Walking past this restaurant at Tanjong Katong is like walking through an obstacle course – you would have to dodge and duck tables and chairs that block almost the entire walkway outside. The restaurant owner has used the space outside as an extra dining area, placing tables and chairs there. As a result, passers-by have hardly any space left to walk through, according to Mr Moh, 36, who experienced it firsthand yesterday (28 September). He said: “I had no choice but to walk on the road in the end, because the owner put panels to block out the area.”

This two-way road at Stirling Road turns into a one-way road on weekdays, but no traffic wardens are booking these motorists even though they are on duty. This is according to Patrick Lee, 42, who emailed STOMP about these “over-generous traffic wardens when it comes to booking errant motorists.” These pictures were taken over the last fortnight, from 16 September onwards. The stretch of road from Queensway swimming pool right up to the junction leading to the AYE entrance is congested with cars parking on either side of the road between 1pm to 2 pm, often causing traffic jams. This scene will repeat itself at least once every week, Mr Lee adds. He was writing in response to a forum letter, “Too many get booked in overkill!” (Straits Times, 28 September) which brought to light the issue of motorists getting booked for the slightest traffic offences, such as “darting into the bus lane..(with no buses behind).”

Willyn Goh, 23, a student, was at her boyfriend's home in Block 758 Pasir Ris Street 71 on 28 September when he showed her a mail which came in through the post. It was a note sent by loansharks threatening to lock the doors of the residents living in her boyfriend's block should the debtor fail to pay up, and it was sent by postage and was computer-generated. This is the second time this has happened. The loansharks had earlier limited their posts to all residents sharing the same last unit numbers from the second floor to the sixteenth. This time, all residents in the block received this mail. Although Willyn says, "the loansharks are getting more civilised," her boyfriend and her are understandably worried and concerned about their safety. The police confirmed a complaint had been lodged on 7.30 pm, 28 September. They are investigating the case, and have stepped up patrols in the area.

Mr Lim L H, 52, a property agent, is worried sick. His daughter Eileen(pictured left, without studs) has run away from home since 24 September after he raised his voice at her for being rude. She had been playing computer games and he had reminded her to eat, and when she was rude to him, he shouted at her. He went into the kitchen after that and when he came out, she was already gone. She had left home just a few days before on 16 September, but had returned home on 18 September after her father lodged a report with the police, only to leave once again. Mr Lim has been so upset he has not been at work since then, and has been going around game centres and places she frequents to look for her. She has not attended school the past five days, and has her PSLE examinations to take next week. According to him, Eileen got to know a girl, Vivian, through a classmate, and had started frequenting game centres since then, with funds given to her by Vivian. Mr Lim had gone to Vivian's home on 27 September to look for his daughter and saw her schoolbag in Vivian's home, but saw no sign of the two girls. He called Vivian on her mobile phone, and she promised to bring his daughter home but till now, Eileen has yet to return. Eileen's teachers had also been trying to contact her and Vivian, who is a school drop-out, but to no avail. Mr Lim has also made a police report again to try and get her home. So Eileen, where are you? What do you think? How can we help kids who have gone astray and run away from home? Tell us. Join the discussion in Talkback »

Jimmy Tan, 32, spotted this car with its dashboard hidden under 24 half-hour parking coupons. Mr Tan was at the Midlink Plaza carpark yesterday (28 September) at about 4pm when he noticed this "interesting car, which stood out from the crowd". The sight drew curious stares from a number of passers-by who stopped for a second look at the car. A parking warden was also at the carpark, but he had not yet noticed the car when Mr Tan was leaving the place. Mr Tan said: "I pity the parking warden when he/she comes up to this car in this carpark." Know why people resort to this? Tell us in TalkBack »

In his almost daily drives into Sentosa, Paul Deurenberg, a retiree, sees roadwork being carried out on the Sentosa driveway link. In his email to STOMP, he says: " A few weeks ago, work started on the causeway, where highly roughened bricks were laid on stretches of the causeway, presumably to slow vehicles down. These stretches achieved the purpose of slowing cars down to a crawling 5 km/hr, and also succeeded in damaging tires and providing a most uncomfortable bone rattling ride for the drivers and passengers. Last week, the same workers were busy scrapping off these rough bricks! I wonder why those bricks were laid in the first place, and if the effects were tested before long stretches were laid on the causeway, causing inconvenience to both tourists and locals. Weeks of efforts and resources were wasted laying them, just to have them removed almost immediately. I have been driving for 40 years in different countries, and have never seen this happening." STOMP checked with Sentosa, and Kerene Goh, Guest Services Executive, explained the situation. " Some roadwork is being carried out at the moment based on feedback given by road users, who had contacted Sentosa about the bricks being tough on the vehicles. We are currently in the process of smoothening the bricks so that this will be minimised, so car users can travel in safety and comfort."

