Another First Day

Another First Day

Today was Destroyer’s first day of school. It was also a day during monsoon season, which meant we woke at 7 to the relaxing sound of rainfall, and looked out the window to see that Singapore had vanished in a cloud of mist. At that point, the rain wasn’t so heavy, but cold rain on warm ground makes for great colloidal formations.

The rain didn’t abate, and in fact got heavier, so after we’d shoved enough cornflakes and toast down the craws of our little ones, we put La Serpiente in her Peppa Pig gumboots and a raincoat and Destroyer into a stroller, to protect her from the rain. Then all four of us ventured out, just as the lightning started, and made our way over to the school.

It takes about 20 minutes to walk there, vs the ten minutes to the bus stop and ten minutes to the school in the old location. It’s also $4.20 cheaper as we never go past the Tiong Bahru Bakery so I don’t have to buy La Serpiente a pain au chocolat every single day.

When we arrived at the school, the plan was for my wife to stay with Destroyer all morning and then take her home in the afternoon, so she didn’t freak out at her new environment. But instead, after a slight worry that she wouldn’t be allowed in (Destroyer fell on her face yesterday and bit the inside of her mouth, leaving a wound looking suspiciously like an ulcer from HFMD) she was so enraptured by school that after half an hour her mother was surplus to requirements. Between that and her icy stare, we may have to rename her Stone Cold. As in Stone Cold Killah.

Meanwhile I got on a bike and rode to the bus stop, then got on a bus crammed full of people and rode it to my office. Where of course there was no bus stop and so the bus took a right and drove about half a mile down the road before I could get off. That meant a very long walk for me through a maze of shopping malls.

At one point, a woman just in front of me dropped her wallet from her bag: it contained her work access card and I’m sure a bunch of other stuff. She didn’t notice and kept on walking, so I ran after her and gave it to her. I received a shocked look for that – not as bad as the look I got for inadvertently whistling at somebody last week, but I’m still not sure if this was repaying a karmic debt or what was going on.

Still, kids are happy, I’m dry, and the day is done. Time for bed and more rain tomorrow.


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