The Little Red Dot

A-bike

2012-02-02T20:58:00.005+08:00

What to do?

We went and bought ourselves a bike. That is, Choy Chin, Hoi Yin and I bought ourselves an A-bike each. PRC copies actually.

Why? Well, it folds easily into a very small bundle that no other bike can. No other good reason other than for the novelty of it. Or, simply put ... itchy backside.

A bit wobbly at first go, but it gets easier.

Here are some links if you're interested, and for our reference.

A-Bike & Strida Folding Bikes Tested

It takes 10 seconds to unfold the A-bike

Her first go on an A-bike

A bigger guy riding one

Taking a 40km ride on an A-bike

A-bike owner's blog

A-bike website

Some Singaporean interest

Mods by an engineer owner

A-bike compared against the CarryMe DS

A-bike Central forum

Crooked shops in Sim Lim Square

2012-01-09T19:43:00.001+08:00

Read before you buy IT goods from Sim Lim Square shops.

Better yet, DO NOT BUY !!

Most of them are crooked shops

The trouble in condos

2011-06-07T23:28:00.002+08:00

More people are buying private homes, but few seem to know or care about what it really takes to look after their estate. Lulled into complacency by the efficiency of government services, they prefer to leave the job of running their condominium to someone else. But a lot can go wrong.

A HOME owner in The 101 complex in Beach Road complained to the property’s manager earlier this year that the water pressure in her unit was low. The water pump, it seemed, had broken down.

But the residential and commercial building had no money to fix it, says its property manager Vijayen Nair. It was deep in debt of more than $200,000 after messy lawsuits involving disputes over its common area, and some of its apartment owners were withholding maintenance payments.
The home owner herself owed about $2,500 in maintenance fees. She paid up almost immediately to get the pump fixed.

Mr Nair, 52, whose firm Philip Motha Property Management runs about 30 condominiums and commercial buildings, says it is an example of how bad things can get if people do not care about their estates. ‘Generally, people do not know what is going on,’ he says.

The 101′s problems are far from uncommon in Singapore.

The Strata Titles Board, which handles disputes involving private properties, is having to deal with an increasing number of cases these days. The number of disputes not related to collective sale issues has steadily risen from 46 in 2006, to 56 in 2007 and to 66 last year.

While the majority involve neighbours tussling over inter-floor leaks, there are also wrangles over a host of other issues from car parking to financial management.

Four years after the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act was introduced to nudge private home owners into taking proper collective care of their estates, not much progress seems to have been made in this area.

Veteran management council members and estate management professionals all cite the same root problem – Singaporeans, desensitised by the quiet efficiency of government services, turn a blind eye to the needs of their own private estates.

Mr Arthur Ngiam, president of the Association of Management Corporations in Singapore (Amcis) which represents about 300 private estates in Singapore, blames it on apathy.

‘The biggest problem is apathetic owners. They don’t come for meetings until there is an en bloc sale, or a substantial increase in their maintenance contribution.’

It is feared that this problem could worsen, with more and more individuals trading up from Housing Board flats to condominium apartments.

These upgraders, shut out by sky-high prices during the 2007 boom, are snapping up homes in the current downturn. They helped push condo sales to a record high of 1,825 last month.

Their migration is part of a longer- term trend, with the proportion of private apartments in Singapore growing from 9.4 per cent to 14.9 per cent between 1998 and last year.

Although increasing numbers hanker after the private pools, 24-hour security, well-maintained gardens and the status of a condominium, they seem to be pretty clueless about what it takes to run these developments successfully.

Amazingly, says Mr Ngiam, ‘some people even think that the management council is run by the Government’.

Small-scale democracy

UNLIKE public housing estates, where common areas are managed by quasi-government town councils, private condominiums are managed by the owners’ collective, called the management corporation. Every year, the collective holds a meeting to elect a management council from among the owners. But with attendance often at the bare minimum, residents are sometimes reduced to voting for neighbours who are not necessarily the most qualified for the role.

Glendale Park chairman Wee Yew Beng, 47, quips: ‘If you speak loud, speak fast, make a lot of noise, then by default you are the chairman.’

The often haphazard nature of such elections does not do justice to the power that elected councils wield. The selected group of home owners calls the shots on house rules, the contractors hired and upgrading work. It also manages funds that invariably run into millions of dollars.

For this reason, 80 per cent of 1,900 private residential developments here hire professional managing agents to oversee the day-to-day management of their estates.

This arrangement comes with its own set of risks though, given that managing agents are not regulated. Four condominiums – including three in the upmarket Mount Sophia Road area – found out the hard way how appointing a managing agent can be far from risk-free.

In 2007, at least $200,000 was reported missing from their accounts in total, and the person in charge of managing all four condos disappeared.

Other incidents involving smaller sums have gone unreported.

The managing director of management firm Knight Frank Estate Management, Mr Jordan Neo, who oversees about 100 condos in Singapore, admits that the incidence of theft in this industry is very high, with the bigger firms working harder to police it.

This is despite the fact that the Association of Property and Facility Managers – a trade body for such professionals – runs a voluntary accreditation programme with the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers. But only 29 of the estimated 200 managing agents here have signed up to the programme, which ties them to a code of conduct.

Lawyer Lim Tat, 46, chairman of Yong An Park, a condominium in River Valley Road, believes councils are not inquisitive enough. ‘Most councils rely on their managing agents to bring them the cheques to sign, to tell about areas (which need looking into). Not many bother getting their hands dirty, to ask the right questions.’

Such lax attitudes leave condos open to questionable conduct on the part of managing agents, contractors and even developers.

According to Mr Teo Poh Siang, who heads estate management firm Wisely 98, the owners of a new 300-unit condo discovered some years ago that the developer had used close to $100,000 of the maintenance fund to buy poolside chairs and tables for the estate. But the furniture was to have been provided by the developer as part of the original sale agreement. The developer repaid the sum after the discrepancy was uncovered.

When expectations clash

ADDED to the complexities involved in running a condo are home owners’ expectations about condo living.

According to Mr Chan Kok Hong, managing director of CKH Strata Management which looks after 95 condos, the moment people move into a condo, they become less tolerant of bad behaviour, more demanding, and very protective of their rights.

Clashes of lifestyle are harder to mitigate and the hanging of laundry is a case in point. Under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, home owners are not allowed to hang their laundry in public view, as this could be unsightly and possibly devalue the property. But try telling that to HDB upgraders long used to the freedom of drying their linen on bamboo poles hung outside their homes.

The council of a Simei condominium was forced to send a legal letter to a property owner whose tenant hung laundry from the window ledge. The owner had to pay the management corporation back hundreds of dollars in legal fees and later decided to evict his tenant.

CKH Strata Management’s Mr Chan recalls an occasion when he had to make a housecall to a laundry offender.

‘The woman was adamant that was the only way to dry clothes. And she said she would face court action if necessary.’

Such tensions can skew the make-up of management councils.

Mr Poh Teng Ban, director of managing firm Ace Body Corporate Management, thinks that one of the weaknesses of the management corporation system is that a small number of people can hold a whole group to ransom.

The home owner with an axe to grind is always more motivated to canvass for support than those who do not have one.

With low turnouts a common feature at annual general meetings, a disgruntled and organised group can easily hijack proceedings and throw out a council so that things are done their way.

Residents who attend such meetings can also find themselves electing those with personal agendas.

Knight Frank’s Mr Neo says: ‘Some council members come in with the intention to do good, some come because they are a nobody at the workplace and think ‘this is my castle and I want to be king’.’

Ms Julie Yeo, a businesswoman in her 60s who sat on the council of a small condo in the central area for three years, recalls how a fellow council member refused to pay the monthly $65 fee levied on those who park their second car in the estate. ‘Word got around and the other owners, who were not on the council, refused to pay the fee as well,’ she says.

There is still a stalemate, with the only people paying the fee being the condo’s tenants.

Lawyer Amolat Singh, 53, who was a council member of Kentish Green in Oxford Road for six years, recounts how a council member gave guards trouble because they did not greet him whenever he went in and out of the estate.

He adds: ‘There was another council member who wanted to store his spare furniture in the electrical room and, when told that he could not, blurted out ‘then what is the point of being in the council?’.’

Creating awareness

ONE way to counter apathy and abuse is to clearly flag any emerging issues.

National University of Singapore real estate associate professor Alice Christudason suggests councils issue bi-monthly newsletters detailing problems on an estate and what they are doing about them.

‘In this way, the home owners can gain a better understanding about the way the estate is being managed. They will be then more cooperative in relation to the actions being taken by the council,’ she adds.

Given the diversity of opinions within each council, members could also appoint an individual spokesman from their ranks, suggests Mr Albert Cheng, 56, chairman of The Serenade@Holland condo council. This would mean only one person giving instructions to the managing agent, so that it can better deal with the contractors providing services to the estate.

This approach is best when it comes to balancing competing interests.

Take the case of The Tropica in Tampines. In recent years, residents of ground-floor units have erected trellises over their patios, citing safety concerns about litter dropped from higher floors. But this worried second-floor residents who felt the trellises could help intruders break into their units.

According to chairman Kenny Khoo, 40, the management council found the trellises could be deemed to breach building guidelines. But rather than force the removal of the trellises immediately, the council set up a question-and-answer session last week with a lawyer present, allowing residents to have their questions addressed.

Another suggestion being looked at is to get councils to share information more so that, for example, rogue contractors have fewer places to hide and best practices can be more widely adopted.

There has been limited progress made in this area though.

Amcis was formed in 2002 by a group of 200 estates banding together for economies of scale. And by 2006, it has about 300 estates.

The same year, however, it became entangled in an ugly dispute over its own financial management. Founder Francis Zhan, 65, was eventually fined $2,000 over forged signatures on cheques. Another council member, Mrs Constance Ames, suggests something more radical – that council duty be rotated among all home owners.

The retiree in her 50s is a council member of St Martin’s Apartments off Orchard Road and also a council member of a Hong Kong development. The Hong Kong condo requires all home owners to take turns running the council for two years at a time.

‘That is fair. It’d be good for smaller developments. They get to know one another, and also what problems the estate faces,’ she says.

