Bob - A Street Cat that glued a community together.

Bob - A street cat that glued a community together.

This is a story about a seemingly common street cat that has an extraordinary ability to bring a community together!

Bob was reported missing around the end of January 2011 and emails and FaceBook messages were flying around cyberspace, appealing to everyone to keep a lookout for Bob.

Within four days, Bob was found badly injured along Eng Hoon Street by resident Jerelyn.

Initially, Bob was thought to be scalded by hot water by some cat abuser lurking within the estate. But to everyone's relief, that turned out to be false.

However, the fact remained that Bob needed immediate treatment as the wound has become gangrenous.

The 1st vet at Mt Pleasant Animal Hospital gave a very hasty diagnosis despite having X-rayed Bob and opined that Bob was involved in some cat fight and a 2 weeks rest would do the trick.

A few days after, Bob did not seems to be getting better as he was still bleeding and pus was already forming at the wound. Bob also cannot pee and that was very unusual.

Bob's foster parents, Terence and Bella, quickly brought Bob to another Vet at the Namly Animal Clinic for a second opinion.

A surgery was done to remove the urine but Bob still wasn't getting any better.

The residents in Tiong Bahru, including those who are overseas, agonized over the Vet's recommendation to euthanize Bob to avoid prolonging his suffering.

Despite a seemingly hopeless situation, some suggestions came in through Facebook about getting in touch with a miracle Vet, Dr Lye, from the Balestier Animal Recovery.

Since Bob was running out of options, he was brought there in a last ditch effort to save him.

Dr Lye was quick to diagnose that Bob was most probably ran over by a car and his bladder has been displaced from the urethra.

And Dr Lye was very assuring as well. He promised that Bob will not be put to sleep.

So with the right diagnosis, the correct treatment could be administered.

Bob has to go through a few more gruelling surgery that also involves changing his penis to a vagina. (Read more about it in the dedicated FaceBook Page).

Besides human intervention, his fellow feline friend had to chip in by donating some blood to Bob.

Till today, Bob is not really up and about just yet but the vet says he should recover much faster in a familiar environment and the much needed love and care from everyone will aid the healing process.

If nothing goes wrong, Bob, the street cat who glued a community together for the past one month, will be back tomorrow in Tiong Bahru!

The residents at Eng Hoon Street has unselfishly given their time, effort, rest and sleep to rescue this street cat. It is now up to the rest of us to chip in whatever we can to help defray the $12,000 medical fees.

If you want to be part of this in a meaningful way, please check out the details at this facebook website : The Story of Bob - a very special cat or hop on down to Books Actually.

If you prefer to transfer money via the internet, an account has been set up.

Here's the details : DBS SAVINGS 008-5-051623

Please email to thestoryofbob@gmail.com after you have transferred and do indicate the amount.

For cheque donations, please email to that email for details.

Your generosity will go a long way here and the residents at Eng Hoon Street will be grateful for making this rescue possible and meaningful.

This community effort to get Bob back on his feet will go a long way in making this close knitted community even closer.

Old School Health Service & School Dental Service Building

Now that DDB Worldwide Pte Ltd has moved out of the former School Health Service & School Dental Service at 226 Outram Road, I wonder what will become of this building.



It was a building of "terror" for me when I was growing up coz that was the place I had my teeth checked as well as got my BCG jab when I was 12!


There was once I even got trapped in their elevator with my grandma for about 30 minutes before someone pried open the doors to let us climb out of it.


Hope I still have a chance to wander inside the building again.

People are People

The usual lunchtime buzz at Tiong Bahru Market was broken by sounds of plastic bowls hitting the floor loudly.

All eyes turned toward the source and we all saw a lady in pink berating the "Ban Mian" auntie.

I could not make out what the argument was about as the lady in pink was speaking Cantonese but appears to be in a very condescending manner.

The "Ban Mian" auntie did not take it lying down and she also got into a fierce shouting match with the Pink Lady.

I was a bit surprised as the "Ban Mian" auntie had always been very polite and cheerful and I do visit her stall quite often.

She is one of those rare One (wo)Man Stall who opens early in the morning and closed only at about 9pm for 6 days a week.

I'm impressed with her diligence and her "Ban Mian" is also nice enough to make me a consistent repeat customer.

