In the Shovel Household it’s been an amazing couple of weeks. Pregnancy and all its accoutrements have finally become Parenthood and all its highs and lows.
Last weekend on the night of the glitzy Singapore F1 Grand Prix, my Lady gave birth to our first son, Junior. While the world was watching cars whizzing around Singapore’s cute and sassy city-circuit and Singapore was either enjoying the thrills and spills or moaning about road closures, our lives were changing.
The maternity ward at Mount Elizabeth hospital behind Paragon Mall on Orchard Road (aka Mount E) took care of us. Our parents are many hours away and have their lives to get on with. Our siblings are similarly wide-spread and we’re newly arrived to the island. We’re pretty much looking for as much knowledge and guidance as we can get as new parents so that we can figure this out on our own.
On the second night, as Junior was screaming his lungs out for no apparent reason, we asked the helpful night-crew what might be going on and if there were any cues we might have missed. The delightful nurse simply picked up Junior, cradled him a little and shrugged her shoulders.
“It could be anything, it’s so hard to tell” she said,
in a matter of fact way that could only be offered by someone who is asked the same question by desperate parents every single day, yet who has the professionalism and patience to avoid emotional responses at these difficult times.
The next move was unexpected, but on reflection we suspect it is the usual course of action at Mount E, known to be the birth-place of choice for Singapore’s TV stars.
“Would you like me to take your baby to the nursery for you?”
We were somewhat taken aback at the ease at which people are offered the option to pass their newborn over to the nurses, but we persisted. We don’t want someone we don’t know (however professional) to remove our child and relinquish us of responsibilities at such a vulnerable moment. We want to know what’s normal, what’s not and what we should be expecting.
It was too much of an easy exit, too much of the “someone else do this hard work for me”. This is not normal behaviour for Singapore, the nation where the individual is not just empowered, but expected to act for themselves. We pushed the nurse on what we could do and after two attempts we finally got a response that made sense. Some helpful advice was that he might be thirsty and without Lady’s milk coming in yet, Junior might just want a little more liquid.
Sure enough, as eggs is eggs, after 3ml of water, Junior was a happy sleeping bunny again. An hour of pacing the ward with him, in my PJs, attracting unusual looks from late-night workers that suggested I could be stealing the baby didn’t do the trick, but 3ml of water and 5 careful minutes of the right questions got us an answer. Armed with this tiny nugget of information, we move on to the next day.
Shovel
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Getting older and not being quite so precious about it all...
I’ve been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks. Work has been busy and Lady and I have been dialing it back in anticipation of our new child joining us.
One of the things that I’ve been realising is that the older you become, the less worried you are about some things but the more worried you are about others. Your pressure points and concerns change.
It’s the little things I think I’ve noticed first. I don’t know whether it is me trying to blend in but I find myself belching just that little more openly at dinner. Not raucous, gut-wobbling belching, but a pleasing small bubble of post-dining contentment. I’d like to think that I can keep up with the Grannies and Aunties who you’ll hear let rip after a plate of fried bee hoon at the hawker centre, but I think my English sensibilities will hold me back for a good few years yet.
I’m not into hocking and spitting into the open sewers (or even public litter bins) like most guys here, but, yes, I’ll probably be more inclined to pass a small bottom-burp in public now if I think I’m not going to stink up the joint. I’m just not that precious about it now.
Similarly, I think the aging populous in Singapore are finally getting over the sense of reverence about the grand-daddy of Singapore, the great Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. As brilliant as his legacy is, some of the things that are being put up for discussion are not getting the enthusiastic, rousing approval from all and sundry that they used to. Maybe as Singapore and the population also ages they don’t feel so tied to the one-party line either or conforming to the socially respectable ways of old.
In a taxi a couple weeks ago the driver and I were discussing the current proposal of not retiring from work at the age of 65. As wonderful a policy as that may sound to an older generation that is still able, willing to contribute and, more importantly, valued (and to be honest might be in desperate need of an income in this expensive city that has ramped up living costs in the last 20 years), to many voters it’s not sounding like a winning idea. This particular taxi driver effectively thought that LKY was losing his touch with the common people, that the vast wealth and longevity of his ‘reign’ had finally set him out of context with what the people really needed or wanted.
I was quite surprised to hear such open and honest discourse. Refreshing and interesting discussion points for the controlling party to consider how they remain relevant for the majority. Maybe it’s not just the young radicals that make changes. Maybe as we get older we still have a sense that things need to change and there is sometimes no value in maintaining the status quo.
Shovel
One of the things that I’ve been realising is that the older you become, the less worried you are about some things but the more worried you are about others. Your pressure points and concerns change.
It’s the little things I think I’ve noticed first. I don’t know whether it is me trying to blend in but I find myself belching just that little more openly at dinner. Not raucous, gut-wobbling belching, but a pleasing small bubble of post-dining contentment. I’d like to think that I can keep up with the Grannies and Aunties who you’ll hear let rip after a plate of fried bee hoon at the hawker centre, but I think my English sensibilities will hold me back for a good few years yet.
I’m not into hocking and spitting into the open sewers (or even public litter bins) like most guys here, but, yes, I’ll probably be more inclined to pass a small bottom-burp in public now if I think I’m not going to stink up the joint. I’m just not that precious about it now.
Similarly, I think the aging populous in Singapore are finally getting over the sense of reverence about the grand-daddy of Singapore, the great Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. As brilliant as his legacy is, some of the things that are being put up for discussion are not getting the enthusiastic, rousing approval from all and sundry that they used to. Maybe as Singapore and the population also ages they don’t feel so tied to the one-party line either or conforming to the socially respectable ways of old.
In a taxi a couple weeks ago the driver and I were discussing the current proposal of not retiring from work at the age of 65. As wonderful a policy as that may sound to an older generation that is still able, willing to contribute and, more importantly, valued (and to be honest might be in desperate need of an income in this expensive city that has ramped up living costs in the last 20 years), to many voters it’s not sounding like a winning idea. This particular taxi driver effectively thought that LKY was losing his touch with the common people, that the vast wealth and longevity of his ‘reign’ had finally set him out of context with what the people really needed or wanted.
I was quite surprised to hear such open and honest discourse. Refreshing and interesting discussion points for the controlling party to consider how they remain relevant for the majority. Maybe it’s not just the young radicals that make changes. Maybe as we get older we still have a sense that things need to change and there is sometimes no value in maintaining the status quo.
Shovel
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Shopping-tastic! A weekend on the malls
Tanglin Mall and Vivocity
Tanglin Mall at the end of Orchard Road is a little piece of the Caucasian kingdom, a relic from British colonial past, complete with faux-Tudor black and white frontage. I honestly feel out of place here, with so many westerners floating around buying over priced merchandise.
It makes me feel uneasy, like I’m segregating myself from the real world, because it isn’t the real world. It’s like the Epcot Centre in Singapore, where a little piece of every country is crammed into the purpose-built dome for the benefit of those who can’t bear being away from Mother Country.
Apparently the coffee is very good; Caffe Beviamo is the best of the best if you’re after a really good latte. But coffee does not a shopping experience make, and this place just feels wrong.
There’s every department store you’d want, there’s every designer shop you’d ever need to be down with the kids (of ANY generation), there’s equipment stores, food stores, cinemas, a paddling pool on the roof, a gym and when you’re bored with that, walk into the older Harbour Front Centre, adjacent, and book a boat trip to Indonesia. What else do you need for entertainment?
Alternatively, Vivocity can be used as a viewing platform for Sentosa Island's Resort World!
but the Casino is raking in the money. Some CEO lost S$26M in a weekend's binge-gambling. He's trying to claim the Casino was irresponsible.
Answers on the back of a S$2 bill, addressed to "Big Loser"
If you’re not content with seeing the same stores over and over, I find it interesting to spin myself around three times and try to find my way out. The mall has been designed with disorientation in mind and zig-zag escalators, randomly placed elevators and confusing signposts make for a slow getaway! It’s a perfectly designed mall and I take my hat off to the engineers and architects. I take it off to them until I just want to find a toilet NOW and then I lose my rag and just WISH there were some signs!
The hilarious moment of the day came when we ate at JPOT Hotpot Steamboat restaurant in Vivocity and found the attached notice on our table. Highlighting the importance of good hygiene when sharing dishes, it is important to use the tongs for raw food. Tongs, or THONGS? Too funny!