With few willing to step forward, council members have no choice but to stay on. The job, almost all say, is a thankless one.

Parc Oasis chairman Lim Taik Leong, 50, acts like a talent scout, seeking out neighbours to persuade them to try for a council post. Stepping down is out of the question until the condo is in safe hands.

‘The council members have all known one another for a long time. We are friends. If you step down, it’s like letting your friends down,’ says Mr Lim.

‘And if you step down, other people will step down.’

Source: Straits Times, 1 Aug 2009

Marina Bay Sands resort

2011-05-04T01:33:00.002+08:00

Click here for more photos of the Marina Bay Sands Resort

SengKang Riverside Park and park connector along Punggol River

2011-05-02T17:55:00.018+08:00

Went for a walk in Sengkang Riverside Park and checked out the floating platform in the Punggol River.

Click photo above to enlarge to see the white-tipped fat pole stakes that hold the platform as it floats up and down.

A regular fixed bridge links the platform to the bank on the other side of the river.

There are beds of marsh plants on all sides of the floating platform. See photo above.
And, yes, they are floating beds!

The Park is linked by a park connector all the way along the Punggol River right up to the Johor Straits.
In the photo below, we have crossed under the Tampines Expressway into Punggol and looking back where we came from ie SengKang.

It's quite nice and the young trees are pretty established. That's the Punggol River in the background.

The park connector ends at the point where the Punggol canal (under construction) joins the Punggol River.
Click on the photo below to enlarge to see lots of details.

Serangoon River Park Connector

2011-04-30T22:40:00.001+08:00

Serangoon riverside developments

2011-04-30T22:09:00.001+08:00

Water supply and outlet for laundry sink

2011-04-30T17:00:00.001+08:00

Tampines Eco park

2011-04-22T17:03:00.010+08:00

We took a walk through it on 21 April, Thursday, three days before it opening on Sunday 24 April.

It's located on a triangular site bounded by Tampines Ave 12, Tampines Expressway and a section of the Pasir Ris Park Connector.

Coney Island according to NParks will be developed into an eco park. So it would be something like this.

float:left; margin-right:10px; View Tampines eco park in a larger map

Peel potatos no more!

2011-03-28T11:54:00.001+08:00

This hinge is great!

2011-03-20T12:37:00.000+08:00

Double action spring hinges

2011-03-20T12:26:00.003+08:00

(1) How to adjust the tension in the hinges (Video)

(2) Instructions for installing double action spring hinges

Can't bring this along

2011-02-25T18:55:00.003+08:00

Things so Singaporean.

2011-01-03T12:51:00.000+08:00

The Singapore Airlines Concord

2009-10-04T14:16:00.010+08:00

Only four airlines in the world used the concord.

They were -

British Airways,

Air France,

Braniff International Airlines, and

Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines flew the Concord from 1978 - 1980.

The route was London - Bahrain - Singapore, and back.

The service was discontinued because Malaysia complained against its sonic boom effects despite flying at sub-sonic speed (ie not its supersonic highest speed).

Yellow stakes and red stakes

2009-07-22T19:35:00.006+08:00

Played a round at Ponderosa (in Johor, Malaysia in case you’re interested) few days ago because we were given to understand that Seniors on Tuesdays pay only 90 Ringgit (the RM$ ie Malaysian dollah, lah). But not so. That promotion over, the counter receptionist said. Now how often have we heard that before?

Anyway, since there, we paid the RM120 green fee (shared buggy and RM20 lunch voucher included) which was a good 33% above what I was prepared to pay. We were 4 – Foo, Charlee, his wife Flo, and I. As usual I ended up having to pay some ‘bet’ ringgit.

We always learn something (about the game, rules, playing partners, etc) when playing golf. Actually Charlee said that in Jusco when we were browsing its famasi (or was it in Tesco, we dropped into both); and not about golf but about something else ... . .. was it about tongkat ali pills? can’t remember.

Back to what’s on my mind for this post. We were all pretty blur regarding the finer details of water hazard, lateral water hazard, the options for them, dan lain lain lagi. I was taught in school half a century ago that that means ‘etc, etc’. Is it?

So someone has to get it clarified, the Rule(s) ie. I was tasked since Foo’s very busy working every day and Charlee’s very busy practising golf every other day (yup he took my ringgit that day as he went par, par, par first three holes).

OK, so here goes. I am quite sure about the following statements.

Yellow stakes and red stakes mark water hazards and lateral water hazards respectively. Interestingly, red stakes also mark the jungle at the Desaru Golf and Country Club’s course. A water hazard is usually in front of you as you play to the green and you have to crack one over the air. Sorry, can’t resist that, ha ha, gotcha! ‘air’ in bahasa Melayu, lah, means water. A lateral WH on the other hand is water to your side as you play to the green for example, a canal or huge drain like those at Laguna NG&CC (actually only one canal but a few holes run parallel to it) and you do not have to hit over the LWH to carry on to the green. You may choose to hit over the LWH though, if you elect the 4th option.

What to do after all the @#!??*%$@# following the splash and sniggering water ripples? If they were yellow stakes (ie WH), you may wade in and hit the ball out (and give away the British Open title), or go back to the spot where you last hit the ball and hit your next shot (drop a ball if through the green, or tee one if off the tee box), or imagine a line between the hole and the point where ball crossed water edge and drop a ball anywhere as far back as you like on an extension of this line away from the hole.

If they were red stakes (ie LWH), you may hit the ball in the water, hit it off the point where you last hit the ball, hit it off the line extension (as described in last para), or two club lengths from water edge or two club lengths from water edge on the other side of the LWH. This last option ie the two club lengths option on this or that side of the water edge is only for LWH.

To speed up play, and because many social golfers refuse to play by the Rules, many clubs provide a demarcated Drop Zone before the yellow stakes and near to the buggy track of course for you to hit your next. I couldn’t find anything about drop zone in the Royal & Ancient or the USGA Rules of Golf, so DZ is probably not legal. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen the pros at a DZ on tv golf.

Ah! One more thing about water hazards. As in a bunker (which is the other type of hazard), one may not touch the water with the club, which is equivalent to that rule against grounding the club in a bunker.
I shall continue to play by them as described above until corrected by some kind golfers.

If you wish to check it (or confuse) yourselves further, click here for the Royal & Ancient golf rules website, and here for the USGA golf rules website. They are the two temples of golf which all golfers and hackers must visit to settle their differences.

Or make it easier for yourselves; click here for the rules made simple, and here for about.com’s usga golf rules explained.

Joseph the fridge repairman

2009-07-18T19:33:00.004+08:00

Day before yesterday ie 16 Jul 2009 as I popped into the kitchen for a drink, Wife said there’s a burning smell round about here, gesticulating centre of kitchen. Aiyah! kitchen in HDB flat is so small, no need to point here or there. Here is there, what!? Right?

She was telling me about a burning smell; so it must be there, or she wants me to do something about it, or she’s quickly saying it’s not my cooking, the burning smell you’re smelling.

What smell? I don’t smell any smell.

Nowhere in kitchen, or whole house, but just there hanging in the air, she went on.

So I went sniff-sniff here and sniff-sniff there, everywhere, here, there .... oops sorry, back to story. And I soon found the likely crisis source.

Hot here, the side of the fridge, touch it.

Cut long story short. Must call someone. A contractor, a repair man, lah. A fridge repair man. Evertech? I asked. They replaced the compressor almost two years ago. But Not Evertech! They have the worse service in the industry, in Singapore, in the world! Won’t go into that. But will never forget their name. I understand many ministeries, departments and government agencies have them on contract. Mmmm, perhaps I should drop an email to Lim Soo Ping to keep an eye open for those contracts. Nice guy, damned sharp eyed guy. Was in his Commission of Enquiry team in the collapse of Hotel New World.

So who? Ended up calling Rennie Loh. Rennie, ah, can you recommend me a fridge repairman? You recommended a very good aircon repairman last year, so i’m wondering if you know one for fridge? Silence. Aiyah .... cannot remember his number now; mmm, call me ten minutes!

Ten minutes later, called her, hello .... 96681682 (in Cantonese). Wow, fierce fast service, Rennie Loh. I confirmed the number and name in Canto and English, thanked her, and called Joseph.

Called him. Aaargh! That sickening song again. You know the one that comes on when you’re put on hold at ToyotaUbi Service Centre, or SingTel mio.

Joesph sounded hassled. He was on a job, I could hear him concentrating, turning a screw, perspiring and breathing hard, all at the same time and trying to speak to me on his mobile phone. Naturally, within 15 seconds the line was cut. Dropped phone most likely, or pressed a phone button while trying to turn a screw at the back of a fridge, or kenah electrocuted.

But, 2 seconds later, the phone rang. Wow! Great service again. He returned call before I could re-dial his number. Told him about the smell, the hot sides of the fridge, but everything’s still cold inside. He said he has another job later. Will see if he could come after that.

It was then around 4pm.

At about 6pm, Joseph called. He couldn’t make it, everything alright? how’s the fridge? Blah blah .... and he’ll be here 9 or 10 tomorow morning. Not bad, still good service. He called back, he didn’t forget, or leave it to us to call him.

Smack at sometime between 9 and 10, he called. How’s the fridge? Same symptoms and ice cream melted I said. Can I come now he asked.

He came. Nice young man. Didn’t look fishy ie didn’t have that sneaky look. Come in, bring your shoes in, someone may steal them. Then he set upon his job at hand.

Twenty minutes later, he gave progress report. Fan’s burnt out; checked your compressor and it’s still in fine shape so no worries there; the sides heated up ‘cause the fan didn’t dissipate the heat. That caused compressor thermostat to go on and off more frequently. Hence no cooling at all. Have to replace fan. How much Wife asked. About $160. OK? OK. He went down to see if he had a suitable fan in his van. He did.

Fifteen minutes later, he reported job completed. He had also wiped floor clean with the rag we provided earlier, picked up the old newspapers (provided to work on) into the rubbish bin, pushed the fridge back into its cubicle, etc, etc. Everything tidied up. Wow, good service.

All in about an hour (so, call out at $60 and fan cost $100; Wife said she heard him answer a call on his handphone saying it would cost $60 to check the fault). And if we didn’t have cash, he would take a cheque he said. Not a problem.