Initially, I was not sure what had happened today but since my wife was queuing up for her food just 2 stalls away (And she understands Cantonese), she could hear what the argument was all about.

It was some miscommunication between the Lady in Pink and "Ban Mian" auntie.

Apparently Pink Lady ordered some dumplings thinking that it only cost $2.50 a bowl.

Perhaps "Ban Mian" auntie misheard the order and upsized the order and charged Pink Lady $4 which effectively "upsized" Pink Lady's temper immediately.

Such disputes could easily be resolved by replacing the order or accepting the upsized order.

But instead of trying to resolve it, Pink Lady turned provocative and uttered something disgusting.

"You China People are very good at cheating people, Why don't you go back to China!".

I guess when crass people utter detestable remarks or make brain-less statements, you expect a reaction right?

Yes, the response was flying bowls! (It was probably done in a fit of anger)

Those bowls elicited more crazy remarks from Pink Lady who seems to be stuck in a verbal frenzy mode.

Ban Mian Auntie did the right thing after she cools down and ignored the Pink Lady.

She went about clearing up the mess and continue with her routine.

About 4 customers in the queue walked away...I'm not sure in disgust or in fright.

Maybe both because the pink lady chose to sit at the table right infront of the stall and continue to provoke the poor woman.

Is she trying to win the argument or was she trying to make Ban Mian Auntie come out with a chopper

Whatever she was trying to do, it reflected very badly on herself and she doesn't seems to know it.

I guess this Depeche Mode song, People are People, best sums up the way how some of us who treat another fellow human being:

People are people

So why should it be

You and I should get

Along so awfully

People are people

So why should it be

You and I should get

Along so awfully

So we're different colours

And we're different creeds

And different people have different needs

It's obvious you hate me

Though I've done nothing wrong

I've never ever met you so what could I have done

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

Help me understand

People are people...

Help me understand

Help me understand

Now you're punching

And you're kicking

And you're shouting at me

I'm relying on your common decency

So far it hasn't surfaced

But I'm sure it exists

It just takes a while to travel

From your head to your fists

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

Help me understand

Our forefathers once risked their life and limbs to eke out a better life in this far away land and they may have been bullied by the colonial masters, gangsters or people who speaks a different dialect.

Why then are some of the offspring of these earlier immigrants behaving in a manner which our forefathers would not have condone.

I guess "prosperity" has made some of us think that we are more superior than others.

This may indeed be a sad effect of "progress".

"Holey" distractions

A few months ago, I saw a window that looked out of place.

Was this little window part of the original design?

I did not give it much thoughts until today when someone "sms" me to find out more about my previous blog on the painted over brick walls.

During our back and forth "SMSes" while I was in my church service (yeah, I wasn't paying attention today), I mentioned about a hole that was created in the facade and how that could even happened to a conserved apartment.

As I was ranting away with my fingers, it suddenly dawned upon me that this hole may have been created to insert those 1st generation aircon system many years ago and it may not be this owner's fault at all!

He may have merely inherited this infringement.

Holes hacked to accomodate the 1st generation aircons

Conservation status aside, can we actually hack holes through an apartment?

By the way, most owners nowadays will not bother to knock a hole in the wall to put in their aircon.

They will just go for the weakest point in the wall to get the aircon trunking through and the weakest point happened to be the air vents. (Trust me, no one police such things here even though it is a conservation area)

If everyone in this estate has the discipline and determination to at least keep the facade intact, many more people can come and enjoy these buildings without any blemishes for many more years.

Below are some example of how the walls should look like :

Anyway, if you are reading this, you may want to refresh your memory on the URA Guidelines for the Tiong Bahru Area. : TIONG BAHRU CONSERVATION AREA

And oh yes, I was so distracted with my sms that I did not know what the guest speaker shared in church today. :-(

The murder that freaked my brother and me out.

While my brother and I were growing up during our pre-teen phase, we were very much left to the care of our paternal grandma who lived at Block 53 Tiong Bahru Road.

Block 53 Tiong Bahru Road was also the block where the famous bird corner was located.

It was also at this block that I discovered I had a Chinese Name when I was sent to the PAP-run kindergarten which was located directly below my grandma's apartment.

