BATHROOM WOES

Five years on - all the 'come with it' fixtures seems to be taking turn to expire.  Free thing = low quality.

The latest on the list - Shower head holder, in my bathroom.

Since I'm the only one using this bathroom, in order to escape an earful nagging, I die die have to do it all myself.

Was trying to adjust the shower head to a taller height when the knob broke.

With help from neighbours, I realised that the shower pole actually comes in sizes.

 

About 2.3cm

Anyway, being a layman to handy work, it's frustrating for me to find the exact holder.  I went to those old-school hardware shop （五金店 )  whereby the uncle throw me a curve ball and doesnt seems helpful.  After going thru many online shopping site, I realised there's a flexible solution.

I got this from a neighbourhood store at Serangoon.

Regardless the size of your pole, just press and slide in the holder.

Perfect fit. 

Want to adjust the angle of your shower head? Just loosen this screw.

3 minutes.  Job done.  Good as new.

MINIMUM OCCUPATION PERIOD

We are a few months passed this mark and even way before that, the junk mail holder at our front gate has been busy collecting these junk!!

Regardless which day of the week, there  will be at least one piece of advertisement, and not surprisingly, buy / sell property made up the majority.

It's so irritating that these agents even rang the bell on a weekend evening!  You can press the bell all you want, I simply remove the batteries from the chime and the pro of having a corner unit - I can look thru the peep hole....if you are the stranger to me, why should I open the door for you?

I know it's their job.  I know it's not the pamphlet distributor's fault either.

Oh well, now you see it.

NOW, I REALLY TURN THEM INTO JUNK!

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Yes, I'm beautifying and improving the space. No, I'm not doing it to sell this place.

Our first air-con servicing.  Yes, we havnt service it since it was last installed.  But we did our part surface cleaning.

We contacted these guys after looking thru various forums.  Two thumbs up!!  They arent pushy about selling packages.  In fact, they are very punctual, friendly and efficient.

The main door is another area whereby we made changes.

The original auto door closer has a very ugly "V' upon opening/closing.  And we need to use a traditional rubber stopper to hold the door open.  

So we got a handyman and replace the "V" closer.

Ta-da!  The door remains open when it's pushed to a certain angle it remains in a hold-open position.  No more unsightly arm and no more accidents of the "V' hitting the walls.

Then finally, the most under utilised space...the balcony.

Opps, we only realised that the hooks were upside down after the handyman left.

This should be the correct position.

Finally, we reinstalled the hooks and the bikes are up.

So much for the last few weeks.  Well, the next on the list .... probably painting.  The decking on the balcony has long lost it's lustre cost of vanish and the pure white walls of our interior are now more of a greyish white covered with the kids' palm print.

Slowly, but surely, this home will be as good as new....again.

HOME

Why go through the trouble of securing a UNIT, spent ten of thousands renovating it, in the end put it up on the market?

I've a  member at home, who too harbour such horrific thoughts much to my dismay.  Yes, it's a nightmare to me.

I just want a simple and stable lifestyle.  I wanted to grow with the unit which I,  myself saw thru tedious reno process and in which created many fond memories, and many more to come.

I dont denied the fact that I'm very attracted to the lap pools and round the clock security, but I really dont see the point of moving from one tiny hole to another "high-class" shoebox?!  In fact, till this day, I still miss my BIG KITCHEN, BIG LIVING ROOM, BIG BEDROOMS, back in my Pasir Ris's home.  The 2 things which I dont miss is the housekeeping and it's a corridor unit.

I know in the process of buying/selling, there's a tiny sum of amount that goes into the pocket.  But what's the use, if this sum goes into buying another property only to be sold again.  It's a endless process.  Is the profit from each transaction worth the trouble, time and effort to involved the whole family of uprooting and relocating?  Why go thru the lengthy process of queuing for a unit, wait for it to be built, beautify it, and whether you live in this unit or not, u die die endure at least 5 yrs then put it on the market??

The sum earn from a sale can range anywhere from SGDXX,xxx to SGDXXX,xxx.  It's easy money, I would love it too.  But this involved the sale of not just any unit/property but my HOME!!  

Can I be like my parents who are still living in that same flat for the past 3 decades.  Without doubt, this flat was their first and it's going to be the last property.  My sis and I grew up here. My parents helped us raised our kids here while we were at work.  We saw the changes, development of the estate and even the arrival of NEL.  Despite several offers came knocking on the door, because this flat has an unblock view on the top floor, right infront of the MRT Station, my parents' decisions are firm! NO!

We are not talking about petty sum.  In fact, the purchase price of this 3-room flat cost was only SGDXX,xxx.  We are now receiving offers of at least SGD390k and when the property market saw better days, they offers went as high as SGD400K+.  But still,  no fortune can make my parents change their minds.  They received the Title Deed to this flat, our home back in 2005.

This flat, is our HOME.  Not a piece of property that we put on the buy/sell market for any profit.

