Nuno : "Its all about winning ; competing and getting the maximum out of every match"

The game at Middlesbrough is the turning point for Wolves ; Away to a strong team at Riverside, 2 brilliantly taken goals in the first half, first a superb second strike from Costa, and then a fierce header from Cavaleiro. In the second half, all things turned against them, they had 2 men (internationals Neves and Doherty) sent off in the 55th and 75th minute respectfully and heroically managed to cling on with 9 men, till the 95th minute (4th minute of stoppage time when Brandsden snapped home a late late consolation goal.

What a cliffhanger of a game ! End to end football, skill, pushing, shoving, sliding tackles, goals, kicks and headers gone wrong. Goals of superb quality, cold wintry late afternoon and 2 internationals sent off in a game which will be etched in the fans collective memories.

I am 4000 odd kilometers away and can feel the passion and enthusiasm ; I can imagine the atmosphere there would be charged up and electrifying !    

So, all that is needed is nine points with 7 games to go. They are top at 85 points and I predict them to easily get 100 points to most likely win promotion and likely as champions too.

Nuno Esperito Santos is a man with vision, he instills discipline, and most importantly he has a very strong belief and passion for his team. This is apparent at the end of the game where he went out and hugged each and every player like they had won a Cup final.

Proudly behind the team ; I used to be a fair weather fan ; now call me 'die hard' !

Indeed, it is. Each game is a Cup final. In my almost 40 years of following them, I have never been more proud to say this ; Come On you Wolves !!! Grreat Stuff !!!  

Most wonderful woman in the world to me ; my Mum Anna

    My Mum Anna and Dad Geoffrey aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2003, being invited 
                                          to dine at the Captain's table

There are 2 most wonderful women in the world in my mind. my mother and my wife. My mother Anna (1930- 2011) was and is the most wonderful person in my early years. She was the Personal Assistant to the Permanent Secretary (PS) of Health for almost 40 years having served 4 PS in her time, the last being the honorable Kwa Soon Bee for the last 15 years of her working life.

My Mum was originally from Canton (Guangzhou) and she was the eldest of 4 sisters and 2 brothers (one half brother). She was very driven yet kind hearted person who raised my brother and I up. In the '60s of our infancy, she held a full time job and was a good mother to John and myself ; in those days when the pace of life was not so frenetic, she would be home by 5.30 pm and tend to us. We had a nurse maid, called Kaka (or sister) and she would advise Kaka on what to cook for dinner. It would normally be Chinese food.

My grandmother or Por Por also stayed in the bungalow house with us at Adis Road. I will post some photos of that idyllic time where we spent a lot of time playing in the massive garden - rundown by today's standards and we had neighbourhood kids played, and fought with us. There was much less income inequality or the impact of it in the '60s and '70s as compared to today. Nowadays, the difference in living standards here and (especially) in other parts of the world is very wide.

My criticism of today's youth is that they are soft, spoilt (given practically everything they want) and have a very entitled opinion of life compared to when I was young. We have 2 young men in my family, and I have checked with other friends and the verdict is similar.

Back to my Mum, the values she taught me and I am still trying my hardest to uphold are :

a) frugality
b) wisdom 
c) financially savviness
d) hard working     
e) giving back to society or benevolence

She held the family's finances well and I am profoundly respectful of her financial judgement and acumen. She once famously told me in my face when I was a young sales manager, and was deciding on my first purchase of wheels : "Mark why spend so much on a car ? You are not going to sleep or live in it ? ". The logic in that was startlingly brilliant as many of us today get carried away with chasing the Golden Calf.   

She also gave me fantastic advice on our first property in the early 90s as she advised my wife and I about the 3 basic factors to acquiring property ;  location, location and location.

She was also frugal, not taking many overseas holidays on her own or with her girlfriends rather she was more interested in helping out close friends who were like her extended family.

