My wallet is constantly full of coins - it’s heavy; it’s constantly heavy. They’re not coins that I receive since coins are legal tender and I regularly use them for their intended purpose. They’re coins the husband receives and refuses to spend. His life philosophy is clearly ‘notes only’ – just paper, no copper, no nickel.  Shopkeepers, who deal all day long with this element of our society are usually therefore grateful when the rest of us pay with coins (unless it’s a piggy bank exchange).

 Shane Gould is the only swimmer – male or female – to hold every world freestyle record from 100 metres to 1,500 metres simultaneously together with the 200-metre individual medley world record. She is the first female swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in world record time and the first swimmer - male or female - to win Olympic medals in five individual events in a single Olympics. Outside of swimming circles and Australia you probably haven’t heard of her but as a child/teenager,

We visited Vietnam for the first time in 2009 travelling from the Mekong Delta and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the south to Hanoi and Halong Bay in the north. Along the way we stopped in Da Nang not appreciating the significance of this place seven years later as Steve (husband) now sails around the world on the yacht Da Nang-Viet Nam sponsored by the city. And it has been quite a homecoming for the crew who managed to win the momentous Sydney-Hobart leg, Clipper 70 class in what is the longest

The most I’ve laughed was when Steve and I were learning to rollerblade in Melbourne back in the 90s. It was that painful laughter when you can’t breathe, you can’t stand up (and not because you hit the concrete hard), you just want it to end but it goes on and on and you think you might actually die from laughing.   Everyone knows I love Seinfeld but other obsessions are the Office (UK version only) and Kath & Kim – the Australian version only (some humour does not adapt to other cultures). And

One of my favourite bands is Linkin Park. And one of my favourite Linkin Park songs is Wretches & Kings which begins with one of my favourite speeches of all time known commonly as the ‘operation of the machine’ or ‘bodies upon the gears’ by Mario Savio.   Savio was an American activist and spokesman for the free speech movement at Berkeley University in the 1960s. At the time students across the USA were taking a stand against racial injustice and Savio played a major part in changing

I love living in Singapore – everyone who knows me knows that much. You would also know that I have little or nothing in life to complain about other than pedestrian etiquette or rather the complete absence of it. And since I/we walk everywhere this is a regular irritation.   Pedestrian etiquette requires people who are walking two or more abreast to assume a single file during a passing manoeuver ie when a pedestrian is on approach from the opposite direction. It’s common practice in Australia

There are a few signs that you’ve lived in Singapore way too long: (1) the 32 degrees (celsius) in ‘winter’ feels significantly cooler than the 32 degrees in summer and you find yourself reaching for a cardigan (or ‘jumper’ as we say in Australia). (2) You pronounce the number ‘three’ as ‘tree’ and pluralize words that are already plural eg underwears, and (3) you have a profound fear of the sun.    This fear of the sun will have you wearing long sleeves during the day, using umbrellas when it

I love living in Singapore as everyone knows, and have practically nothing to complain about, except for one major gripe—pedestrian etiquette. Since I/we walk everywhere this is a regular irritation. There is no pedestrian etiquette in Singapore, as there is in Australia, and in case you are not familiar with the protocol, I'll explain.    Footpaths as we call them in Australia (or sidewalks in the USA), are generally wide enough for two people to pass comfortably. If you are walking two or

Apparently I need a ‘sleep coach’ which is a disturbing concept in itself. I’m hoping this person would not be in my bedroom with a whistle watching me not sleep apart from which, I don’t understand why my erratic sleeping habits need coaching into ‘normal’ anyway.   36% of our lives are spent sleeping. If you live to 90, that’s a whopping 32 years of sleeping. Imagine what you could achieve if you cut that back to just 16 years of sleep. If Thomas Edison had slept like a ‘normal’ person, we

The first step for any addiction is to admit you have a problem. I don’t have a problem but in our household of two, someone seems to think I do so I’m about to dispel that belief.   Nomophobia is the fear of being without your mobile phone. The number of sufferers is on the rise which is not surprising as it no doubt correlates with smartphone uptake rather than a growing inability for otherwise 'normal' people to cope without it. And it does seem to be a completely rational fear, in my view,

I’ve mentioned before that I do not like taxis – I’d rather walk, catch the MRT or an ambulance. Taxi drivers in Singapore tend to assume when picking up an Ang Mo (foreigner) that you would like the island excursion as opposed to the direct route. And since I am not a tourist, know where I am going AND am process-obsessed, nothing irritates me more than a well-crafted best-practice plan of getting from A to B thwarted by a cunning taxi driver. I’m sure Steve would love to add a commentary on