Residents in at Block 3 Teck Whye Avenue are worried about the lightning protection system in their block. One resident, Foo Kok Hong told STOMP that the earthing strips that run down the entire height of the block have been damaged for about three months. The 28-year old SAF personnel had previously contacted the town council about the matter in August, who replied saying that the necessary repairs will be done. Yesterday (28 September), Mr Foo noticed that nothing had been done. He noticed that the damage strips were still exposed at the section on the ground floor of the block. Mr Foo raised his concerns to STOMP: “What will happen when there are lightning strikes?”

Lily Seah, 41, was greeted by this breathtaking sunrise yesterday morning (28 September). She was pleasantly surprised that the sun could still be this glorious shade of red-orange past 7am in the morning, and thinks that it could be due to the recent haze conditions. She said: “The haze particles cut down the amount of light that passes through that’s why we can see the sun better, I think.” Ms Seah, who works in the IT line, had also noticed similar spectacular views of the sunset from her workplace previously during hazy days as well.

Margaret Lim, 43, who works in the travel industry, was going for her morning exercise today (29 September) when she spotted this signboard from afar. It was a signboard announcing bus and train fare adjustments from 1 October, and it had been out up the wrong way. She chuckled when STOMP spoke to her on the phone, "I think the person didn't realise the mistake made at all."

Terence Tan, was at Tuas Avenue 2 when he "came across a passenger van which started splattering white smoke from its exhaust. Few minutes later, the vehicle reached the junction. The security guard at Triangle Auto quickly ran out shouting at the driver of the vehicle." Terence then left the scene. STOMP hopes the driver is all right.


So what exactly qualify as art and taste? STOMP received two emails from different users about graffiti on the same day, with differing views aired by the contributors. Wilson Wee, 23, an NTU undergraduate, was at Mediacorp on 27 September in Thomson Road, and saw the graffiti which were ostensibly done so in the name of support for their favourite Singapore Idol contenders. He says, "To my amusement, there was a large amount of graffiti around the reception area, from the walkways, pillars to the vending machines. Sure they were done by over-zealous Singapore Idol fans!"
Glenn Thng, 25, a media executive, sees this series of graffiti art along the Ulu Pandan Park Connector on a daily basis as it is part of his route to get home. As such, he witnessed the "progress of this street art," which to him, has "successfully brightened up the environment, especially the dreary canal and offered something for runners and cyclists to enjoy, though some might argue otherwise." He wonders if this series has been commissioned by a governmental agency, and if there are other series elsewhere on the island.

Ken Loh, 35, is worried about the safety of pedestrians who use the footpaths outside of the Tampines Swimming Pool at Tampines Avenue 5. He told STOMP that "the pedestrian pathway has become a private driveway to drop kids off, and has also become a parking lot for some." He continued in his email: " The carpark is just behind the swimming pool. This act is both dangerous and inconsiderate and goes to show how selfish some people can be."

While returning home from visiting a friend on 27 September, retiree Tan Teck Meng, 59, caught sight of a HDB flat in Upper Boon Keng Road set ablaze. He saw “black smoke and a giant tongue of fire spewing out of the apartment at about 4.45pm.”
Jeffrey Lee also sent STOMP pictures of the fire at the same location, which he took at 5.05pm. STOMP checked with the police and we were told no one was injured in the fire, which broke out at 4.40pm. The police are still investigating the case which they suspect to be one of mischief.

Lee Mei Choo, 32, a Sales Assistant certainly thinks so. She took this picture of a mattress being hung out to dry on a parapet in Bishan. The mattress had been anchored by two plastic chairs on a windy day. In her email to STOMP, she said, "looked like the chairs might fell at anytime when the wind blown. Residents are abusing the parapet wall. I think the Town Council should carry out the safety measures to prevent any mishap from happening! She even took a video of the mattress flapping in the wind. Watch the video now in STOMPcast.