While she went on numerous holidays with us in SE Asia as part of the swim team (chaperone) to Manila, Jakarta, KL, Penang and Bangkok in the 70s, after we started out tertiary education, she kindly paid for my brother and myself to enjoy months long holidays during our undergraduate term breaks  (1985 (twice) and 87). I had the privilege of taking a Father Mother scholarship paid by my lovely parents to visit USA (5 weeks) in June of 1985, Australia in December 1985 and Europe 1987 April - May. So I had the privilege  of visiting the 3 major continents of the developed world even before I started my first real job.

She stayed mainly in Singapore for the most part of 80s till the mid 2000s, I recall she only took a paid company holiday to Sydney / Gold Coast in 1997 and another on the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2003 for 7 days from Hong Kong to Singapore. Hence the picture above was one of the highlights of her  overseas travels. 

I guess her frugality and humbleness had left us a decent inheritance which I must learn to pass on to the next generation - it is their birthright and entitlement. 


Her financial acumen was great, dabbling in investments like stocks and shares, property and foreign property. Totally awesome for a lady with only HSC (Higher Senior Cambridge) or 'A' Levels certifications ! 

                   My lovely wife, May in Florence (Dec 2017) -the other wonderful woman 

Here's to Anna ; love you and Papa always and will keep the flame burning brightly ever   after for you ! Your warm heartedness and kindness will be etched in my memory forever.

  

June 1991 ; my drive into the Swiss mountain on a train at Simplon Pass

      This is one trip I will never forget, I was 29 years old, a Sales Manager who just finished his sales meeting in Balingen, Germany and then took a drive on his rental Opel Astra 1.4 from Switzerland into Italy via a vehicular train at Simplon tunnel. The early portion of the video shows me stopping by the lakeside at Interlaken District (between the lakes). People drive on the right hand side of the road, and the steering is on the left, so it took some adjustment at the beginning as I was trying to switch gears, I then realised the 'gear' to my left was the window handle ! The gear shift was on the right hand side of the driver and the window handle on the left, a complete lateral inversion of the mind !   It sure took some mental and then muscle memory adjustment before I became quite adept at the whole driving on the RHS and seated on LHS thing ! 

     The mountains you see in this video are the Swiss Alps and the train ride which the car was on took something like 45 minutes. The first portion shows some nice hills and mountains, before we were enveloped into total blackness of the mountain. The engineering genius of the Swiss who have dug tunnels into their mountains all in the name of efficiency of transport and defence. It is not a joke that their mountains are full of holes for vehicles and storage and similar to their Swiss Emmenthal Cheese ! 

    However, I crossed into another country in Europe which for me as a young man  was something of a great adventure !

    This is a VLOG from 27 years ago ; way before VLOGs became popular. I am the first generation Vlogger ! HAHA 

Grit, Determination and Will ; the factors to a win - Character

The values which shape us will always be with us throughout the rest of our lives, here is a classic example of a come from behind win by Wolves against Bristol City away at the end of the year. They had 1 player sent off before half-time Danny Baath but kept fighting on with all their might, never said die and kept on until Doherty was knocked onto the ground by the opposing keeper. 

From then on, Wolves kept on the pressure and scored two tremendous set piece goals which killed off the Bristol City team, right at the death, as I must say.

Nuno Esperito Santos who was sent to the director's box was so emphatically happy for the team he was fist pumping much to the unhappiness of the Bristol City fans. This is team spirit for you !

Grit, pull up your socks when down. 
Never say Die - Keep going and learn from your past mistakes
Will to Win - this is Desire at the highest level.

The rest are just as important ;
Skill
Teamwork
Stamina 
Focus

My prediction is that they will emerge champions by early May and prepare for the Premier League next season which will bring on new challenges.

Best Game in my mind for this season for the Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

7 June 1991 - a visit to Heraeus Votsch factory and with the Global Reps ; Video of Past Glories !

This is a 27 year old video ! I was a young wet behind the ears Sales Manager from Trio-Tech International then.

Trio Tech represented the brand Heraeus Votsch and the factory was situated in Balingen in Southern Germany. The earlier video showed me driving the rental Opel 1.4 Astra and drving through the Simplon Pass in Switzerland.

The folks in the video are the rep from Egypt (forgot his name), Root Lin of Taiwan, K.K. Chan of Hong Kong, Barry Hardwick, Hamid and Paul from Votsch U.K. and the indominatable Frank E. Rigley who was the Regional Sales Manager for the Far East from 1988 till 1993 when he was ousted from the company.

Those heady days are still fresh in my memory.

Have I aged as much ???  Do I look better or worse off now ??  Do I care actually ??     

9 June 1991 - a drive through Simplon Pass Switzerland ; a video never to be repeated !

To run 21 km in below 2 hours 15 minutes !

Very decent time of 6 minutes 53 seconds per km for up to 20 km. 

As I was running through some old photos in my IMac, I chanced upon a picture taken in 2015 in the leadup to my last race - the SC marathon in 2015 ; the distance of 20 km and with a very decent training time of 2 hours 17 ; Oh I am really stoked up now !

The days of running sub 2 hours are probably gone, but at least I will continue to train and give and get some decent times for 2018 ! My running days are not over yet ! Not by a long shot ! 

Almost There !

Wolves secured an emphatic 3  - 1 win over Burton Albion (the Brewers for short). How times have changed for them. This weekend is the international break and there are reportedly 9 players who will be called up for international duty. Among them are :

1. Reuben Neves (Portugal - senior squad)
2. Reuben Vinagere (Portugal Under 21)
3. Romain Saiss (Morocco - senior squad)
4. Barry Douglas (Scotland)
5. Matt Doherty (Republic of Ireland) ; my favourite player in this current squad
6. Alfred N'Diaye (Somalia)
7. Benfik Afobe (Demcratic republic of Congo)

This match showed the true class of Neves, Costa, Cavaleiro, Cody, Jota and Boly to name at least half the squad.

This team is the team to beat ; lets hope next year NES can get them in the top half of the Premier League ! 

1. Magpie 2. Banana Trees - Claude Monet (I do not own the rights to these pictures) ; just sharing.

Magpie in Winter - Monet 

More paintings from the Impressionists era  (Claude Monet, Manet, Renoir, Sisley and Rembrandt). Above is the Magpie in winter, an oil on canvas which shows the lovely winter's day with the sun shining and the shadows long. In the background, it is anyone's guess whether that is a lake or field. I mistook the frame for part of the painting (on the kleft hand side !)   

Banana Trees - Monet 

This must be painted in some tropical country but I felt the Magpie painting to be of better quality than the Banana trees. While the colours are vivid,somehow the subject matter of the magpie is in stark contrast to the numerous subjects in this banana plantation.

The Seine river in winter 

A beautiful painting capturing the houseboats in the foreground and one of the bridges (Paris has 13 if I recall) in the background. Some boats have chimneys on them as this was the age before electric heating and solar panels.

This is done by Auguste Renoir in the late 1800s.  He (as was Claude Monet) was a chain smoker, and a small wiry man who drank coffee while painting. The made several films in black and white of the Impressionist masters and it was fascinating to see that though they were poor by those standards, they did not go hungry and had benefactors supporting them. 

Carpe Diem. 

Residenza Bistrot de Venise 6 Dec 2017

Provides lodging and Exquisite Food, On the Michelin Bib Gourmand list  

The best time to visit Venice for my wife and I was December, not least both of us have very busy work schedules and there was a window either in mid October and most of December. We did not want to fight with the Christmas tourists either, so we elected to book for the first 2 and a half weeks of Decemeber 2017 for a glorious getaway in romantic Italy. Venice is all what they say about it ; full of history, the Piazza St Marco is practically empty this time of year, yet in the winter coolness the sun still shines brightly practically every day we were there. What luck ! 

I recall we booked several guided tours,one was the tour of the Basillica St Marco, the Doge's Palace (old name for the Duke or Emperor) and another day we had a tour to the neighbouring isles of Murano and Burano> Murano is famed for its glass making factories and Burano for its pretty mediterranean like cottages, a church and romantic waterways with many small boutiques selling Italian handicrafts and trinkets most likely made in China ! 

