It's not a weekend until someone goes to the ER

Little known fact dispensed by a taxi uncle: elderly Singaporeans save up all their aches and worries for Sundays when they get their kids to drive them to an ER. 

We headed out bright and early this morning to the Singapore Mountain Bike championships. I have to say it was a fairly bizzarre event though not unlike other sporting events here. Some made-up rules and regulations and things that just defy logic that were probably mis-translated from a rule book somewhere. Cyclists were placed at the start line in the order they registered so strong riders couldn't place themselves at the front (which is super dangerous as they then have to get around the slow ones). Everyone attending even as spectators had to sign in -- wouldn't want anyone to congregate anywhere in Singapore without someone knowing about it!



Joel had an unfortunate bail on the first lap and rode back to the first aid tent to have his arm bandaged so he could continue the race. Having lost a lot of time he managed to make up a full minute on the next lap but had to stop again to fill up his tire. Back on the course again the race officials disqualified anyone in the bottom 20% even if they weren't lapped (the mystery rule book comes in again) so Joel headed back to the tent with bleeding bandages upset he wasn't able to stay in to see if he could catch up to more riders. It was a sad finish.

Joel went down to the National University Hospital but encountered a very long queue full of people who really should be at a walk in clinic. He gave up and went down to Mt Elizabeth, a private hospital, and after 30 minutes got in and got stitched up and bandaged. They sent him home with an antibiotic (they don't mess around here) and a powerful pain killer. I googled the pain killer first and saw that it's banned in the US by the FDA. Great! This has happened nearly every time we've been to a doctor here so consider yourself warned.

We are planning on ordering indian food and spending a quiet evening indoors away from dangers like bikes and pointy plants. Happy Canada Day!