Riverman under cliff: 2008-11-09

There are many ways to leave a room... and after all the jet-a-way-and-back-again over the years, the riverman~~~ has mastered the art.

For example... there's the "Straight out through the main doors, spill onto the red carpet and smack into the screaming flashbulbs". Alternatively, there's always the "Sneaky detour through the kitchen, squeeze by the waiters and out through the delivery doors down the side street where the smokers congregate". For today however, I feel like a good old dependable "Go round the room and say goodbye before the taxi arrives".

This last month, I have sort of felt like a guest who has stayed too late at a party. You know, the type where half the guests have left, the music is on re-repeat, the confetti is on the floor and the wine's gone warm in the glass? Yes, I have been itching to leave for quite a while, and for many a recent day I have felt that the call to leave hasn't come quick enough.

Don't get me wrong though - it hasn't been unbearable by any means. I have YOU to thank for making these days absolutely wonderful! Thank you for the beer in the afternoon under palm trees and for the char kwey teow under that sole unlit umbrella in Tiong Bahru Market. Thank you for the guitar session with maggie mee on the side at 2 am. Thank you for scolding me for smoking and then allowing me to dip into your ciggarettes. Thank you for that gin and tonic up at Balcony Bar. Thank you for Bak Chor mee and the introduction to your new girlfriend. Thank you for putting up with my barrage of election update texts. Thank you making me realise that Chi-wa-was can be very sweet. Thank you for teaching me how to fly my kite out in that empty field near Kampong Java. Thank you for allowing me to empty your refrigerator of coke light and tiger beer. Thank you for playing me opera in your car. Thank you for wine at Dempsey. Thank you for telling me off, encouraging me on and driving me up the wall and teasing me to death. Coming home would not have been the same without YOU.

My bag is a little heavier than usual this time - a testament to the elastic nature of the "bare necessities". It is remarkable how quickly a suitcase fills out in the last 24 hours before you leave home. Almost as quick as the urge to get nostalgic as soon as you zip that suitcase close and look around your room. Almost as quick as the taxi takes to get to your door after you call. Almost as quick as the frantic "Goodbye" texts in a street-lamp-lit back seat. Almost as quick as the trip down the ECP and almost as quick as you see the airport control tower straight ahead...

Too quick!

So before I lug-out onto a trolley and up the terminal gates... it is simple, pretty unoriginal and you probably know it already, but you know lah...it still needs to be said: