Singapore is land scarce. You can put the whole of Singapore into Lake Taupo. I tell this to my student from China. She couldn't believe it. She said, New Zealand is already small, she can't believe that Singapore can be so small. You can't blame her, she comes from China.
Instead of the quarter acre houses, people live in high rise buildings. They tear down old buildings and build taller ones. A friend lives on the 40th floor on a newly housing board HDB apartment. I shudder to think if there is a power cut or the elevator fails.
I have been quite lucky. Most of the time, I lived in the 3rd and 4th level of a semi detached type of building.
For 18 months, when my apartment was being renovated, we moved to a five storey building, and we stayed on the fourth and fifth. There was a basement for the car park. So technically, we were on the fifth and sixth floor. No big deal? it will be when there is no elevator. We shop in a slightly up market Liberty Supermarket. Usually, we all go shopping on Sunday, so everyobe makes a few trips upstairs with our shopping bag. Then I found that if I bought $150 of grocery, they wwould deliver them for free. I did it only once, I didn't have the heart to see 5 macho men panging as they arrive at my front door. I didn't have the heart to ask them to take them in. They asked for water. The building was designed by a British architect.
Sam learnt his numbers by going up and down Nanyang Heights and Meadows where there are taller buildings.
***The gutters of these tall buildings were blocked, and work men had to climb up ladders to clear them. These are foreign workers. Life is cheap.
I took these pix from my 3 & 4th storey apartment.***
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