how did the white shirt remain white?

until the advent of the washing machine, liquid washing detergent and fabric softener, clothes were washed by hand, some with the aid of a wash board. the clothes would sometimes be soaked in a pail or a tub overnight. soap, washing powder and bleach were used to treat the clothes before they were scrubbed.

my mother would cut a hand-held sized piece from a long bar of soap and use one of these pieces to scrub the clothes. to remove stubborn stain, she would use a stiff brush. the lam soon labour band soap was butter yellow in colour. around that time, there was also this bi-colour blue and white soap which was specifically used for washing clothes. these laundry soaps did not have the nice fragrance of the palmolive soap.




while most families did the washing in the compound of their own homes, some chose to do the washing at the public stand pipes, around the communal wells or at a village spring. in my former kampong, there was a spring - where the water never seemed to run dry - and many kampong folks liked to gather there to do their washing and bathing, of course with the sarong wrapped around the body.

as most of our school shirts or blouses were white and we did not have 5 sets for each of the weekday, each shirt would have to be worn for at least two days, usually consecutively. this caused stubborn stains to be formed at the collar and the arm-pits (of the shirt) . the clothes would be soaked in a bleach solution and then a brush would be used to scrub the collar and the arm-pits.

i also remember that the final rinsing of white clothes - both shirts and trousers - was usually done in a blue solution. i just learned that this solution was made using the indigo dye. a little of the blue powder was added to a pail of water. the already washed white shirts and trousers were then given a quick dip in the blue water.

indigo is a dye that does not bound strongly to fabrics, and repeated washing will fade it. adding indigo in the water to wash blue colour clothes will add to the colour density and reduce the perceived fade. white fabrics turn yellow after a number of washes in bleached water. the indigo corrects the yellow and brightens the fabrics. however, i do not remember seeing my mother dip any blue clothes in the indigo solution.

today, you still can get laundry soaps and the indigo dye from some of the supermarkets in singapore. they call it laundry blue and a small packet costs 85 cents. the laundry soaps are not as chunky as they used to be and some brands like fab and kuat harimau come with a certain fragrance. even the labour brand of soap is still around.

the hokkien call the blue powder 'lum cjer'. i thought this name had something to do with the blue colour (lum) and the logo - a star (cjer) - on the packing in the past. but someone told me it sounded more than blue, green. who is right? the indigo dye is also available in a liquid form. you just need to squirt about four drops into a small pail of water.

monk's hill secondary lives on

even though monk's hill secondary school became history in 2006, images of its past glories are still being flashed about. today, when i visited the new amenities centre at macritchie reservoir park, i came across the above photograph (taken by some straits times photographer), and the caption that went with it.

the school merged with balestier hill secondary school in 2007 and its premises have since been taken over by acs junior school. however, the old pre-war monk's hill school building still stands.

my association with monk's hill secondary went back to the days when i studied at newton boys' school. from my classroom, i could see the students of the integrated - malay and english - school streaming out of the main gate at dismissal time.

when i attended secondary school, i had a chance to go back to the area when my own school played against the monk's hill secondary team in an exciting action-packed rugby match. the bodily actions continued even after the match.

in 1987, i was posted to teach at monk's hill secondary. i taught there until 1998 - the year i requested a transfer to a primary school in woodlands. so, i spent some years in the old building and some in the new.

in the 70s, monk's hill secondary school excelled in a number of sports, one of which was cross-country running. their girls' teams were formidable. i remember the teacher in charge as one mr willie tan whom i used to run into at macritchie reservoir when i was training the balestier hill secondary runners. in the middle of the 80s, they had one sikh boy - whose name i cannot remember - who won the individual championship for his division.

picture from national archives of singapore

jackson square number 11

this place is now known as jackson square 11. up to about 5 years ago, it housed a single assembly and test plant.

actually, i meant to ask one question only but because some people may get upset, i have increased the number (of questions) to five.

quiz questions:

1 what was the name of the assembly and test plant that used to occupy this place?

2 the plant started with a different name - the name of its subsidiary. what was this name?

3 in which year did this company start its operation in singapore? (not necessarily at the same location).

4 when it closed down its plant in singapore, where did it move most of its operation to?

5 in which year did it cease operation in singapore?

sorry, no prizes, like chocolates, for all correct answers.

9 august is our 44th national day

time to display the national flag

dutifully displayed at whampoa south

enormously displayed at bendemeer road

singly displayed at west coast road

how did they get the line of flags between two blocks?

this year's ndp theme is: come together - reaching up, reaching out.

bus lane infringements

car in bus lane in s'pore (around 5.30 p.m. on a friday)


bus in bus lane in melbourne

many singaporeans like to think that we are a much more disciplined lot than the australians. but my one-month of observations in melbourne seem to suggest the contrary. granted, their roads are not as congested as ours although some can get quite as bad during the morning and evening peak hours. but, in singapore, even when the traffic is not that heavy, i see a number of 'couldn't care less' motorists driving into the bus lane.

could it be due to the fact that their bus lanes are more conspicious - the bus lanes in australia are red, covered with materials like those used for the tartan track at the stadium. over here, our bus lanes are demarcated by thick yellow lines or red lines for the whole-day type.

some drivers in s'pore stray into the lane unknowingly but the majority who do, do so with a sense of impunity because the man with the camera is not around to catch them. if the land transport authorty (lta) pays me $1 for each vehicle (photogaphed) that commits this infringement, i will be able to collect quite a substantial sum each day. in melbourne, i would have difficulty earning $5 a day.

another interesting way of letting the public buses move ahead (in melborne) is the presence of bus queue-jump lanes. i suppose they also have this feature in the other large australian cities, especially sydney. it is just a small space at a signalised intersection ,on the extreme left, dedicated to buses or rather to one bus. before the light changes from red to green, an extra light with the white letter 'b' will appear, a signal for the bus to jump the queue. we, too, have a modification of this feature in s'pore but they do not seem to be working as well as it is in australia.

another warp thinking of some singaporeans is this: they think it is perfectly justifiable to pick someone from a bus-bay, which happens to be located within a bus lane, during the bus-lane operating hours. i see this happening every weekday at the bus-stop near my place.

just yesterday, i saw this small van beat the red light, while making a right turn, and after that, he drove straight into the bus lane. however, his act was noticed by one of these traffic wardens. i watched the going-on between the two; eventually, the 'kind' traffic warden left him off with a verbal warning. imagine blatantly disregarding two traffic rules and getting away with it!