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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

OMG! I've Got Stuff to Write About!

First off, I must apologize to my fellow bloggers for my belatedness in reading your blogs. There are thousands of posts in my Google Reader! Some people do the "Mark all as read" thing, but I just can't bring myself to do it. To me, it feels as if I'm killing someone. If someone felt strongly enough to write, then should I really destroy it? Yeah, I'm goofy that way.

It's been very quiet around here since last Wednesday, but not in a good way. I should have blogged about it then, but I was too lazy or whatever. Around 6 in the evening, I heard a big boom, but that's not unusual with demolition. After the big boom, there was a lot of screaming and shouting. A few minutes later, I heard SIRENS!

Singapore is quiet as far as emergency vehicles are concerned, unlike the U.S. In the 3 years I've lived here, I've heard two vehicles with sirens and it was when Bush was here for a visit. It only happened once while he was here, and I'm not sure why (I'd like to say something snarky here, but it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture).

The siren caught my attention and I went to the kitchen window to see what was happening. I saw a big red vehicle (not like our fire trucks) marked "Civil Defence" and it stopped just past our building. I really thought that maybe someone had been run over by a taxi or something and decided I didn't want to pursue it further since emergency personnel were on the scene (and I don't need to see another dead body).

By Friday, it was still quiet next door. As I was perusing the morning paper, I saw a headline "3 deaths at demolition worksites in past 6 months". I scanned it at first, but then I saw Ardmore Point condo, and I had to go back to the beginning. I was planning to link this, but The Straits Times is being stubborn about "free" articles online. In a nutshell, a "49-year old foreman was crushed to death by a 30kg concrete slab". A stop-work order was issued until a complete investigation can be completed. Wednesday is Chinese New Year's Eve, so I don't see much demolition going on until after the 16th when the New Year's celebration is completed.

Chinese New Year is akin to our Christmahanukwanzakaakah, so this man's family will not be having a "happy new year". All of the men who work for that company will not be earning $$$ for their families either. It is deadly quiet next door, and I feel terrible about it.

7 comments:

Kyra said...

Wow... that's awful.

Sizzle said...

that's awful! what a way to go. :(

restless_river said...

Horrible things like those make me wonder about the randomness of life and how some things just don't make sense. I know how ya feel. Hey,thanks for ur comment on my blog, the pleasure of this acquaintance is mostly mine :D I have been lurking here as I was looking for interesting people blogging about Singapore from a foreigner's point of view. found you and so glad I did!

Geeky Tai-Tai said...

Savy and Sizzle It really is horrible. I can't imagine doing the work that these men do -- in stifling weather, lightning and pouring rain, for very little money. The Straits Times article quoted the man's daughter as saying, "My father worked for 29 years and only two or three years ago, was his salary increased by $200 to $1,800 when he became a foreman."

Restless You're right, and it makes me feel even more grateful.

I'm so glad that you "de-lurked". It is is always nice to discover new blog reads. Thank you very much for your kind words. It's so nice to meet you! :D

Curiosity Killer said...

Aww, that's so sad. Sorry to hear that, I feel for his family.

Well... Happy chinese new year regardless.

Miss Britt said...

If I happen to be in your feed reader...

Please. Mark me as read. Honestly. I feel bad now that you might think all of my posts had some kind of thought or conviction behind them.

(she says as she is wading through 506 unread posts of her own...)

Geeky Tai-Tai said...

CK Thank you! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Miss Britt Of course you're in my feed reader, and yes, you DO put thought and conviction in your posts. Well, most of them anyway. LOL