Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Gojek or Grab

 

Photograph showing my mother's bag trolley

Recently, for a month already, my hands are pain at the elbow.  Both hands cannot lift heavy weights.  Simple light weight will experience pain also -- sweeping the floor, taking a cup to drink water will also be painful.  I went to see doctor twice already.  The first doctor said if after two weeks still pain, go back to see doctor.  Went back second time to see doctor and this time I was told that there was no cure.  It is part of aging he said.  The doctor told me to do exercise.  Then he showed me what sort of exercise to do.  

So I went to my mother's house on 4 April 2021, Sunday.  As usual, she gave me lots of things.  I had to call taxi to go home.  I tried Gojek before as it was cheaper.  On that day, again I checked both Gojek and Grab to see which was cheaper.  Going to Woodlands from Bukit Batok would cost about $16 from Gojek and a three dollars more, that is about $19 if going back taking Grab.  So I definitely chose the cheaper one, Gojek.  

Actually I did not want to take the trolley bag, because I still need to carry the whole bag when boarding the cab, but my mother insisted.  So I pulled the trolley bag, went to the lift and waited at the shelter linkway for the cab to be here.  When I reached downstairs, the car was there already.  I asked the driver if I should put the bag in front or behind.  He instructed me to put behind.  I pulled the bag to the back.  I had difficulty lifting the bag.  So I knocked the bag against the car, but not heavy knock, but sort of gliding sound can be heard.  The car owner came down and he said angrily, "Be careful of my car, spoil you have to pay!"  He saw me struggling to put the trolley into the car.  Eventually he helped after saying those words and so angry, he 'flung' and threw the bag into the car boot.  

How would you feel if you were me.  I never said anything.  In the car, he again said, "If my car spoil, you have to pay!"  He spoke in Chinese.  Then he even said, "I only own a few dollars!"  I told my mother later.  She said, "What about your things?  He threw the bag and what if the food and things were spoiled too?"  

So I definitely did not have a good ride this time.  Second time on Gojek.  The first time I took Gojek was a woman driver.  She was a very careful driver, and I had a pleasant ride.  This time, I did not have a pleasant ride.  I was not feeling good of course.  Then I began to think of how people would treat you if you are being quiet always.  How my husband left me and how people treated me.  It was not a good experience.  I don't know how to describe my feelings.  

So throughout the journey I was quiet and bottled up all my feelings.  I thought of last time in the newspaper how Quan YiFong had similar experience.  The taxi driver never helped to take her luggage and she had a fuss over it as well.  So I was thinking, whose job is it when customer have trolleys and luggage to take along.  Do customers have to put them in the car boot or is it the driver's job to help out?  I think it is better for the authority to train and advise on the driver and public so that it will be clear to everybody.  Since we are paying for the service, the car ride, the drivers should help us and not sit in the car waiting for customer to do all the work.  And there should be clear knowledge on what if the taxi driver spoil our things as well, and not only if we spoil their car!

Should I take Gojek in future again?  For a three dollar difference, is it worth it to take Gojek?  I had taken countless trips on Grab and all went well.  Most of the drivers were so friendly and polite.  They would greet you and so far I had pleasant journeys.  


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Saturday, 3 April 2021

Happy Easter Day

 

Happy Easter! 

The sunbird came to lay eggs!  What a perfect timing!

On the 25 March 2021 I discovered some fibre strands hanging on the star Jasmine plant.  I immediately thought of the sunbirds.  They were here last year, the same spots.  Now they are coming again.  I was so happy and elated.  

As written by Christopher Hails, the olive-backed sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis) is the most common of our sunbirds here in Singapore.  And I can see that the sunbird from the video looks almost like those shown in the book.  It says that the nest is often placed low down in bushes and trees and sometimes on verandas too.  The nest is the usual pendant form, with an overhanging porch at the entrance and the outside decorated in a wonderful manner with a great variety of lichens, dead leaves, seed cases, and even caterpillar frass.  Well, you can really see from the nest that the birds are so clever.  They used so much of 'rubbish' materials to build their nest -- dried rain tree flowers, coconut husks, barks, feathers, furs, hairs, and much more.  And they are so smart, having a circular entrance and lining the interior with superior fine white strands of 'fur'.  

