Category: People

  • The librarian’s on it

    I wrote earlier about the ‘drug lord’ turned philantropist Tan Seng Poh and his mansion near the Armenian Church, and about how I asked the National Library’s “Ask a librarian” librarian to locate the site of Seng Poh’s house. He’s (the librarian, not Tan Seng Poh) emailed to tell me that he and his colleagues…

  • If only Michael Faye did this instead…

    I don’t keep my car well. I don’t like washing it, and it’s not a good thing that it’s a black car, because it’s usually so dusty it’s more like a shade of dark grey. I’ve had people finger paint on my car the usual epithets – “wash me”, “dirty fellow”, and “www.washme.com”. But a…

  • Horsburgh Lighthouse and other significant old buildings

    Horsburgh Lighthouse was erected in 1851, and is probably one of the oldest structures (or the oldest) in Singapore that hasn’t been demolished, or converted for a purpose other than that for which it was built. That is, to house an Ah Beng who likes to high beam passing ships. Oops. Did I say “in…

  • Deepavali: Awareness of the Inner Light

    Northern Lights over Oslo – photo by flickRarity When I was in kindergarten, I learned about the different ethnic groups (known in Singapore as “races”) in Singapore and the festivals they celebrated. Ours, the Chinese “race”, was coolest because we had our New Year for two days in a row, and we received cash money…

  • Waiter, there’s too much food on my table

    There is a restaurant where you get rewarded for being a nice customer. Or at least, for being a customer who is nice enough to take time out to talk to the waiter about our HTC Touch phone which he was eyeing and wanting to ask about. When Naomi obliged by saying a couple of…