THIS is it!! This is my giant leap. I am about to walk out of Dairy Farm Estate after living here since June 2005 and get on a 170 and head for the causeway. I have checked no more than half a dozen times to make sure my passport is in my bag and I have already put roaming on my phone so there is nothing more for me to sort before I make that step out of Melanie and Mark's home and set off into the unknown.
It isn't really unknown. I have done it countless times before and when the children were younger we used to go ten-pin bowling at Pelangi in JB. Back then the buses weren't aircon and they rattled. Now the trip is smoother but the waiting times are longer to get through the two lots of customs because so many more people now cross back anf forth.
This time it will be different though. I am now on a visitors' pass and the trip is one way as well as being the first step on my trip to the UK. So there can't be any second thoughts and certainly no looking back.
I said goodbye to the swimming pool this morning... breakfast in the sunshine at the beginning of December. I bet those in the UK would be jealous of something that I have got very passé about.
What I have come to realise is that after you say goodbye to someone and you know it is the last time, for me there is an awkward pause. Do I turn and walk or do I stand and wait for them to go? How many times is it necessary or acceptable to say, "Goodbye"? Perhaps should I step backwards to show it is over. You would think with all the times I have said goodbye over the last month, I would be pro at this. Not true. I seem to have got more uncomfortable with each farewell.
My friends joke that I have had more leaving dos than the years I have lived in Singapore. I doubt this. There have been lots and I genuinely will miss all my friends, and especially you, Marmite. The advert for Marmite - the spread - in the UK is "Love it or hate it!" As a Rotweiller X you certainly were well named - people have been either scared of you or drape themselves over you.
I love Marmite the spread and I love you. If only I got a dollar for the times people around here said hello to you when I was attached to your lead and never acknowledged my presence. That is a true sign of your popularity - I loved that about you, my placid friend, farewell...
So now this is it.. I am gone.. the world awaits...
x
It’s been a real pleasure being your neighbour all these years, Andrea AND Marmite. You were both a part of our daily lives and a positive and active members of our little community. Have a wonderful trip “home” and enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Hello to your kids whom we’ve not seen in years! And dear Marmite, I do hope our paths cross again here in Singapore someday soon. Hugs all around, xx Karen, Erik, Hannah and Emma (Ellie and Gregor)
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