So that’s how it ended. Great service from a nice repairman. Not cheap, but a pleasant transaction in all.

If you need a nice pleasant good fridge repairman, give him a call. Say you were recommended by the old couple in Block 149 Tampines whose fridge fan he replaced.

But if he can’t repair your fridge, or if he’s not nice to you, don’t hold it against me, k?

Changi Point Coastal Walk - the walk back

2009-07-16T01:34:00.019+08:00

Walking back along the Kelong Walk, we spotted this chair chained to a lamp pole.

Guess why the chair was chained to the lamp pole?

It had 4 legs and could run away, that's why!

And these look like plants in dragon jars stored along the Walk.

My guess is that they belong to the nearby Changi Beach Club.

Unauthorised storage most likely.

A nice view of the Kelong Walk with inconsiderate anglers sitting opposite each other forcing others to walk between them.

And another fishing rod and line strapped to a post.

Below : Raphia twine used to tie a fishing rod and line left behind as litter by inconsiderate anglers.

Above left : Looks like a safety buoy is missing here.

Click on photo below for a nice widescreen view.

Retracing our steps back to Changi Village.

This is the Cliff Walk.

Below : Approaching the Changi Sailing Club.

These terrace houses are part of the Changi Sailing Club. For rent to its members.

They seem to be used by staff, and not properly maintained.

Boat sails stored along fence protrude out onto the boardwalk and are a danger to walkers, joggers etc who expect an unobstructed passage.

Above : At one of the pavillions, looking towards the Changi Sailing Club. Another litter bin with missing cover.

Here's another narrow portion of the walkway where as usual inconsiderate anglers hang about to annoy others by restricting the space and cluttering it with their fishing paraphernalia.

Perhaps NParks should install a "no fishing" sign at this narrow spot.

As we leave the boardwalk, we checked to see if the cross pieces were made of wood or concrete.

Concrete, I think.

Changi Point Coastal Walk on 13-7-2009

2009-07-15T12:55:00.136+08:00

Weather was fine on 13 July so packed stuff and took off at about 2.00pm.

Where to park? At the Changi Village market cum food centre at 50 cents per half hour till 10pm? or at Changi Beach Park (CBP)(same rate but free only after 5.00pm) ?

Click on the map above to enlarge it to see the details.

Top map from NParks. Useful to me only in respect of the names of the carparks ie carpark #1 is best if you opt to park at the park.

No details of the Changi Point Coastal Walk other than an arrow pointing there. See if you can find it!

As we might be lazy or tired after the walk, we opted to park at the Village. Had lunch there.

Click on the second map (on left) for details on EVERYTHING. It's from the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) website. Click here for map.

The Changi Beach Park carpark #1 is marked by a blue P icon. See it?

I couldn't find anything about the Changi Point Coastal Walk in NParks' website. Strange since we found all the litter bins along the Walk bore the NParks logo.

NParks should get over sulking that the Changi Point Coastal Walk was built by the URA and that it had the other end of the stick which was to look after the facility.

Incorporate the two as Changi Point Coastal Walk & Beach Park; simple as that.

By the way, it's paid parking (coupons) at the Changi Beach Park carparks from morning till 5.00pm to discourage people working nearby parking free and depriving park visitors of the facility.

Here's a link to more on the Coastal Walk.

Penny's at more or less the starting point of the CPC Walk.

On the right of the photo above you can see the pedestrian link bridge from Changi Beach Park.

Photo below shows the walk runs along the ground floor level of the Changi Ferry Terminal (where you take off for Pulau Ubin and other islands).

'Eyes left' view of the river (?) meeting the sea.

The white beach with trees in background is Changi Beach Park.

"Eyes right" view towards the pedestrian link bridge.

The Changi Village market cum food centre is on right side end of the bridge.

Once past the Ferry Terminal, there's this nice little plaza area with shady trees for a quick breather.

Turned around and took the photo below of those two structures that looked like pigsties.

They are "For Escape Only" exits.

For occupants at the lower levels of the Ferry Terminal, of course. What did you expect? For pigs?

What is the name of this shrub?

The fruits are edible when ripe and pink in colour.

Staircase down on the left, ramp down on the right.

They both meet at the concrete path at the bottom of the staircase.

Took stairs down; the ramp is for return trip of course!

You can see the ramp more clearly in the shot above.

A 'look back' view (photo left taken at the foot of the stairs).

Penny's still intrigued with that fruity shrub.

There go two launches racing for Ubin and Tekong etc.

Can you read the message on the litter bin?

What message?

The one that's painted in black on the front of the bin; can't you see it?

Wonder why they used black against dark brown.

They must have a very good reason.

We're eastbound, about halfway through the Creek Walk which ends at the pavillion at the water's edge (above).

Above : two shots, again eastwards and westwards.

There is an aeroplane there in the sky every 5 minutes give or take, heading for Changi Airport.

Rounded the corner and now on the Beach Walk.

On the left are Changi Golf Club, SAF Club and The (Govt) Cottage & Chalets.

You MUST click on the photo to enlarge it to see all the details.

Above : Looking back to the pavillion ie where Creak Walk ends, Beach Walk starts.

Left : See the SAF Club with those glaring staircase walls?

Below : This is a very narrow section along Cottage & Chalets compound. Ministers rest in the Cottage; senior civil servants the Chalets.

Shots of the Chalets.

Click on the tiny photo on the left to enlarge it for a good panorama of the Chalets compound..

Hope they do something quickly about this dangerous swimming jetty.

Wonder how long it's been fenced up.

Did you notice these signs (above) in the last few photos?

We continued eastwards and can see the private jetty of the Changi Sailing Club in the distance.

To our left is the second pavillion on the Walk.

Photos below show the sailing club premises blending well with the Walk.

Sadly, stuff from the sailing club has been allowed to spill out onto the Walk, causing obstruction and an eyesore. See the barbeque set and dinghy trolley? Some dinghies are also obstructing the upramp to the Boardwalk.

A nice Walk spoiled by the unsighliness of unkempt chalets and dilapidated sailing dinghies.

What is going on here? Click to enlarge and see in detail.

Watch out here! This is a heavy construction yard beside the Walk. There are no warning signs of any sort. Not even a keep away or keep out sign.

Construction materials and equipment are kept beside the Walk. Watch your step!

Photo above shows the construction site encroachment onto the Boardwalk.

Left : one of the locations where you step down, walk across sandy beach, and then get up onto boardwalk again.

Below : Not vandalism; just the result of brainless people after their barbeque.

Lovely unspoilt beach with overhanging branches almost touching the water. You can't find many of these spots nowadays.

Looking back at the photography session of a couple in bridal white on the rocks.

This is along the Cliff Walk.

Here, there are a number of staircases down to the beach.

Shot looked good in portrait and landscape so posted both here.

There are nice little 'balconies' on the boardwalk at intervals. Spot it?

Views back and forward showing the bright yellow edge lining of the steps.

Here's one of the balconies mentioned earlier.

Here the boardwalk (the Kelong Walk) turns out to sea and curls back so that the Changi Beach Club has its little beach intact.

There are two pavillions which unfortunately are occupied most of the time by anglers who use the premises like pigsties and leave lots of rubbish and fishing lines etc strewn about.

Click on the long shots below for widescreen views.

Anglers are lazy people who leave their fishing rods for fish to bite, just like trapping animals. No effort required. That's why they go fishing I suppose. Good expression for doing nothing.

Here's a fishing rod and line tied by rubber strap to a post.

Here's another fishing rod and line, strapped to a post with clear plastic.

Hope this angler won't be too lazy to remove the plastic binder and dispose of it in the proper litter bin marked 'Plastic'.

Here's a red cloth strap version.

We leave Kelong Walk onto Sunset Walk which is the last section of this Changi Point Coastal Walk.

It was a nice boardwalk here, ending in a largish platform over the sea facing a bunch of rocks that screened the views of the Loyang marine industrial area.

Ah! another of those litter bins with damaged lids, something nice and familiar to end the Walk to this point.

The Power Split Device in the Prius

2009-07-04T13:08:00.002+08:00

The ingeneous PSD is one of the (or perhaps THE) key components in the Prius drive system.

I am still trying to understand it.

Here is a one very good demo of how the PSD works.

Southern Ridges walk on 29-6-2009

2009-07-02T18:19:00.108+08:00

Four days later, on 29-6-2009, we set off to finish our Southern Ridges walk.

Had brunch at the upper floor food centre at Telok Blangah Mall. Just before the office workers descended for their lunch. Nice place, clean and the drink stall has waitresses to serve at tables.

Then to the 7-11 for Panadol as Penny had a headache. Woo-hoo! Priced at $1.30 more than at FairPrice supermarket, so no buy. Bought it at a TCM shop opposite 7-11 at cheaper price, lagi can buy just one sheet.

Back onto Henderson Road passing Telok Blangah Heights where people used to stop on the roadside and wash their cars with pails of spring water collected from a hillside scupper drain. Wonder if that's still going on.

We parked at car park #1, the first one that you come upon in Telok Blangah Hill Park. Click on map above to enlarge to see location of car park #1. And note that there's only one road - Telok Blangah Green - into the park.

Took the Hilltop Walk (red coloured in map) which starts just opposite the toilet building. It runs along the side of the car park and was pretty steep incline (for us anyhow).

The path curved sharply right; up some steps (wheeze, pant!) and we were on the Henderson Wave. Luckily for us, there were loads of benches right there! Whew!

But this awesome structure wouldn't let us catch our breath.

Had to check it out immediately. And here are some shots. Nice shots, right?

Now that you've seen my shots of the Wave, click here for two more.

The sea could be seen from the Wave, as shown in photo on the left.

Here's Henderson Road below us.

And (photo below) here's a look back at the Wave as we step off onto Mt Faber Park.

What is that thing there on the left side of the path?

Not that green coloured thing in the hedge! Anyone can see that that's a litter bin.

The one that's cream coloured, lah! Behind the hedge! What is that?

Checked out the words and shape of one nearby. Ah so! a sign post. It says Telok Blangah Hill Park is in the direction where we came from ie behind me (photographer) and you (reading this).

So Penny had to go all the way right up to that next signpost to read it.