The teacher kept yelling my Chinese name and I just stared blankly at her.

She finally figured it out when all my classmates were accounted for and she conveniently tagged me with the leftover name.

How would a 5 year know his Chinese name when no one else had told him so.

I only responded to "Alvin" or "Ah Meng". (Ah Meng was what my grandma called me while my brother was Ah Kwang!)

It was here at Block 53 that I learnt how to ride my tricycle and eventually a bicycle. It was also here where I crashed badly because I was trying to cycle without holding onto the handles of my bike.

It was also here where I had many hours of crazy badminton session with my brother.

It was also here where I got a scar on my left eyebrow because I was playing football in my grandma's place and my brother decided to trip me, causing me to hit my forehead on the sofa's corner and making my grandma panicked because my blood just wouldn't stopped flowing.

It was here that my dad and his nine other siblings were raised by my grandparents.

Believe it or not, it was also here where I managed to raised some chicks and eventually was forced to eat them when they grew up! Barf!

One of my uncle even managed to get himself a girlfriend who eventually became his wife when he smooth talked a pretty parking warden who was sitting in one of those wooden booths behind Block 53. (Those booth were common feature at all HDB carparks before parking coupons were introduced)

Then one day, something changed all that!

For a few weeks around November 1982, there was a horrible stench and I was told that a cat or dog probably died on the roof.

The stench seems to come after a mysterious blackout that happened during one of the nights.

We all concluded later that the murderer must have caused the blackout so that he could move the body up in stealth.

Eventually the body of an old lady was found on the roof of block 53 and since that was the only stairscase with roof access, the murderer must have used the same staircase that I used to access my grandma's place.

From that time onwards, my relationship with my younger brother was especially strong when we needed to walk up the stairs to my grandma's place! We never walked alone.

I was never given a full picture of what actually happened as the details from my uncle was sketchy.  Basically it was someone who killed his own mum and was found out when he tried to report his mother missing as soon as the body was found on the roof of block 53.

So I was kind of glad that I found this newspaper article that clarified everything.

Click here for the link : Full newspaper story 

I cannot believe this!

How could anyone try to conceal a murder, especially when the victim is your own family member?

Did they think that the bad dream will go away after sometime?

Today, Block 53 has morphed into a part of the Link Hotel and the roof top has been transformed into a beer garden.

Even the staircase to "heaven" has been removed when the building was refurbished to accomodate more rooms.

So in a way, the bad dream has been "moved"out and I guess I can move on and remember ONLY THE GOOD STUFF now.

:-)

Raleigh Chopper Bikes.....I like!

One of the perks of my job is that I get to enter people's home very regularly.

About 2 weeks ago, I went into someone's home in Tiong Bahru and I saw this!

Wow, this bike really brought back a lot of memories.

This was THE BIKE that real boys growing up in the 1970s dream of.

It was the era before E.T. came along and made BMX bikes THE BIKE to have from 1982 onwards.

Back then, my brother and me were mostly left to the care of my paternal grandma who lived at Block 53 Tiong Bahru Road (Now the Link Hotel).

And the only bike I had was some sissy bike which my dad probably forgot to update it with a CHOPPER to keep up with the times! (He eventually bought me a MT Sport in 1983)

So every day, either before or after school (depending on which session I was in), I will show up at my classmate, Kee Peng's home at Block 20 Tiong Bahru Road.

Not wanting to be seen as desperate about wanting to check out his ride, a few of my classmates would pop up at his back door and asked him some non important questions like how his balsam plant was doing.

Small talk was always effectively over in under 3 seconds.

And the next 30 minutes to 1 hour were spent riding the chopper up and down the pavement in between Tiong Bahru Road and Lim Liak Street!

I never quite figured out what those GEARS were for but seriously, who cares?!

Life was never meant to be complicated and as long as the bike moves while the wind caresses your face, I'm one happy kid...... until I ride into a group of 3 or 4 kids waiting to push you off the bike so that they can hop onto the CHOPPER to get their fix.

So when I saw that bike that evening, there was this natural desire to ride it.

However, I did not bother to ask the owner of that restored CHOPPER bike if I could have a go at it as there were no balsam plant there to talk about.

Just kidding, the truth is, we have grown older and sometimes we tend to assume too much.

