For the past two weeks or so the Dodgess and I have slept very soundly. In a nice cool room, on a brand new, hugely comfortable bed. We have been around to a lot of furniture stores, and bought a lot of furniture. We have packed and unpacked a lot of boxes. All in the name of moving home.
This time there has been a satisfying degree of permanence about our unpacking. Whereas previously we have tended to only unpack the vital boxes, and to keep hold of them. This time, we will throw them away. We have unpacked each one (well, almost each one.）
Our new home is a 3 bedroom flat on the top of a hill. Most of the way up a low rise walk-up block it comes with marble floors, at least in the living room, and even has unimagined luxuries as ‘his and hers’ sinks. A complete waste of time. We could have his and hers bathrooms in this place incidentally.
We like it – lots. Having gotten rather too used to a bedroom bossed by a main road, it is nice to be able to sleep with windows open, and have a breeze. After having gotten used to a somewhat dark and dingy layout, we now have one far more open, and we can stand on the balcony observing (but not really hearing) the multitude of airplanes that use Changi Airport.
Having both moved some 7500 miles previously, this latest move seemed nice and small – only 500m max. And I’m sure that we will be visitors back to the Summit for its good qualities (pool, squash courts). Here are some photos.
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It is a rare thing for both the Dodgess and I to have a free evening, and a free morning thereafter. As it is such a rare event we decided to make the most of it and spend a night away from unpacking cardboard boxes, and the temptations of laptops.
I really wanted to love the Changi Village Hotel. There are, afterall, not all that many places in Singapore which have the pace of a genteel English town, but Changi is one. It is also a stone’s throw from a nice beach side walk, and if you quite enjoy hearing the roar of Rolls Royce jet engines, as we quite do, there are probably few places better. The other reason is it has one of the best Italians in Singapore – La Cavatina, located on a rooftop terrace with views out over the South China Sea – it is the sort of place where I imagine no ill ever happens.
And the building is quite nice – a few individual touches, and architecturally interesting, if somewhat flawed. However, it let itself down badly. I don’t mind paying a premium for breakfast at the hotel – but surely it should cost less if I book in advance than if I walk in? In fact, by booking in advance, I bought the most expensive breakfast I could have.
Never mind, there would always be the al-fresco pasta on the rooftop. Not tonight – closed. No reason. No warning. So rather than a fabulous dinner in a great location, we ended up outside next to a rather frustrating road in a place called The Wine Company. Not the same. Nor was the food. We only ordered two dishes – separated in delivery by 5 minutes. Surely the kitchen isn’t that lazy that they just start food as it’s ordered.
My chicken stir-fry was poor – in a sickly over sweet and overly hot sauce and with a portion of rice that was stingier than a Scotsman. The Dodgess had Char Kway Teow – not the worst she’s ever had, but at the price it should have been the best, but was far from it. So could we charge it to our room? No. I mean, why would we want to do that in a hotel restaurant. They didn’t charge service – I wouldn’t have paid it.
Then some room service desert – again the food was moderate. But our two deserts came with one set of cutlery – just as well the Dodgess and I quite like each other!
Despite my displeasure at the pricing policy, breakfast was nice. The room too had some nice touches – but lacked interest on the walls. The window between the bedroom and bathroom is a weird architectural detail that needn’t be replicated.
Still, the company was excellent throughout!
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