2018 Secondary 3 Week 9 Update

We’re almost at the end of term 1 of the school year and I feel that time is just running fast and before we know it the children will be giving their O levels and thus ending their school journey!

BB’s common tests start from tomorrow and I have really no idea how much he has prepared for them. I can and do keep nagging constantly, but at this age, most of it goes in from one year and goes out immediately from the other ear, with nothing actually being heard! I don’t want to push him too much because he is in a hormonally charged, sensitive age, but I can’t leave it as it is because the marks he gets now will pretty much determine his future, especially in the grade-obsessed nation we live in.

GG will go for her adventure camp tomorrow. She is quite ambivalent about this whole camp. She says she does not like outdoor activities too much, but I really doubt her claim. I am sure when she comes back, she will be full of stories about the fun she had with her cohort.

The next week is school holidays with GG’s choir doing a public concert, so that’s something BB and I will be going to support her. We don’t have other plans for the holidays, so need to think of something the children can do.

Have an awesome Sunday!

 

In My Hands Today…

Chasing the Monsoon – Alexander Frater

37614The fascinating and revealing story of Frater’s journey through India in pursuit of the astonishing Indian summer monsoon. On 20th May the Indian summer monsoon will begin to envelop the country in two great wet arms, one coming from the east, the other from the west. They are united over central India around 10th July, a date that can be calculated within seven or eight days. Frater aims to follow the monsoon, staying sometimes behind it, sometimes in front of it, and everywhere watching the impact of this extraordinary phenomenon. During the anxious period of waiting, the weather forecaster is king, consulted by pie-crested cockatoos, and a joyful period ensues: there is a period of promiscuity, and scandals proliferate. Frater’s journey takes him to Bangkok and the cowboy town on the Thai-Malaysian border to Rangoon and Akyab in Burma (where the front funnels up between the mountains and the sea). Alexander Frater’s fascinating narrative reveals the exotic, often startling discoveries of an ambitious and irresistibly romantic adventure

Top 10 Airlines

The other day as I was really struggling to find inspiration to write, I chanced upon this article on Tripadvisor on the top airlines of the world, so thought this would be something nice to share for my travel hashtag!

So….drum roll…The top airlines in the world are…

  1. Emirates
  2. Singapore Airlines
  3. Azul
  4. Jetblue
  5. Air New Zealand
  6. Korean Air
  7. Japan Airlines
  8. Thai Smile
  9. Alaska Airlines
  10. Garuda Indonesia

Some of these are expected like Thai, Emirates and Singapore, but some are totally new to me. This list is based on feedback from TripAdvisor reviewers though, so it’s probably subjective.

I found another list on Aviation Blog which seems to be a more industry-specific list.

  1. Air New Zealand
  2. Qantas
  3. Singapore Airlines
  4. Virgin Australia
  5. Virgin Atlantic
  6. Etihad Airways
  7. All Nippon Airways
  8. Korean Air
  9. Cathay Pacific
  10. Japan Airlines

For category-specific awards:

  • Airline of the Year: Air New Zealand
  • Best First Class: Singapore Airlines
  • Best Business Class: Virgin Australia
  • Best Premium Economy: Air New Zealand
  • Best Economy: Korean Air
  • Best Cabin Crew: Singapore Airlines
  • Best Catering: Qantas
  • Best Lounges: Qantas
  • Best In-flight Entertainment: Emirates
  • Best Domestic Class: Qantas
  • Regional Airline of the Year: Aegan Airlines (Greece)
  • Most Improved Airline: Tianjin Airlines (China)
  • Ultra-Low-Cost Airline: VietJetAir.com (Vietnam)
  • Best Long-Haul Airline: Etihad (for the Middle East and Africa), Korean Air (Asia-Pacific), Virgin Atlantic (Europe) and Air Canada (the Americas)
  • Best Low-Cost Airline: Westjet (the Americas), Scoot (Asia-Pacific) and Norwegian (Europe)

In My Hands Today…

Equilateral – Ken Kalfus

157936381A British astronomer, Thayer, high on Darwin and other progressive scientists of the age, has come to believe that beings more highly evolved than us are alive on Mars (he has evidence) and that there will be a perfect moment in which we can signal to them that we are here too. He gets the support and funding for a massive project to build the Equilateral, a triangle with sides hundreds of miles long, in the desert of Egypt in time for that perfect window.

But as work progresses, the Egyptian workers, less evolved than the British, are also less than cooperative, and a bout of malaria that seems to activate at the worst moments makes it all much more confusing and complex than Thayer ever imagined.

We see Thayer also through the eyes of two women–a triangle of another sort–a romantic one that involves a secretary who looks after Thayer but doesn’t suffer fools, and Binta, a houseservant he covets but can’t communicate with–and through them we catch sight of the depth of self-delusion and the folly of the enterprise.