Watching TV and movies in Singapore, in particular the kind of shows we like is an art form thanks to the rigours of Singaporean censorship laws. Swear words, even words the average person might no longer consider a swear word like bloody or Hell are edited as are scenes involving sex, drugs or violence. Quite often we’re left staring blankly and confused as a scene jumps inexplicably over the good parts to something more acceptable, thankfully or we would be senselessly corrupted and no good

It is that time of year again for the Gates of Hell to open so the souls of the dead can once again roam the earth. If you are in Singapore at this time of the year you will come across food and other offerings in the street for example mandarins, roasted pig, bowls of rice and especially made Chinese cake.  It is considered very bad luck (and disrespectful) if you happen to be on your way home from a nightclub, cannot find a McDonalds and decide to stop by thinking it is a good place for a free

My name, Leigh, means meadow, which is a curious meaning to apply to a person although I do like the outdoors. Leigh and Lee are the same and traditionally, Leigh was for boys and Lee was for girls, but that does not seem to apply anymore, and obviously I have the boy's spelling and I am not.    I have never thought much about my name—it’s not an unusual name and it is recognizable in the west, but in Singapore it presents some problems. The locals have no idea how to pronounce ‘Leigh’ and I am

I’ve just returned from a trip to my hometown of Rockhampton (Queensland, Australia) to celebrate 35 years since we, my girls and I, finished our senior year at the Rockhampton Girls’ Grammar School. But it was a celebration of much more than that. What we know now but didn’t appreciate then – we were in a hurry to be done and out of there – is that we had just spent five years of our lives in a confined and restrictive environment that would foster lifelong friendships and allegiances that can

Back in 1978 when Grease was the word, I was on a school tour bussing our way around Tasmania. Grease the movie had just come out and like everyone else in the day we were obsessed with it, in particular, the music, featuring our very own Olivia Newton-John as Sandy. The soundtrack went into the bus cassette player and stayed there on repeat for 10 days. Imagine how traumatised that poor bus driver would have been by the end of our tour, probably his last.   Earlier this month, we saw Grease the

We're celebrating, again, still. Today marks 10 years since we left our home in Sydney, Australia to live overseas for what was meant to be a two-year assignment. We never left, and in 2011 we were granted Permanent Residency.   It is hard to comprehend that a decade has passed. This is the longest we have now spent in any one place including our hometown of Rockhampton post-marriage. We could not have imagined then that we would be living permanently and happily in Asia although it was clear

In just a few weeks, we will celebrate 10 years living in Singapore. When we left Sydney in 2004 for a 2-year assignment we never expected to still be here a decade later. It is not the same place today as it was then but at every stage, I have loved it. Today, it is, if I might quote Ryan Tedder from One Republic, “the most badass futuristic city in the world.” I don’t think there is any other country anywhere that has the capability to redefine and expand itself at the rate Singapore does

Next week we’ll be into March. That means a whopping 17% of the year is now history and I didn’t even notice it passing. This is completely contrary to my grand plan to turn off auto-pilot and engage with life on a daily basis. I want to be conscious of the beauty of life that is everywhere (as opposed to The News), conscious of how I devote my thoughts and time, and to look at people I pass in the street like they hold a greater value than mere stranger.   I’m good at planning – it is one of my

I'm just back from a quick trip halfway around the world to Miami, Florida to attend and present at the Readers' Favorite Book Awards ceremony and accompanying events. Thank you to James Ventrillo and Debra Gaynor for their kind invitation! Debra also presented me with the gold medal won for Being Anti-Social at the 2012 awards program (Chick Lit category).   Although it was a long trip, it was well worth it and I came away having met some wonderful people and new friends including Dete Meserve,

‘Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun’—this is one of my favourite lines from Shine On You Crazy Diamond (yes there are lyrics eventually) which is one of my all-time favourite Pink Floyd songs.   I remember one Christmas when we were young, my three brothers and I received a record player together with our first album—The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour.   My aunty also had a record player. When I was about eight years old, I remember playing one of her 45s (‘a single’) over and

On 17 September we celebrated 30 years of marriage. It was the perfect opportunity to reflect on our wedding day and who we were as people just barely into our twenties. What did we believe about marriage and our future together when we made that declaration to stay together forever no matter what?   Prior to our wedding day, we had to undergo a compulsory course with the priest which included a questionnaire we had to complete separately then the answers were compared—questions like who will

As many of you know, we've just returned from a holiday in Russia which, yes, was fantastic. And a bonus I was not expecting, although I should have since it was summer—the midnight sun or 'white lights' as they call it in St Petersburg. This resulted in many late nights out celebrating life with our friends as it always seemed too early for bed.   There are a few cultural aspects of Russia that would be known to most people, I would think. For example, Tchaikovsky, one of the greatest composers