Previous Posts Revisited..
I am furious.
Fuming mad.
That barely touches the surface of it all. I was driving down Braddell Road towards Lornie Road this morning, and I glanced towards RJC on my right hand side - and my beloved Angsana tree was gone!!!!
Horrors.
I almost fainted in front of the wheel. -_-"
Wasn't the decision to cut down the tree like, just announced last week? And the letters were just flying in fast and furious in the Sunday Times forum. On my return trip in the afternoon, I drove down the exact road that was supposed to be dangerous to drivers - and found that absolutely NOTHING had changed, sans the tree of course. The roads were still equally windy and twisty, the cars around me were still ignoring the obvious white lane markings on the road - needless to say the transparent 40km/h speed limit at the side of the road - and the concrete barriers around the ex-tree were still there!
And studying the whole layout of the road with the under-construction-flyover on the right, the slip road entry from Thomson on the left, and RJC and Bishan Columbarium from the left, there barely seems to be any space to straighten the road at all! Don't tell me that it's gonna be like this - sans the tree - for 1 more year? Then what's the point of cutting it down?
In today's newspaper report that featured the poor tree being chopped - "drivers did not follow the speed limit" - says it all. SINGAPOREAN DRIVERS are idiotic and a hazard to themselves. Ok, that's a very gross generalization, and true, not all Singapoean drivers are like that. Just a large number of them. -_-"
As a letter in yesterday's forum article rightly pointed out - the tree has been there for 2 whole years already, and the whole flyover would be done within 1 year's time, and the roads rearranged back so that the tree would no longer be an issue. If it has been like that for 2 years already, what's 1 more year? I know that's warped logic - so ok, consider this argument instead. If Singaporean drivers:
1) Adhere to the lane markings
2) Follow speed limits
3) Drive with a bit more patience
instead of driving around as if they own the whole road by cutting into other people's lanes and speeding around every corner "initial-D" style, maybe there would be less of a worry of accidents occuring since the LTA had done studies showing that if the speed limit of 40km/h was kept, the risks of accidents would be significantly lowered?
It's like "oh, the tree is hazardous. Let's cut it down." Then since smoking is hazardous and alcohol long term is potentially toxic, and motorcyclists probably have the highest accident rates on the road (today's papers: 5 m-cyclist deaths in 3 days.. sad.), do we then remove cigarettes, expel alcohol, and dismantle all the motorcycles on the road? No right? Cos we always try to educate people on safety issues, on health issues, on conservative methods first!
Hhmmm, I tink i'm starting to go a bit off tangent in my little tirade here, so i better end here on this issue. Pardon my ranting, but suffice to say, I mourn for the 80-year old Angsana tree. ARGH!!!
********************
Lol, after writing and re-reading both upper and lower portions of this post, I realise I sound a bit schiz writing these 2 posts within 1 post.. But hey, its real, and that's good enough for me. =)
********************
Revisiting the concept of "ME" time...
I remember mentioning that morning driving time was precious.. well, just to add a bit more on to that..
"Me" time, as someone once said, its time to yourself. For you to recharge your batteries. For you to be at peace with the world, and peace with yourself. It doesn't mean that sitting at home equates to "me" time - well, it can, just that my mind's usually on other stuff like what's on tv, computer games (instead of patho writeups -_-"). The mind has to be clear, and at peace with the surroundings..
So it was surprising that I actually managed to find some solace on Saturday, in - of all places - Sentosa. Was walking around waiting for Kelvin, Mohan & LK, and somehow found myself wandering down to this quiet secluded spot on Siloso beach, away from the volleyball-crazed pple and company functions.
It was just quite surreal for those 5-10 minutes. Sitting on the cool fine sand, under the shade of a leafy palm tree, looking out to the midday sun & ocean, and just... being a part of it all.
Mmmmm. A little piece of Heaven. =)
Fuming mad.
That barely touches the surface of it all. I was driving down Braddell Road towards Lornie Road this morning, and I glanced towards RJC on my right hand side - and my beloved Angsana tree was gone!!!!
Horrors.
I almost fainted in front of the wheel. -_-"
Wasn't the decision to cut down the tree like, just announced last week? And the letters were just flying in fast and furious in the Sunday Times forum. On my return trip in the afternoon, I drove down the exact road that was supposed to be dangerous to drivers - and found that absolutely NOTHING had changed, sans the tree of course. The roads were still equally windy and twisty, the cars around me were still ignoring the obvious white lane markings on the road - needless to say the transparent 40km/h speed limit at the side of the road - and the concrete barriers around the ex-tree were still there!
And studying the whole layout of the road with the under-construction-flyover on the right, the slip road entry from Thomson on the left, and RJC and Bishan Columbarium from the left, there barely seems to be any space to straighten the road at all! Don't tell me that it's gonna be like this - sans the tree - for 1 more year? Then what's the point of cutting it down?
In today's newspaper report that featured the poor tree being chopped - "drivers did not follow the speed limit" - says it all. SINGAPOREAN DRIVERS are idiotic and a hazard to themselves. Ok, that's a very gross generalization, and true, not all Singapoean drivers are like that. Just a large number of them. -_-"
As a letter in yesterday's forum article rightly pointed out - the tree has been there for 2 whole years already, and the whole flyover would be done within 1 year's time, and the roads rearranged back so that the tree would no longer be an issue. If it has been like that for 2 years already, what's 1 more year? I know that's warped logic - so ok, consider this argument instead. If Singaporean drivers:
1) Adhere to the lane markings
2) Follow speed limits
3) Drive with a bit more patience
instead of driving around as if they own the whole road by cutting into other people's lanes and speeding around every corner "initial-D" style, maybe there would be less of a worry of accidents occuring since the LTA had done studies showing that if the speed limit of 40km/h was kept, the risks of accidents would be significantly lowered?
It's like "oh, the tree is hazardous. Let's cut it down." Then since smoking is hazardous and alcohol long term is potentially toxic, and motorcyclists probably have the highest accident rates on the road (today's papers: 5 m-cyclist deaths in 3 days.. sad.), do we then remove cigarettes, expel alcohol, and dismantle all the motorcycles on the road? No right? Cos we always try to educate people on safety issues, on health issues, on conservative methods first!
Hhmmm, I tink i'm starting to go a bit off tangent in my little tirade here, so i better end here on this issue. Pardon my ranting, but suffice to say, I mourn for the 80-year old Angsana tree. ARGH!!!
********************
Lol, after writing and re-reading both upper and lower portions of this post, I realise I sound a bit schiz writing these 2 posts within 1 post.. But hey, its real, and that's good enough for me. =)
********************
Revisiting the concept of "ME" time...
I remember mentioning that morning driving time was precious.. well, just to add a bit more on to that..
"Me" time, as someone once said, its time to yourself. For you to recharge your batteries. For you to be at peace with the world, and peace with yourself. It doesn't mean that sitting at home equates to "me" time - well, it can, just that my mind's usually on other stuff like what's on tv, computer games (instead of patho writeups -_-"). The mind has to be clear, and at peace with the surroundings..
So it was surprising that I actually managed to find some solace on Saturday, in - of all places - Sentosa. Was walking around waiting for Kelvin, Mohan & LK, and somehow found myself wandering down to this quiet secluded spot on Siloso beach, away from the volleyball-crazed pple and company functions.
It was just quite surreal for those 5-10 minutes. Sitting on the cool fine sand, under the shade of a leafy palm tree, looking out to the midday sun & ocean, and just... being a part of it all.
Mmmmm. A little piece of Heaven. =)
penned in the diary of memories by Alvin at
8:37 PM
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