Will There Ever Be?

When?....................

Where?...................

How?......................

1000 Words

暴风雨过后

他们都说，暴风雨过后，会有彩虹。

所以，我要把这张照片献给我的大姐。 愿她在这场正在刮着的暴风雨过后，处处都是彩虹！

Nose Bleed + Fever + Fuss + Rush... (and it goes on....)

WF had a nose bleed some time last week during lesson time. His teacher at CH School helped stop the bleeding and clean his face. After that, all seemed ok and so we left it alone.

Then on early Sunday morning, WF ran a fever. Sigh. So I went on urgent leave to take care of him at home.

The fever climbed higher and higher during the course of the day, and peaked at close to 39.5 degrees in the afternoon. As it is always the case, I was worried and felt extremely 烦 about it. It was only when his temperature started to drop and return closer to normal that I felt a little more relieved.

WF was very cooperative when I explained that he had to take the medicines and to rest a lot etc. He also drank gallons of water as well as the 2 big servings of 羚羊 water which I brewed on Sunday and Monday. He is such a darling sometimes, really.

******************

On Tuesday, I had to return to work in the office. The plan was that R would stay home to take care of WF that day.

Surprisingly, when I was getting ready to go off to office, WF woke up and made a big big fuss over my leaving him at home whilst I went to office. He cried so badly and so pitifully that it started to feel a little heart-wrenching. It was, you know, the kind of '以泪洗脸' type of pitiful wailing. So poor thing.

WF: Mama, I want you to stay at home with me.... HooooHooooHoooo.....

Me: But I have work in the office which must be done.

WF: You can do your work at home..... HoooooHoooooHoooo.....

Me: Some work cannot be done at home. I need to do it in the office.

WF: But you must take care of me..... HoooooHoooooHoooo....

Me: Yes, I will but I need to go to the office today. You wait for me at home.

WF: No! .....HoooooHoooooHooooooHoooo....

WF: (After some continued wailing, then sobbing) I go to Ah Ma's house? Can? I stay with Ah Ma to wait for you....

(Smart little fellow - he knows that at Mother's place, he can manipulate and monopolise the TV, mah.)

Me: Ha?! But Ah Ma has her work to do, too! How can she take care of you?

WF: (Sobs restarting) Then you stay with me, do your work at home and you can take care of me! HoooooHoooHooo.....

I got quite impatient after a while, then said quite firmly that perhaps he should just send me to work then he can come back and wait for me at home. Surprisingly, he was ok with this suggestion and so the crying stopped.

WF: Ok, so we will take a taxi?

Me: No, not the taxi.

WF: We will take a bus? A double-decker bus?

Me: Nope, not the bus. We will take the car.

So, after all that fuss and negotiation, we finally got into the car and went off. On the way to the office, I reminded him about having to drink lots of barley water + sleep + no longer TV time + no long computer time + must practice Yamaha songs + must complete Kindermusik homework etc etc......

***************************

When WF came with R to pick me up in the evening (I bought tonnes of fruits yesterday), WF seemed well rested and was super chatty in the car.

During dinner at Mother's place, however, WF started to make a fuss over where he wanted to sit to have his dinner, and ended up crying because I refused to give in. (Mother always liked to let him sit at the cane-stool so that he can watch TV at the same time. I let him sit there like this, too, on some Saturdays because there is sometimes not enough space for him at the dining table. But other times like weekdays, I always insist that he feeds himself at the dining table.)

Then, Mother hurriedly gobbled up her own dinner and proceeded to bring his rice and soup to the cane-stool to feed WF. The little rascal then happily took his dinner. I told Mother that it is almost impossible to maintain discipline with the boys at her place. Impossible. Sigh.

******************************

When we returned home after dinner, I quickly finished up the chores and then had a quick shower before going through WY's work. In between, I also had to squeeze in listening to WF's Yamaha practices on the keyboard. I was literally shuttling between WY's room + the living room + the kitchen. Hectic, ah....

Then, after WY had gone to bed, I realised that WF had not had his medicines, so I sat him down and gave them to him. Then I brushed his teeth (because they still had bits of bread/rice stuck on them even though R had 'brushed' them once earlier). After that, I dashed to get the laundry hung up and then have the toilet floor scrubbed.