On the night of 1 April 2021, I heard so many birds chirping outside the house.  It was so happy occasion for them.  In the morning, I discovered the egg.  The birds celebrate their happy occasion too!  


Christ's cloak

 

A Christ's cloak plant taken on 1 April 2021

Life is so funny.  When you focus only on one thing, that thing will not turn out well at times.  But when you don't focus on that thing, it turned out that that thing will turn out well at times mostly.  Just like Mirabilis jalapa or Marvel of Peru.  When I started to plant it in the beginning, I keep waiting for flowers, wondering what kind of flowers or plant it would be like.  Since I only know that it is white, from my second uncle.  

Soon I was tired of waiting and watching it day after day.  I just leave it alone, just do my job of watering it everyday.  And one day I found buds!  I was so happy.  So for Christ's cloak, I did not expect anything.  I scatter the seeds and I even forgot that I had scattered any seeds.  I did not even count the days where it started to grow.  

I have two pots of Christ's cloak.  One is as shown above, just a plant, from a seed.  Another pot, several plants, from various seeds.  Some other name of Christ's cloak are Globe amaranth, Bachelor's button, Makhmali and Vadamlli.  Its scientific name is Gomphrena globosa.

Photograph showing some Christ's cloak growing from a pot

The above photograph shows another pot of Christ's cloak.  This is a much smaller pot with more plants growing in it.  The plants in this pot looked overcrowding at first and it was not that nice.  However one day, I saw buds growing and the plants suddenly look so nice to me.  That was so unexpected.  

Photograph of Christ's cloak taken on 1 March 2021

This is just so amazing.  From one seed, you can get such a bushy Christ's cloak and from many seeds, you can get a small pot of many plants, but able to flowers too with small plants.  My father loved this plant too.  


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Marvel of Peru

 

Marvel of Peru or False jalap or 4 o'clock flower

Mother gave me 5-8 seeds.  They were given by second uncle, my father's brother.  However he died on 28 February 2021, the last day of February.  When father was in hospital, he came to visit him.  When father was dead, he went to the wake.  On the last day, the funeral, he came also.  When father was sick, he brought the root of the above plant, to be boiled with meat. He said it will improve my father's kidney.  So I planted the seeds.  It took about 8 months for the flowers to bloom.  

Everyday I check the plant.  The first plant was grown to a very large size.  As it was quite hindering the passageway, I trim it, thinking that it will grow after that.  But I was wrong.  It did not grow after that.  So I throw away the whole plant later.  The smaller plant that was blocked initially by this plant was 'revealed' now.  This is the current plant as shown in the photograph above now.  Given enough sunlight and water, it has flourished so much.  

Everytime I water the plants, I see that the white flowers are not opened.  However, when I see them at night, the white flowers open more at night.  Recently I downloaded this app, known as Picture this, and it has helped to identify this plant as Four o'clock flower, Mirabilis jalapa, also known as Marvel of peru or False jalap.  

 Photograph of Marvel of Peru taken at 8.30pm on 1 April 2021

The photograph above shows what I saw mostly at night when I water the plants.  The Picture this app is very good.  It tells me information about this plant.  So this plant is a perennial, herbaceous plant cultivated for ornamental purposes.  It said that the bloom time, the flowers are closed most of the day and open between 4 and 8 o'clock.  Thus the given name of 4 o'clock flowers.  However, in Singapore, it is not so.  

Photograph of Marvel of Peru, Mirabilis jalapa taken on 3 April 2021 at 00.31am

Last night, I saw the Marvel of Peru opened fully at past midnight, 00.31am!  This was the first time I saw it fully opened.  Nice view!  Praise the Lord!


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