Meeting Linda at Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

What a joy it was to see, walk and explore the Queen Vic Market. Before the trip, I have read up on the market on its official website and heard anecdotal reviews from my friend MK who did his farmer-to-scholar conversion in Melbourne. Now that I have actually shopped there, I think this is what all markets should be like!

I also met up with my 'ex'-colleague Linda who is now staying in Melbourne with her hubby Peiming during the course of his studies. We had an enjoyable gathering over breakfast and she showed us some interesting parts of the market, like the shop where two men pulled and kneaded mounds of sugar into candy.

Like she commented, it truly was good to 'see a familiar face' in a foreign land and to use Mandarin.

Our little island of peace and calm

Thailand is so messy now. Looks like no way out of it except clampdown which is history repeated many times over.

Thailand is at war with Cambodia over Preah Vihear. I've been to that temple. Beautiful place. Maybe that's why they are fighting over it. Hard to see how it will pan out.

Brings me to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Also no way out.

China is prosperous now. But that in itself is a conflict with its identity. How can the Communist Party stay relevant to the times and the needs of its increasingly globalised population and yet not have to give up its label of Communist. Difficult to reconcile.

In Singapore, politics is seldom mentioned. We have our peace and calm. Will this be enough?

Dinner with WY, Kel and their families

WY proposed a dinner gathering for our NS friends. Most could not turn up. We still managed a respectable turnout at NUSS Sentec with WY, Kel, I and our spouses. WY and Kel also brought their pride and joy along -- their first borns.

Kel's wife, YX, with their son Keegan.

Kel with Keegan.

WY and Chloe.

Me and a very distracted Chloe.

Three important considerations

I shared this with my fellow farmer (but now turned scholar) MK last week. Distilled from my year and a half observations of top brains at work, one must consider these three factors when putting up a piece of work, presentation etc.

1) What is the substance?
- could be statistics, principles, logic

2) What is the message?
- what do want the audience to take away.

3) Is it impressive?
- if it is not, be prepared to drop it.

EPS parking good or not?

In the car park below my block of flats, illegal parking has always been a problem, particularly so because the suppliers and customers of the wet market and hawker centre find it more convenient and cost-effective to park at the loading/unloading bay of the market. The problem is compounded because the entrance of the car park is a narrow strip of access road which gets even messier when inconsiderate drivers park along this road.

So, earlier mid last month, when we saw that gantries were being put up for EPS parking, our common conventional wisdom was that the illegal parking scene will simply get worse, because now that these motorists need to pay anyway, they will illegal park and stay put even longer.

EPS started today.

When I came home in the evening, what greeted me was not the usual scene of haphazardly parked vehicles, but unusual empty lots along the loading/unloading bay.

Seems like whoever is doing this is smarter than me! And I am thankful.

Hope this lasts.