They stepped into the canoe; the little girl-daughter came with them; and the Man took his kris--a curving, wavy dagger with a blade like a flame,--and they pushed out on the Perak river. Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as though it had been pulled by a string.

from The Crab that played with the Sea, Rudyard Kipling

This morning dear readers your humble correspondent has woken to find himself in Singapore

Hot? Yes, its damned hot. Ten years ago when I lived in Hong Kong I was used both heat & humidity ... but these days sadly not.

The same of this trip is that it is only a flying visit is every sense of thw word ( I am on the late flight back to London tonight) after a day of back to back meeting which I can already feel will go nowhere.

Having been covering the fall of Singpore in the "On This Day" section quite recently, I have had the opportunity to really look round & do my usual tour of war memorials etc

However, it probably is just as well that my schedule doesn't allow me time to do all of that because Mrs FM was both born & spent the early part of her likfe out here, & I am definately not forgiven for not bringing her on this trip. Oh yes sirreeeeeeee, the dog house beckons