The Wait

My last sleep lasted for 12 hours. Yesterday, I retreated to my bed at 20 00 hrs and hibernated till 8 am this morning. I would not say the sleep was satisfying for I woke up with a heavy headache this morning.

The story behind my long sleep is as follows:

Ah Xiang was due to arrive on the 12th 05 00 hrs. I decided to receive him at the airport for fear anything might go wrong with his clearance at the checkpoint. In view of that, I decided to stay back in the office for the night.

Having taken too much tea, I believe, during the day, I find myself having problems getting to sleep. I eventually fell asleep, or at least half-asleep, at around 12 30 hrs. I was then shaken awake by a series of noise which consist of trolley pushing and tables dragging. I went through the possibility of a thief, before actually checking it out myself. It was Jian.

Someone had ordered logistic for a funeral and I really cannot blame the dead for needing the service at that unearthly hours. For some reasons, Jian was not the usual half-dead. He was energetic when I saw him and he smilingly ask why I had not gone home. I told him that I would be fetching Xiang from the airport later, which I believe boosted his morale for the rest of the day.

I tried to get back to sleep again. The tea power was still winning and I finally gave up and went for a quick wash up at 03 00 hrs. I drove the truck peacefully along ECP, listening to Yes933 on the radio. When I reached the airport, I got a shock of my life! It was only 03 45hrs. I checked the arrival schedule. Oh, MU543 will be landing 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. I then walk the entire terminal one round before settling down at Mac Donalds for a Big Breakfast.

I finished my breakfast at 04 30 hrs and went to Gate 41 to await the arrival of a capable worker. There was a vagrant (it seems) making the bench his bed. When he took off his shoes, a terrible pong fills the localised atmosphere, within which I was. I nearly fainted. He went on to scratch his lower privates, which was quite an obscene sight.

04 50 hrs - MU 543 Landed ... Wait

05 00 hrs - Flight attendants exited ... Wait

05 30 hrs - First few luggage were born ... Wait

05 45 hrs - Bulk of the passengers got their luggage and left ... Wait

It was not until 06 20 that Xiang was spotted. Throughout the wait, I imagined the tragedy that I could have missed him and he had gone to the MRT or taxi stand. 

I was lucky though, there were many foreign workers agents who have not met their charge even after I left. A remarkable one was Mr and Mrs Pink. A couple who wore pink tops. Mr Pink was restless, then irritated, and finally infuriated by the wait. Poor him.

Apple

Apple really made me ROFL. Last week, I saw a stain on her head and kindly offered to wash. Fair enough, she was co-operative throughout. I then went out to make some delivery and when I came back. I thought a new dog had come because I do not recognise that pooch. Apple had camo'ed on.

On another incident, Apple saw a bone on the floor, but could not reach it(luckily). But it happened that Or-or the bird saw it too. Or-or flew down from the ceiling frame and chow down on the leftover bone. Apple barked at Or-or, to the oblivion of the latter.

Apple's best friend has to be Nini the cat. And Nini has no fear being close to Apple and drinking from her dish. It's probably due to the similar colour of their coat, or they are just made for each other. Who says there are natural enemy? (exception: me and the mosquitos/flies/red ants)

Singapore Laziest A$$

I gave the acronym SLA a long thought before deciding that it stands for Singapore's Laziest Ass. I had exercised restrain with the last word, thought I could be more specific with the region extending it with the 'h' word. A few days ago, I went to Revenue House to apply for a license to hold a funeral. Absurd. If the SLA do not grant it, the dead would not even have a place for a wake. But this is Singapore for you.

The highlight of the visit is that I am the only person in the queue, or rather, I am the queue itself. From the picture, you could see that I pressed for the ticket at 15:05 hrs. But I hope I did not mislead you with the date/time marking of my camera, for I did not get served until 15:50 hrs. While I was there, the air-conditioner was at full blast, the five counters were labelled (1)Reception (2)Service (3)Service (4) Document Lodging (5)Document Lodging. Counter 1 was occupied by a mudman who has no interest for anything else other than checking email, surfing the net and sucking up to a caucasian customer. Counter 2 was occupied by another mudman who has the same interest as mudman 1. Counters 3 and 4 are empty, and behind Counter 5 was a lady who seemed eternally busy with stapling, binding and flipping through papers after serving the only customer I had seen that day.

When it was finally my turn, my transaction finished within 5 minutes, within which I got vacuumed of $43.80. I handed the document to the 'mail counter' and left. Efficient, as the government so boasted. But what about the waiting time? 15 minutes? 50 minutes? 傻傻分不清楚。

Ah, that's more like it

The first day of Lunar New Year looks more like the sort of reunion dinner we had at Lorong Terigu 20 years ago. Everybody is present and nobody had any excuses for being absent. The day started at 3rd Aunt's house. We had a late lunch there. 3rd Aunt's cooking is superb. I love her stir-fried celery with mushrooms, chicken and well, mushroom(other type). Then, we shifted to 1st Aunt's house, which is a block away. 

