bound for melbourne

im taking a trip down under.. you know to that continent/country and island (man, they are damn kiasu).. where delta goodrem can "..sing a rainbow.. sing a rainbow.. sing a rainbow.. toooo.. (fade into oblivion).." and the land of that aussie poet guy who no one understands..

Fortunately, im not there to see colours/sing/wax lyrical about bushlife.. im there to see a very different kind breed of natives.. my siblings and my man-ish cousin.  They live in the heart of the city, in a two bedroom apartment, with Vietnamese kids as neighbours and a potty that threatens to overflow every now and then onto the carpet. Its a dingy, small hell hole, the kind that my sis' French manicured nails could not possibly have itself burrowed into. Nevertheless, it's home.

Ive shopped for winter, one-off purchases that will pop my mom's eyeballs out when my credit card bills for the month gets in.  Its the kind of clothes that one can never use in singapore but nevertheless is sold in shops here during the Autumn/Winter collection. Maybe singaporeans like going to Snow City or something, but unless you travel to two hemispheres on opposing end of the calender, i don't see a need to equip yourself with such garbs.

My excuse is the fact that im going on a "Business Studies Mission" (espionage, but don't tell anyone!) to Spain end november, so there, ive justified the hundreds of dollars i've laced cash registers all over orchard.

Do you know what is more fascinating to a tropical islander than winter? Winterwear. I was shopping for winterwear and popped into a shop called "Cold Climate" (sounds like a Russian themed Harrison Ford/Steven Seagal movie) and they sold the most fascinating winterwear.
They had racks with coats of differing thickness for differing temperatures. So you had 7degrees and above, 14degrees and below, 2-5 degrees.. and finally below 5degrees.  They didn't however categorize them according to design, then it would be,"wear this if you really think that fushcia pink, mint and yellow look good together", "wear this if you are blind", "wear this if you would like to be convicted of bad taste".

ANd then there are all these thermal innerwear.. like leggings, wool no less and panty hoses and singlets and underwears and pants.. they all look like peasant couture. in that dull flesh colour. definitely flammable stuff. But since its going to be on the inside, i don't think anyone gives a rat's arse especially since they wear hideous outerwear anyway.

melbourne will be freezing cold. and i'll be freezing my skinny arse. but at least you won't find my body in the snow in the most garish fashion.