By the time all was done and I got WF changed into his pyjamas, it was close to 11pm. I asked this little one to wait for me on the mattress already set up in front of the sofa, as I went to get myself ready for bed. It was finally lights off at about 11:30pm.......

Alas, about 10 minutes later, WF suddenly asked to go to relieve himself. I struggled to get up from the mattress (yes, I was so exhausted!) and brought him to the toilet. Then, suddenly, WF called out to me excitedly and said that his nose had started to bleed!

Oh, no! So, I quickly get him to have his hands washed etc, then we rushed to get tissue paper and quickly set about pinching the nose + putting the cold compress etc etc. I had to also run to get spare clothings and nappies as standby supplies from the drawers. Sigh.

I have no idea what time it was when WF and I finally dozed off - he with the tissue paper on his little nose and I with my hand over the no-longer-cold cold compress.



***************************

By the time I woke up 1.25 hours late, the sun had already begun to shine into the balcony. I dashed to get WY up and got his breakfast-on-the-go (no other choice, given the lateness) ready. To avoid the usual 'overhang' of jumping out of bed in a hurry, I slumped back onto the mattress after WY got out of the house at 7:10am, and got up again 5 minutes later to get WF's stuff ready.

Although Mother offered to look after WF today, I decided to let WF go to school because it is bad for him to miss lessons so ever frequently. Also, it is no good for him to get glued to the TV at Mother's place all through the day.

As at now, all seem ok at CH School. No call from teacher = good.

Spill the Beans --------> Things Done More Right (Hopefully)

On Monday, much much more information about how the rubbish items had come to be given out as lucky draw prizes at the CC's activities, emerged.

Woah, I also didn't expect this, but here is a summary:

a) The rubbish items had been offered to the organisers in a "Removal Open House Garage 'Offer'" by the 'PBM' sponsor when the 'PBM' sponsor was about to move house! So, the organisers went to grab whatever they could. They eventually managed to snap up most items which they then diligently wrapped up prettily. Now there is a whole carton load of these wrapped items standing in one of the organisers' home waiting to be distributed as lucky draw 'prizes'!!

b) Amongst the offered items was a statute of the Goddess of Mercy which the 'PBM' no longer intends to worship at his new home! Although the organisers had initially declined to take this item, the 'PMB' had insisted that they accept this item, too. In fact, he was said to have personally delivered this item to one of the organisers' home!!

c) Despite all their involvement in the 'selection' and wrapping of the rubbish items before offering them as prizes for lucky draws conducted during the CC's activites, the organisers had continued to tell the CC people that the items had been given to them already wrapped and that they had been 'innocently' giving out the sponsored items without knowing what the items were!! Such liars!

d) Many of the other lucky draw 'prizes' received by previous and other participants had also been rubbish items such as used hair-clips and old pocket pouches. Someone who had previously joined one such One-Day Tour at Mother's invitation (Mother pays for the tickets for some of her friends every now and then) had received a used lunch-box which could not even close properly!!

Aiyoh! I think the problem is bigger than I had thought. Fortunately, the problem is not ours.

*****************************

At about 7pm, the Senior Manager of the CC called me at home. She had spent some time tracing Mother's contact particulars through their computer system (Mother is a Passion Card holder, mah) and then, after speaking to Mother, had requested to call me. Mother gave her my number.

The SM started off by offering her apologies etc. Usual stuff, lah. Then before she could say anything else, I proceeded to share the above additional information with her. She went, "Ha?! Really, ah?! Aiyoh?! How could they?!"

Needless to say, she was utterly shocked at learning the organisers' role in selection and wrapping of the sponsored rubbish. She was also most astounded when I told her how the organisers had tried to pressure Mother and myself to go and retrieve the Chinese chess set from the CC and had demanded that we throw it away ourselves!!!

Then the SM confessed that she had initially planned to call to try to explain how the organisers had also been a 'victim' of sorts and therefore I should not 'blame' them for embarrassing us. But her stand was almost completely changed when she heard the additional information. She now feels that the organisers, as compared to the 'PBM' sponsor, were even more culpable and they were the ones who ought to be counselled!

