The Straits Times 266 pages in nine parts: a mighty newspaper for a Saturday morning. The adverts caught my eye, I have to say: the news is fine but rather parochial for the most part and of only passing interest for an erstwile nomad like me. 45,000 people have signed up for the free wifi broadband service now opening up across Singapore. 600 hot spots started up yesterday and there will be 4,400 more by September next year. Read about it here. Those adverts, then: digital products are definitely the order of the day. Of the 40 pages in the first section of today's edition

• there are mobile phone adverts on pages 2, 3, 4, 13, 17 (this advert for Sony Ericsson is ruined by including a large mug shot of that odious Robbie Williams), 18, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38
• there are adverts for other digital products on pages 5, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 29, 30, 32, 34

I must say that there are some really good looking bargains here too. DW

BBC World? Wouldn't give you tuppence for it! The BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation? Don't think so. Along with all other news services that I know of, BBC World has a strapline running across the bottom of the screen that keeps us up to date with latest developments. It's filled with stories to keep us interested or keen to learn more. So, Sport come up and I fully expect the first cricket story to tell us the lastest score in the world's most important match going on at the moment ... The Ashes. No, they start with India and South Africa. So, it's the second story, then: no, that's reserved for the Pakistan WIndies match. Then there is no third cricket story. I really can't believe it. It took them years even to begin acknowledging the English football league so cricket clearly has a long way to go. Singapore's cloudy this morning: just thought I'd tell you that. I'm reading Alan Bennett's Untold Stories at the moment and although it's a tome, a lot of it keeps the interest but I have just read two shocking chapters in which he talks about the art wot he likes. Truly shocking. I should finish the book 'ere long and will review it in full then. DW

The course in Singapore has ended now and it went quite well. Not perfectly as the needs of the delegates and the content of the course didn't match perfectly. However, the spirit in the room was good at all times. Well done and let's hope I'm invited back for more. Went to the local IT mall again and bought a gift for someone. Well done again! I learned that those oafs from the House of Commons blagged their way over here on a "fact finding mission" to study Singapore's ERP, congestion charge system. It has taken me two conversations with two taxi drivers to sort it out. I could have told them all they need to know. Every car and bus and lorry and motor bike is fitted with a card and receiver/transmitter. Every time it goes into the charging zone it clicks off the relevant price: time zoned. If you try to beat the system by "forgetting" to put your card in the reader, your transmitter sends a signal and you are awarded an automatic S$10 fine. Well done! I'm in the middle of receiving almost 3,000 messages for some reason and it will not be stopped. Singapore needs 15,000 extra workers over the next three years so the feelers are out and you will be offered permanent residency if you are suitable and accepted. Civil Servants here are about to be paid a 2.7 month bonus for their hard work and efficiency. Ahem, imagine the bonuses to be paid over in Blighty: negative. Sorry, couldn't resist!! All employees here pay 25% of their salary to pay for their housing when they need it and their pension for later on. So, start paying in when you're 18 and then take out a mortgage when you are ready to put down roots ... If you want to own a car you have to buy a permit and that can cost upwards of S$10,000 (£3,333) and that's just for permission to buy and it's in addition to the car itself. You will then pay the equivalent of £300 - 400 a year road funlicensece. Want wifi for your laptop? Come to Singapore as they have just opened up the first batch of the planned thousands of Statewide FREE wifi hot spots. The freebies will be available to anyone who signs up for three years. After three years the funding runs out but who knows, someone could well pick up the bill from then on. Just a few things I discussed with my taxi drivers today. DW

So what's this then? Well, a prize for the first right anwer: DW

How about this, then? A representation of the wife ... Bangkok Airport Thailand Nov 2006. Three headed monster! Hope I won't be punished for that now! DW

Wouldn't you just want to hear this over the public address system? Welcome to Singapore everyone on Wednesday 29th November where the local time is 2:55 pm and the temperature outside is 32 degree centigrade, that's 89 degrees Fahrenheit. I did, this afternoon, on arrival from Bangkok where I have just presented a successful training course. Doing the same here too. Here's me out on Orchard Road this evening, in front of some of the Christmas decorations that are festooning the city. Firstly, the picture refused to upload even though it said it had! I'm trying again. Secondly, as if to be punished for showing off, I received a phone call last night from someone in the UK who didn't know I am in Singapore ... At 1:40 am. I then couldn't get back to sleep for a couple of hours. Sorry, I didn't mean to gloat. However, there is an IT mall here that would go down a storm anywhere in the UK. Moreover, that mall has a bookshop with the biggest selection of business books I have ever seen anywhere. In another part of the mall there is the biggest and best collection of computer books I have ever seen anywhere too. What a place! Let's try that picture again. DW