This beautiful sight greeted us as we emerged from Sunset Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit yesterday. This cloud formation is called the altocumulus and supposedly warns of impending rain; nevertheless, still an amazing spectacle. That reminded me of the sand ripples at the bottom of the seabed which had fascinated me as a child.

Uncle Paul, who had come back from Malacca with his family to celebrate the Chinese New Year here, suggested that we have dinner at the Gurney Drive hawkers? corner. The traffic congestion five kilometres away from our destination portended the state of things to come.

Gurney Drive is not the place to go to during festive holidays. Traffic came to a crawl as we entered the beachfront. Parking space was hard to come and Peter, my cousin, had to wait a while to get one. The hawker?s corner was packed to the brim but Uncle Paul who had arrived earlier than us had a table waiting for us. The food was cut-throat expensive. I did not eat much as nothing caught my fancy.

We adjourned to the promenade after we had finished our food. It was equally crowded there. There were makeshift stalls selling fireworks. Children and adults were lighting all kinds of sparklers, roman candles, rockets and missiles that lit up the night sky in a pyrotechnic of colours and explosions. That was also a hazardous place to be with merrymakers recklessly hurling firecrackers all over the place, notwithstanding the acrid fumes that filled the air. We left a short while later and got stuck in another traffic jam on the way back.

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There are many advantages of having a doctor for a neighbour. Recently, I met Dr. Anthony. He stays at the block next to mine. When I told him I wanted to have my blood tested last Thursday, he instructed me to fast from 10pm onwards. The next morning, he came and extracted three vials of blood. No waiting. No fuss. I have been meaning to get my blood screened for diabetes and renal function for a while now. I should get my blood tested routinely because of my condition. What I dislike is the perennial long queue at the hospitals.

I received the report early this week. It stated that I am mildly anaemic and my Total Cholesterol/HDL is level slightly above average. Those are the least of my worries. However, my serum creatinine is way too high which is a concern. The creatinine is a yardstick for kidney health. Dr. Anthony will be making an appointment for me to see a nephrologist and urologist for further tests next week.

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There were many. Now there is only one. This cannot even be called a Reunion Dinner because there is no one to be reunited with. Nevertheless, I cooked myself a rather scrumptious meal.

When Mum was around, she never failed to cook my favourite Chinese New Year dish which is the Hou Si Fatt Choy. This is braised dried oyster with black moss, roasted pork, shitake mushroom and Chinese cabbage. I have never done this before but it tasted just like how Mum used to cook it.

The other dish was Luo Han Zai which is a Buddhist vegetarian stew. It did not turn out well as all the ingredients were mushed. I had used water chestnut, button mushroom, cloud ear fungus, cellophane vermicelli, dried sweet bean curd, gingko nuts, cabbage and red fermented bean curd.

My neighbour Soon Leong and his wife had invited me to have lunch at his apartment. Mum and I had New Year Eve lunch at their place last year. I wanted to be alone this year to spend some time in quiet contemplation. This Chinese New Year and subsequent ones will never be the same again without Mum. Hopefully, I will get used to it in years to come. For now, I will try to pretend that it is just another ordinary day.

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