abandoned vehicle near the railway track

this morning, i went back to the moe campsite at dairy farm to walk the disused road that leads to the singapore quarry. i armed myself with a walking stick, just in case i should encounter any dog or any wild creature along the way. it was as quiet and as deserted as the previous time.

however, when i came to a cleared area next to the railway track, i saw this old and dented van. it turned out too be a foreign vehicle, bearing a malaysian number plate. one of the window glasses had been removed. the seats also appeared to have been removed. there was nothing of value left inside the van. a notebook was left on the dashboard.

how did the van end up there? they must have driven it to the spot via jalan asas, just in front of the ramen ramen restaurant. during my last walk, there was a barrier to prevent vehicles from venturing beyond that point. but, that had been taken down. could the vehicle have been used in some clandestine activity?

waving leaf/plant

i was on my way up to the summit of bukit timah when i came across this phenomenon - a waving plant, or rather a waving leaf. the rest of the leaves were static but this particular one was waving like a pendulum. i stood there for a full ten minutes studying it closely but there was no wavering of its movements. it continued to 'wave' at the same speed, not slowing down a bit at all.

i tried taking some pictures but the images were blur because of the 'waving'. next, i tried using the flash to capture the actions but it was not possible to capture the 'wave'. later, as i was making my descent, i met my fellow retirees. i told them about the waving leaf. when we went back to the spot, it was still waving. my friend, a former science teacher, figured it could be the draught blowing against the leaf that caused it to sway from side to side.

when we looked around the area, we spotted a few other leaves exhibiting similar movements, though not as vigorous as this particular one.

if you look at the three pictures carefully, you will realise that the elongated leaf with a brown patch on it shifts its position in relation to the other leaves. in the first picture, it is partially hidden by the longer leaf. in the second picture, it appears right in the middle of the photograph and in the last picture, it has shifted to the left.

this morning, i went again, to check on the waving leaf...and it was still at it. other leaves sway in the wind but this one is different. its movement seems to be mechanical and the wave is a wide one.

if you want to avoid the fumes from the mini buses and trucks that use the road to the summit, time you walk before 8.30 a.m. or after 9.30 a.m. also avoid the 11.30 a.m. to 12 noon slot because during this period, there is one vehicle making the downhill trip.

from a "f" to an "a"

to reward ida for her unexpectedly good results in the 2006 gce a level exams, we took her to lek kui (ah hoi) restaurant at mosque street for dinner. the speciality dish of this restaurant is its cold crabs. we also had shark's fin soup, prawn stuffed with yam, ngoh hiang and xiao bai cai.

ida obtained an "a" grade in economics, a subject she had failed in throughout her two jc years at pioneer. her teacher was shocked, and she found it so unbelievable that she checked the detailed results a few times. although satisfied with the overall results, ida was a bit disappointed that she did not get a "b" grade for mathematics.

however, what she achieved was not surprising as she had done the same in the 'o' level exams. for the 'os', she scored distinctions in both elementary maths and additional maths, two subjects which she had failed miserably when she was in secondary three.

i have always said that if she puts her mind to it and puts in the effort, she will be able to realise what she aims for.