Another Day Of Trading In The Library

"You've got to get here quick" William said to me.  William and I had only just met in the queue outside the Queenstown Library plate glass doors.

"But the Library doesn't open until ten" I said.

"That's so" he said "but you are lucky today as there is drizzle".  Drizzle I found out later means that the normally large queue was nowhere to be seen.

I had arrived at 9:30 am, by accident rather than design as I thought the place opened earlier.  My desperation was prompted by the fact that my Singnet account has been successfully disconnected as we had requested. So I now have to resort to using the free Wireless@SG service which I signed up for last month.

In truth this is my second visit today and this segment is written at 3 pm in the afternoon, the library being only a short 15 minute walk from our condo.  William I note is still here since morning as are several familiar faces from the earlier queue.

You make well ask "What do they do all day?" 

I was asking myself the same question but I believe I now have the answer.

Many are Day Traders;  share trading online and watching the ebb and flow of the stock market charts, before they commit to a sale or purchase.

The is a favourite past time for many people and a significant percentage of the population make their living in this manner

This then is composed in the air conditioned comfort of the first floor of the Library.  I have taken William's advice and managed to secure one of the large desks by the window.

"Free power and free broadband, why not good?" as he put it so succinctly.

Unlucky For Some

Lucky Plaza was anything but yesterday morning.  In the space of two short hours Singapore received 60% of a normal June month's rainfall.

This resulted in the worst flooding of Orchard Road for at least two decades.

One of the root causes (if you will excuse the pun) was debris blocking the culverts that divert water to the underground Stamford canal.




This will be my last posting for a little while as in a few hours time my Singnet broadband account will be cut off as we prepare to depart our condo.

Designing My Own Range Of Merchandise

 

I have spent an exciting morning adding product into my new online store.  It is a great way to utilise designs and images that I have collected over the years.

A Whale Of A Tale

It's strange but true
that whale poo
according to the pundits
can clear the world of CO2
so lets have it
in abundance

Roger Smith  June 2010

Source: Sperm whale faeces 'helps oceans absorb CO2'

Hollow Echoes

Image via Wikipedia

This is the final week in our condo and with all the boxes gone the place has a hollow echo.  I have never tired of looking out our lounge window at the changing Singapore skyline, with its steady procession of cranes as new buildings rise from their foundations.

I have watched the tropical storms come and go and felt the building reverberate to the sound of the thunder.

The night view is particularly attractive with the various coloured lights from the high rises much in evidence.

Just this morning I watched a large raptor ride the the thermals above Margaret Drive as it searched for prey hundreds of feet below.

These past three and a half years have been my first experience of apartment living. While I have enjoyed the change, it is fair to say that my wife has regarded it as a form of penal servitude and longs for the quietness of New Zealand. She is a Singaporean and has not enjoyed coming back whereas I have always felt a strong affinity to Singapore, going back to the 1980's when I first  visited.

To put it into context, I doubt I would enjoy going back to the town of my birth to live either.  Not that there is anything wrong with Waitara I hasten to add, it is just that we have nothing in common and the childhood memories are largely of wild west coast beaches and burning black sand in the heat of summer.  I have moved on.

The BBC World Service is broadcasting in the background as I write this.  What a marvelous thing quality radio journalism is.  It has keep us connected with the wide world during our time here; in a way that local media simply does not.

I only hope that we can get the World Service in New Zealand.  I recall it was privately sponsored by a wealthy NZ businessman several years ago but I am not sure if the service still exists?  There is a web site which says that the service still exists on 810 AM so here's hoping.

The Coming Storm

The Coming Storm   ................................................   Roger Smith  June  2010