That evening, I just assume that the owner will never agree to it and so I never even bothered to ask.

The raleigh chopper popularised the 'chopper' design used initially in motorcycles. the model shown is from the late 1960's

按摩店

I have walked passed this shop along Eng Hoon Street many times and I always thought the way the place was being configured, it was going to be some office with many small rooms. 

And today, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to ask the worker what the shop will be.

"按摩" was what he said to me. (按摩 = Massage)

Instinctively, I SMS Resident Kelvin and Terence to check if they know anything about this this shop.

And both said it was going to be some TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) or 推拿 (Foot Massage)

I've never done a 推拿 before and so I had the perception that 推拿 was done in an open area. I don't think I will be very comfortable being 推拿 in an enclosed area.

But a 按摩 (massage), yeah, the set up at the Eng Hoon Street one is just about right.

There is enough privacy for everyone in those windowless cubicles.

There is HOPE!

Reading the Straits Times this morning, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu, said that a study will look at ways to carve out more underground space - for possible use as public areas such as museums and galleries.

Hey! Ms Co-chair of the Economic Strategies Committee sub-committee on land productivity, could you start the study here with those abandoned Air Raid Shelters at Guan Chuan Street first?

These are semi underground and are ready for immediate conversion.

In that same report, architect, Tai Lee Siang mentioned that if underground space was promoted properly,  'people's acceptance... will change rapidly...

Maybe they should start promoting it properly to the HDB Bukit Merah branch office and the Tanjong Pagar Town Council first. 

Their mindset must change before any change can happen here.

I've found a new home!

How my life has changed for the better in a matter of a few days!

On Tuesday, I was abandoned and left to fend for myself along the pathway of Kim Cheng Street and my future looked so hopeless.

Being a kitten and without my mom’s milk, I would have died of dehydration.

Even if I do survive that, I would have been killed by those territorial tom cats in the vicinity.

Thank you Resident Rosemary for going the extra mile of protecting me and making sure I’m well fed and cared for.

You and your family gave me lots of love and care for four wonderful days before passing me over to my new owner on Friday.

I’m happy to have found a new home with 2 other cats to keep me company.

My new owner even brought me to the Vet to get me checked and make sure I’m alright.

Dr Vet told him my blue eyes may even change but my owner loves me just the same.

In fact, he even brainstormed the whole night just to give me a “nicer” name than Ang Moh or Avatar. (Not that I’m upset with that queer name)

If my hearing did not fail me, I’m now known as REI-NA REI-A.

That is such a Purrrrfect name for me.

Okay, a kitten needs many hours of sleep to grow up big strong and healthy.

Good Night & God Bless.

Can we afford to lose more of these buildings?

This building once stood next to Block 28 Tiong Bahru Road (The one with a Post Office). It was demolished a long time ago.

Can we afford to sacrifice more of such buildings in Tiong Bahru?

Are the Tiong Bahru Post War S.I.T. flats worth conserving or should they bow out and make way for modern skyscrapers?

Share your views with us at the following discussion:

SHOULD THE POST WAR S.I.T. flats be CONSERVED or EN-BLOC?

G.A.S.P.

Yesterday evening, while I was walking around Tiong Bahru with a tenant, I spotted a pair of ORIGINAL 1930's metal door with the ORIGINAL green stained glass!

It was left along the walkways of Block 57 Eng Hoon Street.

I have cleaned forgotten about it until about 1 hour ago when I spotted it again, still at the same location.

I wonder if the owners are waiting for someone to pick it up to restore or G.A.S.P., throw 'em away.

Mr Owner, if you are reading this and you are gonna throw it away, please GIVE IT TO ME instead.

Thank you.

Uncle, 这个有人的吗?

It was a very hot day to be out walking around this afternoon and I was literally walking from one minimart to another minimart in Tiong Bahru to get my Coke Zero.

Whatever I drank doesn't seems to quench my thirst one bit.

Somehow I ended up in the back lane behind Block 58 Seng Poh Road and the following item caught my eye:

It was LOVE at 1st sight and Love can sometime mess up your head and behaviour.

I knew it was obviously a very silly question to ask Mr Tay but I still went ahead and ask.