Shovel
Answers on the back of a S$2 bill, addressed to "Big Loser"
If you’re not content with seeing the same stores over and over, I find it interesting to spin myself around three times and try to find my way out. The mall has been designed with disorientation in mind and zig-zag escalators, randomly placed elevators and confusing signposts make for a slow getaway! It’s a perfectly designed mall and I take my hat off to the engineers and architects. I take it off to them until I just want to find a toilet NOW and then I lose my rag and just WISH there were some signs!The hilarious moment of the day came when we ate at JPOT Hotpot Steamboat restaurant in Vivocity and found the attached notice on our table. Highlighting the importance of good hygiene when sharing dishes, it is important to use the tongs for raw food. Tongs, or THONGS? Too funny!
Shovel
Help! I’m being held in a captive market!
We’ve been figuring out for the last few months how much things cost. The obvious price-hikes we’re now painfully aware of: anything Western comes with a double digit mark-up, anything Local is dollars and cents. My cup of coffee in the morning, a regular filter coffee, nothing fancy, is S$4. Malay Kopi in a bag? One dollar thirty (and that’s if you want milk, black it’s 80 cents). Six inch Subway sandwich, turkey, 6 grams of fat, very healthy, weighs in at a hefty S$5.50. My noodles and veggies at lunch are a dollar eighty. The expats are a captive market, one that, for convenience sake, continues to pay the bucks.
One market that is infinitely more ruthless in its pursuit of elastic pricing, a real slave to supply and demand, is the world of maternity paraphernalia. Good grief have the owners of Mothercare and the competition figured out that Westies will pay top dollar for the smallest little thing that ensures their overall pregnancy experience is just like their Mum’s or their Grandmother’s.
Maternity chairs, perfect for rocking your baby into a dreamful feed, seem to be only sold by Mothercare. Given that there are only three versions from one supplier, the price is about four times that of a US or AU supplier that you could buy on-line...if you could only ship it here! A colleague from work with many frequent-flyer bonuses managed to fly a cot and a chair from the US to the UK a while back in his bonus weight allowance. A very smart solution if your job takes you back ‘home’ every few weeks.
An even more extreme example that penalises all mums is the maternity bra. A two-pack is a staggering S$80 from family friendly (but profit hungry) Mothercare but in sunny Sydney we picked up the same for S$20.
It’s as uneven a pricing table as I think I’ve ever experienced. It’s like one of those old-time hawker centre guys with a pole across his shoulders; on one side high in the air is a box of noodles and on the other, scraping the ground, is a cast-iron stove complete with coal. I used to moan about the inflated commuter tickets on the British Railways, but this is painful.
Another place where pricing could do with a little help is around this whole specialist maternity hospital construct. We selected Mount Elizabeth, a shiny place with an exotic fish-tank in the lobby, just off Orchard Road, where no one seems able to give us a straight answer on the cost of anything to do with the birthing experience. We have a ‘quote’ for the birth, which I accept, given that no one knows what we’ll need from the point of “it’s coming” onwards. But no one can put a dollar figure on any part of it. We were referred to the special ambulance service for the hospital, but even they couldn’t tell us how much it was to get us to the maternity ward in case we needed the emergency ride.
Another friend of ours who gave birth recently at the same hospital experienced a 60% increase on her budgeted delivery but to this day cannot tell us what exactly the increase is for. As a result, we’re scurrying the cash away in these last few weeks to ensure we’re covered for the birth.
Having kids over here, without the safety net of good private medical, which mostly considers pregnancy to be a pre-existing condition (unless you’re insured before hand) is an expensive life-style choice.
Shovel
One market that is infinitely more ruthless in its pursuit of elastic pricing, a real slave to supply and demand, is the world of maternity paraphernalia. Good grief have the owners of Mothercare and the competition figured out that Westies will pay top dollar for the smallest little thing that ensures their overall pregnancy experience is just like their Mum’s or their Grandmother’s.
Maternity chairs, perfect for rocking your baby into a dreamful feed, seem to be only sold by Mothercare. Given that there are only three versions from one supplier, the price is about four times that of a US or AU supplier that you could buy on-line...if you could only ship it here! A colleague from work with many frequent-flyer bonuses managed to fly a cot and a chair from the US to the UK a while back in his bonus weight allowance. A very smart solution if your job takes you back ‘home’ every few weeks.
An even more extreme example that penalises all mums is the maternity bra. A two-pack is a staggering S$80 from family friendly (but profit hungry) Mothercare but in sunny Sydney we picked up the same for S$20.
It’s as uneven a pricing table as I think I’ve ever experienced. It’s like one of those old-time hawker centre guys with a pole across his shoulders; on one side high in the air is a box of noodles and on the other, scraping the ground, is a cast-iron stove complete with coal. I used to moan about the inflated commuter tickets on the British Railways, but this is painful.
Another place where pricing could do with a little help is around this whole specialist maternity hospital construct. We selected Mount Elizabeth, a shiny place with an exotic fish-tank in the lobby, just off Orchard Road, where no one seems able to give us a straight answer on the cost of anything to do with the birthing experience. We have a ‘quote’ for the birth, which I accept, given that no one knows what we’ll need from the point of “it’s coming” onwards. But no one can put a dollar figure on any part of it. We were referred to the special ambulance service for the hospital, but even they couldn’t tell us how much it was to get us to the maternity ward in case we needed the emergency ride.
Another friend of ours who gave birth recently at the same hospital experienced a 60% increase on her budgeted delivery but to this day cannot tell us what exactly the increase is for. As a result, we’re scurrying the cash away in these last few weeks to ensure we’re covered for the birth.
Having kids over here, without the safety net of good private medical, which mostly considers pregnancy to be a pre-existing condition (unless you’re insured before hand) is an expensive life-style choice.
Shovel
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Spontaneity, Sir? Let me check whether I can do that.....
Taking the lead from another popular blogger and also my Lady’s experiences, I wanted to draft a short blog on the lack of spontaneity that seems to have been bred into a lot of people on this small yet highly successful island.
While the education system has, by all accounts, followed the UK system teaching children to answer the questions in front of them for the purposes of passing a test (and has excellent results for that) it seems to have been at the expense of creative, out of the box thinking. And it’s not just me, it’s the press that think this (and ergo the Powers That Be: PTB) and also many taxi drivers...who are never short of comment.
A couple of examples that would lead me to believe that the educational requirements have bled into the everyday way of life are these that I have spotted or actually been required to conform with in the last couple of weeks.
Eat with your family day, sponsored by the National Family Council (www.nfc.org.sg). Indeed a whole family month; have breakfast, learn a sport together, take a picnic...how to family 101....can’t people do this on their own? I have even seen Singapore Family Sports day. Crikey!
I have seen emergency vehicles on several occasions with their lights flashing and sirens blaring, waiting patiently at traffic lights while the other traffic passes. Gosh knows what would happen if something unexpected happened...gosh knows what would happen to the people that called the emergency services should that vehicle not arrive.
It’s a novel concept and the owners aren’t even Belgian. An exceptionally plain and ascetic building, painted stark white concrete walls and floors mirrors the menu in its simplicity. Side orders apart, it’s a menu heavy on meaty things; cheese burger, lamb burger, chicken fillet, pork chop, beef steak and as the name suggests, everything comes with a portion of fries; shoestring or straight cut. Following up the very western theme come caesar salads, coleslaw and thick milkshakes.
We decided to eat here because the greeters were welcoming enough to come out to the street and talk to us, explaining how their steak is cooked and without pushing us to take a table. Nice, I like that.
To be honest with a name like ‘Fries with Everything’ you’d expect to have some pretty good chippies, but unfortunately the fries were the worst part of the whole affair! Still for $40 (and the steak was half of that) it was a pretty reasonable dinner.
In comparison, here's some amphibian related algebra from the other end of Joo Chiat Road.
I kid you not, a Vietnamese restaurant does a good line in frog. But, if one frog and rice = S$8
and 2 frogs and rice plus 1 extra frog = S$16
and 4 frogs plus 2 rice plus 3 extra frogs costs S$30,
how much does one frog cost?
Shovel
While the education system has, by all accounts, followed the UK system teaching children to answer the questions in front of them for the purposes of passing a test (and has excellent results for that) it seems to have been at the expense of creative, out of the box thinking. And it’s not just me, it’s the press that think this (and ergo the Powers That Be: PTB) and also many taxi drivers...who are never short of comment.
A couple of examples that would lead me to believe that the educational requirements have bled into the everyday way of life are these that I have spotted or actually been required to conform with in the last couple of weeks.
