The week it all happens

First play: The Big C seen on Saturday 11 October 2008 during a site inspection. Some of the PRC construction workers were quite amused when I showed up in a Taiwanese traffic police safety vest.

IR in the making: My first tour of the Big C. See how far we've progressed.

So this is the week it all happens.

It's one of the market's worst kept secrets. The tell-tale signs are there for all who bother to drag their butts out of the newsroom to take a look, instead of writing up the year's most-anticipated news release from the comfort of the newsroom with one dial-a-quote comment thrown in for good measure.

The additional C levy booths being hammered together in the shopping mall, the opening banners already installed and tied up to the columns, the opening ceremony stage set up in front of the big C. All these leading indicators are plainly visible in the public area.

Don't just look. Listen. Can you hear the buzz coming from the big C as rehearsals put the crew through their paces? The din of a gaming floor in full swing is quite distinctive.

Fight's On: The Battlestar Galactica Dueling Coasters, the tallest pair of dueling coasters in the world, underwent stringent tests consisting of several thousand runs using crash test dummies before it carried its first human passengers.

Over at the park, it was an exercise in futility trying to conceal ride tests. The roller coasters went through thousands of ride cycles with water-filled crash test dummies before the first humans boarded the coaches for the ride of their lives. It passed with flying colours.

Anyone passing by in the monorail would've noticed other kinds of stress tests on multiple occasions. Singaporeans love their food. Slashing menu prices by a hefty amount attracted hungry staff by the hundreds.

And yet market watchers missed these indicators. Oh well.

I've a heap of stuff to write about after the Singapore Airshow 2010. Will do so when I find time to take a breather - which should be soon.

Gong Hei Fatt Choy.