Great design, yes? No? For the ah peks and ah mmm's (oldies) with poor eyesight and old legs, I don't think.

Now where does this signpost point to?

The words face that way! If the signpost points "that way", shouldn't the words be on "this side"? So that we can be sure of where "there" is before we go there?

Do we want to walk all the way up to the sign just to find out?

That signpost pointed to Cable Car Station, so off we went thataways.

I still can't get over it; why does NParks prefer signposts that tell you where you came from?

Anyways, the path led out onto the road under a beautiful cluster of old Casuarina trees. Hmmm, first time for me, rhus on a hilltop; I thought they were seashore types requiring saline sandy soil.

We carried on towards the right, going downwards on a decline, to get up to the summit where the cale car station was. That's good, and weird.

The road - Mt Faber Loop - steepened soon enough.

Here's a natural signpost tree! Looks just like those NParks signposts!

That gap in the 'armco' guard rails leads to Marina Deck.

What is it? We didn't risk going down there and a tough climb up. A photo or description would be useful.

Click on pic to enlarge to see Marina Deck pointer.

Above, a view of Kampong Bahru (can someone clarify?) in the foreground and the city centre beyond.

This is the view one comes upon on exiting Mt Faber Loop to get onto Mt Faber Road on the way down to Vivo City.

Left, a shot of the cable car building which abuts the highest point of Mt Faber.

As usual, nice buildings are always messed up when they are used as restaurants.

There is a lift but we took the stairs up to have a look around as we haven't been here for over 10 years. Still the same old tight little cable car turnaround where tourists get on and off. It could do with more lights or windows to brighten up the place which didn't look as happy as it should be.

Going down the same route, we couldn't find the stairs because it was hidden from view. Not a good idea being a fire escape route. Can you spot it?

Left: vehicle parking and tour bus drop-off area under the Jewel Box dining deck.

I dislike service vehicle parking areas. They never look good. Should be hidden from view.

Above : We are walking downhill; Mt Faber Road is a one way street coming up.

Now what do we have here?

Tree or stakes pulling down or supporting stakes or tree?

One of the metal stakes is bent by the weight of the tree; and the tree root ball has pushed the ground up. Check it out on your next walk here.

View of the World Trade Centre towers and a cable car tower. Spot a cable car or two?

Here we are on the Marang Trail, last section of today's walk.

Very happy as it's downhill all the way. Many flights of steps led the way down.

Just didn't want to think about the return trip.

The wooden staircases gave way to level boardwalks that twist and turn through the trees, each section dropping a few steps to bring us down from the trees. Ants on the handrails!

Once in a while, we came upon trail splits such as this; with no signposts.

You see one fork going down, and another going right.

Discovered that the side split was a gradually sloping path with at most 2 or 3 steps, but just a few metres longer.

But not to worry, cause they meet further down.

The side paths are great for the uphill return trip!

But a little notice would certainly be helpful.

Below : This is one of a few spots to rest our tired legs. They are some of the best sights we saw on the walk!

This is really the last lap. The end of the Marang Trail is in sight, at the end of that light coloured footpath.

Click to enlarge the photo (below) of the route map. See the Marang Trail, and the You are here indicator? And the little butterfly?

Here we go on the trip back.

The first of many steep flights of steps to be conquered.

Aiyoyo!

All of these newly planted trees looked dead.

Wouldn't surprise me if they were because they seemed to have been planted in very shallow holes.

Took a detour off Mt Faber Road to show Penny the ship restaurant.

The second smaller ship is the park rest rooms (doors on the left). The stairs go up to its deck top garden.

Here's the ship restaurant staff's smoking zone.

As I mentioned earlier, this is another typical service area, untidy with ugly temporary shade structure, cheap plastic chairs, and a litter bin that serves as an ashtray.

Why are they allowed to create this ugly staff smoking zone?

Above : This gate is locked!

One of the best hilltop viewing plateaus on Mt Faber is now prohibited to public access and enjoyment because it has been locked off by the Jewel Box restaurant management. Now why is this so?

Here we are again at the grove of casuarinas on Mt Faber Loop near the Henderson Wave. This time, we didn't retrace the way we came but took the roadside footpath towards the left.

We passed the entrance to the Henderson Wave (through those bollards) to check out if there was anyone in the car that was illegally parked on the roadside.

Left : Spotted that little structure on Telok Blangah Hill Park as we were coming down the Wave. What is it? A covered feeding tray for birds and squirrels?

Here's a nice shot of the Henderson Wave to end this story.

Southern Ridges walk on 25-6-2009

2009-06-30T01:24:00.065+08:00

For our Southern Ridges walk, we planned to walk from Kent Ridge Park to Vivo City and back, so parked at car park 'C' in Kent Ridge Park.

The only way to this car park is via Pepys Road off Pasir Panjang Road (click on map to enlarge to see location of car park 'C').

Walked a bit upwards to the start of the Canopy Walk (the pink coloured zigzag snakey portion in map). "Upwards" is tough for oldies like us, but not too bad here, just a slight incline.

Saw the toilets sign pointing towards Reflections at Bukit Chandu so detoured into the grounds.

Nice clean place. Very good folk-artsy paintings on all the doors. There's a coin operated drink dispenser too.

Learn more about Bukit Chandu here.

And here.

Here's the Ladies' rest room with its door painted all flowery and pretty.

And the Gents' rest room is the one with the picture of the cockerel.

They've got folk art painting on doors with inset panels too.

Interesting.

And in the photo below (the layout goes weird if you view this blog on a monitor size other than 4:3. Sorry!) is the start of the Canopy Walk.

Looks welcoming enough.

There's even a nice bench for a rest at the end of the return trip.

A few steps along the treetop boardwalk and we were bounded on all sides by creeper laden tall trees.

Cool! But humid.

That's (photo on right) the steep slopes where the path zigzags with switchbacks as it ends at the HortPark.

Photo below shows the treetop boardwalk going down into HortPark.

Here's the Alexandra Arch overhead pedestrian bridge across the Alexandra Road. It's at the end of the Floral Walk through the HortPark. Be wary of being mis-directed by the poor signages in HortPark. If you walk on the service road, be prepared to be left dangling once you reach the commercial nursery.

Penny's looking up the upramp to the Arch.

Sign on the upramp shows that we've still got quite a way to go to Vivo City which is on the other side of Mt Faber.

Hokay! here we are on the Alexandra Arch over Alexandra Road.

That's wife Penny, happy to have covered this much of the walk.

Once over the AA, we are on another treetop walk, the Forest Walk. [Here's another treetop walk in Singapore].

Beautiful views of the Forest Walk among the tree tops.

Far from road traffic and buildings, the Forest Walk is one of the nicest stretches of the Southern Ridges Walk, and is the crooked dark green line in the map (Click map to enlarge it to see details).

If you look down towards your feet, you can see through the metal mesh of the "boardwalk" the forest floor about 6 storeys below. It can be scarey for a moment.

Photo below shows the forest walk towards apartments nearby. Anyone know the location of these apartments?

One of the many staircases that you can get off the tree top Forest Walk to be on terra firma below which would be another headache as you'd then be lost on a path in the forest.

Here you can see the rising switchbacks of the Forest Walk as it winds up the slope of Telok Blangah Hill.

Instead of walking the longths of the zigzags, you could take the staircases off the walkway and go straight up.

Be warned though that that's tougher on the legs! The longer way is more pleasant.

Ho-say! We made it to the park on Telok Blangah Hill.

If you try hard enough, you can see the sea just beyond the heads of those two people on the walkway.

Click on the fuzzy photo below to see a very clear large wide panoramic shot.

Here we are heading in the opposite direction, going through HortPark towards Kent Ridge Park.

KEEP CLEAR of these turf patches! You may sprain your ankle very badly! Unless of course you want to sue NParks and retire.

Whooops!

Do I see flowers of Lady of the Night (Cestrum nocturnum) in photo above?

This is one shrub/small bushy tree with blooms that give the headiest fragrant perfume. More of this plant should be planted in all our public parks.

And, we were surprised to see that many pieces of board had been replaced since we passed by earlier. They missed one, ha!

Still, it's good to know that some people in NParks are doing a good job.

Here's a nice shot to end part one of our Southern Ridges Walk.

Supposed to walk to Vivo City and back, but only did half the trip. Will do the other half another day.

The coin operated drink dispenser in HortPark's seminar shed is best, as a can of Coca Cola costs only $1.

The best thing for me about this route is that there are no ants along the way !!

Home animals etc

2009-06-18T00:48:00.001+08:00

He just bought a 2005.

2009-06-08T11:53:00.001+08:00

In Prius-2G@yahoogroup s.com, Alex Baker wrote:

As one who has owned a 2005 Prius for an entire 24 hours, I may be a bit new to put in my 2 cents worth. So for today only, I'll let it go for a penny.

When the Hybrids came out, I thought they were over priced, under powered mush boxes, and sometimes I made it a point to pass one in my Corvette so at least the poor prisoners trapped inside could see a "real car".

Even when I had to pay over $4.50 a gallon last summer, I still drove my roadster to work. Smug in the comfort that my 23 mpg was better than the 19 of my Jeep.

After enjoying cheap gas one more time, it got as low as $1.28 a gallon here all too briefly, I can see the hand writing on the wall. The bad old days are coming back. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, but gas is $2.55 a gallon for regular here now. That's over 10% in two weeks. Still better than last year, but the drums are drumming.

So after doing the math more than once, it seemed clear to me that I could easily save 10 to 15 gallons a week with a Hybrid. At $2.50 it is $25 to $37.50 a week. At $4.00 it works out to $40 to $60. Where I live, (Southeast Missouri) the truck and SUV are still king. As soon as prices came down, the small cars disappeared. The local Toyota dealer does not stock the Prius, but "can get them". I happened to trip over a used one, and at no real premium for being a hybrid. The dealer here in town (not the Toyota dealer), said he did not really know anything about them, but that he had a friend that owned one and he would get him on the phone if I had questions. Evidently he wasn't lying because as I read the owner's manual last night I learned that I don't need the key to get in or start the car.
(How cool is that!) So I took it for a test drive and was hooked immediately.

