The Two Olds

Retirement  - no such thing!

I well remember when my father retired.  He chose not to take up a government offer to come chief judge in a New Zealand Pacific protectorate, in preference to his first love, fishing off the rocks on the Coromandel peninsula.

Not that I was surprised at this as he had by then had enough of party political interference in the appointment of the judiciary.  He had also served his country in Word War II which included several years in a German POW camp; he was captured on Crete as many New Zealanders were.

The thing about Dad was he never publicly expressed any negative views about such matters, such was his legal training.  When the time came that he could retire he "packed up his tent" and went fishing.

So today as I reach the official NZ retirement age and become eligible to reclaim back a small portion of the large amount of tax I have paid the country over forty years, I am reminded of the day my father chose relaxation over re-employment.

In my own case and to paraphrase a Chinese expression it is a case of 'the two olds'.

I turned sixty as a Permanent Resident (PR) in Singapore thereby qualifying for a plastic card that identified me as a 'senior citizen', travel and other concessions.  While this was much appreciated, I felt a bit of a fraud as I was in lucrative full time employment with no intention of retiring from my senior appointment with the British Council.  Singapore has subsequently raised its retirement age since my departure.

Now some five years on and back in New Zealand I still don't really believe that the day has come when I have qualified once again for this status in society.  Yet another piece of plastic arrived though the post entitling me to an even broader range of tempting discounts; not that discount facials and new tyres hold much appeal.  But as my Mother used to say, it is the thought that counts.

The other thing about 'retirement' at an arbitrary age is that it seldom if ever happens.  Where a few generations ago you were given a gold watch for long service and gently ushered out the back door, most of us now spend at least some time on pursuits that are tied into our former full time employment.

I am just as active now in the digital, online world as I ever have been which keeps the creative juices flowing.  The beauty is I no longer have to sit through the tedium of irrelevant staff meetings nor in my car braving the rush hour.

The brave,digital world that allowed me in my working life to communicate with clients, colleagues and friends around the globe, does so still.  So when I think about it, nothing much has changed except that I occasionally miss the face to face socialising that took place in the many staff rooms I frequented.

And I do miss Singapore; the arrival back home at Changi airport, the tropical thunderstorms and verdant foliage, the colourful creepy crawlies and the warmth of its people.  I am blessed that many of them in the 'Little Red Dot' and people I knew and worked with in NZ, remain friends still.

There was an article in the local press yesterday quoting a specialist who has said "Life expectancy in New Zealand is higher than ever, but early retirement is killing people".  The gist being that keeping the mind active keep you living longer.  They could well be right.  The thought of sinking into a lethargic torpor holds no appeal whatsoever!

I can't think of one person I know who has retired to the couch.  All of us are actively engaged in work and/or society. Which just goes to prove that we 'Baby Boomer's', despite the dire predictions of our parent's generation, aren't any lazier than those that went before us.

To paraphrase a certain BBC fox puppet "Boom, Boom" and long may life remain so.

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Polar Blasts and Hazy Recollections

Shoppers cover their mouths while out along Orchard Road, in Singapore.
Photo: Mark Cheong / The Straits Times

It's six in the morning and as I write a polar southerly is rattling the windows with hail and rain announcing the dawn.  The only thing in favour of this climatic reality is that the air is fresh; too fresh for the farmers in New Zealand's South island who are waist deep in snow trying to protect their livestock.

What a contrast with the choking stillness of the Indonesian haze that is enveloping Singapore in a caustic blanket.

I remember clearly my first experience of this  haze and wrote about it back in 2007 and in subsequent posts.  The thing that angered me then and angers me still, is the total disregard Indonesia has for its neighbours when it come to air pollution of this sort.

Singapore's NEA Regional Haze Map

Currently the Haze being experienced by my Singaporean friends is at record levels - PSI 250 at 11 pm last night which virtually guarantees respiratory problems for anyone who inhales it. Early in the day, at 1 pm, it had reached a record-high level of 371, beating the previous 1997 record of 226.

Air becomes "hazardous" when the PSI breaches 300 but believe me as one who has experienced it, it is very unpleasant to live and work in at much lower levels.

The Strait's Times reports that a senior Indonesian minister has hit out at Singapore on the haze, saying: "Singapore shouldn't be like children, in such a tizzy."  I note that this same Minister, one Agung Laksono,  is pictured in his air-conditioned office far away from any pollution (if you discount Jakarta's traffic).

Singapore's  Ministry of Health (MOH) having been doing what they can, closing schools and issuing N95 face masks and urging the population not to stockpile so there are enough to go around.

Out of the mouths of babes
A seven year old American child who is visiting her grandparents in Singapore is so upset that she cannot go outside to play that she wrote to the US President Barack Obama, asking him to tell his "good friend the President of Indonesia to stop burning the forest".

Sumatra Hotspots that generate the haze - Meteorological Service Singapore

What is particularly galling about this is that Indonesia does virtually nothing to curb this annual problem, despite taking money from the Singaporean government in the past to alleviate the situation and educate their farmers and those illegally clearing the land for oil palm plantations, using fire.

There is little the Singapore population and its government can do if its larger neighbour continues to behave in such a cavalier fashion. It is a small comfort to know that there is now a special subsidy scheme in place for Singaporeans who are suffering from respiratory problems or conjunctivitis because of the haze.

They can see their GP and only pay $10 with the Ministry of Health picking up the the rest of the bill. Meanwhile flight sin and out of Changi are disrupted, constructions sites and school closed down and even McDonalds has suspended its fast food delivery service.