“I looked up to Singapore because it’s clean and the people are disciplined. Every time I see people dirtying the surroundings, I get very sad,” says Joy Utanes, 42, a Singapore permanent resident. She had taken this picture of two students eating on the Sengkang LRT line on 27 September at about 3.15pm. They were seated right below the “No eating and drinking” sign. Ms Utanes, who has been a PR for close to 5 years, added: “Perhaps it’s the older generation who is aware of keeping the country clean and who are more disciplined.”

Ever seen a starfruit tree in Singapore? Mike Muk did. He was at Block 624 Yishun Ring Road on 18 September when he chanced upon "these trees with yellow leaves, and many leaves had fallen onto the ground below." He went closer to take a look and realised these "leaves" were actually starfruits. Mike said he had been living in Yishun for over 10 years and "this is the first time" he noticed them. In his email to STOMP, he says: "Too bad it is illegal to pluck fruits from these trees.What a waste, with all of them scattered on the ground to rot."

First, it was the sunflower biker who cheered up many motorists on the roads. Now, we have Winnie the Pooh bear spotted pillion riding. May Cheng was caught in the slow traffic along the AYE on 20 September evening. She says, in her email to STOMP: "Suddenly a big yellow object caught my attention...a BIG Pooh Bear was riding pillion on a bike. Just as we were passing this biker, we saw another bright red bulldog sitting on the tank and waited quite a while for the bike to overtake us. The biker even posed for my picture when he saw me taking the shot!"

Adele Ang asks STOMP users to look closely at the picture she sent in, to see if anyone out there is able to spot what is wrong. The answer? Lots of it. Rubbish had thrown into this bin meant for recycling products. Adele's father had taken the picture on 26 September after witnessing a "young female shop assistant from the jewellery shop gently place a bag of rubbish on top of a recycling bin in Bendemeer Mall so as to teach us (she and her siblings) about being civic-conscious." She added, "What apathetic earthlings we are!"

The haze apparently enveloped parts of Singapore last night (Sep 27). Khairul Haris, 18, took this picture from his home in Bedok North at about 9pm. Visibility and the air quality were both lower than usual, he observed. From his home, Khairul is usually able to see the Changi General Hospital building, but he was unable to yesterday. On the air quality, he added: “The smoke in the air was quite thick. I could even smell it and feel it in my throat.” STOMP checked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) and found that the latest PSI reading for yesterday as at 4pm was 52, or 'moderate'. Haze update: According to the NEA, the 24-hour PSI reading for 28 September was 66, which falls under the moderate range. The haze was caused by a significant increase in the number of land and forest fires in South Sumatra and Jambi, as well as prevailing southerly winds which have brought some of the smoke haze over to Singapore on 28 September. Haze conditions will persist for the next two to three days as the southerly winds are expected to prevail within this period. NEA expects the haze conditions to improve over the weekend when the winds change from southerly to southwesterly/westerly directions. The burning in South Sumatra as well as prevailing winds were apparently the cause of the hazy conditions. Join the discussion in Talkback »

At Block 941 Hougang Street 92, notices from the town council are pasted on various locations in the block – everywhere except on allocated notice boards on the ground floor. One resident, Ng Boon Yo, 32, wonders why. They have been pasted on the walls along the staircase of the block, as well as the area around the allocated notice boards. The notices from the Aljunied Town Council contain general messages for the residents, such as this announcement about Block Washing Day, and a letter to inform residents of the completion of works on a study corner. On the allocated notice boards are other flyers with information on the grassroots leaders of the area instead. Mr Ng said: “There is still space on the notice board for all of these flyers, but they don’t want to put it there. It’s making the walls very dirty.”


Eric Lim had been walking past New Bridge Road on his way to lunch on 27 September when this sight greeted him. Police were seen handcuffing a man in this store and many people stood around, watching the drama unfold. A case of shop theft had occurred, and a suspect, apprehended after the police was called in. Crowds gathered to gawk at the scene as the suspect was held and handcuffed into a waiting police vehicle. Mr Lim then quickly whipped out his digital camera and took these exciting pictures to send to STOMP. Shaun, 35, a Sales Manager, was also passing by the store and saw three police cars parked near the store and the huge crowd which had congregated. Curious, he walked closer to the scene and saw what happened as well. He then sent this text message to STOMP via 75557: "Attempted robbery at a jewellery shop in Chinatown, North Bridge Road." The police confirmed that they received a call from the public about this at 1.10pm. A Sri Lankan man in his mid-20s was detained by staff of the store and members of the public. A ring valued at $15 000 was found on him. The man was arrested and is being held in custody for questioning.