1. They are larger on the inside, than they are on the outside.
(Think Dr. Who Tardis)

2. The A/C does not shut off, just because the engine is off. Nice when the wife needed to run into the store for a minute.

3. They actually do have decent acceleration. Not a Vette, but then neither are most cars.

4. Suspension is a little soft in the turns. It is not a race car, and handles no worse than my PT Cruiser.

5. The energy display is a kick in its own right, and really helps you see where you waste fuel in any car.

6. The engine starts very smoothly, when needed; I was amazed.

7. The A/C in auto mode is better than any car I have ever had for managing the temperature.

8. The seats are more comfortable than the PT Cruiser, the Jeep or the Vette.

9. The JBL sound system sounds pretty darned good.

10. There are some cars out there like the old Geo Metro, and old VW diesel rabbits, that got pretty good mileage. They are small and crude by comparison, and really are no comparison. (I owned an 82 diesel rabbit, believe me. 52 horsepower of sheer terror, especially when getting on the on ramp.)

We went on a 140 trip today. According to the monitor I averaged a bit over 48 mpg. (Not bad for a newbie?) Had I taken the Jeep we would have burned about 4.5 gallons more gas. At $2.50 a gallon, we saved $11.25, which more than covered the burgers and cokes we had for lunch. Wooo Hoooo!!! There is such a thing as a free lunch!

Oh, and by the way, I do not feel like I am a prisoner or making a sacrifice by driving the Prius. I genuinely enjoy the car. There are not that many cars that make driving fun. Prius is one of them.

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Replacing battery in key fob

2009-05-23T12:49:00.002+08:00

Video showing how to

Some fuel saving tips

2009-05-18T14:23:00.003+08:00

Reproduced hereunder from Blogs Straits Times Interactive, May 18 Monday 2009 in case that link dies off the way most links do:

On the road to saving more fuel
May 12, 2009 Tuesday, 05:33 PM
Jessica Cheam ponders the challenge of fuel efficient driving in Singapore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I DIDN'T know this, but apparently if all the drivers in the world today drove in such a way that reduced their fuel consumption by 10 per cent, the world will save 100 billion litres of fuel in a year.

This is a number not to be scoffed at, given that easy oil supplies are running out and the climate change threat looms large.

Ever since I started covering the environment beat, my car has been a constant source of guilt, but given that I live in a transport blackhole where going to work takes me one and a half hours by bus, and there's no MRT line where I live, I've guiltily held on to my mobility, which is so important for my job.

But to do my part, I have been putting into practice some fuel efficient driving techniques such as not accelerating too quickly, not braking hard, turning off the air conditioning, and driving smoothly, in the hope that my fuel consumption would drop, so would my emissions.

And last weekend, my driving skills were truly put to the test by Shell's recently launched "Get the Most Out of Every Drop" campaign, which aims to get drivers to put in practice certain driving habits and techniques which will help them save fuel, and in turn, save money.

I was in Lausitz, eastern Germany to cover the 25th Shell Eco-marathon Europe, where 202 teams from universities across the world entered vehicles to race against each other to see who can go the longest distance with the least amount of fuel and emissions.

The National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and ITE College West each sent a team to compete - a record number for Singapore at this event, and all three teams did really well in their categories. It was great to see the youth getting involved in such projects, especially with renewable, emerging technologies such as solar and hydrogen fuel cells, which powered the NTU and NUS teams' vehicles respectively.

On the sidelines of the eco-marathon, the international journalists invited to the event was put to the "Fuel Save One Litre Challenge" where we "raced" on this track to see who can achieve the best mileage with one litre of fuel.

I was pretty nervous initially, because in Germany, the driver is on the left hand side, while in Singapore we drive on the right. To top it off, it was a manual drive VolksWagen car, which put to test my clutch-and-motor skills (one that has not been tested for awhile in automatic Singapore!), but in the end, I didn't have to worry. I got used to it after one round around the track, and I had an expert "Fuel Save" driver, Helen Taylor, to guide me through the obstacle course.

Together with her husband John Taylor, Helen had set a Guinness World Record for fuel economy who travelled 28,970 kilometres (18, 000 miles), around the world, using only 24 tanks of fuel.

They were partly sponsored by Shell, who provided its Fuel Economy fuel for their journey. This fuel, which is available only in Europe at the moment, claims to help drivers achieve better mileage.

The message to drivers is simple: You can drive more using less. And why not, when it goes easy on your pocket, saves fuel and is better for the environment?

After going four rounds around the track, where I had to simulate a "normal journey" for a driver where I picked up luggages, stopped the car, dropped it off, and even cleaned the car's windscreen, I came in second place! Achieving a mileage of 21 km per litre of 4.7 litres per 100 km. The winner was a magazine journalist from Hong Kong, who achieved 22 km per litre or 4.3 litres per 100 km.

To achieve this, I had turned off my engine whenever possible, changed my gear upwards as soon as possibly, and avoided braking hard or going too fast and it paid off. The end result was a 38 per cent savings from the normal fuel consumption of the vehicle I was driving, I was told!

Now, the challenge is to translate this savings to my driving in Singapore. If I succeeded, I could shave off $57 each month of my $150 fuel bill, and save $684 annually. The problem is, I don't think automatic cars can be as fuel efficient as manual-type cars.

Also, driving in Singapore is a harrowing event, as many of you might know. It's the only country where if you indicate your intention to filter into another lane, the car behind speeds up NOT to let you in.

The result: You have to accelerate to quickly change lanes, or brake hard, when you realise that someone is not letting you in. If every driver drove in a fuel efficient manner, I think the roads in Singapore would be much safer and a far more pleasant, courteous place to drive in.

Still, I was determined to put in practice what I had learnt in my "Fuel Save" challenge and I did not let any other cars rush me while I drove to work. By applying the same principles as in the challenge, I'm sure I can reduce at least 10 per cent of my fuel consumption.

Never mind that my partner taunts me about "driving like a girl" every time I take to the wheel. If I can achieve 10 per cent, surely everyone else can. And if everyone else can, it would save us 100 billion litres of fuel a year, according to Shell, not to mention a hefty sum of money.

Usually, I'm pretty skeptical about what oil giants spew about fuel efficiency, but Shell is on to something here. It's not stupid, it knows that if drivers save fuel, it means less revenue for them.

But their strategy is a different one, where they are encouraging the right kind of driving, and winning over drivers, in order to get a bigger market share. From a wider perspective, the careful use of transport fuels can only be a good thing for everyone since our global supplies of fuel is declining just as the vehicle population is about to explode from demand from China and India.

Electric vehicles are a potential mode of transport that could significantly reduce our emissions, but until we get to the point of mass commercialisation, it makes sense to put our existing resources to efficient use.

In that spirit, I have included some fuel saving driving tips here for you to try the Fuel Save challenge out for yourself. Happy Driving!

20 tips for you and your car

1 Service your engine

Did you know a poorly maintained engine can increase your fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent? Just replacing dirty spark plugs can improve your fuel consumption by up to 5 per cent.

2 Keep your tyres at the right pressure

If your tyres are under inflated by just 1psi, your fuel efficiency can be reduced by up to 3 per cent. So pump up those tyres up once a week or whenever you fill up.

3 Avoid carrying excess weight

For every extra 100 lbs (45 kg) you carry, your fuel efficiency can drop by 1 to 2 per cent. So clear your car of unnecessary items that just add weight to your vehicle when you can.

4 Take the roof rack off

If you’re not using your roof rack or your roof box, remove it. A roof rack can affect the aerodynamic efficiency of your vehicle, creating drag which can result in your car using up to 5 per cent more fuel.

5 Check the air filters

Air filters keep impurities from damaging your engine. Replacing a clogged air filter can help improve your fuel economy by as much as 10 per cent and can help protect your engine.

6 Use the correct oil

Using the manufacturer’s recommended lubricant can help improve fuel efficiency by 1 to 2 per cent. Higher quality motor oils can also help your engine operate more efficiently.

7 Check the seal on your fuel cap

Fuel evaporates every time you open the fuel cap. Make sure your cap is properly screwed on every time after every fill up.

8 Plan your trips

Cutting down on the time spent in the car is the easiest way to conserve fuel. To reduce driving time, combine all your short trips and errands into a single journey or call ahead to avoid wasted journeys.

9 Keep hydrated

Don’t forget to drink water. When you’re well hydrated, you concentrate better. Keep a bottle to hand as you drive and make sure you drink your recommended eight glasses a day.

10 Keep calm

That way you’ll be able to drive smoothly and anticipate what’s going on ahead of you. When you keep calm, you also drive with plenty of distance between your car and others.

11 Drive smoothly

If you drive aggressively, you can burn up to a third more fuel than if you drive smoothly. Avoid accelerating or braking too hard and try to keep your steering as even as possible.

12 Use higher gears

When you drive in higher gear, you’ll use less fuel, so change up a gear whenever you can.

13 Keep the windows closed

Wind blowing through an open window can slow you down. And, to compensate, you’re likely to speed up. Instead of opening windows why not use your car’s internal ventilation system, just so long as this doesn’t make you feel drowsy.

14 Use cruise control

Using cruise control on major roads can help you maintain a constant speed and helps you make all those drops count.

15 Avoid excess idling

Stuck in a jam? Idling gets you nowhere, but still use up fuel. Turn the engine off when you’re in a queue until you need it. As a rule, if you’ve stopped for over 10 seconds, switch off your engine.

16 Avoid over-revving

Change gear in good time when you pull away or when you’re accelerating. Never ‘redline’ the rev counter.

17 Avoid high speeds

The faster you go, the more wind resistance you’ll encounter and the more fuel your vehicle will consume just to maintain speed. Remember that according to the UK Department of Transport figures, at 70mph you could be using up to 30 per cent more fuel than at 50mph. So keep it slow.

18 Use air-conditioning sparingly

Sometimes it’s hard to avoid using your air-conditioning, but remember that it does put added strain on your engine on hot or cold days. And, it can increase your fuel consumption by up to 8 per cent. On temperate days, you can always use your car’s internal ventilation system instead.

19 Avoid rush hour

If you can travel outside of peak times, you’ll spend less time stuck in traffic and use less fuel as a result.

