Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Let's make our WORLD the most beautiful HOME.



If you are living in Singapore, you couldn't have missed this song on the TV or the Radio...(and now on the internet).

When I first watched it, I was more interested in the old footages of Singapore and the lyrics and melody was rather forgettable.

It was the image of the lady at 0:14 who swept all the litters down her flat that was etched in my mind.

“Are we allowed to do that? That will save us a lot of time!” I told my better half.

“Hello! That is not the message of the campaign!” my wife said to me.

Anyway, since I kept hearing the song whilst driving around and during my jogging session, that song somehow got embedded into my mind.

So I finally went looking for that song this morning!
(Did someone put in something subliminal there?)

Singapore has indeed come a long way from the days where drains were perceived to be the designated garbage bin.

Admittedly, there are still room for improvements but if we remain committed to the Clean and Green campaign long enough, we will get to a “heaven- like” environment, just like what the song mentioned in 0:23.

A Today reader, Ronald Chan, was also delighted with this song and it prompted him to write a letter in the Today Online Forum section.

While he loves the rapid changes, he also questioned if all these changes were at the expense of something else.

Ronald said: “Change is perfectly fine. In fact, we should all be worried if Singapore hasn't changed since independence. But sometimes, I wonder if we are seeking change for the sake of change.”

Yeah, are we changing for the sake of changing?

I guess not everyone can agree on this because what is important to some of us may mean nothing to others.

Frankly, I don’t really care about the Talentime that he mentioned coz I prefer American Idol anytime as it is far more entertaining…. but my dad may disagree.

But for something like the current debate about the Singapore Wet Market, I hope that will continue to be RELEVANT for a few more generations to come.

The future generations can decide if the supermarket is a better option over the wet ones.

Meanwhile, just leave the good and efficiently run wet markets alone and revamp the substandard ones.

I cannot imagine a Tiong Bahru without the Tiong Bahru Market….but I think that might be a possibility in say 2059 AD...and it might be renamed Tiong Bahru Super Market.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It should not have happened here!


This morning, as I was driving back home after dropping my daughter off her school, I noticed an ambulance that stopped next to block 33 Lim Liak Street.
(By the way, seeing ambulances here in Tiong Bahru is nothing unusual as most elderly residents seemed to get to the hospital via one and so I thought nothing about it.)

This time around it seemed a bit different.

First, there was a small crowd and I was stopped by a medic so that they can push their equipments across Lim Liak Street.

As I drove past the crowd, I saw blood stains on someone who is seated on a kerb in between two vehicles!

“Hah?! Road accident along this stretch of road?” I thought to myself.

“Couldn’t be serious and the blood was probably from an abrasion”.

Anyway, I parked my car and walked back to “kay poh”(busybody).

The first thing that caught my eye was the circular shaped dent on the wind screen of the white car.


“Oh no! Head injuries! I hope that girl is alright!”

She is conscious and her head was bandaged, but with head injuries, you can never be too sure.

Let’s all pray for her and wish her a speedy and full recovery.

As I was walking back home, I was thinking to myself how did that kind of accident ever happened here.

Lim Liak Street is not an expressway and all drivers should exercise caution when they drive around this estate.

The following are some possible reasons why they (me included) should slow down:

1) Residents can dart across the road without looking.

2) Bicycles and motorbikes will ride in the wrong directions.

3) Sometimes, cars will move in the wrong direction as well.

4) Cars will stop suddenly without warnings.
     (This is very rampant along Seng Poh Road)

5) Car doors will swing open suddenly.

6) Car will also turn where they are not supposed to turn or emerge from places where you least expected (The junction along Seng Poh Road and Eng Watt Street is one such place)

7) Not every driver remembers their highway code and they drive in a very unpredictable way.

If everyone play their part, (PEDESTRIANS included), then such accidents should never ever happen.

Let’s go for ZERO accidents.