| Relationships:
Wife-husband A 75-year old husband. It was a get together of a 3 married ladies for lunch at the Singapore Sailing Club in Changi. all of whom had worked for more than 10 years. The air was still on this May 17 twelve noon. Singapore was having its heat wave. Auntie X was the career lady, Auntie Y was working with flexibile hours and Auntie Z was a retiree. When you think of retirees, you would have an image of a white-haired senior citizen but Auntie Z was just 40 years old. Auntie Y was the youngest of the 3, around 35 years old and Auntie X had worked since graduation. "How was your 25th anniversary reunion dinner?" Auntie X was asked. She had the most shimmering grey dress, short-haired cut dyed a light chocolate brown and we thought she must be having a great time meeting old classmates. Auntie X was always conscious of her dress sense. Today she was wearing a black polo-neck sweater and a long purplish floral silk dress. Big S-shaped ear rings, plucked eyebrows with pencil lines drawn and make up to cover her freckles made her look like one of those tai tais who always shop at the best and use branded bags like Pravada. That was what Auntie Z said. Probably she had an Orchard Road downtown hairdresser at $200 per hair trim. You just associate her with the best money can buy. Auntie Y and Z were the jean and T-shirt types. Auntie Y does not even use make up and Auntie Z seemed more interested in protecting her lips after every meal, with a touch of lipstick. We expected good stories from the reunion. All ears were wide open. "Boring" was the keyword. Everybody was asking what each one was doing and how many kids they had. The few exciting ones were the singles. The men were all aged and paunch. Apparently, Singapore men do not look after themselves after marriage. Somebody asked whether Auntie X was still married to the tall chap. Well she was. But the tall chap is now a "75-year old". He was really 50 years old but his wife considered him slow. It was a shock to the other ladies as he was normal to them. Auntie Y said that her husband was slow too and there was much empathy, citing one case when she asked Auntie X's husband to inform her husband that she was waiting for him outside the club. Waited for over half an hour with no husband coming out. What did he do? He was having a drink with her husband at the Club. The aunties concluded that the husbands acted like old men because they associated with doctors who are usually senior. Therefore, birds of a feather behave together. But are senior doctors really that lethargic? I don't know as I don't interact with them. Wives seem to remember such incidents. Husbands seemed to be making wives wait for them. An orange spotted insect flew into Auntie Z's hair. "Don't move," I told her as I thought she was insect-phobic. As long as it was not a cockroach, there was no hysteria in Auntie Z. On the subject of cockroaches, the husbands were criticised. The husbands of Auntie X and Y would use the big can of insecticide to spray at the cockroach in the house till it falls dead. As the first few sprays would not kill instantly, the whole can could be used. "Nobody could read the newspaper after that," grumbled Auntie X who also mentioned that the whole environment in the house must be full of insecticide. "My husband would ask why the can was empty," said Auntie Y. If you sprayed the whole can onto a harmless cockroach, what would you expect at the next encounter with the enemy? All the bullets would be gone! The worst thing is that he would leave the dead cockroach for Auntie Y to pick up. I guess long-time married wives needed to vent their frustrations at husbands. Would husbands ever listen to their complaints at home? Would wives listen to their husbands' grouses? It is a 2-way communication. Apparently not. It was one ear in and one ear out for both parties. As for me, I do not spray cockroaches with insecticide till they perish as I don't buy the sprays. I used a small piece of newspaper to knock them down as Auntie X did propose. It was messy of course. What a frank husband-bashing lunch meeting. I arranged to meeting to meet Auntie X as she was too busy in her career and it was difficult to meet up to chat. The very next day, I made sure that I walk much faster than any lady walking with me. No more "ladies first". All ladies must be 2 steps behind me. Just in case, I am categorised as a geriatric before time. I must be more active. But ballroom dancing, a favourite of Auntie X and Y is just not my style. Maybe line dancing? One must change one's mindset if one has a younger more energetic wife? How do you get rid of a small paunch and get the rippling muscles of Sylvester Stallion? I would not like to be known as a 75-year geriatric. 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