Sheena - Field of Dreams, the last of the Grand Old Lady

Last sat, Dear and me went to the National Stadium aka the Grand Old Lady for the very last time before it was declared officially closed - for now. We had a long day. I had tuition in the morning, while Dear had driving lesson then. I drove to tuition together with Dear and he went for driving and come back with me again where we drove to Tampines Ikea for lunch. We actually drove wrongly into the carpark for trucks, coz we followed blindly behind a bike, which can just squeeze its way around the gantry. Hai, since we couldn't force our way around the gantry too, even tho our car is really small too, we had to do an incredible reverse. I was freaked out lar. Super Panicky. Luckily Dear was with me. He guided me as I reversed up the slope, squeezed past a big truck and a bus, then down the slope and onto the main road which was a bend. My reversing isn't very good all the while, I mean it's definitely not gonna be as natural as going forward right? And I also have the phobia of rolling back on slopes (maybe it's not so bad with an auto car.) Haha, so really thank God that I didn't brung my Erjie's car. Hee.


Our lunch! Haha, I really love Ikea food. Esp the meatballs and the salmon. The sauces are awwwwwww so delicious! Haha. What's interesting abt this lunch was the side dish Dear ordered - the kids' burger and fries meal. Haha, I was thinking that's for Cuecue (our beloved baby duck! ;P), then when he placed it on the table, he said..."that's for Cuecue." Hahaha!!! Great minds think alike! =D


Oh and we bumped into this "heart". Haha i rmb last time in jc, Yuan Baobao had a miniture heart lydat from Ikea. Hmmm, or was it some other jc fren. haha.

We were feeling damn lazy and hot that day, so we drove across the road from Ikea to Giant. Haha, we even parked right outside the entrance. Haha. Thank God again that my vertical parking (without poles) isn't too bad also. Heehee.

Well, we went Giant to buy some food to munch while watching the matches the National Stadium. We bought black pepper tuna, 1.5 litre of ice peach tea and a big bunch of really sweet grapes. Then headed back home to make sandwiches and washed the grapes, getting ready for the later part of our great day. Haha.

When we drove out again to the National Stadium, I really felt so happy we could bring the car out the entire day. It was really super convenient. Esp when the sun was so super hot. And when I saw hordes of people walking towards the stadium, I was so glad we drove. Other than the carpark issue, everything was great. Hehe.

Here are some pictures, we took outside the National Stadium, about a year ago, we also took some pictures around the same area, coz we went for the NewPaper Big Walk.






The flags of the countries which played matches that day - Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. I dunno what's the last flag.

And it was time we got in. Hee, we were lucky to get a good seat in the middle of the side opposite from the VIP seats (the other horizontal section). And we continued taking more pictures even as the match of Singapore ex-internationals vs Malaysia ex-internationals were going on.


Haha, Dear managed to take this act cute picture of me! Haha. Sun was so glaring man, just couldn't bear to remove my shades. Hehe.


Again! Haha.


Hee, here is a picture of the ardent Singapore fans (those who were onz enough to join the "fans" troop.) They played some nice drum beats throughout the matches to cheer the Lions on.


The match of Singapore ex-internationals vs Malaysia ex-internationals. haha. Most of them are out of shape le. And they were really slow in kicking the ball. But really sporting of them to come out to play this last match here. The match eventually ended in (I suspect) less than 90mins at 1-1. An early goal by Singapore ex-internationals before half-time and a penalty given to the Malaysia ex-internationals. So that was a draw. Not really an exciting match and I doubt anyone really watched it carefully also. Hehe. But the Singapore ex-international goalkeeper David Lee was not bad tho. He could still make some decent saves. Hehe. Oh and tho the match was a draw, they actually tossed a coin to determine the winner, and Singapore ex-internationals won. Haha.


Some entertainment from the Tanjong Katong Sec Military Band. Hehe. I like this school's band. I remember attending SYF in sec sch and saw how cool their band were. They played many nice songs, like Go West, Cab't get you out of my eyes, and others. I've always like military bands, they offer something a little more than concert band. hehe.

Some really nice pictures at dusk:






this picture really reminds me of a similar cloud picture I took in London last time. hehe.


we were lucky to catch the sight of the planes practising for NDP. Hehe. nice!


Singapore Lions warming up for the game against the Aussie Socceroos.


Socceroos warming up. I think Harry Kewell was in that circle. Hehe.

Oh well, we spent half the day there, really got so many pictures and happenings to blog about. Haha. Got something a little unrelated now. haha. Before the Singapore vs Australia, we kept observing the group of Japaneses sitting in front of us. Haha. The kids were super cute! All look so funky wan. haha. We sneakily took a pic each of a very cute boy and girl. haha.


the cute boy. he just reminds me of the gatsby ad jap actor lor. haha. Maybe it's the hair. lol.


and the cute girl. we conclude that japanese kids are cute. haha. nice features.


And we had some lighting of the cauldron for the last time before the long awaited Singapore vs Australia match. haha. Dear managed to get a nice shot of the lighted cauldron.


Australia went on win 3-0 against Singapore thanks to goals from Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell. Hehe. We were actually interviewed by a reporter from 93.8 leh. haha. Asked us who we rooted for and why and what was the most memorable National Stadium moment. haha. Dear said Singapore and some Singapore vs some Malaysia state team match last time while I said Australia and the recent Asean Cup semis penalty shootout against Malaysia. Haha. Dunno if the interview got selected to be played on air. haha. But he shld have taken many interviews so chances are quite slim. We wouldn't know also if it got played. haha.


A shot of us during half time, the sun finally set and I can finally shed the shades. haha. This was our act cute pose very long time ago, when we 1st took pictures during CG outings when we were still not together. Hehe.


Oh, and I love this pic! Haha taken on my phone! Nice shot by Dear!

At the end of the day's programme, Kit Chan sang some song (song for Team Singapore) and the entire Team Singapore came marching out to greet everyone. Haha. But the lights of the stadium were out le. So it was quite crappy coz it was so dark and there were only a few pathetic spotlight following some of them as they marched around the track. Brian and Mark Richmond also did some reliving of memories for some great performances by past and present Singapore sports ppl. But again, it was a disappointing one coz it was all talking and no action and also the small screens at the sides only showed slides and not videos of the past events. And finally, the long awaited fireworks were also pathetic. Haha. They seemed really low-budget, hope NDP's one won't be like that. Haha.

Here are some pictures of the fireworks we managed to snap with my digicam:





We rushed out immediately at the end of the fireworks to avoid any jam, hehe and was super relieved to know we never kena any summon. haha. we put coupon for 4 hrs le. But came out 1 hour later. Coz didn't expect to stay so long. Then we had a safe journey back. Hehee. A really happy long day. A special way to commemorate the closure of the National Stadium and together with my special half. Hehe. We can show all these to our kids next time! :)