I pointed out to that she should not be too impulsive and jump to the easy conclusion that the 'PBM' sponsor had been faultless. The 'PBM' sponsor should never have offered such rubbish in the 1st place! Being a 'PBM' grassroots leader, especially, he had been less than honourable to have offered such rubbish to the organisers who were relatively less educated and in a way, gullible and impressionable and so were merely easy-to-manipulate elderly folks. In any case, the organisers had been doing a good job trying to act like real tour guides onboard the coach etc, too.

The SM agreed with me that the 'PBM' sponsor should not have offered such rubbish in the 1st place. But she also shared that it would not be 'nice' to tell the sponsor to stop sponsoring rubbish. This, I don't agree with her, but I told her that I will leave it to her how to deal with the matter, lor.

Actually, it is a very simple thing. If sponsor gives rubbish, then you can either reject the rubbish or accept them. If you choose to reject, then a simple and straighforward explanation for decision is all that is needed.

If you choose to accept the rubbish, then you can further choose to either throw them away without using them for your activities, or you can make it known to your intended recipients that these are recycled items and therefore leave it to the intended recipient to decide whether or not they want to take the rubbish.

Simple solution, correct? Anyway, maybe they have more political concerns than we realise??

Well, the focus of this follow-up posting is what the SM next told me.

She explained that it is common for the CC to receive all kinds of feedback, good and bad. In fact, they receive complaints almost all the time. But never has the CC received a feedback which is as sincere and genuine (these were words she used) as my little note to them. Most of the feedback which they have received are frivolous complaints or untrue allegations.

So the SM was very grateful for my bringing this matter to the attention of the CC because the CC had all along left it to the organisers to deal with those One-Day Tours all by themselves. So the CC had been in the dark all this while. I find this strange, considering that these activities are being held in the name of the CC.

Anyway, she said that she would do all that is within her means, to put things right. She sounded very sincere, so I think she meant it.

For the good of the community as a whole, let's hope that she will succeed and things will be done more right from now on.

Storm in a Teacup

Last Tuesday, I finally took time to look at the Chinese Chess set which we got as the the 3rd prize in the lucky draw held onboard the coach during our One-Day Tour organised by the CC. I was disgusted at the rubbish that I saw.

So I told Mother about it, and after much discussion, we both agreed that it should be returned to the CC (the CC being the organiser which had sold the tickets to me, mah). But she didn't want to be seen/known doing it, so I was to do it myself. That was fine with me, so I wrote a note (something like this) to accompany the rubbish:

To The Person In Charge
XXXX Community Club

On 17 June 2007, my family and I joined your One-Day Tour...... and was very fortunate to have received the 3rd prize in the lucky draw held onboard the coach during the trip.

However, when we returned home and unwrapped the prize, we were dismayed to see that it was an old and used Chinese Chess set. Not only was its box yellow and mouldy, the wooden chess pawns also had decaying wood and some of them were cracked. The paper chess board was also yellow with patches of mould on it.

Whilst we understand that it is a virtue not to look into the mouth of a gift horse, we find it unacceptable that such an item which is fit only for the recycling bin has been given out to us as a lucky draw prize. This is ridiculous and most insulting!

During the trip, the organiser had emphasized that all the prizes had been sponsored by a very generous Mr Goh, a 'PBM' grassroots leader. Please also convey our feedback to Mr Goh. I would also urge you to be more discerning when accepting sponsored prizes for your activities.

With a very heavy heart full of disappointment (that such an insult has been inflicted on us), we return the Chess set to you unwrapped but otherwise untouched. It is a shame that your goodwill and credibility have been injured by such irresponsible sponsorship.

Resident
Ms Tan

On Saturday morning, I dropped the rubbish and the self-explanatory note off at the CC on our way out.

When I returned home in the afternoon, Mother called to tell me frantically, "你惨了！他们说你控告到人民协会去，他们现在闹得大了！电话一直打来打去！"

Hahahahahaaa...... Well, to cut a long story short, this was what happened:

1) After I spoke to Mother about having received the rubbish, Mother went to sound out the organisers and confirm if they knew the item was an old and used one. Their reply was "Yah, we know. But we don't know what the item was. All the sponsored prizes had been given to us already nicely wrapped."

2) So, even though I was at first a little hesitant as to whether or not to 揭发 this type of despicable practice of handing out rubbish to participants of the CC's activities, I became very determined that this should be done - particularly because sponsoring rubbish was one thing, trying to pass them off as new items by having them wrapped first before giving to the 'innocent' organisers was simply too much! That 'PBM' must be a down-right lowly creature, man! Treat us as his rubbish-bin and yet he gets 好名声as a very generous man, ah?! How can he get away with this, right?!

