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Singaporeans experienced two rounds of tremors in the space of two hours on Tuesday, following two earthquakes in Padang, Indonesia. Singapore's Meteorological Services Division said the first tremors were felt at about 11.50am after an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck Padang on the island of Sumatra. The epicentre was 50 kilometres north-northeast of Padang and some 430 kilometres south-west of Singapore. The second round of tremors occurred around 1.50pm after another earthquake, also measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale, struck Padang. The Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received nearly 1,000 calls from the public reporting tremors after the two quakes. The tremors were felt in many parts of Singapore and in some 236 buildings. Most of the buildings were in Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Toa Payoh, Woodlands, Serangoon, Sengkang and CBD areas like Robinson Road and Shenton Way. Callers to the MediaCorp News Hotline reported tremors were also felt at Beach Road and Choa Chu Kang. Of those affected, 131 were HDB buildings, 95 commercial buildings and 10 private residences. Witnesses said some tall buildings in the central business district swayed slightly. Several buildings, like the Concourse, Capital Square and Centennial Tower in the city, and even Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Clementi, were evacuated. Police said there were no reports of injuries from the tremors in Singapore. Office worker Nicholas Wong said he and his colleagues were at their office shortly before lunchtime when they felt the building shaking. "We grabbed our bags and just evacuated," he told 93.8 Live radio station. "Everyone was panicking. One of my colleagues was crying because she had never felt such an effect before. We were all rushing out of the building." But public relations executive Gavin Liow, 23, said he and his colleagues took it calmly. "I thought, what the hell was it? You don't expect such things to happen," he told AFP. Danny Tan Ming Xiong, 24, said he and his colleagues also felt the tremors. "We were kind of freaked (the) first time. My colleagues and I thought we were giddy. Everyone started asking each other if we felt it, then realised the building was shaking," he told AFP. "My company made the decision to get out of the building. We went down 40 storeys by stairs." A spokesman for Saint Andrews Junior College said the first tremor disrupted lessons and students were dismissed after the second one "to pre-empt further interruptions, and in the students' interests and safety." Another office worker told Channel NewsAsia he saw people screaming as they went out. Others felt no tremors at all but got swept along by the general reaction. "I didn't feel anything when one of my colleagues called me to evacuate," said South African Bulelwa Makina, 24. "This is my first time feeling a tremor in Singapore but because I have been here for a while, I do know that Singapore does get tremors from other countries so I wasn't shocked," she told AFP. - CNA/ir

Well, the haze situation has improved. But I've been too busy moving house to worry a lot about it ... has been madness, trying to unpack with a baby that cries frantically the minute you put her down and wants to be carried all the time. She refuses to sleep unless she's lying on top of me as well (wakes the minute I put her in the cot). Looks like I'm not going to be doing any blogging for a while ...

Noticed this in Craig's post under the South China Heatwave thread. Yep, good names. :lol: Spring Begins Feb 4 Rain Water Feb 19 Awakening of Insects Mar 6 Spring Equinox Mar 21 Clear and Bright Apr 5 Grain Rains Apr 20 Summer Begins May 6 Grain Fills May 21 Grain in Ear Jun 6 Summer Solstice Jun 21 Slight Heat Jul 7 Great Heat Jul 23 Autumn Begins Aug 8 End of Heat Aug 23 White Dew Sep 8 Autumn Equinox Sep 23 Cold Dew Oct 8 Hoar Frost Oct 23 Winter Begins Nov 7 Little Snow Nov 22 Great Snow Dec 7 Winter Solstice Dec 22 Little Cold Jan 6 Great Cold Jan 20 More info can be found in Wikipedia.

Our newest colleague made these mooncakes. :lol: He seems to have missed his vocation - they look really professional. Well, maybe he'll set up his own bakery one day. :lol: The Chinese words are "zhong qiu yue bing, hua hao yue yuan" which translates as "Midautumn mooncakes, beautiful flowers & full moon (also signifying conjugal bliss)". Read about the Midautumn festival here. :o

A friend in Auckland sent me some photos, including this nice rainbow. However I was more struck by her photo of the University of Auckland Clock Tower : It looks quite unique. Why can't we have this in Singapore? I tried finding out more about the architect, but all I could discover was that he is Roy Alstan Lippincott, and that "the Clock Tower combined traditional architectural elements with local decorative motifs : flax flowers, ponga fronds and kaka can be found in the stone detailing". It's quite meaningful that local motifs were incorporated in the design, but I'd hoped to find out more. I don't know much about architecture, but this looks rather Gaudi to me. :unsure: [Edit : My friend wrote from Auckland : Managed to find something on the Clock Tower in a university heritage trail booklet left in the plane pocket on our flight to Queenstown (how queer - anyway, I've kept it as a souvenir). Seems like Lippincott's design was criticised as un-British and out of harmony with NZ national character. It was widely ridiiculed as 'Maori Gothic and denounced for resembling both a wedding cake and a cruet. A poet (Fairburn) suggested it would frighten old ladies in the park. Ha, ha. Hmm. Nothing about him being influenced by Gaudi. But I still like it a lot. ]

Pat has an 8-year old nephew living in Australia. One day in the office she grinned at me & said, "Want to read a letter from Julian?" She handed me a white envelope with the words : Ee's Boss Mad Office solemnly written in scrawly handwriting on it. It turned out that "Ee" referred to "Yi-Yi" which is "Auntie" in Chinese. The letter read : Dear Ee's Boss, can you please give my Ee time off as leave to visit me in Sydney for my Confirmation. My Ee is my God-ma. I long to see her in person. Please let her come to see me thank you God Bless you, Yours lovingly Julian the Boss PS. or else! * Pat giggled & said that Julian thought our boss wasn't willing to give her leave at the end of the month, so he'd written the letter & given it to her dad (who was visiting at the time). I asked if she was going to show the letter to our boss but she laughed & shook her head. I think she should have, though.