lunch today at the marriott with my aunt nellie, aunt rose, cousins winnie, juliet and cheryl, and niece sarah and nephew ariel. "it's an all-girls outing," sarah explained to me as we got in the car, "but ariel can come also; because we make him the teddy bear mascot for today." which i think entirely fitting, since that makes him not only not a real boy but a pretend-bear, which should make him think again before saying bear isn't real.

the children discuss cars in the car. sarah: when i grow up, i will buy a big car. ah kong and mama sit together behind, ariel sit in front with me. aunt: what about your daddy and mummy? sarah: daddy and mummy can drive their own car. but auntie min can sit in my car. cousin: you might as well add mama and ah kong from marine parade. eventually the names on the passenger list grew to include so many relatives i thought her dream car had better be an sbs bus.

lunch was fairly good - nothing special, though a reasonably large variety available - i ate more quails' eggs salad than can possibly be good for anyone - and had to have the yorkshire pudding because i remembered su-lin and choonping and the christmas dinner we had in james college kitchen.

and then after our two-hour lunch we all went shopping at tangs. (the tangs sale: for serious shoppers)