3) And hence, my note and returning the rubbish to the CC on Saturday.

4) After the bomb has been dropped in the morning, the shocked CC people called up the organisers and reprimanded them for giving out such rubbish to residents. The sheepish organisers called Mother and told her that they had been scolded because of me. And it was only then that they confessed that they had been the ones to receive the rubbish and wrap them up as prizes!!!!!! 原来，他们是罪魁祸首！！ They had been in cahoots with the 'PBM' and not really as innocent as they had at 1st made themselves out to be!!

5) Well, one of the organisers then had the audacity to ask Mother to get me to call her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When Mother told me this, I told Mother that if that woman wanted to talk to me, she should be the one to call me. Why should I call her? I consented to Mother giving her my telephone number.

6) Then, minutes later, that woman really called leh! 她竟敢打电话来兴师问罪！！ I told her off in as nice a way as possible when she demanded to know why I had returned the rubbish to the CC despite her 'instructing' Mother that this must not be done! But I blew my top when she demanded that I must immediately go to the CC to retrieve the rubbish and dispose of it myself! Woah Lao! 我如果是能由你这样差遣来差遣去，我就不是我咯！也不先去打听打听我是谁，竟敢在太岁头上动土！你未免太高估自己了吧！

7) Very soon after, Mother called me to inform me that the other organiser had called her to go and retrieve the rubbish from the CC and to throw it away. And Mother had agreed!!!! And she said she had just called the CC people to dispose of the rubbish!!!! >:0

8) Of course I blew my top (again!) and told Mother that she should have just stayed out of this if she couldn't handle these scums! I called the CC and spoke to the person who had attended to me in the morning. I told her very briefly what the despicable organisers had just pressured Mother to do after failing to pressure me to destroy the evidence. Then I told the staff this, "I forbid the destruction or disposal of the rubbish. If this has been done or is being done as demanded by the organisers, I will not hesitate to escalate this to the PA HQ." The staff reassured me that the rubbish has not been thrown away but has been handed to the senior manager called Ms Choy.

Actually, I did not intend to do more than just let the CC know what despicable practice that 'PBM' + the organisers had been doing behind their back (getting their 好名声at our expense). The purpose of my returning the rubbish to the CC was just that + I want them to know that not every resident/participant in their activities is "hard-up". Not everyone can be trampled on as they like!

And of course, I cannot stand being insulted - that day, we got 2 prizes in that draw - rigged by the organisers at their own volition, none of us requested or even hinted for it. So to those who knew the prizes were rubbish items, we would have been seen as being so 饿鬼（"yao-kui"）; to those who didn't know that the prizes were rubbish items, we would have been seen as being so 贪心　（"tum-sim"）! Either way, it is an insult which cannot go un-redressed.

(But I didn't want to really get the organisers into trouble, hence I had left the rigging and the fact that we also got another prize - another old and used item, unmentioned.)

我就是这样：做人要站得正、坐得稳。敢做就敢承认、敢面对。如果那样奖品真的有如他们所说的，虽然旧可是还可以用、不是不堪入眼，那他们又为什么不敢让联络所的人看一看呢？！为什么会怕联络所的人看呢？！

他们又说，拿到不喜欢的东西，最多不是把它丢了咯。可是，我们就没有感受的吗？我们是收旧货的吗？为什么要拿我们寻开心，让我们觉得被他人看遍了呢？如果东西应该丢，为什么是我们要帮你丢呢？！

他们还说，他们分发了好几十次这样的奖品了，都“没事”，都没人嫌弃！是吗？没听到回应就表示大家开心、满意吗？！

从头到尾，我就是一句话：士可杀，不可辱！！不要仗着自己有些“地位”，就把普通平民的我们践踩在脚底下！

I just told Mother again last night that if these despicable people have any sense (common sense + sense of shame etc) left in them, they should just repent and re-think their action and let this storm blow over. If they choose to go further, pressuring Mother etc, then I also won't hesitate to go along. If the PA HQ and even the MCYS are what they want, then 我就奉陪到底！

Our Garden

What is your dream garden like?