20 Keep a constant speed

Instead of coasting when you reach a downward slope, maintain steady engine revs. This will help you to maintain a constant speed rather than picking up speed and is likely to have a positive effect on your fuel consumption.

Tips from: www.shell.com.sg/everydrop.

Article

Kitchen Cabinet Hinge

2009-05-15T20:07:00.001+08:00

Had to repair a dropped kitchen cabinet door today. Shown to me last night by the Minister of Home Affairs. She said it was the one I replaced last year (meaning: ey, your DIY workmanship not that good, lah). That kicked my goat, poked my ego, and sent a shiver down the old bent spine (what if true?). But check check a bit and hosay! Not the one I replaced last year.

Here’s the story of last year.

A kitchen cabinet door would not open fully. You know, one of those messy spring loaded high tech hinges that has parts to be screwed onto another part to be screwed to the cabinet or door; the old style ugly ones never give this problem. Snuck a screwdriver through the tight gap and felt and cursed and finally got the inside anchor part detached from the cabinet.

Cheapskate me went to neighbourhood hardware DIY shop to look for a replacement. Ah ha! Discovered not such an easy walkover errand. How long is the hinge when opened, how fat is it, how thick is the door, how many screw holes, how far apart are screw holes on the cabinet-part of the assembly, how big are the old screw holes there, what’s the diameter of the attachment screws, etc etc? Two types available. $3.50 each. Which one you want? Bought the one that looked like what I could recall of the hinge that’s still attached to the cabinet door. Not a problem; a little bit of adjustment required here and there, that’s all.

Discovered not so, man. No amount of adjustment would be satisfactory. Of course I didn’t do the adjustments lah. How can? What if I made those screw holes bigger? One hole I mean; because the other was further apart than the old one and had to be freshly created. Didn’t drill that one hole yet, lah, of course. Got to make sure of all angles and alternatives and plan B’s first before I bring out the heavy equipment.

OK, let’s check with SimSiangChoon which sold us the Chippendale kitchen cabinets. Oh oh, they stopped kitchen five years ago, concentrating on bathrooms only. Now how?

Then, hey! a bright lamp in speech bubble over my head lit up. Lets Google some help. The company name Blum and a number on the old hinge. Sadly, I had to uncrew and detach the door part of it to search for identification marks. The item part number was on the round part, that part that is buried in the big round hole.

So got to a few sites. Click here and here. But first had to determine what the heck the hinge was called or described. Full overlay clip hinge 180 degree blah blah. The sites were hardware retail outlets in the US. Add a few dollars for airfreight, wait a few weeks (?) at worse for delivery, and then I can do the replacement. But what if not the right item, what if it doesn’t arrive, what if this what if that? Ey, when are you going to repair the hinge, darling?

Logged out, took out the old Yellow Pages. Flip, flip pages. Tried one ring ring do you have Blum hinges? No? Oh ok thank you. Third one struck gold; no wonder never strike Toto that year.

Went to Hong Li Hardware Pte Ltd at 906K Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 787110, Tel 64558774 / 64558650 and spoke to one Mr Phua Kok Leong HP : 97666273. This shop has BLUM hinges.

And cheap too; so I got two of the same, just in case the upper one fails too. The replacement (old model out of production but a new one can be used to replace it) was better; it had a slide-on and a click-catch to attach the door part (and door of course) to the cabinet part.

It even had the slot for the Chippendale nameplate.

So out with my toolbox and a few minutes later, the door was up and all’s fine again (see pics).

OK, back to yesterday’s cabinet door.

The holes enlarged on their own (chipboard not a good material to screw on frequently moved parts like doors). But a bit of paper stuffing should work, or perhaps some turns of that white plumbing tape that those DIY hunks on TV so easily use to solve life death situations in their kichens.

‘ey, darling, why not use rawlplug?’

OK, OK, that’s why she’s the Minister of Home Affairs.

Song titles in the Prius

2009-04-17T14:52:00.003+08:00

One of the first disappointments in my Prius was that the cd player in all Priuses imported into Singapore by the main agent as well as by the parallel importers does not play mp3 files.

So I burned audio cd's, and the songs showed up dissapointingly and as expected, as track 1, track 2, etc.

Found these two links today. So will try them out later. Hope they work.
(UPDATE) Worked exactly as described! Fantastic! The track number appeared first but a second later, the song title appears.

Here's a link on how to get those song titles to show up in your Prius screen

And a WMP add-on to enable editing of 'track 1' and 'unknown artist' . This one worked too!. The titles showed up when I re-insert the cd to play it. Great.

Here it is

2009-04-15T01:40:00.003+08:00

Finally got it - a Prius.

Settled for a used one at S$51K as a new one costs S$75K.

Here’s that unique Prius back.

And that ‘double’ rear window.

Some Prius sites

2009-04-15T00:56:00.011+08:00

PriusChat - An excellent site for news, views and help.

Prius in Singapore - A thread from above Priuschat site.

PriusOnline - Another excellent site on the Prius.

John, The Prius owner

Universal Fuel Consumption Excel Sheet created by 'priusuk2008', a senior member of PriusChat.com.

The Five Stages of Prius Operation

Toyota agent in Singapore

I found the following sites very useful too -

Fuel consumption conversion calculator

Pressure conversion calculator

Speed conversion calculator

Length conversion calculator

Day 7/13 - Dinner in LiJiang

2009-04-08T18:57:00.001+08:00

The 'new' car

2009-04-08T18:16:00.009+08:00

Here it is

He just bought a 2005.

Some Prius sites

Song titles in the Prius

Some fuel saving tips

LED bulbs for cars saves 2% fuel bill

Turn right from the Circle

2008-11-09T13:31:00.002+08:00

Here's the return trip ie come out the house main door and take the garden path to the right towards the main gate.

Still a bit of a problem here.

The Wedelia was too vigorous a choice as a cover, and had to be removed.

The barbeque area and beyond

2008-11-09T13:26:00.005+08:00

These are the 'practical areas' ie not just for display.

The slabbed area for cookouts is well established underfoot.

The turfed area is good 'spillover' space for crowds.

View of the kitchen garden taken from just beside the backyard wall gate.

New furniture, lamp and sun shades for the patio off the second hall.

Six months later

2008-11-09T13:08:00.011+08:00

Step down off the gate driveway onto the garden path.

A few steps down the garden path.

A few more steps again.

Very successful obstruction of view of the rear gardem.

We have to take a few more steps to go around the next curve to reach the Circle.

Stepped up off garden path and its Circle onto patio to main door.

The slabbed barbeque area is to the left.

Done! - pool and Fountain completed

2008-02-28T20:07:00.011+08:00

View of the fountain and pool from the living room. A shot from behind its windows and the other from just outside the living room.

That's the family room with door panel slid aside; and the staghorn fern's been shifted left.

The waterspout made a racket splashing into the pool and large round stones in a plant pot were used to break the impact noise.

An angled view from the side/ rear showing the house main front door. Ah, there's the white coloured can of very effective we used to coat all surfaces of those Bali stone stuff.

All in, not too bad a little job that took about 10 days, from visiting nurseries and stone supplier yards, to path slab laying to planting.

Be sure to visit us again in about six months to see more photographs on how the garden would have grown.

The pool is in

2008-02-28T20:04:00.005+08:00

Okay, the fibreglass pool was in. Bought from the same Sg Buloh supplier of Balinese styled garden rquirements etc. Got that bowl on stand from same place. Got 3 sets in fact as they were on offer ie buy 2 get 1 free. Same place we got the slabs.

Here, we're looking at the column on which will be mounted the fountain waterspout's Bali tile.

Those are the living room windows in the left of the photograph. White spray paint that we used to mark the ground in laying out the garden beds, etc. And WD40 to lubricate and cleanse the old garden secateurs dug out for use.

The Pool area in original state

2008-02-28T20:02:00.002+08:00

Here's where we decided to have a pool, and a waterspout fountain gushing out from a mask or tile mounted on the column.

That's the family room door straight ahead, while the main door to the house is to our left, beyond those pink flip-flops.

Got a nice Balinese tile. That's it wrapped in brown hardpaper beside that cracked pot (repaired with mortar). Click photograph to enlarge and you can see part of the tile.

As the fibleglass pool was 10 inch deep, we needed to dig only about 5 inches to have the pool rim level or just below the surrounding floor level, as the dirt level had been deliberately left about 5 inches lower.

Done! main garden plantings completed

2008-02-28T19:58:00.002+08:00

The job doesn't look impressive in this shot. But it certainly did on site. And just give it another six months .....

The potted plant on pedestal was a sectional area point of interest. The pedestal represented in this photo by a "whatever that's called" will be replaced by a proper item in due course, of course.

I like the firm backing provided by the Mother-in-law's-tongue (Sansiviera sp) on the drain edge side of this bed. They'll also give a bit of brightness when viewed from porch.

Additional planting

2008-02-28T19:54:00.029+08:00

The Heliconia bed directly in front of the house main door (which actually doesb't face the street but to the left ie to LHS the neighbour's property) was plumped up with 3 large bagged specimens that bore deep red flowers (two of them) and light red-pink with yellow border.

The planting was brought all the way forward right up to the edge of the cobblestone circle to ensure restricting a full length view of the garden.

The first bed facing one (on stepping onto pathway) was strengthened with Thaumatococcus danielli from under the Plumeria tree, along the wall till the first Heliconia bed.

To our left, another large-leafed ginger (?) was added. This was also brought far out to be nearer the pathway.

BL is seen here packing in aloe vera as an underplanting for the wild yams.

That potted Philodendron (three plants in the pot actually) (in shot below) would be planted along the open drain edge of the bed at three spots. They will in due course conceal a large part of the drain.

Cover plants under the citrus on LHS of circle. The opposite side ie under the Jasmines will be similarly underplanted.

Watering was immediately carried out for new plantings. Good for the plants and good to stretch the cramped muscles. That's BengTeck handling the hose.

Planting

2008-02-28T19:52:00.018+08:00

A large branched Frangipanni cutting from MIL's house to provide big-plant effect on RHS on first stepping onto footpath from the gate.

We got it two days before ie before soil delivery and bed formation and it didn't look good when planted but the retained last few leaves and flowers freshened up the following days, indicating a good chance of a good establishment.

