I was reading about contracts in my business law textbook, and I got to the section about situations where contracts can be unenforceable. In the example for bilateral mistakes of fact, the text explains:
"The classic case on bilateral mistake is Raffles v. Wichelhaus, which was decided by an English court in 1864."
Basically the problem was a misunderstanding of when goods were being shipped to Bombay from Raffles to Wichelhaus. Anyhow, when I saw "Raffles" my heart skipped a beat.
Stamford Raffles = Singapore
The man practically founded Singapore, even though people had been living on the island for years and other countries were using it as a port city before the British.
I scoured my photo library, but I couldn't find a picture of Raffles. Everything is named after him. There is a Stamford Road (which was the road I walked on everyday to catch the bus home from SMU), Raffles Ave, Raffles City mall, Raffles MRT stop (with a statue of him outside). The city has a million statues of this guy, and I don't have a single picture. Go figure. This however is the super famous Raffles Hotel, so colonial it's complete with Sikh doormen. It was named after Raffles and was not actually his hotel. It's been around since the 1887.
This picture doesn't do it justice. It really is a beautiful building with breathtaking landscaping.
Anyway, I said all that to say -- I just got really sad and wished I was back in Singapore. Just for a little bit. I would gladly endure that 18 hr flight if I could go back. Oh how my heart aches.
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