Today saved my sanity. Though none of us drove, my friends made an effort to come out in the heavy rain to catch up with me. I went for our ritual brunch at Holland V, and met my jc girlfriend afterwards to shop.

I miss brunch at the usual haunt, where we would flip idly through newspapers while we talked. I miss the open-air cafes we have here, even though it's too wet to sit outdoors now.

I miss the fun of shopping with girls. I miss how we pick out clothes which often seem wrong to each another, and will screech "drop that!" without heeding the sales people. Each of us will have a weak spot and mine will be clothes with weird designs. I bought a deconstructed buttoned shawl which can be transformed into a halterneck top today, and even the act of wearing it was fun cos it took me ages to figure out what to button.

The most important lesson today is all this made me realise why I came back.