A Man's House is his Castle and Fortress - Edward Coke.

 A Small but Well Maintained Garden is our Pride and Joy 

We live in a small house in one of the suburbs of Singapore. Its not big by Western standards but we believe that a man's house is his castle and his fortress - the judge and jurist Edward Coke (Cook)  said in the early 17th  (1604) century when presiding over a famous case called "Seymane's Case" as to whether Sheriffs had any right to enter a man's house without a standing court order as well as the reason's for entry by the Sheriff. Hence a man's house is his 'castle and his fortress' and for all intents and purposes used for his and his family's quiet enjoyment. 

No less and No more.

On the other hand, the home owner cannot be harbouring a fugitive, be engaged in illegal activity like managing a drug den or operating a brothel. In essence the reason for the judgement that a man's house is his castle and fortress - and he is legally bound to not allow people in - if he has done no wrong in the eyes of the law.

Its aging but its our home sweet home. 

That is why, it is so painful to see what is happening in the Hamas - Israel war which is happening in the Gaza strrip. It is truly heartbreaking to watch in real life the plight of innocent Palestinians who have been forced to move from their houses and apartments  as their lives are threatened.

There are many similar cases of people who have lost their homes to natural disasters like the tornados in Kansas state USA, earthquakes in Turkey and most recently Afghanistan and the tsunami in Japan in 2011. The feeling of despair and helplessness must be overwhelming.

It is a tragedy of epic proportions which we on the outside feel helpless and just lousy. This is a no win situation which will play out for decades to come. There are many countries who are currently facing very uncertain futures in the African, European and American continents that I feel blessed to be living in Singapore. 

I am so grateful that our small island nation Singapore while still young (58 years) had a visionary leader in Mr. Lee Kwan Yew and a superb leadership team (People's Action Party) who forged through the first tumultuous 25 years with iron will, discipline, tough no nonsense (some call it harsh) rules to  round up all the drug lords, enacting the harsh death penalty for drug trafficking and murder. 

In short, Singapore cleaned up its act in the first 10 years of its existence and then its government went to woo foreign direct investment to build factories for (then) low cost goods from the 1970s. The rest, like they say, is history. 

A little piece of 'heaven' by the water feature.

From the 1980s, we have grown from strength to strength then. With a then GDP per capita of US$ 500 in the late 60s, Singapore now has a GDP of US$ 78,000 per capita as of 2022.

We are a first world nation, with world best airport and airline, first world infrastructure, school and mass transit system. Our public housing is excellent and we have been recently been nominated as the 6th Blue Zone in the world where life expectancy is very high 85 for women and 83.5 for men, all thanks to a balanced life and excellent medical care.

 Japanese Palm in the Open Concept Attic. My go to place to get alive every morning. 

We do have many problems, that is for sure. We have a sky high ridiculously expensive Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system which makes a mockery of owning a car, any car. One would have to fork out easily US$ 150,000 for a basic Toyota Altis. It is a joke by any standards.

Our children have high levels of myopia, and stress in schools is no joke. There are regular influxes of new foreign migrants who are talented, more hungry and hardworking than our children. They compete and take a lot of the top paying jobs here, by their sheer talent and energy. Our children will then be second to these top new citizens. This is meritocracy 101.

In short, we cannot rest on our laurels, not for any duration in time. Singapore is like a treadmill running at a certain speed, if you are able and have the energy, then good, once you reach a certain age, either get off (migrate) or have enough reserves (cash and assets) to hire someone to run on your behalf. 

Inflation is easily 5% per annum, and we are worried that we cannot retire comfortably in Singapore. This is a big concern amongst Singaporeans above 55 years old. We have options of either moving to a lower cost country or selling off our abode (condominium, flat or house) to free up cash to live our our 'golden years'. 

That would be painful for some, but if you do not have emotional attachment to your house, it can (must)  be managed one way or the other.  

Some fine country indeed.