Their Piece de Resistance or Signature Dish 6 Dec 2017 

The fine dining is Venice is there, and Residenza Bistrot de Venise is located at San Marco 4865 Calle Dei Fabbri, VEW 30124. It has an exceptional hotel (rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on Trip Advisor) and a really fine dining restaurant. I had the Venetian suckling pig 'Civiro' with orange, which required a slow oven cooking for 24 hours. Potatoes and stewed pear were the accompaniment to this extremely tasty dish. My wife had the seabass with brocolli and mashed potato together with some fine Venice port (if I recall correctly).

The pork was well cooked, fried but the skin was not as crispy as the way the Chinese roast pork sellers in Singapore offer it.  The meat was extremely tender and flavourful, and fatty.

The potatoes were lightly stir fried with a sweet sauce and pear accompaniment. For starters we had the brocolli with beetroot powder and a cheese base altagio. 

For the price of EU 120, our lunch for 2 was no means cheap but well worth the experience.

Will we come again, well if we do venture to Venice again, I will make it a repeat stop to dine at the Bistrot e Venise. 

Me at Piazza Saint Marco 5 Dec 2017 

Marco Polo was an Italian (Venetian) as was Chistophero Columbus (Florentine) ; the days of the Renaissance saw many Italians make great their names. There are so many of them, Leonardo da Vince, Michalengelo, Rafael and Donatello to name a few. Coincidentally the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles copied their names unahamedly. I guess imitation is the greatest form of flattery !

I hope to put up more of this unforgettable trip soon. 

Art Gallery Singapore Permanent Exhibition

Ang Ah Tee 1943 "Alley Chinatown" 

On the left hand side of the voluminuos Art Gallery lies the exhibition of South East Asian artists, and I highlight some of the more striking ones.  While viewing the pictures, I am transported vicariously to another Singapore before I was born ; the use of oil on canvas above creates a subtle image and the art is exquisitely beautiful.  

Lim Cheng Hoe 1995 "Singapore River"

Another art piece, by Lim Cheng Hoe. This is using water colour on canvas (I think) ; and  the colours make it striking to the viewer. 

Unnamed 1958 "Picking"

This piece shows what happens when the National Environment Agency authorities come and chase away the street vendors in the 'old days'. The expressions on the faces of the ordinary people on the sidewalk show how each one reacts to the situation ; it is really a great piece of art and the poor vendor is left picking up his strewn fish from the floor which probably dropped off when he was running away from the authorities. 

   

Century of Light ; Impressionists Exhibition 10-11 March 2018

         In the last 2 years, I have had the opportunity to visit several museums in Europe, in particular, the Louvre and the Musee de Orsay in Paris as well as the Church of Santa Maria della Grazia in central Milan to name two.

My interest for fine art was stoked by these visits, especially Leonardo da Vinci's "the Last Supper"  which I will put up in another post.

This last weekend, i had the opportunity to enter for free 2 days to view the Century of Light (I will assume it is the 19th century) whereby the many Impressionist painters lived and plied their trade in Paris and Florence. The paintings were on loan from the Musee de Orsay
and the museum goers which attended the viewings while I was there was mainly an eclectic bunch, of tourists, foreign expats and locals.  

The 2 - 3 painters works which i was privileged to admire and was enthralled (yes it was fascinating to say the least) with was Claude Monet. Manet and Auguste Renoir. There were dozens of artists living and ekeing out a living in Paris, and almost all were dirt poor. It seems like poverty and a basic necessity driven life are the prerequisites for creating a masterpiece.

Here are 2 of these from the Impressionists

Lillies in the garden (his) - Claude Monet 

Monet ; painting by Auguste Renoir

While I was much younger I spared no time appreciating the Masters. Now, I am well into Middle Age, suddenly the paintings seem to be speaking a language of another time and message to me.

Carpe Diem 

    

Leeds 0 Wolves 3 ; Wolves back to winning ways with brilliant victory at Ellend Road

2 goals from set piece corners resulted in the first 2 goals and a beutiful controlled lob from Benfik Afobe completed the rout of Leeds United at Elland Road.

Scorers :  1. Romaine Saiss  (midfielder)
                 2. Willy Boly (Defender)
                 3. benfik Afobe (Striker)


My prediction : Wolves to emerge Champions by May with 99 points.