Fat Fingers

A friend of mine remarked last week, "It takes you ninety minutes to get from NTU to Toa Payoh? You must have been cheated! Thirty years ago, it took ninety minutes and cost less than eighty cents; today, it still takes you ninety minutes and costs almost two dollars!"

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I thought about it, and it did make sense. There are a number of ways to travel, in air-conditioned comfort, from NTU to Toa Payoh.

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In a car, provided you’re of middle-class status, or your parents are bloody rich.

In a taxi, like me, when you’re not of the middle-class but still want to travel aside from the peasants.

Taking a 179 to Boon Lay, which takes fifteen minutes, followed by a 157, which on a good day takes 60 minutes, and on a bad day, up to ninety.

Taking a 179 to Boon Lay, which takes fifteen minutes, followed by the MRT, which takes almost sixty minutes too.

All of these methods will cost you at least $1.60, and at the most, $14.00, and that’s provided you travel during reasonable hours.

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Therefore, can you tell me - have we really progressed? Rising oil prices, rising wage costs, higher standards of living, a larger population. Bullshit, I say.

at the SIM canteen, you will find a stall that advertises "mian" (noodles) in a mixture of a dialect "mee" and PinYin prefix which led me to this:

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Hong Kong mee - how do you "Hong Kong" someone? Is this the same as saying "Wedgie" me, or "Slap" me, or is this phrase to be used in the same way as "Bless" me, or "Good gracious" me?

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Wanton mee - I am wild and unruly. Engaging in widespread debauchery perhaps? Therefore, we should:

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Ban mee - because I am wanton.

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But before that happens, Mee Siam, so I won’t kena your ban.

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How about You mee? What’s that? You and Me? Both of us?