That’s what we all call it in this part of the world — Chinese New Year, and I’m telling you, living in the middle of Chinatown in the build-up to CNY is like living in the middle of Oxford Street in the build-up to Christmas. The streets are crammed with market stalls and shoppers, there’s raucous live music on an outdoor stage every night, and the forest of red and gold decorations grows thicker every time I step out of the door. I kind of hate it because everyday activities like going to the supermarket or the station take about ten times as long because of the thronging hordes. But I kind of love it too.

Going home from work in the front seat of the top deck of the bus is one of Singapore’s great pleasures.

When I first moved into this block of flats with its heaving shopping centre on the ground floor, there was a shop selling Hallowe’en goods — monster masks, witches’ hats, pumpkin ornaments — located in front of the set of lifts that led up to my floor: a useful signpost in those early days when I didn’t know my way around. I kept wondering though, what would become of the shop when Hallowe’en had passed. Well, after Hallowe’en, it became a shop selling Christmas decorations. And now it’s a shop selling Chinese New Year decorations. And I guess if you’re going to make your living as a festival-decoration seller, then there’s no better place to do it than Singapore because here they celebrate the festivals of every major religion and culture. I hope I get to witness a full year’s cycle of decorations at the shop downstairs.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to have an outing at least once a week: in my first months here I was too shellshocked by the new job to get to grips with the city, but this year, I am going to start exploring. My first expedition, today, was just a stroll around my some of the more interesting-looking streets in my Chinatown neighbourhood, with my camera on “antique” setting. Some gorgeous colonial architecture, and I was hoping for boutiques, bookshops, little art galleries, but nearly every building houses a bar or restaurant. Round here, Friday nights, the streets are buzzing with expats out on the razz; they even close some of the streets to traffic to facilitate the debauchery.

OK so now that we are in January can we have an end to the rainy season, please? I am tired of grey skies.