The next stretch along the common wall/fence was for Heliconias of the big size variety. Made sure not to include common orange coloured shorties.

Between the two tall stuff and at midway between path and wall were planted three Murraya. Just wait till they get bigger and loaded with flowers.

BTW, the main aimss were to provide screening against neighbour's view of our property, and to prevent the whole garden from being seen all at once by visitors. And, lots of greenery, colour, and fragrance.

The tall Heliconias were strengthened all the way out right up to the path. This was to prevent view of the rest of the garden until one takes the next bend.

On the LHS, which in fact will be seen and felt first, are these tall weedlike plants that have Thaumatococcus-like form and leaves. They grow to 8 feet tall and should block out premature views of the rest of the garden. The form good-sized clumps too and this should add to the desired screening objective.

Round the first bend, the LHS was planted with Alpinia purpurea. These will grow to man height and be thick to cut out view of the garage porch.

The potted bottle palm, frangipanni and Dracaena hookeriana in the photo are there to give additional sceening to block view of garden.

Some Plumbagos on the RHS of the path. BL loves them.

Big yams on the right and a lemon tree on the left of the path as you step down from the main door porch. They're both to cut out views beyond.

The bed in line with main door and circle will be planted with tall huge-flowered Heliconias which also have larger than normal leaf fronds. Their flowers are really something.

Just after them, and midway to the wall, are three Brunfelsa calycina.

Plants for the alfresco dining area and outside the dining room were mostly for colour and screening. Beyond that was the herb garden with lemon grass, a limau purut and such stuff.

The "circle"

2008-02-28T19:48:00.003+08:00

The "meeting point" of the long main garden path, the short path from the house main door and the short link to the alfresco dining area will be a circular area of cobblestones.

View from the main door of the house.

A closer look at the outdoor entertainment area

2008-02-28T19:30:00.010+08:00

The two slabs on the right leads from the Main Door of the house. They facilitate one exiting the main door to step into the garden.

This 5 slabs x 4 slabs area is an "in between" area.

It is a convenient site for a barby set, being just off the alfresco dining area.

This is the alfresco dining area area. A timber bench is required against the common wall.

The area beyond this is the area outside the dining room. Tall screening plants required here to provide privacy.

The furthest and narrowest part of the garden will be for herbs and such plants. Mostly shrub-size. And perhaps a "Rajah" banana and a "Solo" papaya.

and the outdoor entertainment area

2008-02-28T19:27:00.010+08:00

The laying of slabs for path and alfresco dining area is completed.

Soil from the mounds were scraped down to come flush with the slab surfaces. This gives the slabs a laid "in" the ground look instead of a laid "on" look. It also "locks" the slabs which would otherwise rock or jiggle when stepped upon.

The ground level of the property next door is higher and as such there is a great need for tall plants to provide a screen for privacy.

Laying the pathway

2008-02-28T19:24:00.003+08:00

One foot square concrete slabs were quickly laid to form the garden path shown in these two photographs, and to form the alfresco dining area shown in photos in a following post.

Formation of planting beds

2008-02-28T19:11:00.005+08:00

Here's the stuff they use for planting. A 6-wheeled lorryload for RM280.

SiewLan found two migrant labourers to move the soil into garden and form the planting areas. Hard-working chaps, RM60 each for about 6 hours' nonstop work (other than a short lunch break); but had to fetch and return them to a meeting point on highway, and had to be provided lunch.

First two beds flanking the garden path taking shape.

Roof tiles made for a good step-down from tiled surface onto garden ground.

The pathway is quite apparent in this shot which shows most of the planting beds.

Some of the "main plants" are placed in their planned positions for a rough idea of how things'll look like. (The two potted palms aren't in the design.)

Here's what we planned to achieve ie some "main plants" to block the view of the dining room which had a direct line of sight to the pedestrian gate which is behind me (taking photograph).

Here, we are halfway along the garden path, at which point the dining room is clearly seen, just behind the last pillar. Which should not be. Some "main plants" required here where the potted palm is, to block it off.

Here's a shot showing the dining room with its tiled forecourt. The adjacent garden area would be turned into a slabbed alfresco area to complement the dining forecourt which is a trifle inadequate for cookouts.

Beng Lee's garden in KL

2008-02-28T18:57:00.017+08:00

Visted BIL BengLee in Feb 2008. He's just moved into his new place in Puchong, KL; a corner link house with a decent garden plot. Like all "outsiders" or non-owners, freely gave advice on what, why, how etc to create a nice garden. Wife and I DID do some work, mind you, in the exercise. Give it a year, hope the garden turns out fine.

Long and straight. That's the rear gate right at the end (click on photo to enlarge).

Weeds established in patches in the firm clay soil which surprisingly was quite free of construction debris.

There was a generous rear-to-front gradient which ensured that there was no water ponding even after heavy rain.

Weeding commenced. Manual process, backbreaking work.

The potted plants were from the old house.

Here's where the garden show starts. From the pedestrian gate (can't be seen in this shot)between the two fat wall posts on the RHS and the garage column on the LHS. Step off the tiled area onto a proposed garden path that goes left along the length of the garden.

This is the open garage cum entry patio.

There is a designed-for space for a shade plants garden over which was currently hung a staghorn fern . We decided that it would incorporate a pool with water-spout fountain.

Here's a shot looking down the garden. That's the pedestrian gate just beyond the potted bottle palm.

More plants from the old house sitting in little pots along the drain edge.

Magazine holder

2008-02-01T18:33:00.001+08:00

Penny did this in December 2007. Bought it from a garage sale. The terrible old artwork was sanded off.

This is the other side.

The different artwork on the ends of the mag holder.

Click on pics to see them enlarged.

video

2008-01-26T16:42:00.001+08:00

Dali in Singapore

2007-08-24T01:13:00.001+08:00

In October 2006 these beautiful monstrosities invaded Boat Quay and Orchard pedestrian mall.

They've all left us and gone home or to visit other countries.

Pity they didn't leave at least one behind.

Space Elephant (left)
Surrealist Piano (bottom left)
Alice in Wonderland (bottom right)

Profile of Time (above left)
Space Venus (above right)
Unicorn (bottom left)
Surrealist Piano (bottom right)

Woman Alfame (above left)
Horse saddled with Time (bottom left)

On the windowsills

2007-06-24T20:22:00.001+08:00

That's a toadstool (mushroom or fungus if you prefer) with a little container into which Penny's plonked some Eucalypt fruits and some fuzzy stuff.

Those in the photos below are worms. Nice and earthy brown, with blue eyes.

Please click here to see house in Perth.

Lots more stuff in the living room and balcony

2007-06-24T20:11:00.000+08:00

Not a big deal, this wall, or photo - just snapping lots of pics.

The old oil lamp and inca idol from Perth and Mexican exhibit at Epcot Centre respectively were located to deny Leia's rabbits when free-roaming access to rear of furniture where they chew on AV cables and wires.

The old Panasonic, still in excellent condition after >10 years , is standing its ground against replacement by an LCD tv.

Anyhow, I don't want anything smaller than this (50") and I find that the new wide screens distort images into short and fat ones.

That's a whole menagerie of dragons from UK, US, NZ and Oz.

Half a wall of papertole in frames.

Leia did a couple of miniature Anton Peck's.

The huge one was made from fantasy posters while the long ones (one is partly cut off) were from postcards (of the Oz tropical forests).

If you click to enalrge the pic, you can also see one made from a set of bookmarks.

Three doors to storage under the stairs.

There are 6 animals in this photo (left) - dog, frog, cat, tortoise, elephant and a dinosaur!

Cat bought at a garage sale for $2 in Perth the dog from Covent Garden, London and the dinosaur from a shop in Tanjong Katong Shopping Centre.

This is a view of a part of the balcony which gets the western sun and with the added windows and roof-over , is pretty hot in the daytime.

Loads of stuff in photo, including more of the little dinosaurs.

That dragon urn is being fed with aircon condensate via the red coloured hose. Water for our potted plants.

There are a few critters on the window sill.

A witch and a castle. Not clear. Will add additional photos in future.

The dinosaurs - 6 in the red ceramic ashtry in a fishbowl, and 2 in a hug.

Kitchen

2007-06-24T02:39:00.001+08:00

A 'modernised' country kitchen. We cook with bottled gas as there's no piped gas in our block. It's safer with bottled gas, I think. You'll never have a gas-filled kitchen as there's only so much in the bottle, and if you leave windows opened a bit.

That's one of the five coffee shop tables in the house. And one of the six coffee shop chairs. Got that honey tin (above exhaust hood) from the first train stop on the line from Straun to Queenstown, Tasmania. You could buy it filled or empty.

That cup (on table) with the MND letters is 16 years old.

The peppers poster in the second photo exactly covered the service door to the pipes in the fake column.

How you like the chook on straw behind netting piece? It was a very satisfying morning's work with odds and ends. Bought only the netting. From Bunnings.

Come on in

2007-06-24T02:32:00.000+08:00

The downstairs room just off the left side of the entrance 'hall', with 3 huge panel-backed posters of Rosemary (the mouse, of course!)

There's a small papertole (not in photo) of her on the opposite of the room.

That's a country buffet cupboard full of items collected from garage sales and flea market visits.

The living room is beyond those "ping-pahng" or saloon doors (above left) carted all the way 40 years ago from a Wife's uncle's house in Penang.

The next photo (above right) was taken from the living room side of those swing doors. See the little cupboard against wall? Still waiting its distressed paint job from Penny.

Among the stuff sitting on it is a cabbage patch doll bought for $12 at a Perth flea mart.

Here's a close-up shot (left), but it's more fun to click on photo above and zoom in and search.

That's (above right) a longish papertole hanging centrally on the wall. It was made from 4 kids' height measuring posters (they're very narrow pictures).

The shot of an enlarged bit (left) doesn't do the tole justice, as it was one of my better pieces of work.

A wall-full of papertole (left).

The clock's not one of them.

Open sesame!

2007-06-24T02:21:00.000+08:00

Front door of uneven panels with a little grass house wind chime from Shirakawago, Japan.

The gate of curly twirls and a few flowers is in metallic pink, yup.

