All I want for Christmas

"I don't have any reasons, I've left them all behind..." from New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)

I know I'm not alone in feeling depressingly claustro on Orchard Road these days. The place has turned from a bustling shopping mecca to an impossible, full-on human crush every weekend - like Chinatown in January, like Oxford St on Mardi Gras day. I've joined a gym (!) in the area, and every weekend, emerging after a workout, I'm like "Get me outta here, fast!"

Going by the throngs of teenagers unleashed after their exams, moms with strollers (what are they thinking?) and glum-looking husbands in tow, you'd think there is very little to do on a Singaporean weekend than to occupy every square inch of space in the malls. And you won't be very far from the truth.

When it takes 10 minutes to squeeze your way through a stretch that normally takes 3 minutes to cover, you know no shoe sale is worth it, no matter how tempting.

It is times like these that I so want to escape to Sydney. Yes, I know, again. Next month, in fact. Yippee!!

I know, with the unrest going on, it's crazy heading back there. Hey, no city is perfect. Like Billy Joel when he wrote New York State of Mind, it is when people are complaining and staying away from the grotty city you love, that you yearn to head back into its arms.

There are intimate bits of Sydney that you only know when you live there. Bohemian, anything-goes Newtown, which has more literary bookshops than the whole of Singapore (so-called bookstores here that actually sell stationery don't count). Homemade berry yoghurt from Harris markets that blows your mind. The moment in a City Circle train as it emerges from the tunnel and pulls into Circular Quay station, as darkness morphs into the breathtaking harbour view. Hyde Park's boulevard of trees. Glebe's ultra-boho craft markets.

One of Christmas wishes last year came true: Hog's Breath Cafe, purveyor of the juicy steaks, has opened in Singapore, though untypically, nowhere near the sea.

All I want for Christmas this year:

- pretty gym togs

- a nice little magazine rack that holds copies of the Economist snugly.

- no more 8am press conferences next year!!!

-a Krispy Kreme outlet opening here.

And of course, peace on earth. Merry Christmas, sweeties!