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Ah. 3 days gone. Too soon of course. Friday was a nice, leisurely day where we woke up late, then drove to the city where wifey went to gym while I had a nice run through Ann Siang Hill. We then had some nice drinks from the teh tarik stall, and went shopping for groceries. Watched some movies at home, including V for Vendetta, which is a nice show, probably a good prelude to another show starring a disfigured protaganist on Sunday. I even tried making V’s eggy in a basket the next day, but well it didn’t turn out too well! Saturday actually saw us going back to the office to catch up on work - which is a good time to work when the office is dead quiet otherwise. At night I worked on my first mobi site, which I’d reveal soon. Should be quite useful to all you SG motorists out there… Sunday, we watched Phantom of the Opera which was actually my first experience of a performance at the durian, er, Esplanade. Lunch was a nice light one at Bakerzin.

Well it’s Monday yet again, so well, I’d end this blog during my lunch hour and delve back into work.

And here’s a heartwarming story I read in Today, er, today.

TOY STORY
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Sungei Road vendor’s generosity humbling and refreshing

Letter from Hong Geok Hua

In the late afternoon on Good Friday, I was on a leisurely stroll with my son at Sungei Road, where often you would see vendors being quite brash in their dealings.

Amid the crowd of people looking for bargains, there was an old Malay woman wheeled on a wheelchair by a Malay man and his young son. They stopped by a stall manned by a Chinese man selling new toy sets displayed on the ground. The Malay boy picked a toy set priced at $8. His father then bargained it down to $5 instead.

The Chinese seller with his weather-beaten face stood pensive for some moments. I was sure that he was calculating in his mind whether to agree to the deal.

But I was wrong. The seller instead shoved the toy set into the boy’s hands and said: “It’s okay, you can have it, free.” The boy thanked him and walked away. But soon the seller called him back - to give him a plastic carrier for the toy.

I was pleasantly surprised. I never expected a Sungei Road vendor, probably making a hard living, with unpaid bills in his drawer, to possess such generosity. He just followed his heart.

It makes a powerful statement about the notion that you can’t help them all, but you can help one. It was a humbling experience that was very refreshing to see in the hustle and bustle of rough Sungei Road.