Sarah Tan found this unique-looking tree along College Road leading to the Singapore General Hospital. It has little ‘mandarin oranges’ growing on its bark. Despite the cheerful orange colour of the fruits, the tree gave the 22-year-old customer service officer the creeps.

STOMP took her query to the National Parks Board. According to Senior Conservation Officer Benjamin Lee, the tree in question is the rain tree (Samanea saman), found commonly along our roadsides. However, the ‘fruits’ do not originate from the rain tree and are actually figs from a climbing plant known as Ficus aurantiacea or the "Orange Fig".

Benjamin explained, ‘If you examine the photos, you will find that the tree trunk and branches are covered in leaves belonging to the climber. The bright orange figs certainly remind one of mandarin oranges and sometimes, each fig can attain the size of a tennis ball!’

This climbing fig produces the largest figs among our local fig species.

(Left in the picture) Koh sent us an email about the problem in his neighbourhood. He says,' It is just as bad as the junk pieces of paper you find stuffed under the door or between the door grilles every day. Those featured on the labels or flyers should be charged with littering and/or vandalism.'

(Right in the picture) A resident of Toa Payoh also sent STOMP this email about how locksmiths paste their advertisements everywhere on lift landings, on front doors, the stairways, and along the corridor. He says it 'looks so unsightly even if I try to peel the sticker off. And there seems to be a competition among the locksmiths. You can see a different colour sticker every now and then with competitors pasting their stickers over the rivals' stickers.'

He wonders,'Is this legal? Is this considered vandalism? Can I report this to the police?'

What do you think? Tell us.

This van was parked under a shelter at Telok Blangah Heights yesterday (Aug 31) when it was raining heavily. No parking was apparently allowed in the walkway and the van was blocking the path. The driver got out of his van and allegedly threatened Lyllie Lian, when she asked to pass with her child. Martin Lim, 38, an executive, was walking along Tampines Central when he was brought to a halt by 2 inconsiderate 'jokers' who had parked their motorcycles on the pavement, blocking the path of all who were using the walkway. The situation was made worse by the heavy downpour throughout the day, which made the ground muddy and messy to walk in. The 2 men were standing there chatting, completely oblivious to the fact that they were inconveniencing everybody else, who had to make a detour around them.

How bad was the weather yesterday? Check these pictures of a tree split by lightning, taken by Johnathan Lim at Spottiswoode Park on 31 August.

Vincent Su sent us this picture of the fireworks display at Tampines. According to him, "I heard an explosion coming from outside my block on 30 Aug 2006 at around 2304hrs. Thinking the worst, I grabbed my camera and looked outside my window towards the construction site along the Tampines Expressway. There were fireworks display coming right from the construction site building IKEA, Courts and Giant the supermarket. As it is a very rare sight of fireworks coming right from incomplete building constructions, I decided to snap this picture to share with the whole of Singapore."

The skies opened around lunch time Wednesday (30 Aug) and it's been a battle of the elements for Miss Chew who works in the Genting Lane area.

This was the rush hour scene at about 5pm. Miss Chew can't understand why there are still floods in Singapore.

And yes, that's her leg, calf-deep in flood water.

It was a miserable, wet morning (31Aug) for Calvin Koh. 7.43am, jams everywhere and the bus-stop he's at is no shelter from the rain.

This one, just outside Toa Payoh Central, brings the rain right into the shelter every single time it rains, says Calvin.

It's not that the roof's leaking. It's the way the shelter has been designed! It had two roofs - the top roof channels rain water into a second one below which leads it right into the shelter!

Yes, it's raining madly outside.

But Jian Ping took time to take this picture and send it to STOMP.

It's of a reflection of Braddell Road taken off the side window of a car parked along there.

Annabelle Fernandez took this picture on the way to work this morning (31 Aug) because she liked the young woman's outfit.

Annabelle says she admired the girl's spirit. She, obviously, was not going to let the heavy rain get in the way of her good fashion sense.It may be raining heavily, but that doesn't mean one has to wear clothes to suit the crazy elements.

STOMP only hopes the pretty miss was not trying to hail a cab from the roadside. The only way in was to call, that is, if you could get through the busy, busy lines.


James Fok sent us this picture of a car which had broken down at Sin Ming Avenue on 31 August morning.

The poor policeman and the tow-truck personnel had to remove the vehicle in the pouring rain.
IT'S NOT ALL MISERY

The rain also brought out the best in some people. Mrs Koh who works at the Singapore Power Building next to Somerset MRT sent us this sms of what she saw doing a rain-soaked lunch hour on 30 Aug.

" I would like to commend Singtel for its civic consciousness, loaning passers-by brollies to shelter them across the traffic light junction between its building and Somerset MRT."

Although there are covered walkways in the area, the road-crossings are open. Mrs Koh said that whenever it rained, Singtel security guards would stand on either side of the crossing, lending umbrellas to those who needed them. She added that it was something she noticed within the last month.

Anthong Wong, 33, sent in this MMS to show the damage caused by the downpour at the Hougang Ave 1 S-11 coffeeshop yesterday (30 Aug).

A canvas extension meant to shelter customers from the rain had collapsed. No one was injured, as there were not many people around.

Mr Wong, who owns a shop across the coffeeshop, believes that this had happened because the canvas had not been properly extended


Xu Xiu Lan emailed STOMP these pictures of the 'small flood'. " I was having lunch with colleagues at Amoy Food Centre (Level 1) this afternoon (30 Aug) around 1.40pm when water start gushing out of the drain at the top level (not Level 2). Most probably it was due to the heavy downpour at that time. It lasted for around 5mins before a cleaner uncle did something.

