The Smart City with green malls, driverless transport and offices on the move

Worldwide experiments are being made with driverless cars.Singapore already has driverless trains. .On the MRT stations you can see plans for the future. Get out at Farrer Park (not to be confused with Farrer Road) and above you is City Square Mall. It looks much like any other modern mall. However, you can read posters inside and out telling you how the building collects and recycles water and a host of other ideas, which were innovative at the time they were inaugurated.

ERP
Electronic Road pricing.
Definitely an improvement. You don't have to keep buying payment stickers. The money you owe is deducted from a card, with automatic time of day, day of week or seasonal increases and reductions made automatically, so no hunt for machines and change or shops open and stocking coupons and no fines for getting it wrong.

Singapore's seasonal decorations for Diwali on the underground train. In the UK in England and Wales special trains run with a character dressed as Santa on mainlines and special lines, particularly steam trains. But holograms could also be added on trains, perhaps sponsored in major cities by Madame Tussauds.

MRT station Downtown Line display of vision of the future by local schoolchildren.

An exhibition on the smart city of the future at one of the stations showed a phone kiosk turned into ta miniature office where you could sit down, type into a computer and print off a document. You would have to pay, like using a business centre in a hotel. But you could even do without an office if you were constantly travelling, and use an office briefly when needed, the way we used to use public phones on a pay as you go basis.

So many people want to do their homework on cafes, write their novel over a cup of coffee, or even have a business meeting in a pub or cafe, it's time that rooms or areas were set aside, perhaps business  booths, separate from others who might overhead.

Instead of restaurants banning phones, they might offer seating with phone plugs. We already have internet cafes, but they are basically internet, with a cup of coffee. Instead we could have something more like a miniature meeting room.

Cars and Vehicles

Rock stars have caravans kitted out like mobile homes combined with rehearsal rooms and offices. 

?Why aren't cars and taxis set up like offices on the move.

Conferences have press rooms with refreshments, even if it's only water or coffee, and desks with computers. Tables for meetings are set up for sales to be made behind booths. 

How do you expand your city? That depends on the terrain. Down to basements one and two with . underground walkways and malls sheltered from the weather. Up to skyscrapers with linkways from one to the next. Rooftop gardens. Greenery providing warmth or cooling, or soothing, or shade or even food. Parks or swimming pools in the sun with a view on rooftops. 

The latest planning departments in Singapore are specifically designing satellite cities, with inputs from adults and students and children and the disabled. For example, to see how long it takes a person in a wheelchair to cross from a busy road from a car park to a shopping mall.

All over the world, all sorts of ideas are emerging and being pooled. For example:

Shanty towns being painted in rainbow colours.

Water supplies.

Unemployed Mafia type gangs and hooligans stopped from destroying business by employing them or their wives and children to work in the business.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker, trainer.

Marvellous Murals In Little India, Singapore

At the time I noticed that the horses, large and incongruous in a side alley, were on the theme of Race Course Road. Only when I looked at the photo of the mural later did I realise the humour. The horse and rider are shown not on a racecourse but leaping over vegetables - bags including carrots on the left, and fruit - oranges on the right, which have been knocked onto the ground.

Problem
Which way is the quickest route to Mustafa's department store, to and from Farrer Park MRT, or Little India?

We changed at little India and got off at Farrer Park on the way there. We thought it would be quicker to walk back to Little India MRT station. Why? To avoid the delays of walking around Little India station to change lines, then along the underground exit from Farrer Park, finally the short walk from Farrer Park to the department store (turn left towards the Indian temple).

We were wrong. It's a hot walk back to Little India station. However, it has two advantages, One is that if you keep in the shade of the covered way in front of the shops, you can't see what they are selling. Lots of suitcases on wheels, mobile phone covers, clothes, and a man with a sewing machine outdoors - handy if you want something repaired.

Murals
An added bonus was discovering the murals near the MRT. The first one we found was the amusing mural depicting a worker with tools and rubbish.

Next was a mural of horses. Unusual? Why horses? You are on Racecourse Road. One way to remember the street on your map needed for the little India MRT exit. Racecourse Road has some of the well-known Indian restaurants which we visited int he 1990s before the MRT was built.

The last annoyance was the Little India exit we reached had an escalator up and none down. You might think that the extra walk and exercise does you good. You might find walking or running up and down stairs and stations and back alleys is exhilarating. On the whole, most days, I prefer not to arrive feeling hot, damp and tired.

