EC-Rider Travels

With still more chatting to do, I met Charlie and Shona and two of their lovely boys, James and Edward, for Dim Sum in China Town. I was struggling to find them, and then turned round to see ‘Charlie Benson’ forty years ago …. morphed into Edward Benson! It was the most amazing restaurant, up a funny little staircase, full of locals…. always a good sign …. and indeed, absolutely delicious.

We had to slightly gobble it down, as I had made a plan to meet another of John’s friends, Tina Nixon, at the National Gallery where she was guiding a tour of one of their exhibitions. Charlie and Shona (probably quite rightly) did not trust me to find my way there, so kindly escorted me all the way. We walked through Chinatown, passed the most amazing Hindu temple and a new shop surrounded by bouquets of flowers – apparently gifts from well-wishers for its opening. I was sad to say goodbye to Charlie and Shona, we had had such a lovely 24 hours and still not finished the chat but line-learning and homework beckoned. Goodness they have been kind, I just loved seeing them.

The exhibition, Tina was guiding, was called Moving Pictures and was the gallery’s first ever photographic exhibition. It was fascinating and made so much more so, with her commentary. Christina also joined us, and Tina kindly gave us a tour of the gallery which is again in an incredible building, formerly two National Monuments, the Supreme Court and City Hall with a road (now covered) running between. The City Hall had been where many Prime Ministers and other heads of state had been sworn in, the Declaration of Independence signed in 1965 and where Lord Mountbatten accepted the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. The Supreme Court moved to a new building, designed by Norman Foster and following an international design competition, won by French architect, Jean Fran­ Milou, the new gallery opened in 2015. It is the most amazing space.

We went up on to the upper balcony where you look over a huge green space called Pedang where people were playing cricket, bowls, tennis etc and is the site for the for much of the entertainment for the Singapore Grand Prix in September. Tina then took us to the Singapore Cricket Club for a delicious lime and soda which was a treat. I am not sure much had changed there over the years!

Ed and Justinna returned from their amazing sounding party on a nearby Indonesian island. It was so lovely to finally meet them after their extraordinary kindness. Needless to say they were gorgeous and we chatted all evening over a delicious dinner cooked by Christina. We also had a lovely call with Lucy Ward who had so kindly put us in touch with one another.