More stories from the Concrete Kampong

Once again, I found myself at a petrol station in the middle of the night. And when I say middle, I mean 4am. There was only 1 pump attendant, and he was slouched over on the curb, sleeping. When I finished pumping, I looked up and he was there, giving me my pump number. I thanked the old guy, and hoped that his standard of living is ok, for to go through this shit every night would be quite a nightmare.

The cashier however was a bight young lad, with a gold ring. He was alert and even tried to sell me more stuff other than petrol. I thanked him and said that I did not need to buy 4 car fresheners to get $8 bucks off my petrol.

Next stop, the atm. I went by some old blocks of flats where my good friend used to stay. The residents have been moved out as the government has decided to redevelop this plot of land. Hence, the entire block had their lights off, even along the corridors and void deck. However, some rooms still had their lights on, which was very disturbing. Yellow lights in the toilets and the like. I don’t know why, but I had goosebumps.

There was a cat lying by the atm. I’m more of a dog person, but I found this particular cat quite beautiful. I believe that was a first. A stray cat at that. As I walked by him, he gave me a dark look, almost as if he was reprimanding me for waking him up in the middle of the night. Bloody buggers sleep all day anyway, so I wanted to kick him.

I withdrew 150 bucks. Let’s just say, in the middle of the night, atms run out of 50 dollar bills. I got a wad of 10s. My poor wallet strained under the responsibility.

The news got to me this week. I heard of a new born infant who was abandoned in a locker in a supermarket over in Bishan. It had been dead for 2 weeks. Somehow, this tragedy evoked a sizable amount of anguish within me. I can never understand how something so precious could be discarded in such a fashion. Imagine how the many couples out there who cannot conceive would’ve brought up this wonderful child.

And I’d finally learnt why the Israelis had such a terrible campaign against the Hezbollah. The commander in chief of this entire operation was an air force general, and such a conflict can never be resolved from the air. Perhaps they were just making a point that they too are like the Americans, dependant on air power, and deserving empathy/sympathy. Their ground troops, under an army general, would have gotten the 2 soldiers back in no time. Pity that is the civilians who suffer the most.

And thus, to shield me from the weariness that is reality, I’ve been listening to Power98 in the mornings. They have a new host to go with Maggie, and it was none other than Hossan Leong. Funny bugger, and always bursting into song. I prefer his brand of humour (lower brow) to Joe Augustyn’s, which can get rather derogatory at times.

Could Hossan save my sanity? Stay tuned!