My suggestion, stop sending money to Indonesia from support schemes that are clearly failing. Instead tally up the total cost of this economic impact due to the Sumatran haze and send the bill to the Indonesia through a world court.  See if that prompts their cooperation.

Stop Press: Haze PSI hits 401 at mnidday today!

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The Sacred Tree

Blocks- Changi
Roger Smith 2012
View a larger version here

This image is based on the large concrete blocks that are used as crane counterweights in Singapore. It could have been taken on almost any building site in the country but in this case it was out at Changi; on the site of the ill-fated UNSW Asia campus.

Within two months of the original photograph being taken the plug was pulled on the project. The same piece of ground was reclaimed by the government who had plans to build Singapore's fifth university on it.

Recent news reports suggest that they too will not proceed on the site.

There is an interesting aside related to this story. On the same site stood a tree that was believed by many of the local Malay population to be sacred. Offerings were frequently laid at its base to appease various deities. Not surprisingly people for the area were concerned for the tree's fate and assurance were made that it would be revered and kept safe.

Shortly after ground works commenced for the new campus, it was inadvertently knocked over by a contractor. Not a good omen and so it proved to be.

The Sacred Tree
Roger Smith 2007

Mind you, this is not the only spiritual site I came across during my time in Singapore. The practice of venerating certain places was widely practiced in earlier times and still continues in some places.

Each day I passed a clump of trees and bamboos adjacent to the food court in Commonwealth Avenue, by the Queenstown MRT. Inside this clump there was a largish open space in which a red oil lantern could be seen shining along with other small offerings.

Adjacent to the Queenstown MRT overpass on Commonwealth Avenue

Changi Compost

It may be difficult to envisage compost heaps at a future Changi airport but the notion is not as far fetched as some make think.

No content with wrapping their sushi in nori, the Japanese are now working on plans with Europeans to use the green stuff to save more 'green stuff' - money.

According to those who follow developments in aviation, a seaweed-powered space-liner will be able to fly from London to Tokyo in two-and-a-half hours, at a cruising altitude of 20 miles and generating no significant pollution.  The time frame is by 2050.

The Zehst - or "Zero emission hypersonic transportation" pictured left will fly twice as fast and twice as high as Concorde if all goes to plan. The technology remains largely secret as one might expect with such a radical development but the two large blue tanks in the illustration suggest a bio-gas component.

I am not sure that this is so reassuring, given that the current gas tanks of the on board toilets always seem to fail or block on a long flight.

Meanwhile in a small apartment in Tanjong Pagar a Singaporean enthusiast is tackling history at the opposite end of the time continuum.

Calvin Chu collects fossils and has an abiding passion for dinosaurs.  According to the media article, Calvin also has a degree of secrecy around his pet project:

"Just like actual dinosaur remains, the study in Chu’s apartment where the fossils are kept is not easily found. It is hidden behind three large bookcases, and revealed only by pulling out the middle one, which acts like a door to the study"

Hopefully the 2014 opening of the new Natural History Museum at NUS will allow him to indulge in his passion more openly.

And, as most of the 335 kinds of dinosaurs ate plants its a sure fire bet that at least some were partial to seaweed. Given the gas that apparently produces maybe global warming isn't such a recent phenomenon after all.

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Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Photo: Eustaquio Santimano

When I think of Christmas I think of the lights of Orchard Road as they used to be ten or twenty years ago.  In recent years the lighting has been a 'shadow' of what it used to be.

The impact of satellite malls has made themselves felt.  This year will be the first time in five years that I will not be experiencing a Singapore Xmas.  Even a watered down version of Orchard Road lighting is better than the limp affair in New Zealand cities.

This wasn't always the case but as the spirit of the festive season has been steadily eroded by commercial greed and avarice, the little personal touches have been lost.

At least in Singapore the shops stay open on Christmas Day. In Auckland as happens elsewhere in New Zealand, everything comes to a grinding halt.  This enforced break used to last for up to three days but thankfully now the supermarkets reopen on Boxing Day and the Boxing Day sales in the Antipodes remain a feature.

If we are into commercialism at Xmas let's go the whole way!

We have had two weeks of steady rain which has broken the back of the drought we were experiencing earlier in the month.  While in Singapore the weather is cooler and wetter, here the weather is warmer and should be drier from December to February.

Our news is full of Kiwis stranded at Heathrow airport in the UK who will not be making it back to Godzone for the Xmas reunion with family. 

According to a BBC report, Heathrow can only afford one runway sweeping machine to clear the snow and ice, so departure delays are expected to continue for some time.

Having experienced the diabolical atmosphere and attitude of Heathrow on more than one occasion I am not surprised by this news.  Such unpreparedness would simply not be tolerated at Changi.

Perhaps the Brits could try amusing passengers stranded in the terminals by adopting the Bangladeshi approach to entertainment?

Dhaka's Shahjalal International inadvertently screened a pornographic film for a full five minutes before anyone realised what was happening. The presentation replaced their usual recorded documentaries about the culture and geography.

Things like Heathrow's service levels may never change but other things can change a lot.

Take the recent activity in my Singapore 'home town' district of Queenstown, an older estate in the Republic.  Apparently the locals have taken to divesting themselves of their garments if this report is to be believed.

The heat at the bus stops used to get to me, but I was never tempted to strip.  Apparently the gentleman concerned couldn't understand why he was not getting "fries with everything" when he divested himself of his gear at McDonalds.

Try doing that in the UK at the moment!

Related articles

• Heathrow snow strands travellers (theage.com.au)
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