Wednesday 9 June 2010

Slashed Fares, Red Elbows And Tagged Trains

Nat King Cole
To quote the late Nat King Cole, "Unforgettable" or perhaps it should be "Unbelievable"!

Having just spent nearly $S1,800 for a one way ticket from Singapore to Auckland I read in the NZ Herald online today that Jet Star is going to launch a direct Auckland / Singapore service and will be offering promotional fares set at $NZ100.

I would be quite happy to forgo the in-flight meal and pay for my own cheese and crackers en-route if I could save $1,000.

The only fly in the ointment is that they have yet to secure regulatory approval but one would hope that this was forthcoming.  It will be interesting to see what Singapore Airlines' response will be.

Also occupying Singaporean's minds this week is the revelation that some mindless twits broke into the MRT train yards and graffiti bombed one of the trains (video below).  It turns out it was a Swiss software consultant and a Briton (who has high tailed it to Hong Kong) who carried out the dastardly deed.





What at first glance may seem to be a stupid piece of vandalism has more sinister overtones as it has exposed lax security at the depot.  The threat of bombing is very real and the fact that two individuals could so effortlessly break into the depot yard has not pleased the authorities in the least.

Such acts normally carry a caning sentence in Singapore.  An American by the name of Michael Fay was sentenced in 1994 for a similar spate of vandalism and received four strokes of the rattan cane for his troubles.

There is a bizarre footnote to this story.  It took two days for someone to report the incident.  Reportedly, the MRT staff mistook the vandalism for commercial advertising, no doubt with the recent Singtel post box graffiti still etched into their conscience.

And finally for shear hard luck comes the story of the woman who was walking past the Istana and had a tree fall on her. She is said to be suffering from "redness of the elbow".
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