16.4.2026 Thursday - a slow day

I feel mentally slow today; maybe it is the heat and maybe is the foot injury. But I am heavy headed and achey - the lunch with Sam and the gym session does not help. I am in bed early and wake up late. 

There are several highlights though; HP comes on her own accord to see me about site planning issues. I hope to see more of that. Freddie comes over to discuss project fee claims with Sean, and does not include me (I see that as a sign of independence, which he sees in Sean as well), I have a good chat about the website with my two elves - they have ideas about how to improve traffic. And later in the evening, JY has a chat about the apartment layouts with Freddie (who happened to be sitting nearby) and had some firm ideas about design, which I am very happy to see and hear. 

I saw this and though of some ideas for the Toorak House

https://archello.com/project/premio-unic

15.5.20224 Wednesday - back at work

After this trip and observing how some of my friends in Taiwan work - I am determined to be more focused in my work and do more. More detailing, more detailed work, more face to face reviews with colleagues, more site walks to see progress and quality of work. 

I start the day back at the gym; running on the new slippers and feeling good about myself, and worrying about Sam's shoulder ( I hope it is only a pinched nerve).

At the office, I start with phone-calls; to Aziz about septic tanks and appointment of the right engineer, to Pui about job scope, to PH about status of his projects, to Kamal about rain water harvesting, Rewi about submission dwgs and so forth. Texting is fine, but sometimes it takes a chat over the phone. 

I play squash with Kheng (1-1), and Patrick (5-1) who complains about not playing for a week and poor form. I think to myself, I have not been playing either. I think his problem is consistency, not just fitness - he tries too many low percentage shots. Fitness is both cardio vascular and muscle; if you are both out of breath and your muscles are tired; many things go wrong. Anyway, I am glad to be back in the courts.

we find out the Teck is considering using a China contractor to build the hotel complex

Mayday Mayday!

I have fallen behind in my blog entries – the trips to Yangon and Europe are only partly to blame, as I have been busy at work finishing off our ‘ job-bank’ projects. These are projects which are in their initial stages and require resolution for planning approval. Since planning approvals can take up to two years, these projects are similar to money in the bank; fixed deposits to be put away for a future rainy day. They will not be built for another two years at least.

 Amongst all the large scale projects, I consciously find time for smaller projects to keep myself in touch with the process of exploration and drawing. I usually do these projects with the younger members and students in the office - as a training process for them. 
I enjoy the smaller projects as they usually foster more informal communication with the client, as can be seen in the notes and sketches above. They serves as our 'minutes' of meeting; the sketches do replace a thousand words (quite easily). Not all my drawings are hand drawn; I like the sketchiness of this software making it more akin to the hand drawn line than a photo-realistic image.

In May, I will try to sequence my blog entries according to the Europe trip as I have made many notes of events and stories in the making – and sketches to accompany them. I mentioned in my earlier post that this is a study trip organised by our local Architects’ Institute; so the priority is to visit buildings and places of culture and interest, with side trips to sample local delicacies with an open mind and wallet. As the trip progresses it becomes clear that unfortunately, not all our travel companions share this attitude.