"My Settlement of Singapore continues to thrive most wonderfully - it is all and everything I could wish and if no untimely fate awaits it, promises to become the Emporium and the pride of the East."
That gave me the chills. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, if he is still alive (but, he will be 200-over years old), will have been very proud at what he is seeing today. Yes, it is the man who was the founding father of this country which I had lived in my entire life since the day I came into this world. He wrote that in a letter dated Sept 10, 1820 to his cousin, Reverend Thomas Raffles. Recently, a Singaporean (as according to The Sunday Times on June 3 this year, it's Tang Wee Kit of the famous CK Tang family) managed to successfully get the series of letters written by Raffles and other books and artefacts relating to the founding father.
Just recently, I was reading the article and when I came upon that, I almost shivered and burst into tears. I actually once mused that if Raffles is still alive now, he will be proud at how Singapore has become. Especially this part - if no untimely fate awaits it, promises to become the Emporium and the pride of the East. Fittingly indeed. How many times people wondered how long this island nation can survive on its own, but yet it defied the odds time and again. Naturally it earned criticism (like in terms how the government is being run here) and praise from the outside world.
Just on Wednesday night as I was about to get ready to watch The Rise Of The Great Nations on Channel 8 (it continues with the story of the US), the video to the theme song ('Will You') to this year's National Day Parade was on. Very catchy. And just earlier on Channel 5 after the news, the video was on again. Naturally it brought me back to what Raffles wrote in his wish for Singapore.
Enough to make this all-so partiotic Singaporean almost bursting into happy tears. Real ones.
As I was watching the video on Channel 5, for once, I don't care about my football loyalties. I went crazy (and silly) over the football World Cup last year and when the National Day came last year, suddenly all those excitement which came as a result of the football extravaganza were being thrown out of the window for the moment. This time round, all that international football stuff had been forgotten for the moment. Suddenly, it reminds of who I am once more. Not one football-crazy person, that is.
Ahead of this weekend's US Grand Prix, BMW Sauber's Polish driver Robert Kubica has been told that he has to sit out. Now, despite he was safe despite suffering from a horrible crash at the Canadian Grand Prix last week (I saw the repeat on Star Sports on Wednesday afternoon and it was really, scary!), the FIA had decided as a precationary measure.
Link to the article - http://eurosport.yahoo.com/15062007/58/american-gp-kubica-told-sit.html
Last week's Canadian Grand Prix can only be described in one word - crazy. Literally. You have crashes (Robert Kubica's one is a good example and he could almost had died as a result of that) and as a result of that, the safety car has to come out so many times. It's more than the entire season put together. Not that I am being sarcastic or anything, this is not what we television audiences are so used to seeing. The crash reminded us once again that safety is always first. Brazil's Aryton Senna (one of F1 greats) actually died on the race-track while racing.
While F1 rookie Lewis Hamilton took the pole position in Canada last week (this is only his first year in F1) and the English media celebrating his triumph (I can understand that), all that crashes had kind of subdued for me. Sure, I am happy a F1 rookie won. But...
Yes. There is always the 'but'.
Now, will anyone have believed that this poster here actually woke up like at 12.20pm today? I know, I had set the alarm like half-past eight but then, I went to sleep again after my handphone alarm clock rang. I swear, I had broken a new record in terms of the timing to wake up. After my eyes opened, I almost stared at the room's wall clock - with horror.
Actually, I had used the Internet till like after 3am this morning. Maybe that could be the reason why. Oops.
