Dear Diary. Just a quick recap on our trip to the ICA (Immigration & Checkpoints Authority) today. It was to all intents and purposes a repeat of last year, although quicker in terms of assembling the paperwork, and no medical required this time. I was rewarded with another twelve months of leave to remain as a dependent without a work permit. Be still my beating heart! But I’d rather have it than not. One perk is that you get to use the fast track passport gates at the airport - when they are available.

Anyway one other thing was that we went downstairs and checked out the ICA museum on the ground floor while waiting between interviews. This was a fascinating collection of contraband seized by Singapore customs over the years. On display were some of the several hundred bottles of Russian vodka that recently tried to sneak in. Also lots of quite interesting weapons and different ways that drugs have been smuggled - in false-bottomed shoes, food packaging etc. Bearing in mind the death penalty for drug smuggling, these were indeed dead men and women’s shoes.

Finally there was porn. This was represented by a display case of artfully arranged DVDs with packaging of some raunchy hardcore from Hong Kong. But in another display there were vintage Playboys and Penthouses. These mags were now more unobtainable than the top shelves of my youth, but still provided a poignant ‘tea and madeleines’ moment.