Wah, now I'm 'uber patriotic'; and a couple of spot-on letters...

I toyed with buying them last year but did not. I have now done it, ahead of this year's National Day. My little red car now has them...

Looks good, huh? But there's a problem... this diminutive red car has oversized wing mirrors (a "problem" perhaps shared by Dolly Parton?). This view below shows how much the skimpy material is in danger of having a "wardrobe malfunction"...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes it takes a good analogy to drive home one's point. This letter in today's ST's Forum pages (17 July, below) has done that...

Polyclinic queues and $1 chicken rice
Not long ago, some stalls began selling chicken rice at $1 per plate, compared with the $2 to $3 charged by other stalls.

The queues for the $1 chicken rice were always long, to the extent of turning off some customers, who decided to patronise the other stalls that charged more.

However, once the queues for the $1 chicken rice became shorter, fresh customers joined in as they could then buy the cheaper dish without having to queue longer than previously.

In short, the queues were always long because the chicken rice was priced lower than the going rate.

It is the same with the queues in government polyclinics (“Polyclinics should offer treatment for mental illness” by Mr M. Lukshumayeh, July 3; “Don’t burden polyclinics over mental illness” by Mr Rajasegaran Ramasamy, July 4; and “Why polyclinics should have mental health-care facilities” by Dr Leong Choon Kit, last Thursday).

Building more polyclinics and staffing them with more doctors and nurses will not solve the overcrowding.

As with the $1 chicken rice, when the queues get shorter, more patients who are currently consulting private general practitioners will opt for the polyclinics because their fees are lower.

The Health Ministry’s Community Health Assist Scheme is one strategy to ease polyclinic queues, by offering alternative subsidised health care to needy citizens at clinics run by general practitioners.

But as long as the fees at government polyclinics remain lower than those in the private sector, there will always be long queues, just like the ones at $1 chicken rice stalls.
Associate Professor Virginia Goh
Dr Teoh Yee Leong

-----------------------------------------

This letter in yesterday's TODAY (16 July) likewise makes a very pertinent point about the "right-turn traffic light arrow" at road junctions in Singapore...

Variable right turn arrows are risky and unpredictable

Jul 16, 2012

From Michael Loh Yik Ming

I refer to the Land Transport Authority's letter "Sign alerts motorists to change in traffic light timing" (July 10), which refers to Singapore's traffic light system as dynamic.

Sometimes, I would call it mad, particularly the variable green arrow turns.

Often, when I approach such a turn, the lights turn red, so I slow to a near stop.

Then, the green arrow appears. I speed up, but as I am not near enough to the sensors, the arrow blinks three times at most and goes off, leaving me just entering the junction.

I either have to slam my brakes, which may hurt someone in the car or cause a collision with the car behind, or speed up suddenly to clear the junction.

This type of right arrow turns should either be removed or better timed, as this happens too often.

------------------------------------------------

Finally, I keep hearing this on the radio...

"For your own safety, please wait until the green man is flashing before you cross the road".

My camera's all set and ready to snap a pic of such an amazing occurrence. But I'm still waiting for the appearance of a green man who's also a flasher.