Smelly Cats & other stuff

Not sure if I have mentioned the feral cats that live on the street behind our condos. There are at least 6 of them but 2 we see every day. One all black and the other apricot. They live on a wall between the plants next too a swimming pool. This is at the condo complex that "goat girl" lives out. I'm mentioned her before. Turns out Amanda friend Megan lives there as well. Any how the longer I live here the more I realize everyone in our condo complex knows these cats. We have to pass them every time we walk to the market, post office, shopping mall etc.

It is no secret that Rick & I are not big cat fans. They shed for one but mostly you have to deal with a litter box and we just don't "do" that. These cats are fed daily by folks, I've seen food even in our complex set out for them. We've seen chicken bones on the wall etc. For a while there was street construction on that road and a white wicker chair appeared for the old Indian construction worker to sit in the shade when he took is break. Most times when I walked by the 2 main cats would be sitting on this wicker chair. Now that the chair is gone the cats are usually sitting on the wall in between the plants. Did I mention none of these cats have tails! Apparently they are a certain breed, very strange looking. If I liked cats the tail would be the body part I liked the most so this just looks so wrong. The point of all this is the stench from these cats. It's so bad that I must hold my breath when walking that block or walk in the road. It is so...............dreadful! Because they have a huge outdoor litter box along the wall and it's so hot/humid here you can imagine. It reminds me of the song from Friends every time I walk by. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSs6Xm36h0w

I knew it. I knew I'd get cheated sometime, of course it was when I wasn't on top of my game. Wasn't feeling well on Friday and I had gone out to SAS (Singapore American School) to check out a volunteer opportunity. I took the MRT (subway) out which requires a 45 min. ride and about 20 min walk. By the time I was ready to leave it was raining and I felt crummy so I phoned a taxi. If you phone for a taxi they charge a fee for this. So the guy was getting extra money just by me stepping into his cab. The cab fare was 14.90, I gave him a 20 and asked for just 5 back. He handed me a five folded and I got out. Once I came up to the apartment and looked at it, it was a Malaysian 5 dollar bill. He got me the SOB! It's only worth about 1 sing dollar so he cheated me 4 bucks plus I tipped him the .10. Which to Americans isn't a big deal but this is NOT a tipping society and most of the taxi drivers are retired but the govt doesn't give them the equivalent of social security until they are 80 years old. So they are trying to make a living and giving them anything extra is a big deal. Makes me mad because I'm always nice to these guys and mostly tell them to keep the change whatever the fare comes too. NOT anymore. One the bright side Rick goes to Malaysia frequently so he can use the 5 there!

$90 dryer vent! I think I have complained before about how our dryer vents into our non air conditioned laundry room. We'll after looking at 4 places and then consulting some existing expats I finally found a place that sells dryer vents. I sent Rick out to get it, our plan was for him to rout it over the top of the dryer and out a window. When he came back he had a smile on his face and said to me "how much do you think it was?" Knowing everything is outrageously priced here I said $50 he was like "nope". It was over $90 sing dollars BUT they guy threw in the brackets for free and a bit of extra length so he wouldn't have to sell a tiny piece.

In the end I'm very happy to now have the dryer vented out the window. I no longer have to wait until the coolest part of the day to use the dryer! Next post: ER visit & Festival of the Hungry Ghosts.

Singapore Trivia: 4 Official languages are: English, Mandarin, Malay & Tamil

Hugs,

Cassie