Since the last Douglas diary, just over a week ago, a sad decision has been made.

We were due to be going to Sarawak in a couple of weeks. Tickets booked. Terns excited. All sorted.

But the smoke pollution (I refuse to use the "haze" euphemism) is really, really bad this year, and we've decided to postpone.

This pesky pollution, which is caused by unregulated agricultural burning, mostly over the border in Indonesia, is unfortunately an annual phenomenon. It usually dissipates within a few days or weeks. But this year, with the very hot, dry conditions that a mega-El Nino has produced, the (bad) air quality index is through the roof (worse than we ever experienced in our 14 years in Malaysia), and there are murmurings that the toxic nuisance is going to last a while. The last time we had a bad El Nino, we were in KL, and the smoke lingered till late October. And Sarawak, of course, is much closer to the source of the problem, so feels the effects much more acutely.

I very much want to go back to Sarawak. This is the second time we've postponed, and it really sucks. And I feel weirdly disloyal, as though I'm lacking in solidarity.

But I want to see beautiful Sarawak at its vibrant best, not with all the colour drained out; I want to get out in its lovely soft tropical air, not be scuttling round in masks and closed places; I want to lounge around with friends in kopitiams without the stink of smoke pervading my breakfast.

Hence the decision to shunt it all forward again. Of course I hope, for the sake of everyone there, that we'll be proved wrong, and the air will magically clear just as we'd been about to leave... Any which way, plans have changed.

***

Thinking all this through, and redesigning our upcoming itinerary, has taken up quite a stretch of time this week.

But there has been time for some nice things, like...:

-- Soaking up some autumn vibes




-- Drinking coffee


-- Checking out the Nao Santa Maria (from the outside anyway):



-- Visiting the small but precious Onchan Wetlands (OK, Onchan is not technically Douglas, but close enough...)






-- Enjoying another concert