Something like this?



Or this?



Or this?



Or, perhaps, this?



Maybe this?



Or this?



Well, mine is something like this:



Alas, we don't have anything close to it yet. Nevertheless, WY and I derive much pleasure tending to these:

Dessert Rose aka Impala Lily aka 富贵花:



Anthurium aka Flamingo Flower aka 火鹤花:



Bryophyllum Crenatodaigremontianum aka Mother of Thousands/Millions aka 子子孙孙 :



Crassula Ovata aka Jade Plant aka 玉树:



'Common' Cactus (I gave up looking for its proper name!) aka 仙人掌:



And this yet-to-find-its-name latest acquisition:



Which altogether make up our Garden now! :)

Red Pen Racing!

This is about the no. of assessment books which I have to mark!

The multiple exercises/practice papers which I had assigned to WY over the past 3 weeks and which he has since completed in CH School (and some, at home) have not been marked yet. Oh, dear!



And the new school term is going to start this coming Monday!!

HOW?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!

Recycling

2 weeks ago, we spotted something new at our void deck:



WY, especially, was so excited to see this brand new recycling bin that he declared that he would actively 'source for' items to be recycled!

My 1st thought was: Hmm, does this mean they will no longer be continuing the fortnightly collection of used items for recycling? I thought that was a good programme and has been quite successful. Several of our neighbours regularly bag their old newspapers + plastic bottles + Milo tins + old clothings etc in those big green recycling bags handed out every other week, for the collection. It has now also become quite a habit for Mother and ourselves to do that, too.

But then, I must concede that there are several obvious limitations/inconveniences in that green-bag programme:

a) We have to keep the items inside the house for more than a week - space at home is limited. For us, we are also concerned that some items like plastic milk cartons may still attract ants even though we have already rinsed them;

b) We must make sure that we bring the items out to the corridor only at the 'correct' time - got to blame the karang-guni men for this. Some of them, especially the mainland Chinese KGs, always behave like scavenging hounds who have no qualms tearing apart the bags and grabbing the items they want and leaving the balance in the partially-torn bags, all in a mess. Claims by the recycling companies who provide the green bags that such looting of the bagged items is tantamount to theft has not deterred these can't-care-less scavengers;

c) Collection from floor to floor is a back-breaking and tedious chore - this is no joke, I have seen it myself how a couple of foreign workers of the recycling company would run from floor to floor to pick up the bags (some are really heavy, I think) and then once they have gathered big enough a load, they would dash to transport these onto the truck waiting downstairs. Their supervisors (some elderly Chinese men and women with waist pouches and shouting into their handphones) would yell at them to hurry up. Tough job for all, I think.

So, maybe it is better to install this new recycling bin at the void deck afterall? But then, there has been no announcement nor any publicity about the bin so far. No education is a dangerous thing, you know.

Knowing how people in our neighbourhood would behave, I am not very optimistic about the success of the recycling bin. These are the possibilities:

a) People may abuse the bin - they are likely to simply toss whatever rubbish they have in their hands into the bin. Partly eaten food + drinks will probably end up in the bin too. The less enlightened will just conveniently treat the bin as just another (bigger) rubbish bin, especially since the sticker on the bin says this:



b) The bin may not be cleared fast enough - there is no indication on how frequent the bin will be cleared. And if the bin starts to overflow, then that by itself, would become an eyesore and then progressively a nuisance or maybe even a health hazard. It may then finally die a 'natural death'.

**************************************

Barely 2 days after the bin was seen at our void deck, it was relocated to the open area next to the playground.

It was raining, so we couldn't use it. We had to leave the empty detergent powder cardboard box which we had specifically brought downstairs, at the bin chute area instead. From a distance, we saw that the bin was already filled to the brim; in fact, a few 1.5l cola pet bottles were sticking out from the yellow opening of the bin.

And because the bin was ajar (the black rubber-flap was held open by the pet bottles), I am sure rain-water has been and still is being collected in the bin. With the current epidemic level of dengue incidence, I wonder if the authorities will just conveniently decide that the bin is a bad idea and so have it scrapped quickly?

Sigh, this is a classic case of good intention, no planning and bad implementation. A half-hearted and quarter-baked programme. Such a pity.

*************************************

I have just called the town coucil to give my feedback to them:

a) design of the bin - why invite all kinds of obviously-different-material items into one common bin? Shouldn't these items be separated?

b) location of the bin - why place the bin in the open instead of the void deck? The collection of rainwater in the bin makes the bin a potential Aedes breeding site.

Let's see if any corrective action will be taken soon.

端午节

昨天是端午节。是纪念爱国诗人屈原的特别日子。

虽然我不是非欣赏屈原投江自禁的作风，也不认为他这种“一了百了”的做法是爱国的表现，可是，我们能在五月初五吃粽子，或多或少都是因为他。

可是，昨天过节的气氛，一点儿都没有。可能，这种传统节日，都不受重视，都不重要了。哎，算了吧。我们又能怎么样呢？

还好，Mother 在几天前，就已经把粽子包好了。有肉棕、娘惹粽和碱水粽。个个都好吃，个个香！　Mother 还买了多一些包粽子的叶子和绳子，准备过几天再包一些有特别红豆馅料的碱水粽！

在来临的八月中，WY 会参加文化艺术团的大型演出。听他说，他和他的组员会高歌几首福建歌曲，其中也包括“烧肉粽”('sio bak chang')！我们有待视觉和听觉的享受吧！

随传随到！

每天放工回到家，简直就像是在打仗----- 洗衣、擦桌子、洗水壶和饭盒、整理衣服等等，都要分秒必争。把这些做完后，就得马上冲凉、换衣，然后在第一时间赶下去吃晚餐。

所以，即使是刚冲好凉，头发还没干，到楼下的时候，常常都已经是汗流浃背、又是满头汗水了。

对于这样匆忙到要命的生活，除了一句“身不由己”，我也无话可说。

***********************

昨天，我先把小瓜送到楼下冲凉、吃饭，然后再自己上楼“打仗”。

到了楼上，一踏进门，只听到模模糊糊的一句 “某某人要我去拿一些东西”，便看见被传召的人七手八脚地把上班的衣服更换了，然后一溜烟地跑了！

哈？！ 有什么好拿的？！

于是，昨天的仗，我就得一手包办。 等我冲了凉、换好衣服，到楼下吃饭，已经是快八点半了。

用了晚餐，把碗碟洗好后，九点钟的连续剧都已经开始了。这时，被传召的人才开门进来。有人问：“到哪里去了？怎么这么迟才下来吃饭？”

被传召的人回答道：“噢，去帮某某人派送东西。”

有人又问：“怎么某某人自己没车子去派送吗？”

被传召的人便回答说：“车子他有，只是他不熟悉路向。”

哈？！真的吗？！ 某某人不熟悉路向？！一个吃盐比你吃米多、过桥比你走路多的人，不认识路？！几年来，某某人不是全权负责维修某一家银行在全岛各地的提款机的人吗？！他会不熟悉路向？！　这不是天大的笑话吗？！　

还有，刚才不是明明说“某某人要我去拿一些东西”吗？！　怎么又变成了帮他派送东西了呢？

总之，就是上句不接下句，牛头不对马嘴，谎话连篇。

看完了连续剧，小瓜正在方便。我就带着大瓜先上楼。

跟往常一样，到了楼上，我又是重新再打每天都需要打的另外一个仗：　快手快脚地把洗衣机里的衣服晾好，再把厕所的地板刷一刷，免得踏进去的时候摔倒。

这一仗打完后，便是过目大瓜的功课的时间了。这一个项目，一直到十一点左右才完毕。大瓜和我草草地商量隔天的功课，便把隔天要用的书包整理好。我就去刷牙洗脸，准备让小瓜也上床休息。幸好，昨晚小瓜已经刷牙、擦身体、换好睡衣了。有时，如果到这个时候他还没换上睡衣，我还得帮他刷牙、更换，才能去打理自己的刷洗。

大瓜也喜欢在这个时侯，到我的房间躺躺一番，才肯回房睡觉。昨晚也不例外。

于是，虽然是夜深人静了，我们三人还是聊了聊，说了说笑，再唱了唱几首歌，才道晚安睡觉。

不用我说，也可以猜得到，被传召的人当然是在我“接”过小瓜的那一刻起，便到大瓜的房间，轻轻松松地呼呼大睡了。哪有管我们三人做什么？

其实，这也不稀奇。因为也大概只有某某人和某某人的那一班人，才有能力随时传召。这种随传随到的服务，哪轮到我们享有？？

FD Feast

Having spent a good part of Sunday 'touring' the island on a coach, we treated ourselves to an ultra-simple Feast:



The Pizza was prepared by WY at CH School (he only added on a slice of cheese at home). WF had prepared a Custard Pudding at CH School but that had been consumed earlier, so it wasn't in this photo of the Feast. The Thomas cake was WF's order, though.

Farm Visit (Part 2)

The other farm which we visited on Sunday was the Jurong Frog Farm. WY told me that he had been to this farm with WS and WP previously. CP, BK and YP had brought him there.

The organiser had warned us that the place would generally be very slippery. I think he should have added that it would be noisy and smelly, too. I was hoping that nobody sitting near us would buy the fresh frog/frog legs from the farm, otherwise they would probably stink out the whole coach-load of passengers!

These were what we saw at the noisy end of the frog farm:







This was at a quieter but no less smelly end of the frog farm:



The place where the frogs were being slaughtered for sale smelled even worse! When I asked the worker pulling out the intestines of the beheaded & skinned frogs (poor things) if he minded his photograph being taken, he nodded to say it was ok with him. But he gestured that his supervisor might not like it, so I quickly snapped this before his supervisor returned:



Looks quite yucky, doesn't it?! WY and I scrambled onto the coach to escape from the stench. Yikes!

Soon after, the coach moved on to Yishun where we were let off for lunch at our own expense. On the way, the microphone-wielding organiser (an old man) spoke enthusiastically in his bad mandarin:

“你们今天有谁带种子来吗？有吗？有谁带种子来的，请举手。我有特别奖给你们。有谁带种子来？”

Ha?! What 种子 was he talking about, I wondered. Were we expected to bring seeds or something from home or from the farms which we had visited earlier? Hmmm...

A scrawny man seated near us happily put up his arm, and to my amazement, he opened his big bag and proudly pulled out ........................ a rice dumpling to show to that organiser! Oh, 原来是 “粽子”!! Hahahhaaa.....

This was the neighbourhood place where we were let off for lunch. It supposedly has this very popular 4D/Toto outlet, so the "种子" organiser kept asking if anyone was going to try their luck there.

Mother wanted to join her friends for lunch. So R, the boys and I went on our own.

After lunch at the hawker centre, WY and I somehow got separated from R and WF. So we strolled around a little before chancing upon this bakery where there was a Malay woman selling Kueh Tutu at a stall outside. Apparently, her Kueh Tutu's are very popular, so we had to queue for about 5 minutes before it was our turn. To kill time while waiting in line, I took this photo with her permission:



With the 2 packs of steaming-hot Kueh Tutu's in hand, WY and I proceeded to the assembly point. On the way, we checked at the various telecomm shops to see if they had the plastic cover for Mother's hp. We finally found it at the shop right in front of the assembly point. I put it on the hp for Mother while waiting for the coach.

The last and final stop we made on this One-Day Tour was the IMM at Jurong. R and I thought it was so silly of the organisers to bring us from Lim Chu Kang (Western part of the island) to Yishun (Northern part) and then back to Jurong East (Western part) again. What a waste of time.

But I suppose the retirees with lots of free time on their hands would, as Mother puts it, not mind taking a leisurely bus ride all round the island, lor. 一张票五块钱，可以载你坐车游车河，一边看、一边吃、一边和志同道合的朋友聊天，多好啊！



At IMM, Mother wanted to look for the water-heater shop where her cousin Ah Chui works at. We remembered that the shop was located somewhere on the 2nd level near the escalators, but it is not there anymore. So, she just went shopping with her friends instead.

WF has been into fixing jigsaw puzzles these past few weeks. He would dismantle and then fix and re-fix the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle-book which YP brought to Mother's place some times ago.

So, whilst we were at IMM, we checked out the Jigsaw Puzzle World. WY, having tasted the sweetness of succesfully fixing the 500-pc scenery puzzle which HA gave him, selected a 1000-pc puzzle. WF chose a 70-pc "Cars" puzzle. R also bought another 500-pc scenery puzzle.

R tried to look around for a new hp but eventually did not settle for anything. We decided that it would be better to wait out the 24 months for Starhub's hp-upgrade voucher 1st. No point paying extra for a new hp now, since there are only 2 more months to go.

By the time we gathered again to board the coach, it was almost 3:15pm. On the way home, the "种子" organiser together with his colleague conducted the Highlight of the Tour - the Lucky Draw! He kept emphasizing that the prizes were sponsored by this "Mr Goh", a PBM in the community club. Like it is a big deal, sigh.

WY's ticket won him the 6th prize which turned out to be a pouch with a mirror. WF got the 3rd prize which was a Chinese Chess set - by the looks of the box of the Chinese Chess set, I suspect this is a recycled item, not brand new. So much so for that the generous sponsorhip of that PBM "Mr Goh"!! Aiyoh!

Overall, the trip was not really so bad and not exactly exhausting. But when we reached home and Mother asked if we would want to join her again for the next One-Day Tour scheduled for July, I went, "Ha?! No, lah. School re-opens next week already.".... phew!

Farm Visit (Part 1)

As expected, I did not dare go back to sleep when I awoke at 4am on Sunday. Knowing Mother, it would be wiser to settle for less sleep than to risk being late reporting for the One-Day Tour. Sigh.

So I got up and put the laundry to wash etc. Then I took my time to get the water bottles + snacks etc ready for the day trip.

The weather was still no good. Heavy rain clouds shrouded the skies and thunder was rumbling away in the distance. I packed an extra umbrella in the bag and went about finishing some chores.

At about 7am, the raindrops finally fell. It was not exactly stormy, but it was heavier than a drizzle. I hoped it would clear up by the time we were supposed to gather.

When WY's alarm clock went off, I set about waking the boys. Naturally, both were reluctant to get up at first. R and I had to threaten to leave them home all by themselves before they finally peeled themselves off the bed.

After a while, all had showered and changed. At 8:30am sharp, Mother called and told us that she was going downstairs first. The unspoken part of her message was "All of you don't come down late, ah!" So, after the boys had their milk, we quickly set off, too.

Mother was already seated in the coach with her kakis when we arrived. We found the seats which she had gotten the organiser to 'reserve' for us and tried to make ourselves comfortable. We had our breakfast of sausage buns (for the boys) and walnut buns (for R and me) on board the coach filled with mostly senior citizens, all busy chatting away. It was quite a din, actually.

The driver started to move off only at about 9:20am. By then, the skies had cleared and it was getting bright and cheery. The senior citizens' chatters and their occasional bursts of laughter filled our ears. It was a wonder that WF didn't 'complain' of the noise (which he usually does).

Our 1st stop was a vegetable farm in Lim Chu Kang. The aunties and uncles alighted from the coach and hurriedly set about to buy their vegetables. One was so incredible - she bought such a big bag of greens that it was probably enough to last at least a week.

Mother bought a pair of eggplants. Very round and big. She said they taste different from the usual longer brinjals more commonly available. When she cooked these in Switzerland, they tasted very good. WY said that he has never tried eggplants or brinjals before. So Mother said he 'must' try them when she cooks these.

Suddenly, WF said he needed the toilet. So R brought him there. WY and I then proceeded to take some pictures.

The Snake Gourd:



The Hu Lu Gourd:



The Aloe Vera:



The Red Bananas:



The Young Spinach:



The Spinach being harvested:



Guess what this is? Clue: WY's suggestion to me on how to remember it was to see that its leaf looks like the palm:



Answer: Lady's Fingers!

And guess what this is? Nope, it is not spring onions!



Answer: Chives!

And this? It looks ordinary & innocent, but smells horrid! Let's see if you can guess its name?



Answer: Ruta! 臭草!!!

We also saw some small animals in cages at this farm. There were some big and small birds + rabbits. There was also a pair of reptiles. I thought they were chameleons, but WY said they were kodomo dragons. I am not sure.

Anyway, when we met up with WF, he was happily sipping his coca-cola. 他是醉翁之意不在酒啊！Hahahahaa.....

As we headed towards the waiting coach, WY and I saw that also available for sale were these less-common items:

Fresh Groundnuts:



Bamboo Shoots:



Pumpkins - ok, these are ordinary, but it is not often that we see so many on sale all at one go:



Then we boarded the coach and headed for the next farm. See Farm Visit (Part 2).