and the guys 'My brother' - and he has been here for ages!!!

Racing is phenomenal with between eight and ten thousand people attending regularly. The grandstands are full and to stand downstairs when a favourite hits the front gives you goosebumps!!! This weekend we have a double-header - racing Friday night and then Sunday is a day meeting (Rocket Man makes his return to the track so should be exciting!). They have this idea that it's perfect to have 12 races whenever there is a day meeting so a long day it is but with 30 min intervals it tends to go quite quickly. The facilities are superb although they will be remodelling soon (yes another building project I have to endure).

The paper work here goes on for ever - when all the trees in Indonesia are gone you'll know it was to make paper for Singapore. They are also great on Learning and Development so it's one training course after the next. We get given a budget for training and if we don't spend it, we please have to explain why. If there is an international course we feel we can benefit from, there is no problem with going as long as its motivated. Getting anything changed here isn't easy - we thought it took long at home - well I'll have to learn some more patience here. I asked for a printer on arrival (I currently share one and have to get up all the time to collect) and we are now 3 weeks down the line and still no printer (and this isn't because they don't pay!!!).

All guests of owners coming to the races have to present their ID card and it is scanned and recorded. Needless to say it's a tedious exercise but as racing is owned by the Government, it is a requirement of the Audit Committee and you have to comply.

Working in this environment and under these conditions makes all this red tape worth while. On a Wednesday morning, there are declarations and we all wonder over to the canteen which overlooks the track and morning work, have coffee, a chat and something to eat if you wish and when it's all done go back to work. They are also very strict on lunch hours so at 12h00 we shut up shop until 13h00 and then it's back to your desk.

I was chatting to a friend just last night and I said that the one thing that hit me when I got here was the safety. I travel everywhere on the MRT (train) and do so quite happily after racing at 23h30!!! I go where I like, when I like and feel so peaceful doing this. My apartment is across the road from the station and also a shopping mall so very convenient. The transport system here is phenomenal and it works!!!!!

Moving into my own apartment has now made it 'home from home'. It's not as I want it right now but am waiting on my first pay cheque to buy the odds and ends I still need. Managed to get my cable tv connected last night and to my amazement, it is the norm for the decoder to be a PVR so now I can tape all those programmes I fall asleep during. As you pay per channel, you are able at any time to add a channel by pressing a button on your remote and it will be added to your bill at the end of the month. By the same token if there's something you have subscribed to that you don't like, you just pick up the phone and ask for it to be removed. There is also a "Movie on demand" channel which enables you to select a movie you want to see and you are billed for this - saves going to the video shop and costs a lot less (around $1-50 per movie).

So far I have found the cost of living no problem at all - in fact a lot cheaper than home. I said to mom as an example it costs me the equivalent of R12-00 to buy 5 boxes of tissues here - less than it costs for 1 box at home. Food is really cheap although I'm still battling with that. Not that I won't eat it - just never know what to order!! Have got over paying R100-00 for a bottle of Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc and now am happy paying $20-00 for KWV Sauvignon Blanc.

Have got to see most of the South Africans that work here and Basil Marcus arrived here on Monday - think he has had a major culture shock. Quite different from riding in Hong Kong where now you run a business and he hasn't any staff. Grooms are hard to come by here basically because they don't like the early mornings. Basil had applied to bring 3 workriders over but they weren't granted an employment pass based on their salary which is regarded as unskilled labour and he was told to employ locals!! Think he's going to have to pay them a lot more if he wants to get them in. Sure he will settle down but he's having a rough time at present.

Already had my first game of golf and enjoyed every minute of it - that is until there was a cobra lying under one of the trees!!! Suppose it's jungle out here so you need to expect this but perhaps they could appear when I'm not out there!! Golf course was as if manicured with a nail scissors - awesome. Intend playing as often as I can.

It's almost the end of the day here and I'm sure you're tired of hearing about all my escapades but truly I am very happy here and look forward to visits from everyone.

I have a work email which is more convenient for me to access:
Debra_hawkins@turfclub.com.sg


Will take some photographs once my apartment is how I want it to be and send these along together with the pool area which is stunning (have already had a swim believe it or not).

Until then I am sorry it's been so long but I do hope everyone is well and I look forward to hearing from you whenever you a have a moment.

Love to you all
Deb

They say Basil is tighter than a duck's arse, now I believe it !

enjoy it Deb, interesting reading your post...and if you think there are any operations that SAF should adopt to help our sorry case a bit, let us know here etc. and send the pics.