It’s been a month since the IMF/World Bank delegates packed up their meeting and went home, which means it’s time to tear up all the expensive landscaping and resume construction downtown. The bulldozers and other heavy equipment are somewhat camouflaged among the remaining foliage in this picture, but trust me, if you knew how much the Singapore government spent on landscaping and you walked by this construction site downtown, you’d stop in your tracks in disbelief too.

Meanwhile, Xmas decorations have popped up along Orchard Road already, even though it’s only October. At the Raffles City end of things, the theme seems to be poinsettia, poinsettia and more poinsettia. Very tasteful, very red — but where’s the mistletoe, I ask?