"Er, Uncle, 这个有人的吗? (Is this someone's)

Either Mr Tay did not hear me, could not understand my lousy Mandarin or he was just saving me from further embarrassment.

He just went about cutting up some leather to upholster some antique looking chairs which someone is trying to restore, ignoring my presence totally.

Anyway, to make my stupidity worthwhile for everyone, I got a name card of Mr and Mrs Tay.

If you ever needed to restore your old sofa, replace the leather on the leather chairs or anything that has fabric a makeover, you can contact Mr or Mrs Tay.

They had been doing this for many many many years and my uncle was once upon a time their customer when he bought his very 1st Mitsubushi Lancer.

Do you want an "ANG MOH" kitten?

Resident Rosemary found this abandoned kitten along the footpath at Kim Cheng Street.

This kitten is mainly white with just some grey dashes on its body.  It also has a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

Please pass the word around to help this cute kitten locate a great home.

You can contact me at TiongBahruEstate@gmail.com and I will get resident Rosemary to get back to you.

RATS! There is no MISTAKE about it now!

Cute and cuddly RATS from Ikea

Following my blog entry last October about the mistaken identity between the Shrew and the Rats, I had always wanted to “correct” or “qualify” that I did make any claims that there are no RATS in Tiong Bahru and I found the perfect opportunity to do so today….or rather yesterday.

Right after that shrew blog entry, I bumped into Resident Mr & Mrs Joe while I was supervising my kids at the playground at Kim Pong Road.

Mrs Joe said she still doesn’t like those furry, rodent, shrews thingy, despite knowing that they are not RATS.

Immediately, a huge rat half scampered and half hopped across from Block 43 to Block 44 Moh Guan Terrace.

“And that is definitely a RAT!”, I exclaimed sheepishly.

Since Mrs Joe was jittery about RATS, we parted ways very quickly.

Ever since that encounter, I have noticed a pair of them (the rats lah) darting around that vicinity and I suspect they came from the nearby dumpster.

These RATS were probably pushed out by their parent RAT to look for their own homes.

Despite not getting a government “NEAR PARENTS GRANT”, these resourceful rats still managed to settle into some really prime real estate in Tiong Bahru!

I never had a chance to catch them with my camera as I’m always too late  slow and they are long gone when I’m back with my camera.

So I was rather happy that I managed to catch one of them having fun in the sun while I was on my way for an appointment yesterday.

pardon the grainy video as it was taken from my low resolution cellphone

The way the RAT was moving around seems to indicate that it has settled down very well here and is not jittery at all.

It fact, I was quite amazed that it was unaware of my presence until so much later.

I think it is time to make those responsible for the dumpster to clean up the place THOROUGHLY once and for all.

And the NEA must also educate those cat feeders to clean up all those leftovers after the cats are done with it.

Otherwise, the cockroaches and RATS will come out to play after the CATS had their fill.

By the way, I once visited a cockroach infested home in Tiong Bahru!

It was so bad that I could even smell the roaches from the stairways.

The roaches were obviously have a ball there coz the owner goes around collecting rice from “god knows where” and store them in those red plastic bags along the staircase.

She will only bring the rice out to feed the strays in the evenings.

I pity her neighbours! And eventually, it is those foreign workers who are willing to live next to her because they ain’t got any choice.

(By the way that unit is located near a coffeeshop and that may be why I was never thrilled to dine there)

Hit & Run

It was a routine morning for me today.

Peeled myself off my bed and rushed my son to school.

As usual, we always arrive at the school gate just a few minutes shy of the 7:20am cut-off point.

Anyone who arrives after 7:20am will be ushered to a "sleepy heads" corner and listen to what the discipline master has to say.

3 strikes and the bigger sleepy head within the family will need to join junior sleepy head in school to listen in to his discipline master.

So far I've been good and there were no incidents.

As I was walking back home, Resident Anne told me that she saw a car being rear-ended along Kim Pong Road by a Malaysian lorry earlier in the morning at about 7:15am.

She thinks the driver was stopping there to grab a bite at the stalls along Kim Tian Road but sped of when he realised he hit a car.

It happened so fast that she could not record down the number nor take a picture. (Probably too shocked to react)

So if you are reading this and you actually witnessed the accident, please volunteer the information to the poor car owner. (You can post it here or email it to me)

The car owner probably went from sleepy head to disbelief within 3 seconds and another 5 seconds to turn that disbelief into anger.

