Took a walk on the Empress Place grounds having had an early breakfast and finding there was still time before service this morning. The Park is full of Botero sculptures all in their glorious reubenesque nudity. Yes, the unkind would say Botero sculptures are grotesquely obese, especially not representative of the "healthy lifestyle" we are supposed to be promoting here. It's as if the Sports Council people aren't talking to the Arts people and we're getting mixed signals from our authorities.

But there is something about the serene contentment, the revelry of fullness that exudes from the XXXXL figures. Their faces don't show much expression, but my impression is that they are happy. From "Adam" and "Eve" to the "Woman with cigarette" to (bow before my knowledge of Greek mythology -- I knew what the title was without looking at the plaque) "Leda and the swan" they are all in poses of rest and perhaps they serve as a reminder, in the middle of our busy cityscape, that it's ok to relax, it's ok to be contented, it's ok to be fat, um..., satisfied anyway.

To escape a bunch of evangelistic Falongong members who attempted to tell us how glorious it was to self-immolate in protest against repressive authoritarianism the first time we passed them, we detoured back to our service using a section of Nicoll Highway between the Esplanade and One Fullerton. June and I haven't walked this scenic stretch since our dating days, so a bit of nostalgia there.

Niece Joanne's birthday so after service we went to Kino, Taka to get her a book voucher. 9 years old, already a bookworm and media junkie. Aren't all first-borns like that?