When you are rushing into a station to catch a train to meet friends or for an appointment, you might not have time to register what's on the nearby mural. This one seems to show a bull with horns riding a bicycle.

When I saw the murals, I had wondered, vaguely, whether the artist had been paid by the owner of the building, or was the owner of the building, or like Banksy, had just painted the murals for a joke or a dare or to practise on an empty wall.

I then googled murals in Little India and discovered that the source of the artwork was artists at the nearby LaSalle art college. The source of the funding was the heritage department.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
http://www.lasalle.edu.sg/praxis-press/cattleland-art-walk-little-india/


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Little India and Indian restaurants. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Watching for waterproof watches - my buy at Mustapha's

My waterproof watch stopped. No need to throw it away. Buy a new battery.

Battery
I usually try to ask the shop to fit the battery. A jeweller has the skill and tools and experience to do it quicker, without dropping and losing vital screws. If the battery is wrong, you know at once and don't need to take a second trip.

Repair
We have been struggling for days to close up the back of my waterproof watch. A friend of mine in Singapore told me that you can get watches repaired cheaply at the shops in HDB government housing estates. (HDB Housing Development Board.) She reckoned I could get my watch repaired for ten Singapore dollars, about five pounds, half or a third of the cost of the cheapest new one.

How do you find such a shop? Either take the MRT (train) to one of the estates. Or ask a colleague or employee of the place you work at or visit overseas.

Mustafa's Department Store
Meanwhile, having lunch in Little India, I was able to pop into Mustafa's department store, which is next to Farrer Park MRT station.

The lady seated at Mustafa's entry door to check bags was able to direct me to the watch department on the ground floor.

Watch Department
The large counter in prime position the centre of two aisles could offer me only one brand of watches at a minimum price of $100. I always imaged that Mustafa's, with its central cashiers and packing system, must be one store. But the impression I got on this visit was that each counter operates like a separate sub-store, ties to a different owner or manager with links to one manufacture or style or price range, no interest in directing you to another area.

I was therefore under the impression that the counter where I stopped had the store's complete range. However, by asking a second assistant, I was pointed to another area at the side where a different section had another range of much cheaper watches.

Here I discover another brand of watches Takane, not waterproof of splash proof only for about waterproof to about $30 (about £15 - see today's exchange rate on a conversion website) or $35/40 for the row above in the revolving cabinet.

I looked at the cheaper ones first, then decided they were not what I wanted. Besides the difference of 5 or even ten dollars was under £5. For me, it was more important to get a watch which would not be in danger of breaking every time I washed a cup, or washed my hands, especially in Singapore where I went in the shower at least twice a day, often three times a day, or went for a swim every day.

Takane Brand Colours
The Takane brand offered a whole range of colours. I could have had black, pink, orange, royal blue or mixed colours.

I chose a black and red watch. The strap is black. The dial is red. The black stays clean in daytime and looks sophisticated with black evening clothes. Style M403. I found it later on the website.

The red is a cheerful touch. Unlike an all red watch, the red won't clash too much with orange and pink clothes.

Size
Equally important, the Takane watches also come in both small and large sizes. The large ones, apart from being heavy, look clumsy on my small wrists, as if I have borrowed somebody else's watch. Big watches look clumsy on a small wrist.


Instructions In Box
I chose to wear it but asked to keep the box. Just as well I did, because the box contained instructions.

Four Buttons
I liked the fact that my watch did not have symbols on the four oblong buttons but English instructions, clockwise from top left, reset,st/stp, light, mode.

Setting Accurate Or Fast
I asked the man in the shop if he would set it to the right time. I wanted to have it going right away, to be sure it worked, and to save the half hour reading instructions.

On second thoughts I asked him to set it plus five minutes to make sure I was always five minutes early or on time rather than five minutes late. (This worked brilliantly. I kept dashing out five minutes late, but actually on time. So I was on time or early everywhere.)

Instructions
I later looked at the instructions in the box. It is has a 100 year calendar. That should be enough for me.

I shall photograph the instructions in case I lose them and to have them handy if I want to use the stopwatch or change the battery, or buy a battery (CR 2025 - who would know). In addition to having a back light, it has a stop watch. And dual time!

I am very pleased with my purchase. I have been looking all over London at watch shops, department stores, motorway stops, and most of the watches are not waterproof, are huge and heavy, or cost too much, usually all three.

Now I know a brand which suits me, I can probably buy them on line.

The brand - Takane.
www.takane-watch.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,