No News is Good News

HDB Flat in the West

       We have a good thing going here. Today I drove to the Bukit Gombak estate and had my lunch at the coffeeshop there. Nothing unusual, but I opened my eyes and looked around me. People from all walks of life, some office staff, some students, many elderly and some middle aged people having their lunch and chatting. So what ? 

        It struck me that with all that is happening in the world, we have a good thing going right here in Singapore. Our waters are calm, we are blessed with a deep harbour, surrounded by large archipelago of Thailand, and the large expanse of land called Sumatra. We are in a peaceful region and there is harmony between the neighbours. ASEAN Governments should all be lauded for keeping the South East Asian region peaceful.   

      The walkways are clean, safe, and pothole free. The water management is excellent, the electricity is stable and for the most part, affordable. Many tourists all over the world are amazed at our country's orderliness, citizen's industry and remarkable development. A lot of this is thanks to the first generation of our country's leaders from 1950s till the late 1990s.

     We bitch and complain about everything and anything. Yes, there are valid points. However, if you look and compare Singapore to HK, we would come out better in many aspects - the most important being affordable public housing. My earlier post about the poor in Hong Kong living in abysmal and coffin like apartments subjugates the human being to nothing more than a body enclosed by 4 walls, which become like a furnace during the hot summer months.

     

Plenty of clean open spaces and void decks at the foot of the blocks

        The town management of the estate which I was in keeps the estate clean. All the food centres and most carparks of the newer housing estates have covered walkways for protection against the heavy rains during the rainy months of Nov - March each year. 

        Yes, there are complaints about the state of the MRT ; why the frequent breakdowns  leaving many commuters late for work and fuming. Costs of car park coupons have gone up a staggering 20%, water by 30% the list goes on.  

        The local economy is sputtering, having had 3 painful years of restructuring, many Singaporeans have lost their jobs to the disruptive world economy, the labour market while tight, is only looking for people with Fintech experience, and so there are a group of people who will have to downgrade and lower their expectations or try their careers in other countries. Uber, Grab and the food distribution service companies (Food Panda, Redmart, Honest Bee etc.) have been the biggest employers in the last 3 years, so its a massive shift in job performance expectations, and its impact has hit us hard.    

          But again, ours is a complaining society and I believe we will need to look beyond these failings and take everything in its proper perspective. On the whole, it is still pretty good living for almost everyone, rich, poor, and of all walks of life. 

           

   

Happiness can be ... a bit of many things,events, people. Today it is watching my boyhood team beat Premier League Southampton 2-0 in the Carabao (League Cup)

      There are small victories every single day. Securing orders big and small, managing the team with a fiery and concerted pitch on what to do, focus and the satisfaction of coming out of a bad downturn with each and every month. This is 'fighting in the trenches business Singapore style'. No one is going to pay for my retirement, for my old car's COE extension, for my daily expenses and for my children's education overseas. So many unpredictabilities in this world.

      Some things like the best things in life, are free. Like this period when my boyhood team Wolverhampton Wanderers are playing the best football in years, having won 3 League games and 2 Cup games so far this season. Only one loss last week to Cardiff at home.
I am back to when I was 14 - 16 years old, the romantic notion that life was filled with possibilities and knowing (or not knowing) what the future lies ahead, except that it would all be good.

     Today the feeling is like that ; when I watched the game played by the Wolves against Southampton. Something evoked the past memories of pure unbridled joy ; of watching a team some 3,000 km away in dreary England in the Midlands and enjoying each beautiful pass, great save from the 'keeper and 2 opportunistic goals.

     The manager Santos is a magician ; he has given the team something no one in the last 20 years has ; a fervent hope that Wolves will finally make it to the big Premier League next season. Its a long 10 months away. 

     Who knows ? I just am happy for their win on Wednesday 23rd.  

Elderly Poor In Hong Kong

         Very insightful programme about the almost 1 million poor people living and working in Hong Kong. They are 'invisible' as they are everywhere going about their business  picking up cardboard boxes for a pittance. Income inequality is very high in one of the highest per capita GDP countries in the world. But that is meaningless number to all of these people. Living in cramped, squalid apartments with no proper ventilation each apartment can be as small as 60 square feet, the 'heros' eke out an existence which is heartbreaking to watch. Still they persevere with the will that tomorrow is going to be a better day.  