I have seen emergency vehicles on several occasions with their lights flashing and sirens blaring, waiting patiently at traffic lights while the other traffic passes. Gosh knows what would happen if something unexpected happened...gosh knows what would happen to the people that called the emergency services should that vehicle not arrive.
Having said all this, after the incredible rigour around the retail banking system, I was opening a new account last week where the minimum deposit was S$1,000. I asked how I could pay that into the new account and whether I needed to go and get cash out my other account at a rival bank to do so. Oddly the gentleman serving me thought for a moment and said “How much would you like to deposit?” to which my initial response was “Nothing” but after some negotiation we settled on an arbitrary S$500. A little flexibility actually brightened my day up and left me S$500 better off!
While I’m here, I wanted to drop down a note on a good food establishment called ‘Fries with Everything’ on Joo Chiat Road.
It’s a novel concept and the owners aren’t even Belgian. An exceptionally plain and ascetic building, painted stark white concrete walls and floors mirrors the menu in its simplicity. Side orders apart, it’s a menu heavy on meaty things; cheese burger, lamb burger, chicken fillet, pork chop, beef steak and as the name suggests, everything comes with a portion of fries; shoestring or straight cut. Following up the very western theme come caesar salads, coleslaw and thick milkshakes.
We decided to eat here because the greeters were welcoming enough to come out to the street and talk to us, explaining how their steak is cooked and without pushing us to take a table. Nice, I like that. Lady selected a lamb burger that was juicy with a hint of mint and a ricotta and roasted tomato relish and I took the char-grilled beef kurabi, slow cooked and so tender that my knife slid into the meat right through to the plate without any pressure being applied. It was sumptuous serving of beef and an absolute travesty to have served it with chips and coleslaw.
To be honest with a name like ‘Fries with Everything’ you’d expect to have some pretty good chippies, but unfortunately the fries were the worst part of the whole affair! Still for $40 (and the steak was half of that) it was a pretty reasonable dinner.
I kid you not, a Vietnamese restaurant does a good line in frog. But, if one frog and rice = S$8
and 2 frogs and rice plus 1 extra frog = S$16
and 4 frogs plus 2 rice plus 3 extra frogs costs S$30,
how much does one frog cost?
Shovel
Youth Olympic Games – Closing Ceremony
So inspired was I by the opening ceremony of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore that together with my Lady, we picked up tickets to the closing ceremony. Games and events during the weekends were all sold out and the weekdays, well, that’s for working, right?
At S$15 each, with 27,000 other people, we got to watch the spectacle reach its natural conclusion, the montage of achievements relived, the flags lowered and the flame extinguished. Not only that, but we got a pretty well stocked goody bag each (reusable, suitable for shopping and picnics by the beach), a Singapore national flag (handy for next year’s NDP) flashing hats and heart-shaped wands, a bottle of water and, get this, a YOG muffin. Like I said, well stocked for all eventualities.
With a haul of two silver and five bronze, Singapore has achieved much in the sporting arena. The young Olympians have trained well, fought hard, and leave standing proud, dusty, bloodied but champions all. One of the great aims of the PTB is to ensure that the Singapore of tomorrow has a sporting infrastructure and an athletic culture that rivals any small nation around the world. They seem to be on their way.
As hosts, Singapore put on a world-class display, hosting this event with short notice and limited resources. What went in their favour was unlimited local endeavour, enthusiasm and government support that could not and would not allow these games to be seen as anything but a success. As local journalists have said, the natural perfectionism of Singaporeans probably pulled this event off, but you’ve got to be engaged emotionally to want to produce this.
Admittedly I think the international media coverage was limited, but then again this was the first of its kind. Without doubt, the first Winter YOG in Innsbruck, Austria in 2012 and the second YOG in Nanjing, China in 2014 will be bigger, but you have to start somewhere. And Singapore certainly removed all the stop-signs to start the ball rolling. It’s been a heart-warming experience to watch this and see the nation come together over something that’s not politically or financially motivated (and I firmly believe that sport should never be political – hence my frustration at the withdrawal of a 17yr old male Iranian taekwondo practitioner from the final of the -48kg category because he was fighting an Israeli. Honestly, build a bridge and get over it).
Unlike the F1 Grand Prix, which had long been shunned by the Singapore Sporting Council because of ‘safety’ but when it was proved there was a lot of money to be made from hosting it, the race got the green light to proceed, the YOG has been supported because it is the right thing to do for the future of youth sport in the world. With the cultural exchanges and educational program running in tandem, it seems to have been even bigger than sport.
I’m always mightily impressed at what a motivated and big-picture attitude can do. There’s a lesson for us all I think on a big scale.
Shovel
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Commuting Arts & Crafts – folding a newspaper
Current chat on the I-Stomp pages of the free paper in Singapore is about capacity on the MRT. Apparently the system is just too crowded. In my recent blogs I’ve aired my frustration with commuters here in Singapore about how there is little perspective on how good they have it here, about how easy commuting is here and how much space, comparatively, there is in the MRT carriages. Rush hour lasts about 30 minutes and if I wanted, I’d never actually have to miss a train, however I choose to let the odd one go so that I can have a little more space to myself.
One of the things that I think people like about the cosy system is that they are still able to read a full-size newspaper, completely open with their arms out in front of them. That requires the equivalent of two human spaces to do and this is the problem. There’s almost double the space on trains that people actually realise, but they are unwilling to give up their precious personal reading space.
So I thought I’d put down the five simple steps on how to fold a newspaper in order to be considerate and thoughtful to your neighbouring commuters.
Step 4 – Half that page again, lengthways, showing columns 1 & 2 on one side available for your confined-space reading pleasure.
Shovel
One of the things that I think people like about the cosy system is that they are still able to read a full-size newspaper, completely open with their arms out in front of them. That requires the equivalent of two human spaces to do and this is the problem. There’s almost double the space on trains that people actually realise, but they are unwilling to give up their precious personal reading space.
So I thought I’d put down the five simple steps on how to fold a newspaper in order to be considerate and thoughtful to your neighbouring commuters.
Step 1 – Obtain your free paper, choice of title is yours, chief-editor is the same....
Step 2 – Open your free-paper prior to entering the MRT or Bus.
Step 3 - Fold the paper in half on itself.
Step 5 – Flip the skinny paper and continue reading columns 3 & 4.
Of course, this method is best employed on a proper daily whose content and comment is worth the paper it is written on. You’re probably reading a free-paper, so it’s probably not worth the effort and adverts on every page don’t count. Like I said, it’s your choice; read selected news that you’re spoon-fed or get a small A5 book that might have something intellectually challenging or thought-provoking between the covers.
Shovel
Maintaining your drains – essential DIY
Sitting a gnat’s girth from the equator, in the middle of the warm south china seas, drains are going to be a festering problem. It is hot and humid here. Hot and humid all the time. Our storm drains and home drains are full of tepid water that doesn’t run away and we humans tend to wash down the plughole an awful lot of protein, hair and waste food. Some of the storm drains that run around these older neighbourhoods have only ever been flushed through after dramatic floods. I hear that people have actually fallen in them, they have been so flooded, and gashed their legs badly in a fetid bath. Delightful.
Everything was going well; rubber gloves, long handled brush, boiling water and powerful chemicals were all dispatched into the dark with moderate success. On flushing the sink and opening the kitchen’s drain cover (and this is right in our kitchen remember) I came face to face with a stinking fat cockroach, twitching its antennae as it watched the cleaning waters race past. Now that’s not pleasant at all. Cockroaches spread a lot of nastiness and have a habit of leaving their eggs lying around in a careless fashion. Quickly the Baygon was to hand and the poor guy didn’t stand a chance. It struggled a few inches before collapsing at which point it was wrapped in a paper body bag and dumped into the external rubbish-chute.
The general message to all out here, keep your drains clean and flushed regularly. Watch what is washed away down the sink in the way of food stuffs and make bleach your friend!
Shovel
Monday, August 16, 2010
Youth Olympic Games 2010 - Opening Ceremony
Once again using the back-drop of the city-scape and a floating platform on Marina Bay, the events unfolded, telling the story of the young athletes’ hopes, dreams, fears and struggles. This time there was no military hardware and only one suitably unifying song; including the lyrics “you are the one, Singapore. Now is the time, here we go, yeh!” It was quite a show. True to most Olympic opening ceremonies, there was the underlying story-line that was narrated by the TV presenter, but most of all it was about the spectacle, the grandeur, the big vision of it all.
