I think i may have blood phobia. If i see too much blood on TV, or in person, i get into a "System Shock". It's like the awful sight paralyses me for a while usually a few horrid seconds and i feel pain some times. That's why i never dare take up biology or be a nurse...its too bloody for me.
When i revisited my child hood, I realised it had so many bloody episodes:
Flying Can
I was in pre school and was with my grandma on one of the usual afternoon walks to another play ground in the neighbourhood.
A certain granny was walking towards us when something hit her so hard she fell backwards on the floor. We were shocked and my grandma scolded in Teochew about high rise littering. OMG! An opened condensed milk can was stucked on her forehead!!! She was bleeding so profusely that one of her eyes became red with blood. I looked in horror not knowing that such images would re appear in my dreams when i was older to haunt me.
That fateful day, grandma became my HERO, very quickly she took control of the situation and helped the poor old lady to safety in void deck. The crowd grew. Someone said call an ambulance but the injured cried "No". I can't remember if the ambulance was called at all. Soon, my grandma with the help of another aunty removed the can carefully, saying the cut was "not too bad" and asked for "castor sugar" . Grand ma then applied the fine sugar on the bloody forehead to stop the bleeding. It was really scary.
Durian Incident
When i was older i often accompanied my mum to fetch my dad home in the wee hours of the night. It was 1-2am and we were near the traffic junction where Geylang Polyclinic now exists and there was a bike accident. Mum shouted at me not to look. But i was curious and wanted to see. When we finally managed to drive slowly past the accident site, I had a rude shock.
Two big durians were embedded on a woman's thigh as she sat legs out-stretched on the pavement crying out in pain. Their motor bike had skidded and on the floor were other durians and the durian bag. OMG! OUCH! Another bloody incident.
Malay Neighbour
There was this night when i heard a loud bang. Another car crash. We had a lot of accidents on the road directly in front of our flat. After all, I stayed there for 26 years. This incident happened when i was chatting at the corridor with my favourite neighbour Amy 4 years my senior. Suddenly there was a loud commotion, we saw our malay "fren" around my age being whisked along the corridor by her dad. She had bloody ankles and there were also injuries on the face, and elbows. OMG, it dawned on us that she was hit by the car downstairs. Those days people avoided going to the hospital at all costs. Eventually, she recovered with a slight limp.
Bloody Announcement
I was in primary school one day when a teacher came in to announce that there had been an accident in the general office and we were told not to be afraid. It involved long hair and all long hair girls were reminded to tie up their hair. According to that teacher, a Malay school clerk had her hair sucked by a fan. It was so bad that part of the skull exposed as the scalp came off with the hair. It was such a hair raising announcement that a few girls including myself decided to chop our locks for added safety since we sat under the ceiling fan. (No air con la, those days.)
Bloody Rabbits
I walked to my neighbour hood primary school every school day when it was still dark in the morning. Around 630am. Usually I use the side gate which is nearest to my flat. Some where after Primary 3 we had a pet corner where there were rabbits and frogs. One time I had a rude shock when i saw 2 dead rabbits hanging on the gate frame dripping blood. Somebody had killed them and their fur were all wet. It was so bloody cruel.
My sister
My sister was a running toddler. We were 3 years apart in age. My grand ma's flat which was in the same block but a floor lower was being renovated. The strong uncles came to polish the green terracotta floors. That same night my sister ran and slipped and hit the corner of a 17kg Oil Tin. There was blood in her eyes and a subsequent scar. I saw her running into the tin!! I had no time to stop her and the wailing after that was horrenduous.
Another occasion she opened the door of the family wardrobe and a heavy metal urn that looked like a mini 3 legged incense holder fell and hit her on her forehead. Another bloody cut and another scar on the forehead.
Peeling Cucumbers
I was always my mum's kitchen assistant. Once i had to peel cucumber and i pretty much like to prepare food and cut fruits. I may have been day dreaming when it happened but along with the cucumber i peeled off a layer of third left finger. It was so painful, the skin was hanging at one end and i saw red flesh underneath. I quickly plastered it back and prayed that the skin would heal nicely. Other episodes of cutting my hands occured throughout my primary school days and now every time i hold a knife or even cutter, I am EXTRA EXTRA careful.
A Rag Doll
Once i witnessed a flying rag doll from one of the point blocks opposite my flat. It landed on the floor between that block and the food centre. Later in the day, when i accompanied my mum to the wet market, I was shocked to realised that an elderly had jumped to her death. She was covered with black garbage bags and near the head were a lot of juice and blood. OMG, she was the Rag Doll. I told my mum I saw it happened and she said "Shut up" "Don't talk about it."
