Monday, April 19, 2010

say that again?

Am getting down to (hopefully) finalising holiday plans within the next couple of days, though worries that right after i book the flight i'll find out that there's some school-related activity which i've to be at home for are perpetually at the back of my mind. And i think that "sorry, i've already booked my ticket, so that's just too bad (actually that's already the self-censored version - the first thing that came to my mind was more along the lines of s**** you - blame it on my students, though they say far worse)!" is hardly the way to go about handling such a situation if it were to arise.

Another recently-developed worry that i now have is that the lingering ash cloud over much of Europe will somehow not magically (get lost in your rock and roll and) drift away by the time the June holidays arrive, especially since in the fleeting moments that i've caught the news i've heard worst-case scenarios of 6 months till the ash clears being floated around.

It's interesting to see, by the way, how much news coverage is devoted to this story in both the local and int'l media (my joint favourites - a seemingly unsolicited "i wish i was there" message to the ST from Vivian Balakrishnan, last heard stranded in Paris, and today's front page story of Penny Low teleconferencing to join her fellow GRC MPs at a community event - does that really warrant a front page story? Pretty lame, was what i thought (both her teleconferencing and the story). You would have thought that there might be a greater focus on the Qinghai earthquake, which now surely ranks as the Farrah Fawcett of recent news stories.

One part of the whole volcanic ash flight cancellation saga that has been severely undercovered is ironically at the centre of it all - the name of the volcano (and for the record, it's Eyjafjallajökull). Up till now, on the tv news it's been known simply as "the Icelandic Volcano". But i guess who can blame it when it's pronounced something like this.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

circular logic

I've always been one for obscure, insignificant, and ultimately super boliao things (though at this hour, no examples come to mind). The latest example of this took place today, when, admittedly semi-buoyed by the pointless novelty of trying out the latest leg of the circle line on the day it was opened to the public, i (after some difficulty, might i add - chalk it up to poor signage at Dhoby Ghaut station) hopped on a circle line train.

Don't get me wrong though, this was, by no means a random, on a whim kinda thing done because i had nothing better to do. I was, of course, headed to school to get some work done (what's new, eh?) That aside though, i'm seriously glad that this part of the line has opened, as it makes traveling to and from school from home that much easier (ah yes, all the better to spend more time in school, the nagging cynic in me would say). As the past week went on, i seriously could hardly wait for the opening, especially since, seemingly in order to perpetuate my perennial frustration with having to rely on buses 14 and 16, i was hit with many just-left-the-stop-as-i-came-within-ten-metres-of-it buses and horrid rainy weather, up till Friday evening, the last possible time whereby i would not be able to try the train back.

My relative satisfaction with the ride today aside, i do wish that they wouldn't pimp the line up to be more than it actually is. My favourite is this report by cna (who else?) stating that by using the line commuters can save both time and money, but giving the ridiculous example of the (train) journey from Paya Lebar to Bartley which "takes about 38 minutes and costs $1.61", while with the opening of the latest circle line stage it will be cut to 6 minutes and save commuters 66 cents, "which is over 40 per cent cheaper than the previous fare".

That's all well and good, but who in their right mind would take the train down from Paya Lebar to City Hall and change to the red line to Dhoby Ghaut and change again to the NEL at Serangoon and then change a final time to the Circle Line to Bartley anyway, when they could easily hop on a bus (i dare say a direct one) and make the trip insurely less than 38 minutes and also at a cheaper price? The answer? Seemingly only Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid , the writer of the article, who along the same lines would, if needing to head to the ground floor from the first, would probably choose to take an elevator all the way up to the topmost floor before taking it down again to the ground floor. Kinda like a Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the geriatrics.

So don't make the new section of the circle line to be something it's not. Makes travel more convenient? Yes. More environmentally-friendly than diesel-powered buses and taxis? Yes. The cheapest mode of transport? Far from it.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

incroyable...

Let's finally talk a bit about the India trip, before it becomes an all too distant memory. First trip in a long time that i've taken out of the country which i wouldn't consider a holiday. Probably all the way since army training all those years ago. I wouldn't even consider it a working holiday. Just plain work is more like it, just with a change in environment from cosy corner of the staffroom to less cosy legroom-deficient seat in a seasonally-airconditioned coach (we were traveling and caught in jams so much it's as though i never left - except for a brief spell in the middle, but more on that later...)

Granted it was nice to finally see India beyond the Mumbai (then known as Bombay) airport. Places like the old pink buildings in Jaipur and of course the Taj Mahal are definitely must-sees. Postcards and Incredible India adverts hardly do them justice - especially with the latter, to see it in person is a totally different experience altogether.

The people there whom we encountered were a very hospitable bunch. Unfortunately, in the middle of the trip i was the recipient of more hospitality than i had originally intended for, after getting hit pretty bad with what i think was food poisoning. Don't know how that came about, if i ate more or less the same food as the rest. Maybe it was just that i enjoyed the food so much that i had much more than the rest (Indian McDonald's aside, which i refused to touch). But whatever the cause, i must say i've never had so much bonding time with a toilet seat as i did with the one in room 26 of the fourth floor of the N***** M*** School Hostel. Two whole days straight. The silver lining being that i could get away from the students for those two whole days. And in any case the staff there were most helpful, and even volunteered to bring me to the doctor to get some medication. Even if the doctor ended up being one in a place which, for someone adequately familiar with Malay/ Tagalog like me, was somewhat worryingly named "Saket Hospital" they still were great nevertheless.

In retrospect, i've learned a few things. 1) Going on a school trip as a student is a piece of cake. Going on a school trip as a teacher, on the other hand, well, ahem... 2) Always bring toilet paper wherever you go when you are overseas. 3) Money spent on inundating potential tourists with Incredible India publicity could instead be spent on things like streamlining the secure but still unnecessarily convoluted immigration and security clearance at the Delhi airport. Woohoo.

Now to try and put together a real holiday this June...