Notice Board

It has been ages since I looked at the notice boards that are all around the Tiong Bahru Estate.

There is actually useful information for residents to find out about what's going on in the community.

You may want to check out this course on photography fundamentals which will be held on the 17th this month :

Click on the image to enlarge it and contact Barnie if you are keen to join in.

There is also a night shoot on the 31st as well as a Heritage Walkabout on the 7th of February.

Please call the organiser if you are keen to join in.

Before walking away from the notice board, I cannot help but notice that there was a CONFIDENTIAL document that was posted there with all the Resident Committee Volunteer's name, complete with their home addresses.

I've blacked-out the addresses as I think that is really too "CONFIDENTIAL" to be posted here.

Must the addresses be published for everyone to see? 

This may actually deter many from "volunteering" their services.

What do you think?

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.

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.

A GOOD busker with a BIG heart!

I was having a very bad morning today.

Every single phone call that came in was an “invitation” to solve some problems.

And the most ridiculous one was from a home buyer whom my client and I were trying to help even though we were not obligated to.

And instead of words of appreciation, the buyer started spewing profanities about my sellers.

I had to hang up the phone as I do not want to be contaminated with her toxicity.

That particular buyer has problems controlling her rage and anxiety and everyone she knows, including all her family members, are always cast in a bad light by her.

After I hung up the phone, I noticed that it was going to rain and that’s when a SMS from resident Chan came in.

“Have you heard the guy who sings at the tb market? He is really good :) must write a feature for him in your blog”

As I have no idea who that singing guy was and what I was supposed to do…plus I was already having a bad day, I replied rather promptly:

“Can you be the guest blogger?”

Sensing that it might be seen as a form of “TAI CHI” (Pushing away responsibility), I quickly SMS back to check when the guy will be at Tiong Bahru market as I thought the singing thingy was a weekend activity.

(By the way, there are a few “buskers” here at the Tiong Bahru market during the weekends and I’m not impressed with most of them. “PASSION” seems to be lacking in their gig)

Another SMS from resident chan wetted my curiosity:

“Hahah. I am sitting here and he is serenading us to great jazz pieces:) its like I am seated at clarke quay.”

“Serenading!”, “Clarke Quay standard”! Mmm, I must go and check it out.

So even though it was pouring heavily, I took my DSLR and my umbrella and walked to the market.

I could hear the beautiful singing as I make my way up the escalator to the second storey.

Many people where eating away happily while this guy was singing non-stop.

It was a beautiful atmosphere this afternoon and the cool weather complimented it very well.

And instinctively I took out my DSLR to snap a picture and that was when I realised that I had forgotten to put in the SD card!

This is very embarrassing!

I think everyone seated around there will notice an odd ball taking pictures with a BIG camera and thus I became very self conscious.

So when I realised it is not gonna capture any images at all, I had to carry on the act of taking pictures and walked away as soon as I could.

Eventually, I walked back there to drop a $2 into his box and whipped out my phone to snap the above picture.

I don’t think that guy knew that I dropped a note in but it doesn’t matter.

What matters was I managed to find out his name on his busker card and this guy’s name is Daniel Ng.

So I came back and googled up on this guy and IF this is the same Daniel Ng, this busker has a BIG heart!

In 2003, this guy used his singing talent to raise funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

With what little he has earned, he gave them away generously.

Just imagine how many hours he has to sing himself hoarse just to make enough for his daily expenses.

And instead of hoarding the money for himself, he gave some of it away!

Wow, this guy is SELFLESS and he could be our every day hero.

So the next time you see Daniel Ng at the Tiong Bahru Market or anywhere else, show him your BIG token of appreciation.

Resident Chan, thanks for that SMS today!

Old Newspaper Articles

This picture was lifted from We CONserve You CONserve, to see the enlarged article, please go to the original website to click on the picture.

While working on her dissertation on SIT flats, L!an stumbled upon some interesting old newspaper articles.


Click on this link to get to the blog : We CONserve You CONserve, of SIT Flats

She also found some interesting article about those demolished Art Deco building that were found in Chinatown. (Read Article : of SIT Flats in Chinatown)

Well Done!