High Rise Terrors
All these bloody episodes explained why when someone fell to his death in my block, I was once again horrified. After all, I heard the loud crash and woke past mid night to check the source of the sound. I had thought it was an huge truck accident but there was none. The next day police came investigating and asked about missing residents in the unit if any. I was informed by police that a man had fell from the 22nd floor. He actually broke my broom along with the fall.
When i looked down from the air ways windows, I saw the bloody but covered body. It was headless. Later reliable reports from cleaners, estate agents and residents told us that the impact was so great the head was severed and the face torned form the head. It was beyond recognition that is why the police checked with the residents on each floor. One of the eye ball was still at large. EEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Subsequently the papers revealed that the victim had been trying to steal from the unit below and fell to his death instead. A week later another Korean tenant commited suicide in the adjacent lobby. The whole quiet estate was reeling with horror.Many like me, avoided using both lobbies for a month. The smell of dettol was overwhelming. In the first few days, there was also this distinct organic smell. May be I am paranoid. Thankfully, things are back to normal now. And I am looking forward to the upcoming Flea Market.
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Bulk Buying Then and Now
The Wet Market Days
As far back as i can remember, i love to go grocery shopping!!! I remember waking early (around 10am was early for a kiddy owl like me) to follow my mum to the neighbour hood wet market for breakfast and groceries every day!!
In those days, they slaughtered the chickens and you see blood and feathers everywhere. The poultry was so fresh that it came dripping with yucky...blood. You could hear the poor hens clucking at the top of their voices.... to death. It was traumatising.
Then near by the fish was killed by hitting the head with the what u call that??the stone to sharpen the blades of the chopper. Its the Yu Seng or Snake Head fish. Behind were the meat stalls: pork, beef but its the smell of the mutton that made us want to puke. We normally avoid walking near those mutton stalls. Till this day i don't know how cooked mutton taste like.
There were frogs that croaked and the flowers that mum bought for her altar decorations and to bath with. Beside the flower stall was the Tao Gay (Bean Sprouts) stall where my dad buys 2kg of it. (Yes our family often buy in BULK)
Yummy Fish Ball Noodles Anyone???
My dad is a cooked food seller. He sells Teochew Fish ball noodles that comes with prawns and lettuce. Those interested should check out the Su Heng Fish Ball Noodle at 79A Circuit Road. I love it!! Now i miss it!!! As my parents are now holidaying in Taiwan, I've to wait until they are back for our regular doses of fish ball noodles. Rachel loves Fish Ball Bee Tai Mak and Kway Tiao. My husband is a fan of dry mee pok?
Bulk Buying Then
Because of his food business, I'm used to seeing things in bulk. Like 2 -3 cartons of Oyster Sauce, big bags (more than 10kg) of onions, garlics, chilli paste (He made his own chilli sauce that had us choking as kids when we were young children). Now a days, all food is prepared at the stall, the cooking and deep frying of the yummy fish balls and cakes and the making of the secret recipe chilli paste.
Dad buys his ingredients fresh. Pork in 20-30kgs, and sweet frozen prawns and fish fillets. When i was in primary school he actually prepared the fish meat from the giant baskets of fish that he ordered. As early as 5-6am, his supplies would arrive, the yellow fin and another look alike red and black one, all freshly trawled from the South China Sea.
Before my breakfast time, he and mum would be busy removing the entails of each fish and cleaning them thorougly, retrieving the meat to make our favourite fish balls. Our previous flat actually "stinks" with the fishy odour and all the dried chilli etc. Some neighbours even popped by every now and then to buy the fish balls and cakes, cooked and uncooked.
Bulk Buying Now
I do not have the luxury of a maid or a car at this moment. Without my beloved hubby's help it is so difficult to grocery shop with my two year old. She "needs" to be carried all the time. Or her siren will go like a burglar alarm.
Recently, since my husband is so busy, we decided to grocery shop only once a month, buying in bulk. It is 2 trolleys a time at Carrefour, one for perishable food products, the other for household items like detergents. Carrefour will home deliver all the non fresh items while we cab back the rest usually fruits and baby food juices etc. The bill will be close to $400-500 but its far worth the effort and the time involved.
How BIG is your grocery bill?
BTW, the largest grocery bill i ever saw was 1000+ dollars. There was this Ang Moh lady with baby carrier. She handles one trolley while her Filipina maid pushes 3 more at Parkway Cold Storage. How to push 3 trolleys?? One at a time in a Q lor.. Gosh..It took an eternity for them to reach the Grand Total. I saw 4 water melons and a dozen Sunkist Orange Juices. May be they ran a cafe??? Or they were going to quarantine themselves for a month or so. Hahaha
BYOB
BYOB day is irrelevant to me. In fact on the first BYOB Day I bought Garbage Bags. I love the black bags for garbage and white plastic bags for throwing away rachel's stinky diapers. We always lined our bins even the waste paper baskets. I am somebody that prefers the hygenic disposal of rubbish rather than to "save the earth????" Any way, cars kill the earth much faster than a few bags. The current En-bloc craze had resulted in so many still good buildings being demolished, so much dust and mosquito breeding sites. Most of the waste cannot be reused.