And Singapore did not disappoint, despite the fact that the venue is a multi-purpose landing stage on the Bay, it doubles as the platform for the F1 Grand Prix and other international events, the scale of the show was immense. Not to mention the fireworks and the vortex Olympic flame that I hope to get a picture of at the closing ceremony.Three thousand, six hundred young athletes from 204 represented countries will experience something akin to a cultural exchange trip over the next 13 days. While they all take part in their respective sports, they will also be exposed to a structured cultural differences program, and an international education program. It’s a brave new plan from the International Olympic Committee from Switzerland, but one that fits exceptionally well with the young nation of Singapore.
I was exceptionally impressed with the ceremony and have just booked tickets to the closing ceremony. Let’s just hope the weather holds! I can’t imagine sitting in rain for a few hours would be fun. I’ll update you in a couple of weeks!
Shovel
Sing a song for Singapore - National Day 9 August
Singapore exited from the Federation of Malay States in August 1965 to become a stand-alone country. Since that date it has strived to create a unique national identity through collective experiences and collective goals. That continues to this day through an unrelenting devotion to national service and pride in the nation. It’s a remarkable feat but much credit must go to the vision of the founding fathers that have set the path and shepherded the people.
Every year there is a celebration of Singapore’s success, strength, identity, shared aims and place in the world. The National Day Parade (NDP) is, as mentioned before, a big deal to everyone and requires a phenomenal rehearsal. We experienced our first NDP this year, after seeing the rehearsals for many weeks, but were a little confused by the content of the show that unfolded under the 2010 theme of “Live our Dreams, Fly our Flag”
For weeks on end the airwaves (remember, state owned airwaves) have been flooded with the sound of this year’s theme song; “Sing a song for Singapore” (for your listening pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVF_WClXXQc ). Malls have been running talent contests on Saturdays where small children (and some not so small children) sing along to the backing-track and television adverts have been reminding us day in and day out of the importance to the Nation.
I like my music, I really do and I think that my generic digital music device has some eclectic sounds on it. But this soporific and sentimental song has really pained me, every bar and chord irritates me. But in the hearts and minds of most people I see on TV, it brings them to tears. “It makes me feel proud” is a common phrase. I have tried to think of other songs that have instilled the same sense of National Pride in my most beloved countries and can only recall two equally powerful anthems:
• Jerusalem - by William Blake and
• Down-Under - by Men at Work
As the NDP unfolded at the Padang in central Singapore, Lady and I wondered how often the same themes can be repackaged every year in a fresh and dynamic way. Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Respect, Filial Piety (the current favourite), Graciousness, Unity, Hard Work...the list goes on. And then we realised that you only need to pick a couple of these each year and when you run out of ideas you roll out the military. This year we are living our dreams, in camouflage, apparently.
It’s quite a spectacle coming from such a small nation who is, I believe, the second highest military spender per capita behind Israel, when they roll out the tanks, and armoured personnel carriers, the guns, soldiers and arrange the perennial fly past by Apache helicopters and F15 and F16 jets.
Admittedly it’s not quite like watching North Korea’s thousands of soldiers march in time past Kim Jong Il, but within 30 minutes of their exit from the stage, tanks and trucks were rolling through five heartlands around the island, Eunos (east coast) was one of them, saluting the local officials and receiving the cheers of a few thousand lucky spectators. To all intents and purposes, it’s a show of strength to the nation and the surrounding nations that Singapore is well armed and ready to take action if needed. All the NDP was missing was a sail-past in Marina Bay by a few frigates and a destroyer or two to really show what this was all about.
And as with all good national celebrations, once you’ve run out of ideas, sung all your national songs, recited the pledge of allegiance and sung the national anthem the next logical step is to light the firework touch-paper. And goodness me, can Singapore do some fireworks! WOW!
With the city and new integrated resort with a backdrop, the fireworks were spectacular! From our balcony, it looked like a fire was raging and the plumes of smoke ballooned over the roofs for a good few minutes. From the viewpoint high above the city in one of the five star hotels, it must have been one heck of a show!
Shovel
Every year there is a celebration of Singapore’s success, strength, identity, shared aims and place in the world. The National Day Parade (NDP) is, as mentioned before, a big deal to everyone and requires a phenomenal rehearsal. We experienced our first NDP this year, after seeing the rehearsals for many weeks, but were a little confused by the content of the show that unfolded under the 2010 theme of “Live our Dreams, Fly our Flag”
For weeks on end the airwaves (remember, state owned airwaves) have been flooded with the sound of this year’s theme song; “Sing a song for Singapore” (for your listening pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVF_WClXXQc ). Malls have been running talent contests on Saturdays where small children (and some not so small children) sing along to the backing-track and television adverts have been reminding us day in and day out of the importance to the Nation.
I like my music, I really do and I think that my generic digital music device has some eclectic sounds on it. But this soporific and sentimental song has really pained me, every bar and chord irritates me. But in the hearts and minds of most people I see on TV, it brings them to tears. “It makes me feel proud” is a common phrase. I have tried to think of other songs that have instilled the same sense of National Pride in my most beloved countries and can only recall two equally powerful anthems:
• Jerusalem - by William Blake and
• Down-Under - by Men at Work
As the NDP unfolded at the Padang in central Singapore, Lady and I wondered how often the same themes can be repackaged every year in a fresh and dynamic way. Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Respect, Filial Piety (the current favourite), Graciousness, Unity, Hard Work...the list goes on. And then we realised that you only need to pick a couple of these each year and when you run out of ideas you roll out the military. This year we are living our dreams, in camouflage, apparently.
It’s quite a spectacle coming from such a small nation who is, I believe, the second highest military spender per capita behind Israel, when they roll out the tanks, and armoured personnel carriers, the guns, soldiers and arrange the perennial fly past by Apache helicopters and F15 and F16 jets.
Admittedly it’s not quite like watching North Korea’s thousands of soldiers march in time past Kim Jong Il, but within 30 minutes of their exit from the stage, tanks and trucks were rolling through five heartlands around the island, Eunos (east coast) was one of them, saluting the local officials and receiving the cheers of a few thousand lucky spectators. To all intents and purposes, it’s a show of strength to the nation and the surrounding nations that Singapore is well armed and ready to take action if needed. All the NDP was missing was a sail-past in Marina Bay by a few frigates and a destroyer or two to really show what this was all about.
And as with all good national celebrations, once you’ve run out of ideas, sung all your national songs, recited the pledge of allegiance and sung the national anthem the next logical step is to light the firework touch-paper. And goodness me, can Singapore do some fireworks! WOW!
With the city and new integrated resort with a backdrop, the fireworks were spectacular! From our balcony, it looked like a fire was raging and the plumes of smoke ballooned over the roofs for a good few minutes. From the viewpoint high above the city in one of the five star hotels, it must have been one heck of a show!Saturday, August 7, 2010
Katong Swimming Pool, Mountbatten Road
Lee Kwan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore had many great ideas. One of those ideas was that everyone should live within walking distance of sporting and recreational facilities. For me, that’s fantastic because it saw the building of vast swimming complexes, more than I’ve ever seen in my life, with parallel Olympic eight-lane pools and kiddy sized leisure pools tacked on the end. It’s a great set up for any out-door swimmer, be you competitive or recreational.
Since those early days though, it seems swimming still hasn’t really taken off. While racquet sports are to Singaporeans what football is to Brazilians, swimming may not be a Singaporean’s natural talent. Reading through forum pages on the internet there’s an army of people looking for buddies to learn to swim with and it’s not for their kids, it’s for them. On reflection, maybe that’s a navy of people looking to swim?
Last weekend as I ran down to the pool from our place, I realised what sort of a neighbourhood the Katong Municipality had chosen to locate their pool in. The area used to be very close to the old airport in pre-federation times and as I trotted past first one english named street, then a second I paid more attention to where I was;
Mountbatten Road Wilkinson Road Arthur Road Goodman Road Margate Road Ramsgate Road Branksome Road Ringwood Road Bournemouth Road Wimborne Road Cramborne Road and finally, Clacton Road.
For 10 minutes I was running through the English gardens of Kent and Dorset with the smell of humidity and frangipani thick in my nose instead of roses and rain.
The pool itself was a mixed blessing. I’m a swimmer and my muscles have been aching for the burn of freestyle. My lungs have been missing the distance of a 50m pool but my Lady has not been missing the lingering whiff of chlorine. To have almost the entire complex to myself was aquatic freedom.
