1-Up to Singapore!

Singapore turned 42 today. Now we all know 42 is a very special number, so Happy Awesomely-Numbered Birthday, Singapore!

This year's National Day Parade was held at Marina Bay, owing to the (frankly dinosaurian) National Stadium undergoing a major overhaul. The show was held aboard a floating platform, with some performances spilling out onto the water and air around the platform, and it was all very, very awesome. Check out the highlights:

1) The President, for the first time, inspected all the contigents, and from a vehicle instead of on foot.

2) A Chinook helicopter hovered three metres above the sea surface, kicking up water through the action of its rotors and releasing divers into the water. These divers were later picked up by rigid-hull inflatable boats, which performed some impressive turns of their own. That's not the point though. The point is - three metres above the water! Dude!

2) The SCDF's fire-attack vehicles - I think that's what they were called - rolled in in front of the audience and sprayed them with water. They do that every year, but it never gets old.

4) The new Apache helicopters performed some impressive aerial stunts, swooping in around the buildings and towards the audience, before coming to a dead stop in mid-air, tilting in a salute and flying off. I wish I had that on tape, because it was truly awesome to behold.

5) The show segment was much as always - a lame theme with impressive performances which make you forgive them for it. This year's performance was slightly different, in that there was one central character - a lionfish-type person named Sing - who rollerbladed in and out of each of the fifteen segments, occasionally making some statement about people, home and the elements.

6) Some singer - I didn't catch his name - rolled into the platform in a white car and put in an energetic performance. He was dressed in an obvious parody of the famous Sir Stamford Raffles statue standing by the Singapore River.

7) One performance was entirely by forty-two neon-decorated kites. That's right, kites. It was delicate and magnificent all at once.

8) There were two theme songs this year. I didn't like the first one - too much putting-down of other countries' landmarks - but the second, Will You, was nice.

Will you make this island
Amazing in all ways
Suprises every corner
Delightful nights and days

Will you take this country
And turn it from a place
To a home that greets you
With smiles on every face

Will you come on this brave journey
Will you help to make it real
Will you write us grand new stories
Songs that everyone will feel

So will you swim the current
Will you scale new heights
Will you make it happen
Will you let your dreams take flight

And will you make the difference
Will you seize the day
Will you live each moment
Will you dare to find new ways

Will you take this city
And turn it from a place
To a home that greets you
With smiles on every face

Will you come on this brave journey
Will you help to make it real
Will you write us grand new stories
Songs that everyone will feel

So will you swim the current
Will you scale new heights
Will you make it happen
Will you let your dreams take flight

And will you make the difference
Will you seize the day
Will you live each moment
Will you dare to find new ways

Dare to find...
Dare to find...
Dare to find...
New ways

(Music and lyrics by Jimmy Ye. Watch the music video here.)

9) The finale was the most colourful, glittering, firework-filled thing I've ever seen. But of course nothing felt greater than singing the national anthem with the rest of the country.

It's an odd thing, this Parade. Somehow, for a few hours, everyone on the island is united in one grand show of patriotism. And this one's not yet another artificial attempt at building a national identity. The nation truly celebrates, as one.

Here's to forty-two great years from my favourite country, and here's to many more in the same spirit.