Just don't kick the bucket, man!

Yesterday, I posted this picture -- of a time some 25 or more years ago -- and wondered if people today knew what this man was doing.

First, I shall think up some suitable caption headlines for the picture:

Just don't kick the bucket, man!
Next stop, the veggie farms in Kranji
Aiyah, where did that 32-door lorry go?
Shit happens... that's why I do this

Yes, the man in this picture (probably taken in the 1970s, judging from the vehicle types) was a night-soil carrier. Although the job was a lowly paid one and physically onerous, Singaporeans past, present and future owe a tribute to such pioneers; they stand head to shoulder with the other pioneers such as the samsui women, the bumboat workers, the chain-gang labourers, the tin-smelting workforce and the plantation hands.

Singapore today is a concrete jungle with ultra-modern facilities, including our toilets that even automatically flush and some office bathroom "thrones" even come equipped with bidettes.

But until the late 1970s, there were still parts of Singapore that depended on the "bucket system" ie, what you see in the picture above. Latrines in such places had buckets with handles attached. At certain times, the night-soil carrier would come in and collect the "old" buckets and replace them with "new" ones. I wonder who invented the euphemism "night-soil"? Weird sense of humour (a humus-rous dig?).

The crew of night-soil carriers would then trudge to the waiting lorry, which had 32 doors -- 16 on each side. One bucket, one door. Then it's off to the treatment facility.

I was fortunate to have grown up in Pulau Bukom, which had modern a sewage system from way back -- before I was born. But my Chinatown kin endured the bucket system. One of my office colleagues claimed that many people in those days resorted to smoking cigarettes in the stinky loo to mitigate the smell.

One friend recalled that, when he slackened in his school grades, his mother would warn him that he might end up as a night-soil carrier (he need not have fretted; someone said the men were an exclusive "tribe" with members coming from a particular clan hailing from China's Fujian province, the way the samsui women came from a certain locale in China). Another friend -- too young to know about the bucket system first-hand -- recalled having seen Channel 8 period serials. And, Nick, thanks for your Comment.

From the Web, I found this excellent blog (with pictures) below; the blogger vividly tells the story of Singapore's night-soil-system days:

http://blogtoexpress.blogspot.sg/2012/02/memories-of-smell-sewerage.html

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Coincidentally, I found this AFP story on the xin.msn site:

Spanish statue snares French leader with pants down

http://news.xin.msn.com/en/weird/spanish-statue-snares-french-leader-with-pants-down-1

(Apparently , if you Google, you might find "Obama" in a similar pose too; I did not do a search).

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Finally, this man was caught with his pants down, figuratively speaking: