+ Vicinity | Taxi Spot

Tampines Street 71 December Moon

Mondays are the worst days of my everyday adult-working-life.

Weekends with my family is always great and I treasure them however mundane the days can get at its worst times. Being together and doing things together are always wonderful and fulfilling.

Like every "normal" working adult, I guess Mondays are always the most dreaded day of the week. For me it always begins on Sunday afternoons.

Mondays come and I have to pick up the working momentum from the lazy bones I have in my body reserved for play and doing the things I like.

A good workout on my home gym is always refreshing for the body before I hit the shower for work, but mentally I needed that extra pick-up to face the responsibilities and stresses at work that coffee cannot do... Though fellow office mates are good and definitely worth to be there anyway.

Tampines Bus Service 293 with morning sun rising

As any normal day, I would stand by the road side in front of my block to flag for a cab. Like many Mondays, the cabs are always either with its "On Call" sign on or never to be seen. Gets on my nerves every time. I will be late for work.

This counts as the start of the little bits of stresses for that make the day into one big neck throbbing migrane at the end of the day.

Then when you tell yourself to stop making yourself stress over some things that you cannot control, you begin to relax a little.

Then you get to realize how beautiful the morning was; fresh air, light breeze with the clear blue sky. The morning sun rising.

Although I would be 30 minutes late reporting to work, I got to snap some photos around me with my Sony Erricson s700i cell phone while still waiting for a cab.

Notice the moon right over the blocks of flat opposite the road where I stood. An awesome sight.

A brand new day! Not so bad after all. It is the state of mind that made me bias of Mondays.

+ Parents | Spring Time

Springtime at my Parents' in Woodlands

Went to my parents' home in Woodlands alone. Sigh.

My wife had to tend to her booth in OUB Centre, while my son stayed home together with his cousin, Hakim who had stayed over for several days.

School holidays had started from 21st November 2005 till next year, 2nd January 2006. So these boys are enjoying themselves with PC and Xbox online games.

My Dad had to go for this scheduled blood test at Tampines Polyclinic, 1 week ahead of his follow-up medical appointment with the Colonary Consultant Dr. Ooi at SGH on Thurday, 15th of December 2005 at 9:20am.

My sister who lives in Woodlands Avenue 4, a few bus stops away from my Parents wished to tag along when I called her this morning.

She was the one who went with my parents, along with my 2nd eldest brother to the Polyclinic for Dad's first blood test.

While I waited for her to arrive, I enjoyed the flowers that were blooming in their corridor garden. It was like spring time in Woodlands.

Flowers of different colours bloomed brightly, facing the morning sun. The morning was sunny and breezy. A perfect opportunity for me to take pictures. A perfect day to spend it outside.

At 11:30am, we left my parents' home for Tampines Polyclinic by cab.

The morning sun shone beautifully as I looked out and enjoyed the scenery along the Seletar Expressway or SLE and then into Tampines Expressway or TPE, especially along Ponggol and Sengkang, when you could see the River and the Great Egrets along the banks of the river.

The journey took about 20 minutes. We reached Tampines Polyclinic and went straight to Laboratory Room 13 where we got a queue number 1812.

In less than 5 minutes, our queue number was called.

Another 5 minutes, my Dad was out of the lab after his blood was drawn. We sat there another 10 minutes drinking our hot Milo and coffee from the vending machine.

Tampines was my parents home for more than 20 years after we shifted from the Kampong or village in Lorong Ternak that was taken-up by the government for redevelopment.

She wanted to taste the Afganistan Restaurant food again. The food she loved so much when she lived there but had not tasted it for more than 2 years since she moved to Woodlands.

To fulfill her wish, we took a short ride in the cab from the Polyclinic to Tampines Street 21, where Tampines East Community Centre is.

Could see the gleaming faces of both my parents when we reached there for lunch.