Above pix was cropped from Property Guru SG

Back to my Pigeon Hole, as we are reaching our 5 Yrs'  mark this year, there's a bit discussion going on the estate's FB page. For sure, I'm against putting up my home for sale, but since I'm not the ultimate decision maker, I simply got no say or whatever so.  

Someone mentioned that sales has been concluded in our estate, and looking up on Property Guru SG there are several more units in the estate being put up. 

If they are upgrading, congrats and good for them. But doesnt that means that you are putting the profit from this property into another property?  Well....anyway...

If they are simply doing for the sake of buy/sell... sorry to say, I hate this type of people.  They simply have no sense of belonging.  A property/unit to them is just a money-making tool, that's all.  

So, are you a home-owner or are you just a property hopper?

FINALLY SOME ACTION

Why must wait until people buay tahan and started to kpkb, then you carry out your very slow action?!?!

Finally, a tiny hump to slow down the vehicle before turning.

TURN ON THE LIGHT PLEASE

Is it so difficult and costly for you to turn on your vehicle's headlight??  Especially continental / luxurious car users - you have a day light or auto lights-on feature in your vehicle, why wont you use it??  I simply cant understand the actions of fellow users at the estate's carpark.

For more than 4 years, the MSCP in the estate is a death trap waiting for an accidents to happen.  In fact, there were some minor bumps and fellow users engaged in argument over the usage of the MSCP.

We have motorists going against the flow purely for convenient sake.  We have motorists who parked outside designated lots causing inconvenience.  We have had a series of vandalism.  And in the beginning, we even have children playing in the carpark on the 3rd floor since it's quite empty after many left for work in the morning! 

Oh well, the design of the MSCP is crap!  And let's not put the total blame onto the motorist.  So instead of rattling on and on, I did a simple layout of the MSCP.  (Not a great artist, please pardon my kiddish drawing.)

1. Against flow of traffic, I've witnessed over the last 4 years, motorists who made illegal right turn towards the double-headed arrow just to go up the ramp to the second floor or for more lots behind Lot #44.  Motorist took to the estate's fb page to air the grievance about near head on collisions and the driver who's in the wrong refused to budge...but little could be done. 

There's still a handful of estate neighbours who still test their luck by taking this short cut.  But those who usually do it these days were visitors who aren't familiar about the MSCP's layout.

2.  Vehicle waiting to turn either left or right would have difficulties spotting on coming traffic if a bigger vehicle  such as a van, lorry or MPV  is parked at Lot #44.  A blind spot mirror was installed sometime back next to Lot #7 but I personally dont find it too helpful.

Even in the morning between 0700 - 0715 hrs and got worse if it's raining the 3-storey MSCP is very dark because it's surrounded by flats!! Situation is made worse because motorists didnt turn on their headlight.

Yes, I encounter my fair share of unpleasantness, and on Wednesday as I was leaving the MSCP at approx 0730 hrs, because my view was obstructed by a vehicle parked at Lot #44, I've no choice but to inch forward beyond the stop line but was too late to spot a oncoming car who DIDNT turn on his headlight.  It's was sheer luck that both of us were driving quite slowly and the other driver probably knew my approach because, YES MY HEADLIGHT WAS ON!!  Even he got the right of way, my car was already almost turning left towards Lot #45, so I appreciated that he waved me off.

The incident left me and my 2 young kids quite shaken.  I'm really thankful that the other driver was patient not to sound his honk nor speeding in the carpark.  But why wont he turn on his headlights??  I would have see his car  from the blind spot mirror and would have never inch forward.

Anyway, being motorist, we did our part.  So now let's throw the ball to the other court ... I made a call to Town Council and do what I did best... COMPLAINT!!!

Request to extend lighting hours at the MSCP and/or install motion censor lighting.  And this is their reply.

Let's monitor the situation a while and hopefully it's helpful to all fellow motorists including myself.

PANDAN GARDEN FISHBALL NOODLES

Finally - the supermarket and coffeshop across the road is open for business!

Being 200% pure Teochew, the first thing to try is of course, Bak Char Mee, or Kway Teow Tng lor...

After much reviews from the neighbours, I ordered mine Bak Char/Fishball Mee with extra vinegar and ketchup.

2pcs of fishballs, 1pc of meat ball, some bak chor and slices of fishcakes.

The 2nd generation youngsters were helping there today (probably due to weekend).  I wonder if they speak Teochew??  My order was taken in English!!  Order was relate from Cashier (son) to Pass (Mum)  in Mandarin and again in Mandarin from Pass to Cook (daughter).

Overall, friendly service but can speed up abit.

Something is definitely missing!  I cant pin point (I wonder issit the lack of dang cai 冬菜)?  Or issit the ingredients?  

The noodles are al dente. Fishballs abit salty for my liking, meatball very mushy, not at all firm.

Overall, not yucky to max but I had better.

I guess living this type of 鸟不生蛋, ulu places we just have to be grateful that there's a place to eat and get your daily necessities just across the road.

Check out their FB page Pandan Garden Fishball Noodles