With the midday sun brushing a “hello” of light rouge across my pale shoulders and a clear lane infront of me, I pushed through my self-imposed “getting back in the water” set and felt rather chuffed with myself. Chuffed, but reminded how dramatically fitness falls away. It’s like climbing a mountain. It takes weeks and weeks of hard work, slow progress up and down between elevations to acclimatise and many days of pain to make it to the top of the peak. However, one slip and it takes seconds to slide in icy free-fall back to base-camp.
And so it goes with being a swimming machine. I look at my friends who are now undertaking 9 mile open water training sessions back in the UK and while I would happily have joined them in the murky water if I’d been in regular training, I can only dream about it. My arms would never make it right now.
Katong Pool on Wilkinson Road is alright for a swim. It’s an older pool and the tiles might not be the cleanest around the water line, but it works for me. It is open from 8am every day until 11pm so for most people that’s going to be an evening session. The best thing is that it’s a dollar entry in the week and a dollar thirty on weekends. Lockers are forty cents and there’s plenty of space to enjoy the water. Swim coaches for kids or adults come at an extra price but there’s plenty of takers to split the cost with!
Shovel
Since those early days though, it seems swimming still hasn’t really taken off. While racquet sports are to Singaporeans what football is to Brazilians, swimming may not be a Singaporean’s natural talent. Reading through forum pages on the internet there’s an army of people looking for buddies to learn to swim with and it’s not for their kids, it’s for them. On reflection, maybe that’s a navy of people looking to swim?
Last weekend as I ran down to the pool from our place, I realised what sort of a neighbourhood the Katong Municipality had chosen to locate their pool in. The area used to be very close to the old airport in pre-federation times and as I trotted past first one english named street, then a second I paid more attention to where I was;
Mountbatten Road Wilkinson Road Arthur Road Goodman Road Margate Road Ramsgate Road Branksome Road Ringwood Road Bournemouth Road Wimborne Road Cramborne Road and finally, Clacton Road.
For 10 minutes I was running through the English gardens of Kent and Dorset with the smell of humidity and frangipani thick in my nose instead of roses and rain.
The pool itself was a mixed blessing. I’m a swimmer and my muscles have been aching for the burn of freestyle. My lungs have been missing the distance of a 50m pool but my Lady has not been missing the lingering whiff of chlorine. To have almost the entire complex to myself was aquatic freedom.
With the midday sun brushing a “hello” of light rouge across my pale shoulders and a clear lane infront of me, I pushed through my self-imposed “getting back in the water” set and felt rather chuffed with myself. Chuffed, but reminded how dramatically fitness falls away. It’s like climbing a mountain. It takes weeks and weeks of hard work, slow progress up and down between elevations to acclimatise and many days of pain to make it to the top of the peak. However, one slip and it takes seconds to slide in icy free-fall back to base-camp.
And so it goes with being a swimming machine. I look at my friends who are now undertaking 9 mile open water training sessions back in the UK and while I would happily have joined them in the murky water if I’d been in regular training, I can only dream about it. My arms would never make it right now.
Katong Pool on Wilkinson Road is alright for a swim. It’s an older pool and the tiles might not be the cleanest around the water line, but it works for me. It is open from 8am every day until 11pm so for most people that’s going to be an evening session. The best thing is that it’s a dollar entry in the week and a dollar thirty on weekends. Lockers are forty cents and there’s plenty of space to enjoy the water. Swim coaches for kids or adults come at an extra price but there’s plenty of takers to split the cost with!
Shovel
SPORTS SHOE SHOPPING – QUEENSWAY MALL
Moving to a new country requires you to recreate your training schedule and I figured I should treat myself to a new pair of running shoes to pound the streets with. I turned in my old Asics for the current model, it feels like I’m trading in my spouse for a younger model. The red-trim Asic 2030 runners had got me around a lot of the country, up a lot of hills and from A to B and back again quicker than the outbound. They’re still functionable, but not quite up to the job any more, the edges have gone soft, the support is lacking and, well, they’re just a bit drab.
I know you could pick up a pair of runners at any of the many sports shops in any of the many malls across the island, but to be sure of a better deal and to feel smug about your purchase, you’re better off venturing to Queensway Mall, an older outlet but one that harbours every athletic sporting good you might want. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, front to back with runners, trainers, badminton, squash, tennis, football, rugby, rock-climbing, skateboarding, hiking, trekking, beach, high-street, racquets, t-shirts, shorts: anything you might want to get you back out into the sporting world.
It’s truly jaw dropping the range of choice you have here, at some good deals too compared to high street prices. Any shoe your foot might prefer or require is here, although you’ve got to know what you’re after as there’s none of the helpful customer service that puts you on a gait-measuring tool or an instep sensor and suggests a shoe. The only help you’re likely to find is someone to grab a size ten from the back room and lace it for you. What I did find, though, was that a lot of the stores have exactly the same prices which saves you the dilemma of trying to find the same shoe at a lower price. It’s a good informal agreement, leaving the only separator as the notional customer service. So after two hours of circling the three floors, lacing and unlacing, I return to the original store and purchase a new pair of blue-trim Asics 2150s at S$50 off the normal high-street price. In between times, I found my impulse purchasing taking over and I was loaded with new shorts, quick-dry singlets, running visor, waist-belt and water bottle and even a new pair of street-runners which I bought while waiting for the afternoon’s deluge to clear.
All in all I had a good sporty afternoon in the confines of a compact mall. The only downside of the aging store was the pungent smell of bak kut teh (pigs organs) being stewed and boiled for lunch, so if you’re olfactory nerves are on the sensitive side, best make it a swift sporty selection!
Shovel
FARMERS’ MARKET – DEMPSEY HILL
When you’re away from home there’s an overwhelming urge to dive into the local lifestyles and get to feel comfortable with your new surroundings. As explained on my earlier blogs, Singapore is a foody’s playground and there’s many many different new things to try. This weekend I ate my first fish-eye. Not quite as huge as those fish-eyes eaten on the UK trash TV show, “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here” but a fish-eye none the less. It’s considered a delicacy here and along with the fish’s cheeks something that people fight over at the dinner table.
Yet with all the new experiences, there’s always a part of you that yearns for a familiar taste, yearns for that comforting morsel out of your Mum’s larder, yearns for home.
We came across such a well-stitched expat security blanket through mutual friends a couple of weeks ago. On the first Saturday of every month, hidden away at Dempsey Hill is a small but perfectly formed Singapore Farmers’ Market. It has a diverse expat focus, centered around the small kitchen called “The Pantry” (which runs cooking classes for the foreign maids to learn how to cook western food) and on a wet, grey Saturday morning we are greeted by bunches of flowers, french and spanish wines, australian chutneys, english pies and pasties, himalayan jams and more imported fruit and veg that you could shake a farmer’s crook at. Portobello mushrooms bigger than your palm, rhubarb (RHUBARB!), parsnips (which grow so much better with a sharp frost, something that you’ll never find in S’pore) and red onions that don’t look like they were fished out of a drain with a net.
Once again we bump into our friendly purveyor of wines and beers, George, from East of Avalon Wines, but this time steer ourselves towards some fresh barn eggs that have no added ANYTHING! The shelf-eggs are crammed full of added vitamins, A, C, Omega 3, Lutein...any food chemists out there? It makes for an unsettled stomach, so the fresh unadulterated barn-laid eggs are a bonus. Watch out for Freedom Eggs at NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage. They’re not free-range and maybe freedom’s not the right name, rather ‘socially-mobile’, but it’s a step in the right direction.
As we purchase breads and tea-cakes from Wild Honey (which runs an all-day breakfast restaurant on Orchard Road, serving breakfasts from all around the world) we find that it’s more than just about food, it’s a social hub where foreign and locals alike arrive, meet and greet, share stories and for the more extravagant pop champagne over brunch. It’s all about getting into circulation and getting your name out there.
For example, the nice Australian Lady who spends all month cooking up jars of fabulous chutneys and piccalilli following her mother’s recipe, to sell them only on this first-Saturday. She is the culinary equivalent of the mayfly.
It’s an interesting place and one that needs the support of locals to really make a go of it. No doubt fresh produce and fine foods are going to bring in the crowds but they need locals to spread the word.
The Farmer’s Market runs from 9 – 2 on the first Saturday of every month at Loewen Cluster on Loewen Road which is just past Dempsey Hill. It’s pretty small and taxi drivers don’t really know where it is, so take a map. And take a taxi number with you so that you can call one to get you home.
Other amusing moments from this trip was the massive jam that occurred on our way home, along the PIE with jams at the junction of the SLE, CTE and KPE. Does that make sense to anyone?
A teen’s t-shirt with the simple statement “got chiz?”. Whatever that means, I don’t want it.