The lunch-time crowd at Raffles Place was in for a surprise today when a 'body' was found today (Sep 27) at 12pm, on the lawn in front of Raffles Place MRT station. 'Crime investigators' were seen working at the crime scene between 12pm to 1pm after a black bag was found in the middle of the busy business district. But there was relief all around when the crowd was told that it was just a publicity stunt to launch FoxCrime, a new crime, invesigation and mystery channel on Starhub Cable is launching next month. Fulford Public Relations Consultancy, organisers of the publicity stunt, says that the reactions of passers-by were mostly that of shock. However, they were assured that it was not for real after staff were around to hand out flyers with information about the launch and the publicity stunt.

Would you eat this fish? Qiu Guan Xiang, 22, an SIM undergraduate, wouldn't, though it is safe to consume them. He was passing by the Choa Chu Kang Wet Market at Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3 when he saw this 'weird, flame red monster, being partially covered with crushed ice in a similar-coloured container." No, he did not buy it as he figured no one at home knew how to prepare it. He asked the fish seller about it and the latter told him that it was a "deep sea creature (which) was caught because it had surfaced after the Tsunami." STOMP checked with the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore and found out this is an Armored Sea Robin. "The sea robins and their European relatives, the gurnards, suggest sculpins in their broad heads, slender bodies, large fanlike pectoral fins, in having two separate dorsal fins (a spiny and a soft rayed), and in the location of their ventral fins under the pectorals. But their entire heads are armored with rough bony and spiny plates. The Gulf of Maine is the northern limit for the family on the Atlantic Coast of America. The armored sea robins are close relatives to the sea robins but they differ from them in four very noticeable ways: (1) the entire body is enclosed in an armor of bony plates, each plate with a spine; (2) it is only the two lower rays of the pectorals that form separate feelers; (3) each side of the front of the skull projects forward as a long flat process, so that the snout appears to be double; (4) they have 2 long barbels on the chin. They live on bottom in fairly deep water, and they are widespread in tropical to boreal seas. One species is a member of the Gulf of Maine fish fauna. " Source: http://www.gma.org/fogm/Triglidae-Peristediidae.htm

Marcus Ng Kheng Ang, 26, a Civil Servant, was shocked to see these men cleaning paint stains on a ledge along the corridor of a block of flats in Potong Pasir. The corridor was two storeys high and they were working on what seemed to him to be on the 8th storey. He worries about the lack of safety measures taken as he asks STOMP," Where is the safety harness?They don't even have scaffoldings or a ladder. Is this a 'crime' similar to bosses asking their maids to clean high level windows?"

The orange man in traffic signal lights literally came to life in this shot taken by Wilson Wee, 23, an undergraduate, who was at the Kim Tian Road Junction along Jalan Bukit Merah on 26th September at around 6.15pm . According to Mr Wee, the traffic signals were faulty, and he saw the worker in the picture "carrying a bright orange pedestrian crossing signboard on his shoulders, tediously walking around the junction with it to signal to the drivers to give way so we crossed the road when the real orange man started walking."

Mohamad Esa, 30, a technician, kept trying to figure out what was wrong with his home line yesterday (26 September). His sister had tried to call him from the United Kingdom, but kept getting a Chinese family answering her phone calls. She was perplexed as Esa's number had not been changed, and so kept trying. The family who picked up the numerous calls got understandably angry. Also, the displays on Esa's cordless phones kept indicating that the telephone line was in use, but no one was on the phone. Esa then tried to call his own home number. A Chinese lady picked up the call and revealed to him that she had just gotten a new telephone line connected. He then called up SingTel and it was established that there had been a grounding fault.

Jasmine Cheng, 30, unemployed, faces the unhappy problem of having a leaking airconditioning unit above her apartment in Block 119, Ang Mo Kio. She says, in her email to STOMP: " The water stained our window panels and also caused noise pollution in the night when we are sleeping. The void-deck ground is always wet and algae-stained." She had written in to the Town Council for some assistance to be rendered, but the reply given was that this was under the HDB's purview. To date, she says that she "can't open the window wide at all, only slightly."

Lina Sarib spent two "scary" evenings in darkness in her flat in Teck Whye Avenue. She found it "strange that only Block 2 was unaffected while the rest of the blocks were not." She had taken the photograph from inside her apartment and it is almost pitch-dark outside as "all the corridors" were without lights.