The food there was sumptuous no less. I never had so much beehoon (rice vermicelli) in a day. But I gladly gave up the rice for beehoon because I can almost guarantee the quality just because they are my aunts' cooking. But my vote goes to the red wine ferment chicken. It is a new creation since the demise of my grandmother. Nonetheless, 1st Aunt brought back memories of her with the braised sea cucumber with mushroom and other what-have-you-s.

I look forward to more good food come this weekend.

Lunar New Year

The reunion new year last night was not going at full strength. There were 4 apologies for absence from 4 aunts. Only 5th Aunt and 6th Aunt were present. 1st to 5th Uncle reported without fail. The food theme this year is Dumpling. I've ate scores of dumplings this season. Meat filling, cabbage filling, chives filling and what have you. Last years 'in' thing was the basin vegetable, which is actually, vegetable in a basin, quite literally.

2 days ago, I also ate at the Central Warehouse's reunion dinner. The food, though served by some unknown small caterer, was, by far, the best I've eaten at a banquet, including all the competitors from hotel restaurants. No sharksfin, good, but why did they take our my favourite cold dish combination? The foreign workers who are not returning to their homeland were happy to have a reunion dinner of some sorts, although I believe they rather be at home. But I think they would feel a bit of consolation with that dinner. So much so that when I sneaked some food back to my office for Baskaran, I stumbled upon one who was dead drunk on the floor. From a distant, I though the silhouette belonged to a fallen palm tree branch, but on observation of the surrounding, there was no palm tree around and I moved closer to discover a chinese man lying in his own pond of puke. I gestured to a nearby man who just exited the toilet, and he merely gestured back, suggesting, "Leave him". I went back to get a pail of water to wash away his pond of 'essence'. By the time I returned, the man sat up and some of his comrades were coming. Oh, Baskaran finished one braised trotter himself; Rose got a duck head, Apple and Daisy got some duck meat, Nini ate her NutriEdge.

Today, the first day of new year, we would be visiting 3rd Aunt at her house. I suspect we would be shifting base to 1st Aunt's house which is a block adjacent. It used to be my grandparents house we would visit, but since their departure, we have moved to visiting aunts and uncles.

Kopi-Soh

I was laughing inside when I heard Martian talking over the phone today. Her grandson was running a fever and was hospitalised. The doctor said that the baby was too tightly and heavily dressed, and hence, causing the fever. But Martian was not happy because she thinks that all she has been doing is for the good of her grandson and all her methods are the most orthodox. She called a friend and spoke to her at great length about what the doctor said and dissing the daughter-in-law for suggesting that the baby should be bathed thoroughly when Martian thought that a short shower will suffice. She then carry on to personifies herself as a doctor, saying that the baby got a fever because he caught a cold (for wearing too little, of course) and not because of overdressing. What a rhetoric!

Kopi-soh is a gem. She is the best customer service personnel any coffee shop could ask for. Yue Hua Eating House is located at Depot Road and this is where Kopi-soh works. I have, for a couple of times, experienced the excellent service of Kopi-soh. She is a big sized lady with thunderous voice and wears a waist pouch. Her modus operandi usually goes this way:

1. In a sweet voice, she would ask, "Hello, 要喝水嗎？"

2. The patron would order a drink, say 2 x Teh-C, 1 x Kopi-o, 1 x Hot Barley

3. Then here comes the show, in a thunderous voice, she would project her order, across the hall if she must, towards the drinks counter, "啊來！Teh-C sua! Kopi-O! Barley sio!"

And she would repeat for a few tables before making her way to the counter to pick up her order shouted earlier on.

In this era where almost every aspect of operation religiously takes after Taylorism - see Mos Burger - it is this personal, yet effective way of working that makes dining such a much more interesting experience.

Hairy Encounters

Two days ago, while I was looking at my guys doing some set up at a food manufacturing factory in Woodlands, I walked by this dying rat. The rat is near the last few minutes of his life. It must have been the work of the Rentokil rodent bait. I felt sad, yet I could not do anything. It may sound fake, but I have this special affinity with rodents since young. Probably due to the excessive socialisation and conditioning that has made thought that I am somewhat linked to the rodents for being born in the year of the Rat, which happens to be ending at this point I am typing. I left Mr Rat to breathe his last, for I could not bear to see him slowly waste to a lifeless carcass.

Today, I went into Truely Asia to have a haircut. As I pass by Segget's corner, I saw this ultra adorable cat. I am drawn to the coat of Ms Seggets because it's the same as Nini, Avenue3 and Ginger.

My friends at Jantzen had to slog till 6pm, Chinese New Year's eve. My heart goes out to them. And I thank Ann, Joey and Ah Lian for their services today.