superheroes at federation square

yesterday, i was at melbourne's federation square - just across from flinders station - when they established the guinness world record for the most number of people wearing superhero costumes in one place at one time. altogether, 1245 dressed up as comic -not comical - characters registered with the organiser. the previous record, set in london one week ago, was 1091.

there was nothing comical about it. everyone was there to have a good time. humans were not the only entrants, a number of dogs also got into the act. there were also superbabies who came in their prams.



father and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, and mother and son combinations as superhero duo were quite common.


there were also whole families of superheroes. one family had superman as dad, batgirl as mom and the child was dressed up as spiderman or rather, spiderboy. the most popular character was superman, followed by batman, robin and spiderman.

they came in all shapes, sizes and ages. these people really live up to the saying: there is a child in everyone of us. i find that the australians are game to try and do things when it comes to letting their hair down. in s'pore, i envisage that this is unlikely to take place; imagine your neighbour coming down from his hdb flat, wearing this costume, getting into his car in it and driving himself to the venue (of the gathering). no singapore adult would want to be caught dead in this act.


it was an event that attracted a lot of shutterbugs. many of those togged in superhero costumes were also going around armed with a camera to capture other dressed-up people.

which school first occupied this building?

you cannot miss this school building if you travel along upper bukit timah road. at present, it houses the school of hospitality of the dimensions international college. for a number of years after jurong gardens school moved out of the building, it was left vacant.

do you know that the school that first occupied this building had its beginning in 1925. it started with a different name and the school, which is still around, has assumed a name slightly different from its original name.

it adopted this name - the answer to the quiz question - in 1933. during the japanese occupation period, this school was closed. it reopened after the war and by 1964 it had become a full school, with both primary and secondary classes. when it became too big to manage in the 1980s, it requested the assistance of the ministry of education to convert to a government school. in 1983, it changed to a hanyu pinyin name when it ceased to be an aided school.

questions:

1 what is the name of the school that first occupied this building?

ans: seh chuan high school

2 what was it original name in 1925?

ans: tuan cheng public school

3 where is the school today?

ans: jurong east

rituals involved in house moving

compared to our parents' generation and ours, young people nowadays tend to change their home addresses more often. our parents tended to stay put at one place for decades. in this age, relocating has become a matter of fact thing. some people move house every few years. some don't just move from one district to another, they move across borders, from one country to another.

housewarming is a practice among the younger set of people. it is an occasion for them to show off their new house or flat to their relatives and friends. usually, the visitors will come with small gifts for the new owners. christians hold a spiritual housing warming referred to as house blessing.

the other day, i was having lunch at tekka market when i saw a middle-aged couple with one of these red charcoal stoves. immediately, it struck me that they must be moving into a new place.

'housewarming' takes on a different form and meaning for the more superstitious ('pangtang') folks. the traditional chinese observe a certain ritual which involves using a red stove. i am not sure of the significance of this practice. i was told by a friend that the stove with the burning charcoal had to be placed at the threshold. the two house-owners, presumably the husband and wife, had to walk over it, uttering some 'lucky' words as they skipped over the flame.

chinese, especially, are very particular when it comes to moving in to a new place. an auspicious day and time would have to be picked based, sometimes, on consulting the tong shui. then, there is one month when this kind of activity comes to a standstill - the seventh lunar month.

aside from this 'burning success' ritual, there are other practices performed with some variations depending on the dialect group.

i have been told that the hokkiens would buy the biggest ripe pineapple with the crown in tact and roll in into the house. another person told me that he actually smashed the pineapple on the floor of the house he was moving into, then quickly closed the door and left the bits and pieces around for a few days. the pineapple is associated with good luck.

another ritual is the sprinkling of rice grains all over the various rooms in the house. i suppose rice is associated with having enough to eat.

if it is not a brand new house, that is, one that has been occupied before, then the new owner may also sprinkle salt to chase away all the 'bad qi'.

i asked another friend if sugar was one of the items included in this ritual. 'crazy, you want to invite ants into your house even before you move in.'

on the day of moving in, some families switch on all the lights in the house and leave the lights on for a while. some also boil a kettle of water using the same charcoal stove.

now i know why i have not struck 4-d, toto or the singapore sweep. i did not carry out any of these rituals when i moved house about 12 years ago.

where can you find spring water in s'pore?

spring water is defined as where water flows on to the surface of the earth from below the surface. thus it is where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.

spring water is not the same as mineral water. mineral water tends to contain a higher level of elements that are known as total dissolved solids (tds).

the use of spring water is becoming common in many households in some developed countries. users of the water note that using spring water to brew coffee or tea will result in a more desirable taste for the beverage.

many people who worry about contamination levels in municipal water systems may use spring water for cooking and drinking. for washing and bathing, they still get their water from the taps.

when i lived in a kampong, we had a spring where the water seemed to be gushing out of the ground - just like the one in the top two pictures. the magnitude of the flow was quite substantial. those who lived in the vicinity would wash their clothes and take their bath around the spring. it was a mystery to me then as i often wondered where the water was coming from.

where, in singapore, can you find spring where the water flow is quite substantial? i am not referring to the hot springs at sembawang and on pulau ubin; i am talking about those where the water is clear, cool and fresh.

the top two pictures show a spring at bukit timah nature reserve. this spring is located less than 400m from the start of the kampong trail, just behind the new development that is coming up. up on the hill, there is a smaller spring near the cave path. the third picture shows a spring at bukit batok where private bus drivers collect the water to wash their buses.

food centre gone but name lives on

after my morning walk with my balestier group at east coast park, we usually adjourn to bedok south blk 16 market and food centre. while some will head for the stall with the longest queue, i prefer to get my food from the stall with no queue. so, for that reason, you do not see me buying char kway teow.

the name of the very popular stall is hill street char kway teow. at chinatown complex, i have come across another stall with the same name. it is not uncommon to latch onto a name already known to people, especially if the stall had built up a reputation in its former centre. i am sure all of us have come across food stalls and shops having the same name or bearing the name of some defunct food or hawker centres.

is this a case of stallholders trying to cash in on a well-known name, like the case of the sungei road laksa? i did not know of the existence of two sungei road laksa stalls in the same area until some friends mentioned it. one is at kelantan lane and the other at jalan berseh.

on the other hand, it does not mean that all stalls which bear the name 'hill street' started at this food centre. i do not remember ever seeing the famous hill street tai hwa bah chor mee at the food centre.

however, in the case of hill street char kway teow, when i thought of those days when i used to eat at hill street food centre, i could recall two stalls selling char kway teow. the two stalls were located on the ground level. so, the two stalls, with the same name, could have really originated from hill street centre.

those days, in the 80s and 90s, i used to frequent hill street centre not for the char kway teow. it was to visit another popular food stall located on the second level. it was the heng gi duck and goose meat stall. today, this stall can be found at tekka food centre.

hill street food centre had a car-park on levels 3 and 4. the centre was built in the 80s and by the year 2000, it was closed and subsequently demolished. there was an overhead pedestrian bridge that connected it to funan centre.

many food stalls which have made a name for themselves still live on even after the food centres where they were once located had been cleared or demolished. you can still find waterloo street indian rojak, whitley big prawn noodles, taman serasi roti john and satay club's satay.

some have even upgraded from a stall to a shop like the hock lam street's beef noodle.