Fortunately we were sitting at the very side. However some people merely lifted their legs and carried on eating!. Well, thanks to the uncle!"

Tham Seng Choe sent us this picture taken at Terminal 2 of Changi Airport on Aug 29. Can you spot the spelling mistake?

Seng Choe thought this was funny as the word was spelt correctly on an adjacent glass panel just a few metres away.

Ong Wei Zhong came across this bus parked outside Punggol Secondary School and sent these pictures to STOMP on 30 August. He says he 'found it weird and took pictures of it.'

Steven Lai was amused when he spotted this motorcyclist at rush hour, 8.40am on 29 Aug. The helmet was a stark contrast to the the modern one worn by the motorcylist just ahead of him. Still, Steven is wondering if such a helmet is allowed.

Mike V took this photo of a CityCab driver who was smoking while driving Saturday (Aug 26). He feels that drivers in general should not smoke while driving as “it is not only dangerous as it distracts the driver but also contributes to the littering problem.” Mike adds that it is especially important for cab drivers not to smoke as “us poor passengers have to suffer the stinky interior (no amount of air freshener helps).”

‘edmwee’ alerted us to this daily sight in the morning at Tampines MRT. He is surprised at how blatantly the cyclists disregard the No Parking sign and questions the purpose of putting up a sign without enforcing the rule.

Michael Loh, 42, got a shock when he tried to use this coin for his son's kiddy ride. It turned out to be a 100-rupiah coin he received as change from a shop in United Square. Indeed, given the similar colour, shape and design, right down to the octagon within the circle, it is easy to mistake the rupiah coin for a Singapore dollar coin. He sent us a picture of the coin Sunday (27 Aug) to alert us to this 'fake' dollar coin.

Following the publication of this incident, Hendy Shi reported on Tuesday (Aug 29) that his wife's genuine one-dollar coin was rejected at a supermarket in Yishun. The staff apparently rejected it because the patterns on the worn out coin weren't clear. Hendy suspects that the staff were being over-cautious because of the 'fake' dollar coin scare.


1) We got this mms on 28 Aug. According to the Stomper, this sight of rubbish overflowing from a dustbin in Chua Chu Kang Avenue 4 is fairly common. The message that went with it: "It is often left overnight, creating visual pollution and is unhygienic as there are many flies hovering".
2) This picture was sent on our 75557 email. The Stomper asks "Green city or rubbish city?" A common sight at Downtown East bus-stop. More collection needed especially during weekends and public holidays.

30-year-old engineer, Ng Hwee Him, found the void deck of Blk 116 in Jurong East littered with scores of discarded Toto tickets after the results were announced last night (28 Aug). He believes the tickets all belonged to just person who must have flung the tickets away in a fit of anger.

Tay Chee Yong, 32, sent us this picture on 28 Aug of what he thought was some block 'decoration' thought up by Hong Kah Town Council. Perched at the top of the 14-storey block 810, Jurong West St 81, is a row of plastic bags. They've been strung together on a line of string running both across, as well as along the side of, only just that block of flats.

The Town Council says it's newest way of dealing with a bird nuisance problem that has been plaguing residents there. There've been complaints of bird poo all over the block from the migratory swallows that have been roosting there from 7pm-10am each day. The Town Council says the plastic bags flapping in the wind act as as a kind of ‘scarecrow’ to distract and scare the birds away. This method has been on trial for a few days now.

Chee Yong's glad that something's being done but says that the different types of plastic bags are an eyesore and wishes for a 'better-looking' solution.

David Ling sent us this picture of a street corner of Little India on Sunday (Aug 27) night. Litter was strewn on the street outside a restaurant in the aftermath of the weekend crowd.

A lady's pink Croc shoe became stuck in an escalator at Causeway Point on Saturday (Aug 26) afternoon, causing the escalator to beout of service for apparently more than a hour. Mike Muk sent us this picture.

Ubrina Tock couldn't believe her eyes when she stood at the door of the Mcdonald's at Toa Payoh Central at 8.03am on 24 August.

She knew it was one of the selected outlets that are open for 24 hours and when she found the 'Closed' sign on display, she emailed us this picture with the caption, 'Ironic Sign'.

Well Ubrina, not so ironic when you consider that you may have made the common mistake of thinking 24 hours means 7 days a week. A closer look at the sign shows that the outlet is only opened round-the-clock on Friday, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays. You were there on 24 August, a Thursday!

Ms Goh Ed Na sent us this picture of recycling bins at the Bukit Batok bus interchange. This is her email:

"Since my son, Justin, was two I've been teaching him about recycling as I see Singapore still has a long way to go compare to Europe or America. I too wish to do my part and I want Justin to do his. Unfortunately, the recycle bins at the Bukit Batok bus interchange have been treated more as rubbish bins. Most nights when I bring my glass / plastic containers to recycle, Justin (now four years old) would be very disappointed to see that the bins are so filled that he couldn't put anymore items in. He also asked why others do not place the items in the proper bins? He always ended walking home disappointed as we would have to leave our items next to the bins (on the floor). I strongly think Singapore should educate its people on the importance of recycling."

Andre Sng sent us these pictures of a rider and his pillion on the pavement of the Anderson Bridge after the Fireworks Festival event on Aug 12. "This inconsiderate rider is disregarding the safety of pedestrians. The place was jam-packed with people in a small path with bi-directional human traffic," Andre pointed out.