Happy 4th of July


There was a party in the office today thrown by my American colleagues, to celebrate the 4th of July. It was very nice of everyone to buy some kegs of beer but all the same, it was odd that they were celebrating my wife’s birthday. I mean, some of them hardly know her, and it’s not like she could attend, what with having to stay home and feed our daughter. I drank three small plastic cups of strong lager, and then went to buy a birthday cake, while carrying a heavy box of groceries.

In retrospect, this was not the best decision of my life. The groceries were in no hurry to get home, unlike me. They would have happily stayed in the office until tomorrow. Having to cart them around the shopping mall was quite unnecessary, unless you felt you needed to strain your arm and back muscles. Buying a birthday cake was also looking a bit difficult, as I wandered between chicken rice establishments, but I managed to find a cupcake emporium that sorted me out.

It’s only a short walk from the mall to our home but on a warm Singapore evening, a bit squiffy, labouring under a heavy load, it becomes an arduous journey. I got home,to find the front door locked and had to bang on it until my wife opened up, after which I flopped on the floor and failed to do anything for the next hour.

This wasn’t the best birthday present my wife has received, I’m sure. And I’d done so well up until then; first an oven, then a baby, then an iPad, then an electronic book, each present lighter than the previous one. A man, slumped over a big box of detergent, doesn’t fit well into the pattern. Luckily, friends, newly arrived in Singapore, came to visit and pick up the slack I’d left in the conversation.

Still, there’s always next year.


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