Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts

Sunday, April 20, 2025

An Invisible Multicultural Age Gap…by Sheila Claydon


https://bookswelove.net/claydon-sheila/

 Hello from Singapore,

I’m writing this on a very old iPad that is refusing to post any photos so you’ll just have to take my word for it that life is very different here. It’s so hot and humid that the most energetic activities take place before nine in the morning or after five in the afternoon. In between those times the best place to be is in one of the many air conditioned malls with their myriad coffee shops and restaurants, or in a pool in the shade. Despite the heat, it is an amazing place with a very chequered and interesting history. Its parks are pristine, its roads shaded by trees and bordered by luxuriant well tended foliage, and everything works. Trains and buses arrive on time, taxis are prompt, supermarkets are stocked with more things than you’ll ever need, and the museums, art galleries and other tourist attractions are numerous, interesting and immaculately organised. The best part of this extended holiday visiting family, however, has been our trip to Indonesia. 

Although only 45 minutes away by ferry it really is a different country. Green of course and with a wonderful coastline and the clearest sea I’ve ever seen and the warmest one I’ve ever swum in. And its people are so welcoming, which is what I’m coming to. As I explained in my previous post, this trip was all about celebrating my birthday, the special one that comes along once every decade. We stayed in a truly multicultural complex where, unbeknownst to me, my son, knew the tennis coach.The result was an amazing unexpected birthday party complete with wine, candle and cake. What made it even more memorable were the people the coach brought with him. All young and yet happy to spend an evening with someone from a much older generation. He also brought his girlfriend to the party, a stunning trapeze artist from Japan. I had seen her perform so knew she was talented. That she was also beautiful, kind and very interesting as well as being one of the nicest people I have ever met made the vast age gap between us disappear in an instant. I wish we could have spent more than one evening together.

Meeting strangers who quickly become friends, yet knowing you will probably never see them again, is the upside and downside of travelling, but there are always the memories. And having my birthday celebrated by a mix of mainly young people from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, Holland,France and the UK is one of the very special ones.

Sorry about the photos!


Thursday, February 20, 2025

10, 20, 30, 40 and counting...and counting!...by Sheila Claydon



Saving Katy Gray is Book 3 of my When Paths Meet trilogy. All three books are about love and the messiness of family. Book 3 is especially pertinent to me at the moment, however, because two of the characters are growing old. Initially without the support and understanding they need. Katy Gray, who has already lost the older people in her family, is determined they will live well until their last breath. 

* * *

They happen to all of us if we are lucky. The big birthdays that arrive once every decade. The birthdays that bring squeals of delight at 10, partying at 20, a quiet satisfaction that we are now really and truly adults at 30...and on and on it goes. 40, 50, 60, 70...I wonder how many of us will make it to 100. Do we even want to? If we are still active and healthy, then probably. If not, then probably not. As I said, we need to be lucky. And if we know someone like Katy Gray then we are doubly lucky.

Well one of my big birthdays is coming up. Another 10 years has flown by since the last one and yet it seems like yesterday. That's another problem with growing older, time shrinks! 

I celebrated the last one in Australia with our son and family, and because Australia is sunny and hot in March, we ate in a very relaxed restaurant near the beach. Then I had another 3 separate celebrations with Australian friends, all of whom seemed to be vying to give me the best time. I remember Oysters Kilpatrick, fine Australian wines, a surprise fish and chip picnic at the end of a fabulous boat trip, a concert at the Sydney Opera House...that birthday seemed to go on and on and I cherish the memories.


This one will be in the UK with daughter and family. It will be a far more formal affair I'm told. Glad rags are the order of the day although I still don't know where I'm going. When I was given the choice between a party or a family meal it didn't take more than a moment to choose the meal. There were a couple of reasons. The first is that I don't really enjoy being the centre of attention (it's an only child thing!) The second is, however, far more serious. I don't want to look like a 'Billy no mates!'

Because we have travelled a great deal so many of our very dear friends live in different countries. Once that would not have been a problem but now we are all so much older, it is. Even those who live in the UK, friends and family alike, have mostly stopped travelling. Too many cars on the road, too many old age ailments, preferring to sleep in their own beds, the list is a long one. There will be Zoom calls and WhatsApps. There will be smiling faces on FaceTime. I'll still get to see or hear from all of them without putting them through the pressure of travelling or having to say no. Again, how lucky are we to grow old in a world where we can talk to friends across the world at the click of a button. I remember so clearly my grandmother waiting and waiting for those tissue thin airmail letters that were the only thing that kept her in touch with her sons when they lived and worked overseas. 

I believe there will also be a small celebration with neighbours but as they are all within walking distance I won't feel bad about that:) And there is one other positive to look forward to. Shortly after the birthday celebrations are over, we'll be travelling to visit our son and family again. Now they live in Singapore we are looking forward to warming our cold English winter bones while we still can. And my decade birthday present from them is an en-famille long weekend in Indonesia (a short ferry trip away) so I'm still travelling...just. But then a son and daughter-in-law and, ten years on, a nearly 11 year old granddaughter, is a great pull. I might not be able to travel on my next decade's birthday though, so I'd better make the most of this one.

Happy birthday to anyone else out there who will have a decade birthday in March.

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