My Mom ordered her Soto Ayam or rice dumpling in Chicken Soup, while Dad had his favourite rice with Asam Pedas Fish. My sister had her Kacang Pool with bread while I had Gado-gado.

We hunted for my Mom's shoes after that. She bought two pairs and was so satisfied with her purchase. My Dad bought some filters, water conditioner and fish food for their Parrot Fish aquarium at home.

My sister bought her monthly women's magazine and head-scarfs, while I just simply enjoying our outing together. No purchases required.

At the age of 73, I noticed my Mom, though had suffered a minor stroke a year back and had several bad falls before, was so energetic and jubilant this morning.

We went around shopping with her just having a walking stick in one hand and holding me on another. She could walk briskly now as appose to in a wheelchair a few months back. Her spirits are up and flying high, happy.

My Dad looked healthy and energetic. At the age of 78, he is awesome. After the colonary surgery to remove a small portion of his large intestine, he is a picture of joy today.

Once in a while I noticed the two of them holding hands and talking as they walked while we shop, I am just greatful to Allah for the blessings He gives us to see both parents loving each other and taking care of one another.

I wish to be that couple in front of me, I thought for a second.

Growing old together and getting to spend time together for as long as possible. I know in my heart that my son will feel this love towards us, this wonderful feeling I felt today.

+ Neighbours | Carpark Arson

Court View Carpark On Fire 3-Dec-2005 3:30am

I woke up at about 3:25am this morning from the smell of burning rubber.

Quickly checked all the appliances in the kitchen, bed rooms and living room to see that these were all alright. I followed the smell and was the strongest when I opened my living room window.

From my window, I could see black smoke coming towards our block. Could not see where the smoke was coming from, but it got thicker by the minute.

My wife and son woke up and joined me at the window. Saw a couple coming out into the courtyard pointing out to the multi-storey carpark as they approached it.

Not five minutes laters, we heard sirens from the Singapore Civil Defence Force or SCDF fire truck. By then, the smoke was too thick and kind of choking when we breathe in.

My wife closed the window, while my son and I took both of our cameras and out we went to the carpark.

At the void deck on Block 728, we could see 2 police patrol cars, and two fire trucks - Fire Pumper and Light Fire Attack Vehicle already busy laying out the fire hoses, while the small fire truck went into the ground floor of the carpark and onto the 1st floor.

The fire could be seen blazing out on the 2nd floor with loud banging of metals and small explosions.

My immediate guess was the parked motobikes would be in flames as I took photos of the burning carpark.

By then there were already many residents lining up the edge of the void deck with the police cordoned the area. Good thing that it was drizzling, so many residents did not go nearer and made the policemen job alot easier.

Within 5 minutes, the fire was put out. A tribute to the SCDF Fire Fighters who keep us and our properties safe.

Many of the residents who had parked their cars had their car keys in their hands, anxious waiting to save their cars, but the policemen kept them at bay until it was safe to enter, but the lights in the carpark were off.

We went home when the "action" was over. My son suggested that we went back to the scene first thing in the morning to take a closer look and get more pictures.

His enthusiam woke him up at 7:30am this morning and he persuaded me to go along with him. We both took our cameras again, now to the 2nd floor of the carpark.

Not surprised to see a few residents, like us with cameras to take photos of the where the fire broke-out.

Many of them I think taking the photos for insurance claims purpose, but not us. We were just curious onlookers. My son had a better term for what we were doing there - "investigative jounalism".

Not surprised either that the motobikes were the victims of fire, arson may be at play here I told my son.

But it was a total surprise when my son called out to me to show another motobike parking lot not 10 metres away on the same floor was also on fire that same time too. This was a definite arson.

There were 3 men taking photos and busy talking on their cell phones, most probably from the town council and their engaged contractor to clean-up the mess and damages the fire had done.

Always seen such dreadful events on TV or read it up in newspapers, never real life and up close before until this morning.

As I am writing this now, my son is busy writing his first time experience of fire up-close in his blog too.