Woke up and made a delicious batch of pancakes which we ate with maple syrup, banana, raspberry coulis and strawberry jam.
After cleaning up we headed out to the soccer field at Turf City which is just off Burkit Timah Road about 6 km west of our condominium at Central. Sophie joined a soccer team that is run through the Australia and New Zealand Association (ANZA) in Singapore. ANZA is a great organisation that runs a variety of sporting teams and social events and we have met some wonderful people through the organisation. (http://www.anza.org.sg/)
One of the tricky things about Singapore is there is no winter. The locals say there are two seasons, hot and very hot. Soccer, in my mind is a game designed to be played in cool weather and that does not happen when you are 1 degree from the equator. So, to make out kids tough, we get them to play soccer in hot weather and between the hours of 10:30 am and 12:30 pm. (The competition organisers arranged it so Sophie's team played two games in a row this Sunday).
Well the girls performed stoutly, the report from both games essentially the same. They started off more slowly than their enthusiastic oponents and let in a string of early goals. Then they regrouped and plugged up the holes in the midfield, preventing the opposition from easy access to goals. In the second half they more or less dominated play leveraging their greater strength and individual skills to claw back valuable points. In fact, the Snipers went on to win the second half of the first game 3 to 1, but the initial deficits were too big to over come.
Really Stirling effort under very trying conditions.
As I wrote in a previous post, Claire and I were considering the purchase of a new lens for our camera. I am very pleased that we did in fact go ahead with the purchase of a EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens. (for specifications and information see http://www.canon.com.sg/personal/products/dslrs/lenses?languageCode=EN) Some shots from the weekend game are included below. We ended up buying the lens from Harvey Norman in Singapore. The price was 14% below list price, which is a nice saving. However, the main reason we went with them is that we trust the brand. There are many camera and electronic shops in Singapore, particularly on lower end of Orchard Road, but going into these places one experiences a sense that things are not quite Kosher. There are a few websites that also list peoples unhappy experiences, having purchased goods from these places.
Harvey Norman has a good reputation for looking after its customers in Australia and we are confident that the organisation will also deal reasonably in Singapore. (http://www.harveynorman.com.sg/) I would recommend using only sales outlets like this chain or other retailers listed on the Canon website. Note, that the prices that are charged at the airport duty free shops at Changhi Airport do not, at this time, offer any particular savings to the punter. I am happy with the price that we were able to get for the lens and am confident that the warranty will be appropriately honoured should there be any problems.
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| Photos taken with Canon EOS 550 DSLR fitted with EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens |
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| I like this photo because I am so envious of the flexibility through the hip flexor. |
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