Anyway I am going to sell all the Ugly looking Unused Reusable Bags at our estate flea market this weekend. BOY! They are just too Ugly to be used. I'm sure some "environmentally friendly" aunties will buy these that i cant wait to throw down the chute.
As far back as i can remember, i love to go grocery shopping!!! I remember waking early (around 10am was early for a kiddy owl like me) to follow my mum to the neighbour hood wet market for breakfast and groceries every day!!
In those days, they slaughtered the chickens and you see blood and feathers everywhere. The poultry was so fresh that it came dripping with yucky...blood. You could hear the poor hens clucking at the top of their voices.... to death. It was traumatising.
Then near by the fish was killed by hitting the head with the what u call that??the stone to sharpen the blades of the chopper. Its the Yu Seng or Snake Head fish. Behind were the meat stalls: pork, beef but its the smell of the mutton that made us want to puke. We normally avoid walking near those mutton stalls. Till this day i don't know how cooked mutton taste like.
There were frogs that croaked and the flowers that mum bought for her altar decorations and to bath with. Beside the flower stall was the Tao Gay (Bean Sprouts) stall where my dad buys 2kg of it. (Yes our family often buy in BULK)
Yummy Fish Ball Noodles Anyone???
My dad is a cooked food seller. He sells Teochew Fish ball noodles that comes with prawns and lettuce. Those interested should check out the Su Heng Fish Ball Noodle at 79A Circuit Road. I love it!! Now i miss it!!! As my parents are now holidaying in Taiwan, I've to wait until they are back for our regular doses of fish ball noodles. Rachel loves Fish Ball Bee Tai Mak and Kway Tiao. My husband is a fan of dry mee pok?
Bulk Buying Then
Because of his food business, I'm used to seeing things in bulk. Like 2 -3 cartons of Oyster Sauce, big bags (more than 10kg) of onions, garlics, chilli paste (He made his own chilli sauce that had us choking as kids when we were young children). Now a days, all food is prepared at the stall, the cooking and deep frying of the yummy fish balls and cakes and the making of the secret recipe chilli paste.
Dad buys his ingredients fresh. Pork in 20-30kgs, and sweet frozen prawns and fish fillets. When i was in primary school he actually prepared the fish meat from the giant baskets of fish that he ordered. As early as 5-6am, his supplies would arrive, the yellow fin and another look alike red and black one, all freshly trawled from the South China Sea.
Before my breakfast time, he and mum would be busy removing the entails of each fish and cleaning them thorougly, retrieving the meat to make our favourite fish balls. Our previous flat actually "stinks" with the fishy odour and all the dried chilli etc. Some neighbours even popped by every now and then to buy the fish balls and cakes, cooked and uncooked.
Bulk Buying Now
I do not have the luxury of a maid or a car at this moment. Without my beloved hubby's help it is so difficult to grocery shop with my two year old. She "needs" to be carried all the time. Or her siren will go like a burglar alarm.
Recently, since my husband is so busy, we decided to grocery shop only once a month, buying in bulk. It is 2 trolleys a time at Carrefour, one for perishable food products, the other for household items like detergents. Carrefour will home deliver all the non fresh items while we cab back the rest usually fruits and baby food juices etc. The bill will be close to $400-500 but its far worth the effort and the time involved.
How BIG is your grocery bill?
BTW, the largest grocery bill i ever saw was 1000+ dollars. There was this Ang Moh lady with baby carrier. She handles one trolley while her Filipina maid pushes 3 more at Parkway Cold Storage. How to push 3 trolleys?? One at a time in a Q lor.. Gosh..It took an eternity for them to reach the Grand Total. I saw 4 water melons and a dozen Sunkist Orange Juices. May be they ran a cafe??? Or they were going to quarantine themselves for a month or so. Hahaha
BYOB
BYOB day is irrelevant to me. In fact on the first BYOB Day I bought Garbage Bags. I love the black bags for garbage and white plastic bags for throwing away rachel's stinky diapers. We always lined our bins even the waste paper baskets. I am somebody that prefers the hygenic disposal of rubbish rather than to "save the earth????" Any way, cars kill the earth much faster than a few bags. The current En-bloc craze had resulted in so many still good buildings being demolished, so much dust and mosquito breeding sites. Most of the waste cannot be reused.
Anyway I am going to sell all the Ugly looking Unused Reusable Bags at our estate flea market this weekend. BOY! They are just too Ugly to be used. I'm sure some "environmentally friendly" aunties will buy these that i cant wait to throw down the chute.
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