An advertising hoarding for a new apartment complex that describes that any investor would be “Living In An Attitude” should they buy in. Whatever that means, I don’t like it.
Shovel
Yet with all the new experiences, there’s always a part of you that yearns for a familiar taste, yearns for that comforting morsel out of your Mum’s larder, yearns for home.
We came across such a well-stitched expat security blanket through mutual friends a couple of weeks ago. On the first Saturday of every month, hidden away at Dempsey Hill is a small but perfectly formed Singapore Farmers’ Market. It has a diverse expat focus, centered around the small kitchen called “The Pantry” (which runs cooking classes for the foreign maids to learn how to cook western food) and on a wet, grey Saturday morning we are greeted by bunches of flowers, french and spanish wines, australian chutneys, english pies and pasties, himalayan jams and more imported fruit and veg that you could shake a farmer’s crook at. Portobello mushrooms bigger than your palm, rhubarb (RHUBARB!), parsnips (which grow so much better with a sharp frost, something that you’ll never find in S’pore) and red onions that don’t look like they were fished out of a drain with a net.
As we purchase breads and tea-cakes from Wild Honey (which runs an all-day breakfast restaurant on Orchard Road, serving breakfasts from all around the world) we find that it’s more than just about food, it’s a social hub where foreign and locals alike arrive, meet and greet, share stories and for the more extravagant pop champagne over brunch. It’s all about getting into circulation and getting your name out there.
It’s an interesting place and one that needs the support of locals to really make a go of it. No doubt fresh produce and fine foods are going to bring in the crowds but they need locals to spread the word.
The Farmer’s Market runs from 9 – 2 on the first Saturday of every month at Loewen Cluster on Loewen Road which is just past Dempsey Hill. It’s pretty small and taxi drivers don’t really know where it is, so take a map. And take a taxi number with you so that you can call one to get you home.
Other amusing moments from this trip was the massive jam that occurred on our way home, along the PIE with jams at the junction of the SLE, CTE and KPE. Does that make sense to anyone?
A teen’s t-shirt with the simple statement “got chiz?”. Whatever that means, I don’t want it.
An advertising hoarding for a new apartment complex that describes that any investor would be “Living In An Attitude” should they buy in. Whatever that means, I don’t like it.
Shovel
Monday, July 26, 2010
Here’s a joke for you, “There’s nothing to do in Singapore “
One of our ongoing concerns about living in Singapore is what to do to fill our time when you’re not slaving away at work. In the last couple of weeks we’ve found some good things to do, oddly enough going to the Singapore Repertory Theatre twice in a week. Firstly, to see a friend’s self-written monologue in a show that she also produced and secondly, to laugh our Friday night away at the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow. It seems that with a little nudge and the willingness to try new things, there’s plenty to do. Or that’s what we thought.
Between the handful of comics that were entertaining us this evening, we were hosted by a ‘brilliant’ (her words!) New Zealander MC, Cal Wilson. Her role was to engage the crowd, get some good vibes running around the hall and kick-start the banter. After going over the usual “where are we all from this evening?” round of questions, we reached the “so, what is there to do in Singapore?” section. And this is where it all got a little uncomfortable. The comics had already been to the zoo and had already ranted about the excessive shopping addiction and surplus demand in this city and with those two big tickets gone it left silence.
“The night safari...” some game lady chirped up....except the show is one during the night, you fool....you’d never been in a more uncomfortable comedy show. The audience corpsed and silence loomed as people raced through the things to do in Singapore. The wall of silence morphed into a swarm of bees as audible “mmms” buzzed about the theatre. And then it got really weird. Of all the things to do in Singapore, of all the things that could have been said; “eat”, “drink”, “visit Sentosa”, someone down the front passed Go, took a beer-induced ticket and suggested “four floors of whores”.
I’m sorry? “Four floors of whores”? Firstly, what is that and why is that what comes to your mind when you think of things to do during the day in Singapore? During the day? Following almost immediately came a suggestion to “visit Geylang”, which while dubious enough was misinterpreted as “visit Gay-Land” by our Kiwi MC and from then on the whole section became really, really awkward.
Needless to say, Lady and I did not take notes during this section of the evening and we’re on the look-out for alternative excursions.
Shovel
Monday, July 19, 2010
FLASH FLOODS IN SINGAPORE – What’s to say or do?
June and July have been a topsy-turvey couple of months for Singapore, meteorologically and economically speaking. All has been going well on the ever-important economic front. Singapore has put its best foot forward and is rewarded with number one spot in the list of fastest growing economies (14-16% growth in 2010). The Government says that it needs 100,000 more foreign expatriate workers to come to Singapore this year just to keep the economy growing.
At the same time, there are pressing questions about whether the small-scale city-state with the big ideas can keep pace with the infrastructural needs of a targeted population of 6.5 million. Dramatic and recurring flooding has stalled the City on three occassions in the space of a month. For a tropical location, this really shouldn't happen, so what's the cause and what's to do to balance the vision with the reality.
The month of July, I understand, is normally the drier time of the year. Locals and travel books tell me this. However since 16 June, on three occasions the weather has turned on a six-pence and Mother-Nature has dropped her rain cloud on Singapore with alarming intent.
Twenty years ago, the Rochor Canal in Little India would regularly burst its banks. That was when the population was small and the impact was not significant. People expected to have to mop out their front rooms once in a while and dodge the muddy puddles. Everyone knew that it rained in Singapore. A lot. Over time, the canal was widened and deepened to channel the flood-waters to reservoirs and the ocean. As the infrastructure improved, so did people's expectations. Has all that work made any difference as the population keeps on sky-rocketing and the rain keeps on falling?
It's funny that as I type this there is a global debate on the future of water supply happening right now in Singapore. The world's water infrastructure leaders are debating how we must manage the resources we have. How good it would be to say that while more than 100cm of rain fell in an hour this saturday morning that Singapore was able to harvest that into its new Marina Bay reservoir. How smug would we be then, eh?
Lady and I were woken at 4am this weekend to the sound of a biblical deluge hitting our balcony. Singapore’s main streets found themselves once again under several centimetres of water, in places where canals and gutters converge, almost a metre of water. The pictures captured by locals with camera phones ever-ready show the scale of the problem facing businesses, homeowners and authorities alike. While there's a lot of review to be done and a lot of action to take, what’s been interesting for me as always is the difference in reporting of the flash floods, comparing local and foreign angles on the story.
The Channel News Asia media coverage reads like a list of facts from the notebook of Joe Friday, the detective from the Dragnet movie; “I just want the facts, M’aam. Just the facts”. Clearly if there’s no good news about what Singapore is achieving, just stick to the facts. While the comments from Associated Press seem to show that their freer-minded journalists have been moonlighting with papparazzi photographers from The Sun, tweaking the edges of the story and spicing the sentiments with pointed barbs. I particularly like how ABC News groups Singapore in the same bucket as Manila and Jakarta on an arbitrary infrastructure index; a judgment that will no doubt stick in the throat of the PUB, while the Straits Times is referenced saying “restaurants lost fish that were in live tanks”. Need I say more?
Some sections I have removed so that you don’t have to read the whole report, but you can click through the link given.
Flash floods wreak havoc (Straits Times 16 June)
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_541057.html Straits TimesFLASH floods caused by heavy downpour on Wednesday morning wreaked havoc on many parts of central Singapore, flooding basement carparks and shops, and making roads impassable to cars.
The worst-hit area was the Orchard Road and Scotts Road intersection, with large stretches from Paterson Road - where Ion Orchard and Wheelock Towers are - to Ngee Ann City submerged in nearly half a metre of flood waters.
The basement of Liat Towers was flooded, affecting shops like Starbucks and Hermes, which reported goods destroyed by floodwaters. A number of cars stalled in the rising floodwaters, stranding motorists. Many passengers were also reported to be stuck in buses in areas where traffic was impassable. Traffic lights were out at some inter-sections.
A tree fell near the Buyong Road exit of the Central Expressway Tunnel, towards Ayer Rajah Expressway, blocking traffic across three lanes. The CTE was closed as a result, partly to prevent traffic from going into Orchard Road.
PUB, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, said almost 100 mm of rain fell within a two-hour period from about 9 am to 11 am. 'The amount of rainfall is approximately more than 60 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for June,' it said.
PUB, Traffic Police and SCDF officers were at the various sites providing help to motorists and directing traffic. The PUB advises the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms. The cause of the flood is still being investigated.