       The young councillor in the video is very clear in what he stands for ; he is able to separate or subjugate his personal feelings of compassion and pity for the many old folk living in his district (Sham Tsui Poh) and move on and highlight the greater needs which have to be fulfilled for the entire district. In essence, some needs are greater than others. 

        The ticking 'silver tsumani' is just around the corner, and countries all over the world are grappling with this inevitable tide of retiring or out of work senior citizens with little or no pensions available with the ominous threat of sickness, lack of mobility and purpose in life. They rightfully expect the government to help them, but the issue of pride before practicality of asking for a lifeline is making things very difficult for the social workers to determine whether their needs (not even thinking about wants, or fanciful wishes) are adequately met.

        Saving for a rainy day and old age is a must. But soured investments, business failures and family squabbles and breakups threaten the best laid plans. 

        

Terrorist Attack in Barcelona ; the world is on high alert

      The senseless attack at the world famous La Rambla in Barcelona last Thursday 17th left me and many people worldwide just numb. No words can describe the pain and suffering endured by the wounded and those families who have lost their loved ones.

      I can only pray that while the perpetrators will ultimately be brought to justice, that somehow somewhere, some sense and sensibilty will remain. Our humanity is at stake ; our values of  good and evil are being taunted and that common sense must and will prevail.

       " Justice must be served, and it must be seen to be served."

Street artist in La Rambla - taken last Dec 2016 

      We are living in dangerous times, no one is immune or should put their heads in the sand. Grieve we must but we all have to pull together to include everyone to move forward. The dirsuptions and uncertainity will always be there, but we must have the courage to overcome, and standup and defeat the 'bad guys' ! 


  

A fourth straight win for Wolves this season 2017-18

A fourth straight win for the Wanderers this season, 3 games victorious in the Championship and 1 in the league cup. I must fancy the team's chances. Its a long long way till the end of the season, but hope (and stupid boyhood fanciful thinking) I will. 

An away win at Hull, Hull 2 ; Wolves 3.  

All praise to Nunes the team coach. Brilliant work. 

A brilliant start to the Wolves team in 20 odd years ; interview with the Wolves Manager

Interview with Nuno Esperito Santos the Wolves Coach for 2017-18 season. 

Game On ! 

I am a hopeless handyman

I will be the first to say this ; I am hopeless with my hands at fixing things. All my life, though I have managed to play the piano (through rigorous piano lessons for 6 to 7 years), swim decently, practice karate, driving, skiing amongst other things, my big regret is not having the fine dexterity to (nowadays) fit a thread through the eye of the needle, or do basic wiring jobs. I am not a 'hands on' person. 

I can fix most lightbulbs, and connect the 3 wires in the single phase 13A plug. That is about the limit of my handskills. I could possibly blame my family genes, as I remember my late father Geoffrey was a "never lift a finger" figure in the household in the old days when I was growing up.   

So for most house repair works, my phone is on speed dial to my contractor even for the most basic plumbing and window repair jobs. I lack the interest coupled with the non-dexterity and patience to replace (for example) the sliding door latch or even change the toilet seat. 

The height of my manual handiwork was assembling an IKEA (brain dead follow instructions) display cabinet and changing the wheels on my car tyres - though I have not changed tyres for some time (thanks to my being a fully paid up member of Automobile Association of Singapore which provides battery replacement and care tyre replacements for free).    

 Point and shoot photography is the limit of my photographic ability (DUH) 

My typing skills are shameful, most times I still require to look at the QWERTY keyboard typing emails, memos and quotations. In addition, I am a single tasker (as compared to multitasker) so tend to focus on doing one thing with my hands at one time.

Even typing on the WhatsApp keyboard I am still a one hand typist compared to the millenials nowadays who are very adept at 2 finger super speed syntax incorrect god knows what type of English with emoticons. 

Maybe that is my saving grace in this age of disruption ; people still long for the written word to express themselves (people in this context I am referring to me in particular). So I write with my slow typing skills and laborious prose complete with punctuation marks, and thankfully no emoticons or emojis, I am reflective of my generation of baby boomers who still write in complete sentences, and grammatically correct. 

We baby boomers are probably a dying breed. 

Perhaps there is some redemption for being a hopeless handyman, I think I can write /type reasonably well about almost any topic. Whether it is meaningless drivel or provides some entertainment, this blog is my electronic diary about my experiences good and bad, past and present.