House number is a composition of painted tiles bought in Perth, set in a photo frame sans glass.

That's a rustic shoe polish box at the foot of the closed panel of the door. Got it at a garage sale in Perth.

More of the garden

2007-01-25T18:34:00.000+08:00

Close-up of cover plant that had nice red flowers. It grows without any effort on our part. Looks very nice in the mornings when wet with dew.

Please click here to see the house when we first got it.

Garden panorama

2007-01-22T19:38:00.000+08:00

This is a number of shots merged together. It looks terribly small here, doesn't it?

So click on it and see it as it should be seen!

Junk and Rose

2007-01-22T19:01:00.000+08:00

Right there in front of the garden shed, those two white structures, one resting on the other. Two potted plant 'surrounds' or 'enclosures'. You place potted plants within them so the pots are not seen.

Picked them from the lot left outside by neighbour Kate Sorenstam for removal by council. Sold them a year later for $1 each at our garage sale.

That rose (below) was a potted 'standard' outside the lounge patio.

The steps were paving slabs discarded by a new resident in the neighbourhood.

looking good

2007-01-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

The garden bench was cemented to some hardcore and was too much trouble to be brought down to new ground level and so the floral bed had to incorporate it as is.

Gave rise to the need for some 'stepping up' from pea gravel path implemented with discarded remnant narrow long bricks from a new house being constructed nearby.

That's a letterbox, not a birdhouse.

Those three grasstrees were salvaged from a lot where a new house was being built. Sadly they didn't make it.

That framework guard was another something we picked up.

See that Frangipani cutting from Vincent's house two streets away in same estate? Actually, it was an overhanging branch from his neighbour's tree.

All in, we derived three nice cuttings from the pruning of those overhanging branches.

All three established successfully in a few weeks.

That long bendy stalk-like skinny thing just behind the tin watering can is an inflorescence of one of the succulents in the groundbed.

That circular cobblestone feature cost $110. Consisted of quadrants of cobblestones on string mat to facilitate laying out. Needed minor adjustments to get the size to suit site, leaving some spares. We planted multicoloured Portulaca in the central space. And filled gaps with very small sized (really 'pea-sized') pea gravel.

Notice those two pot surrounds in the bed behind? We planted two Woolly Bushes in that bed.

The freshly laid paved area in the backyard with spaces filled with gravel. Weeds came up out of those gaps but were easily plucked out or sprayed with Zero weedkiller. Not a problem.

The boardwalk material was treated and varnished hardwood remnants from construction of a staircase in a neighbouring lot. Real heavy stuff, almost broke my back lugging them. This boaedwalk is at the rear of the house. Those lallang-like leaves are from one of the few varieties of Kangaroo's Paws. This one had yellow flowers. Nearside bed was Penny's herb plot.

See the new anaks growing from the succulent 'leaflets' ?

Paving the backyard

2007-01-19T13:24:00.000+08:00

With the backyard levelled to patio floor level to enable easy walk-across, it was between returfing or paving.

Chose to pave, bought pavers from WA Salvage 30 pieces per trip as they are laid. Loaded, unloaded, fetched in, and laid, all done by the two of us.

The two cute kiddy chairs were picked up for $2 each at the flea market in Wanneroo (first Sunday each month).

That's the kitchen window in the centre of the photograph.

Beyond that is the patio off the Formal Lounge.

Click on photo to see lots more details.

The orange tree in foreground; grapefruit behind it.

Watch that bed where the pink and blue chairs are. It's barren here but will be full in next few photos.

The new paved area is linked to the garage by a snakey path laid over with pea gravel.

Decided against an underlayer (to prevent remnant grass coming up) as that would mean more work.

Pea gravel bought by the 30 kg bags from Soils aint Soils.

All sorts of pots

2007-01-19T12:49:00.000+08:00

More little pots of succulents all over the place. These two are on an old birdstand.

The wooden crosspiece is for the bird to perch on, and the tray holds all food bits, droppings, etc. Bought it for $2 at the Canning Vale flea market.

The floral design mosaic was an easy weekend project.

That's (above) one of the many Fuchsias in Penny's collection, of a nice soft pink watercolour.

That's fresh cuttings in the wicker basket.And that's a small brass coal tender picked up at a garage sale.

All sitting on the barbie in the backyard patio.

Some colour

2007-01-18T16:45:00.000+08:00

Ahh, here are the Orange, Grapefruit and Kamquat trees, from right to left. There's a bit of view of the thick and gnarled-skinned lime to the right of the orange tree ie nearest the garden shed.

There's no soil, just thick fine sand; which wasn't great as a source of plant nutrients but provided excellent drainage.

One of the many Zygoes that Penny bought from The Dutch Windmill nursery. The made in China pot was $3 from Bunnings.

See the path towards the garage? That's what's 'created' out of the garden floor after we formed the shrub beds.

Two hanging pot plants. The longer one is hanging from a corner roof eave rafter. Quite in the way and gave us a few good knocks when cornering too closely.

See the rose motif mosaic table top? All my own work! The metal table frame was bought at a flea market.

See the little succulent 'anaks' in the germination tray in the photo on the right? Give a bit of time and they'll be like the grand daddy hanging there.

Succulents

2007-01-17T01:26:00.000+08:00

Ended up with different types of hanging pots to contain our pendulous plants most of which are succulents.

They required to be 'turned' every month or so to encourage even growth on all sides.

That's a Zygo in the foreground pot on the left. Had the prettiest white/pink/mauve/purple colours in the winter.

These pots are hanging from the pergola outside the formal lounge behind that white French door.

Close-up of 4 types of succulents.

Lemon tree

2007-01-17T01:10:00.000+08:00

Lots of heavy sour juicy fruits. Favoured by the fruit flies too.

Garden before makeover

2007-01-16T13:27:00.000+08:00

This was taken in Feb 2004, before the garden makeover. Taken from rear of garage. The palms are from rear neighbour's backyard. There were 8 along our common boundary frnce !! They drop small messy flowers and seeds which germinate easily but slowly in our property. The palm fronds drooop very low and we could standing on our feet reach up and tarek them! They drop when dead; dangerous! The leaflets from the palm fronds cause chokage to roof gutters and downpipe, requiring constant removals. Once we didn't clear them and they choked water flow in winter so badly that gutters overflowed and sogged up ceilings under the roof eaves! So check out next door neighbours' trees and vegetation before you buy a property.

Two large hanging pots of Burro's Tail. Extremely heavy those pots. I think at least one of them was a repot as the original broke with the weight of the heavy plant and soil ! They grow very easily. No effort once you've placed them (no need to stick into soil or even provide layer to cover them!) into a pot and hung it aside and arranged for regular watering which I provided via connections to the garden's water reticulation system.

The Burro's Tails are very sensitive to touch and clothes brushing them when we walked too close caused the little 'anaks' to drop off and get crushed underfoot. We simply picked or swept them up and dropped them into other hanging pots nearby. Gave away numerous little pots of Tails to admirers.

This is one of the many citrus trees; a Grapefruit. The fruits are hugmongous, juicy and beautiful. Unfortunately they were neither sweet nor sour.

Citrus

2007-01-15T00:33:00.000+08:00

This is the Orange tree, still young about 3 years. Note the poor lawn condition. Didn't like it as the ground level was higher than the patio floor level. We had it cut to patio floor level at cost of about $300. The contractor took almost a day to cut the soil and cart it away, a one-man job, with a small Dingo excavator. Still, it required the temporary take-down of the rear garage roller door to get into our yard.

Here's a shot of the Grapefruit in which we can see the reduced ground level.

That there is a nice little timber bench we picked up from amongst the junk thrown out by a house for council removal.

These are some of the fruits from the garden. Thin-skinned oranges and kamquats.

Swan Lake

2007-01-14T13:44:00.000+08:00

Here's what the House turned out to be. These were shot in 2006.

The front beds of lillies are still there; large White and Blue. The best display of lillies on the street, really.

That's a native tree - a Eucalypt - beside the letterbox, that was being removed as it was getting too big to be easily managed by me. It was about 10 metres in height and pruning the crown gave me a bad neck for weeks each time. Ah Lim the weekend contractor (he works in the Hort Dept of the local Council) cut the trunk to ground level one day, together with some huge root pruning, using a chainsaw! of the roadside Plane Tree.

Aarrgh! he nicked an underground water pipe that was part of the reticulation system. That had to be repaired by another Malaysian migrant. Very reasonable rate he charged; I think it was $45 for a 'come, parts and do' job. Total Eden quoted me $30 to come and check, $30 per half hour labour, and extra for parts. Overall it said the cost would be about $110.

Right, the orange stick, it's of metal actually, is The Bus Stop sign! No joking!

It seems, according to neighbour Mr Leong opposite that the BS was in fact more to the right of our driveway but was moved by the building contractor of Roger's house and didn't move it back. It wasn't a problem to us so we didn't inform the bus company to re-site it back to original spot.

Those are not burglar bars in the master bedroom window. They are the vertical venetian blinds. Cheapest shades provided in all new houses.

The arbor in front of the entry porch seems like a roof without tiles. Jerry a friend's 10 year old asked "where's the roof?"

Just under the topmost eave (the white box) is the security alrm's siren and blue light flasher, on the left-most column is a sensor-activated wall light. Latter is regularly affected by roadside tree's branches on windy days.

OK, the overhead branches are from the roadside Plane Tree. A very bad choice as the flowers cause asthma and all such throat and nose ailments. The leaves are large though and no problem to air vents of cars. But were they a real problem every autumn and winter! They fill your garden a foot thick! That particular one had to be pruned often of the lower branches which affected the two Golden Pines. The local council has never come prune the trees and most home owners had to do the job as the lower braanches do obstruct the roadside footpath.

Amity 1995

2007-01-14T13:35:00.001+08:00

In 1995 or thereabouts, we saw the Amity display home in Sanctuary Waters. Liked it and commissioned Pacesetter Homes to build it for us in Livingston, Canning Vale.

Made lots of amendments to the original. The study was lengthened sideways, pushing the garage more to the boundary line. The colourbond polycarbamate roof was replaced with glazed bristle tiles. These were the only changes visible from the front.