Flash floods stain Singapore's urban paradise reputation (ABC News – 18 July 2010)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/18/2957114.htm?section=justin Singaporeans were salvaging cars, soaked belongings and damaged goods on Sunday after a third flash flood in two months submerged low-lying areas of the city-state.
Shops and houses along posh Orchard Road were again hit by floods on Saturday after heavy rain overwhelmed the drainage system of the wealthy metropolis, which is often lauded for its excellent urban management.
The flooding took place just before parliament was to debate the issue on Monday following public clamour for explanations for earlier floods, which are normally associated with neighbouring capitals like Manila and Jakarta.
"We never had floods like that," said Peter Wong, 49, a long-time resident in a row of houses in eastern Singapore invaded by calf-high floodwaters on Saturday. Everything was gone, the carpets as you can see are damaged, the bottom of all the sofa seats are still soaking wet now, after 24 hours. We had to replace a new fridge, the fridge is totally damaged," Mr Wong said.
The Straits Times said some restaurants lost live fish stored in tanks.
A major highway was also closed for two and a half hours, while motorists and commuters had to be rescued from stranded vehicles, but there were no reports of major injuries.
Critics had blasted the Public Utilities Board for not being prepared to handle the first two floods, while the department defending itself by saying abnormal weather conditions and clogged drains were to blame.
Delfi flooded again (Straits Times 17 July) By Bryan Huanghttp://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_554657.html AFTER being hit by the worst flooding in 26 years last month, Delfi Orchard was again flooded on Saturday morning.A tenant of the building, Ms Shanta Sundarason, said she arrived to work to find the basement three carpark flooded with 'waist-deep' waters. Ms Sundarason also told straitstimes.com that tenants at Orchard Towers and Palais Renaissance were 'also mopping up after the waters gushed in'.
'So much for the 'once in 50 years Freak Flood' along Orchard Road,' said Ms Sundarason. 'It would be nice for the problem to be addressed and dealt with, rather than a sweeping statement from the ministry,' she added.
In the June floods, shoppers in the prime Orchard Road area around Scotts Road had to wade to safety through swirling brown water the colour of milk tea, when heavy rain caused a huge flood. One of the worst-hit places was Liat Towers, where a new branch of Wendy's burger restaurant had opened just three days before. The restaurant had to close as $500,000 worth of furnishings and equipment was damaged by waist-high floodwaters.
Authorities later found that a drain the width of a bus near Delfi Orchard was so choked with leaves that it triggered a run-off enough to fill 20 Olympic-size swimming pools. The run-off gushed into basement shops and carparks in Liat Towers, Lucky Plaza, Delfi Orchard and Tong Building.
Be careful what you say! – photographer arrested for taking pictures of the flooded streets!http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/07/18/newspaper-photographer-detained-for-taking-flood-photos/
You know, it could be worse. I could be living in southern China right now. Spare a thought for the millions of people who are losing their entire livelihoods (and lives) in the worst flooding there in years. Puts the loss of your morning coffee from a flooded Starbucks into perspective, doesn't it.
Shovel
At the same time, there are pressing questions about whether the small-scale city-state with the big ideas can keep pace with the infrastructural needs of a targeted population of 6.5 million. Dramatic and recurring flooding has stalled the City on three occassions in the space of a month. For a tropical location, this really shouldn't happen, so what's the cause and what's to do to balance the vision with the reality.
The month of July, I understand, is normally the drier time of the year. Locals and travel books tell me this. However since 16 June, on three occasions the weather has turned on a six-pence and Mother-Nature has dropped her rain cloud on Singapore with alarming intent.
Twenty years ago, the Rochor Canal in Little India would regularly burst its banks. That was when the population was small and the impact was not significant. People expected to have to mop out their front rooms once in a while and dodge the muddy puddles. Everyone knew that it rained in Singapore. A lot. Over time, the canal was widened and deepened to channel the flood-waters to reservoirs and the ocean. As the infrastructure improved, so did people's expectations. Has all that work made any difference as the population keeps on sky-rocketing and the rain keeps on falling?
It's funny that as I type this there is a global debate on the future of water supply happening right now in Singapore. The world's water infrastructure leaders are debating how we must manage the resources we have. How good it would be to say that while more than 100cm of rain fell in an hour this saturday morning that Singapore was able to harvest that into its new Marina Bay reservoir. How smug would we be then, eh?
Lady and I were woken at 4am this weekend to the sound of a biblical deluge hitting our balcony. Singapore’s main streets found themselves once again under several centimetres of water, in places where canals and gutters converge, almost a metre of water. The pictures captured by locals with camera phones ever-ready show the scale of the problem facing businesses, homeowners and authorities alike. While there's a lot of review to be done and a lot of action to take, what’s been interesting for me as always is the difference in reporting of the flash floods, comparing local and foreign angles on the story.
The Channel News Asia media coverage reads like a list of facts from the notebook of Joe Friday, the detective from the Dragnet movie; “I just want the facts, M’aam. Just the facts”. Clearly if there’s no good news about what Singapore is achieving, just stick to the facts. While the comments from Associated Press seem to show that their freer-minded journalists have been moonlighting with papparazzi photographers from The Sun, tweaking the edges of the story and spicing the sentiments with pointed barbs. I particularly like how ABC News groups Singapore in the same bucket as Manila and Jakarta on an arbitrary infrastructure index; a judgment that will no doubt stick in the throat of the PUB, while the Straits Times is referenced saying “restaurants lost fish that were in live tanks”. Need I say more?
Some sections I have removed so that you don’t have to read the whole report, but you can click through the link given.
Flash floods wreak havoc (Straits Times 16 June)
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_541057.html Straits TimesFLASH floods caused by heavy downpour on Wednesday morning wreaked havoc on many parts of central Singapore, flooding basement carparks and shops, and making roads impassable to cars.
The worst-hit area was the Orchard Road and Scotts Road intersection, with large stretches from Paterson Road - where Ion Orchard and Wheelock Towers are - to Ngee Ann City submerged in nearly half a metre of flood waters.
The basement of Liat Towers was flooded, affecting shops like Starbucks and Hermes, which reported goods destroyed by floodwaters. A number of cars stalled in the rising floodwaters, stranding motorists. Many passengers were also reported to be stuck in buses in areas where traffic was impassable. Traffic lights were out at some inter-sections.
A tree fell near the Buyong Road exit of the Central Expressway Tunnel, towards Ayer Rajah Expressway, blocking traffic across three lanes. The CTE was closed as a result, partly to prevent traffic from going into Orchard Road.
PUB, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, said almost 100 mm of rain fell within a two-hour period from about 9 am to 11 am. 'The amount of rainfall is approximately more than 60 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for June,' it said.
PUB, Traffic Police and SCDF officers were at the various sites providing help to motorists and directing traffic. The PUB advises the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms. The cause of the flood is still being investigated.
Flash floods stain Singapore's urban paradise reputation (ABC News – 18 July 2010)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/18/2957114.htm?section=justin Singaporeans were salvaging cars, soaked belongings and damaged goods on Sunday after a third flash flood in two months submerged low-lying areas of the city-state.
Shops and houses along posh Orchard Road were again hit by floods on Saturday after heavy rain overwhelmed the drainage system of the wealthy metropolis, which is often lauded for its excellent urban management.
The flooding took place just before parliament was to debate the issue on Monday following public clamour for explanations for earlier floods, which are normally associated with neighbouring capitals like Manila and Jakarta.
"We never had floods like that," said Peter Wong, 49, a long-time resident in a row of houses in eastern Singapore invaded by calf-high floodwaters on Saturday. Everything was gone, the carpets as you can see are damaged, the bottom of all the sofa seats are still soaking wet now, after 24 hours. We had to replace a new fridge, the fridge is totally damaged," Mr Wong said.
The Straits Times said some restaurants lost live fish stored in tanks.
A major highway was also closed for two and a half hours, while motorists and commuters had to be rescued from stranded vehicles, but there were no reports of major injuries.
Critics had blasted the Public Utilities Board for not being prepared to handle the first two floods, while the department defending itself by saying abnormal weather conditions and clogged drains were to blame.
Delfi flooded again (Straits Times 17 July) By Bryan Huanghttp://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_554657.html AFTER being hit by the worst flooding in 26 years last month, Delfi Orchard was again flooded on Saturday morning.A tenant of the building, Ms Shanta Sundarason, said she arrived to work to find the basement three carpark flooded with 'waist-deep' waters. Ms Sundarason also told straitstimes.com that tenants at Orchard Towers and Palais Renaissance were 'also mopping up after the waters gushed in'.