Irene Veronica De Cruz, 44, an Executive Assistant, took this photograph of a couple locked in an embrace, oblivious to the needs of fellow commuters who needed the pole for support on 5 August. She was travelling with her 12-year-old daughter that time, and her daughter was "mad because the train was packed and she had nowhere to hold on to." Her daughter, she tells STOMP, "hung on to my arms as I held on to the hanging grips." She had taken the picture as she felt that “such behaviour in a public place is disgusting, undesirable and shameless,” and she wanted to show it to her other elder daughter.
Elsewhere, D Y, 33, also took this picture of a man “rubbing his groin on the pole” on board an east-bound train a week or two ago from 26 September. She told STOMP: "The lady beside me was so disgusted that she walked away as he was hugging it and doing pole dance on it! I just had to snap the picture to show how disgusting people can be...."

A coffeeshop in Serangoon has drawn quite a few curious passers-by with these signs. A few were also heard joking: “Has the ISD moved its headquarters to a coffeeshop?” The actual location of ISD, or the Internal Security Department, is Irrawady Road. However, these signs at the coffeeshop next to Mustafa Shopping Centre have generated several jokes made by customers and passers-by alike – that the ISD has shifted its facilites here instead. One of these customers, 45-year old Eddie Goh, sent in these pictures to STOMP after he spotted the sign at the coffeeshop located next to Mustafa Shopping Centre. According to him, these signs were found on 3 different walls, each pointing to the general interior of the coffeeshop. Nobody was able to figure out what the sign was about. However, Mr Goh wonders if it could be a marketing gimmick to attract more customers during the festive period. The coffeeshop has also upped the number of bright coloured fluorescent lights in its interior, presumably for the same reason, he said.


The end of the IMF-World Bank meetings could also mark the end of the bright flowers that have adorned the streets of Singapore during the period when the meetings were held here. Peter Lin noticed these wilting sunflowers planted outside the National Museum on 22 September. In his email to STOMP, the 23-year old student said: “I feel that the only time Singaporeans get to see such beautiful things is just before the IMF-World Bank event. Did the S2006 committee not realize that the sunflowers will die? Couldn’t we beautify our country with something else that lasts longer and will be here to stay even after the IMF-World Bank event is over?”


This letter via the 75557 gateway came from Russell Chan last night (Sept 25): The lantern festival is back at the Chinese Garden. My fiancee and I had high hopes for this year's event and arrived just 1½ hours after the stated official opening time of 5.00pm on 15 Sep (opening day), hoping to avoid the crowd and draw in the sights. When we reached the second display (ironically the Taj Mahal), all the displays in the park went out. Believing it to be a power outage due to the heavy rain just that afternoon, we decided to take a break by the pond and await the rectifications. After nearly an hour with dusk falling, we eventually discovered, together with some other Singaporeans who were equally frustrated, that the outage was in fact not due to an electrical fault, but that the displays were not supposed to be lit till after the opening ceremony by a Minister, at 8pm! Mind you, we got this information not from the organising staff, but from some friendly foreign worker cleaners. Fancy that we had not seen mention of an opening ceremony (or that they would save on the energy bill till the ceremony was over) on the official posters at the ticketing booths, nor on the tickets, nor on the official website. It must have been in the fine print. Experienced the same frustration? Tell us in TalkBack »

Keith, 38, a customer service executive, faces and smells fish being dried above his unit every weekend. According to him, his "neighbour is a chinese family who bought the resale unit some years ago. They live on the 12th storey, and are very fond of that delicacy." Keith had tried "telling them that when the sun shines", his whole kitchen smells of fish. Their reaction? "They turned hostile," he says. He continues," On certain days we can even see a whole bamboo full of those dried skins and the stench is unbearable. My parents have since given up telling them not to hang those out as they don't listen. Also we wouldn't want to offend them because we are living one storey below, which is to our disadvantage." Do you have similar experiences with inconsiderate neighbours? Tell us.

This horrific crash scene on the slip road from Bedok entering the ECP was captured separately by Vincent Ooi (above picture) and Kevin Koh, 40, IT consultant (right picture) yesterday (Sep 25) at about 11am. According to Mr Koh, the driver was bleeding profusely and there were two ambulances and a fire engine on the scene. STOMP checked with the police and found that the driver had sustained head injuries and had been warded at Changi General Hospital.

Foong Jun Kai sent us these pictures of laundry poles hung outside Block 234 in Bishan Street 22 last Thursday (Sept 21).