'So much for the 'once in 50 years Freak Flood' along Orchard Road,' said Ms Sundarason. 'It would be nice for the problem to be addressed and dealt with, rather than a sweeping statement from the ministry,' she added.
In the June floods, shoppers in the prime Orchard Road area around Scotts Road had to wade to safety through swirling brown water the colour of milk tea, when heavy rain caused a huge flood. One of the worst-hit places was Liat Towers, where a new branch of Wendy's burger restaurant had opened just three days before. The restaurant had to close as $500,000 worth of furnishings and equipment was damaged by waist-high floodwaters.
Authorities later found that a drain the width of a bus near Delfi Orchard was so choked with leaves that it triggered a run-off enough to fill 20 Olympic-size swimming pools. The run-off gushed into basement shops and carparks in Liat Towers, Lucky Plaza, Delfi Orchard and Tong Building.
Be careful what you say! – photographer arrested for taking pictures of the flooded streets!http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/07/18/newspaper-photographer-detained-for-taking-flood-photos/
You know, it could be worse. I could be living in southern China right now. Spare a thought for the millions of people who are losing their entire livelihoods (and lives) in the worst flooding there in years. Puts the loss of your morning coffee from a flooded Starbucks into perspective, doesn't it.
Shovel
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A sense of spacial awareness wouldn’t go amiss
The last few weeks have been a bit busy, hence my lack of blog activity. We’ve been away for a long weekend to Phuket and I have been swamped with work. I feel like I’m getting pulled into the black hole of Singapore’s work ethic which is work, work, work until it’s done, even if you realise there’s still tomorrow to get it done. It’s also not helped by the cross-over of timezones with the US. I find myself on calls at 9, 10 and 11 at night. That’s not right in anyone’s book. In the word’s of one of my former mentoring partners at an accounting firm, “that’s just not sustainable”.
What I have gained from the last month is a growing understanding of how commuting works and how people interact with each other at street-level. You’d expect there to be some sense of order about how things work here, after all there are arrows on the subways to tell you which sides to walk on, signs on the escalators to tell you where to stand, even painted footprints on the steps to show you where to put your feet. However, an email I received from a professional colleague sums up the duality of life in Singapore pretty well:
“It is wise to check although if truth be known, not all practices are regulated and sometimes it is just hit and miss. The practitioners will tell you to proceed as if it is not required and if X or Y decides otherwise, you can always arrange for an audit. There is unfortunately no definitive answer and this flies somewhat in the face of the impression that Singapore is totally regulated.”
That's an interesting statement.
When I compare that to my dealings with people on the street, on the buses, on the MRT, there generally seems to be a cloud of ignorance, a shroud of unawareness about the general public at large. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t every person on the island, it’s not even specific groups of the population, it’s the overriding sense that I get as I go about my daily business.
It’s as if there’s a bubble around people that stops them seeing others or judging their movements. It’s a dim understanding of where they are in relation to objects (moving and stationary) and thinking about how their actions may impact people on the street. If you’re coming from London or New York or Beijing where the bodies per square meter ratio is significantly higher, you would expect a commute in Singapore to be a walk in the park in comparison. A few examples for you which confront me on a daily basis;
1) There is no concept of queuing or any sense of priority when boarding or alighting from public transport (I admit that the British invented queuing and I should have no expectation that other nations would do the same. The British also invented fish and chips and that hasn’t caught on too much either.)
2) People will adamantly stand on the designated walking side of the escalators or stopping at the top of the escalators instead of walking off them. It slows down an already slow process and actually creates a hazard at the top of the escalator. If I trip over another old person and get cursed by the person behind me one more time, seriously....there will be face-losing words.
3) Shoppers will stop abruptly while walking in the middle of the street or mall, will walk phenomenally slowly or meander while texting. Taking a leaf from the “don’t drive and text” message that Oprah’s pushing for the USA, maybe “don’t walk and text” would be more appropriate. There’s been a saying for a while that certain people can’t walk and chew gum, let me tell you, it’s funny because it’s true.
4) A growing number of people will not hold doors open for others, be they Ladies or Gentlemen. Again, the British have pioneered chivalry for many centuries and to some extent it’s in a British Gentleman’s DNA, so I should have no expectation of it from Singapore which is more akin to the wild-west where it’s every man for themselves.
5) Commuters will rigidly stand directly in the doorway of the MRT instead of moving down inside the train. I’m not one for overt physical contact at 8am but there’s got to be some sense about you that if people want to get into the train and there’s space available, that they’re going to have to enter through the door, which means they have to enter through YOU, Buddy, so move down inside the car! They moan about the people per square meter during rush hour, but believe me, it’s positively pleasant and roomy.
I don’t think I’m expecting too much, to have a sense of common decency, courtesy and respect for a fellow citizen. It seems that the many dollars spent by the Govt. to spell out the “be courteous” message has to some extent been wasted on a nation of people who’d rather join the front carriage of a train because it physically arrives at the station first, sneak through a closing door because it means that the person behind them has to open it themselves, overtake you in traffic because then they’re one car ahead of you. The list could go on. Competition is fine, as long as it’s not at the expense of the common society. Once it is defined in terms of Me V Neighbour, the whole community loses.
Shovel
What I have gained from the last month is a growing understanding of how commuting works and how people interact with each other at street-level. You’d expect there to be some sense of order about how things work here, after all there are arrows on the subways to tell you which sides to walk on, signs on the escalators to tell you where to stand, even painted footprints on the steps to show you where to put your feet. However, an email I received from a professional colleague sums up the duality of life in Singapore pretty well:
“It is wise to check although if truth be known, not all practices are regulated and sometimes it is just hit and miss. The practitioners will tell you to proceed as if it is not required and if X or Y decides otherwise, you can always arrange for an audit. There is unfortunately no definitive answer and this flies somewhat in the face of the impression that Singapore is totally regulated.”
That's an interesting statement.
When I compare that to my dealings with people on the street, on the buses, on the MRT, there generally seems to be a cloud of ignorance, a shroud of unawareness about the general public at large. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t every person on the island, it’s not even specific groups of the population, it’s the overriding sense that I get as I go about my daily business.
It’s as if there’s a bubble around people that stops them seeing others or judging their movements. It’s a dim understanding of where they are in relation to objects (moving and stationary) and thinking about how their actions may impact people on the street. If you’re coming from London or New York or Beijing where the bodies per square meter ratio is significantly higher, you would expect a commute in Singapore to be a walk in the park in comparison. A few examples for you which confront me on a daily basis;
1) There is no concept of queuing or any sense of priority when boarding or alighting from public transport (I admit that the British invented queuing and I should have no expectation that other nations would do the same. The British also invented fish and chips and that hasn’t caught on too much either.)
2) People will adamantly stand on the designated walking side of the escalators or stopping at the top of the escalators instead of walking off them. It slows down an already slow process and actually creates a hazard at the top of the escalator. If I trip over another old person and get cursed by the person behind me one more time, seriously....there will be face-losing words.
3) Shoppers will stop abruptly while walking in the middle of the street or mall, will walk phenomenally slowly or meander while texting. Taking a leaf from the “don’t drive and text” message that Oprah’s pushing for the USA, maybe “don’t walk and text” would be more appropriate. There’s been a saying for a while that certain people can’t walk and chew gum, let me tell you, it’s funny because it’s true.
4) A growing number of people will not hold doors open for others, be they Ladies or Gentlemen. Again, the British have pioneered chivalry for many centuries and to some extent it’s in a British Gentleman’s DNA, so I should have no expectation of it from Singapore which is more akin to the wild-west where it’s every man for themselves.
5) Commuters will rigidly stand directly in the doorway of the MRT instead of moving down inside the train. I’m not one for overt physical contact at 8am but there’s got to be some sense about you that if people want to get into the train and there’s space available, that they’re going to have to enter through the door, which means they have to enter through YOU, Buddy, so move down inside the car! They moan about the people per square meter during rush hour, but believe me, it’s positively pleasant and roomy.
I don’t think I’m expecting too much, to have a sense of common decency, courtesy and respect for a fellow citizen. It seems that the many dollars spent by the Govt. to spell out the “be courteous” message has to some extent been wasted on a nation of people who’d rather join the front carriage of a train because it physically arrives at the station first, sneak through a closing door because it means that the person behind them has to open it themselves, overtake you in traffic because then they’re one car ahead of you. The list could go on. Competition is fine, as long as it’s not at the expense of the common society. Once it is defined in terms of Me V Neighbour, the whole community loses.
Shovel
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