Singapore National Day Sunday August 9th 2020 - Be Prepared To See, Sing, Eat and Drink Singapore Style

The Official National Day Celebrations period lasts from July 1st to September 30th. Three months! That covers most of the UK summer holiday period for families, schools and universities.

When I first came to Singapore I was impressed by all the flags and wondered where they came from. Now that I am a Permanent Resident I know. This year the government gave every household a pack in a handy fabric tote bag, containing a large flag with two tapes so you can tie the flag onto the railings of your balcony.

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Inside the bag was another smaller flag you could hold in your hand and wave.

Red represents universal brotherhood and equality of man.

White represents purity and virtue.

The crescent moon represents a young nation in the ascendant.

The five white stars represent, democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. The stars are arranged in a circle in the red upper half of the flag.

This year, 2020, for the first time, we were given masks and a thermometer. So, if we go out to watch, we will not be spreading germs.

The day's events start at 10.20 am.

You can expect:

A speech by the VIP.

A fly-past.

A parade of the national organizations, the armed forces, the emergency forces, all ages.

In the afternoon there's more.

Fireworks.

Nowadays no need to leave home. Watch it all on your screen.

If you want to join in or understand what they are singing. Here's the national anthem.

The Story Of The Anthem

"Majulah Singapura" is the national anthem of Singapore. It was written and composed by Singaporean musician Zubir Said in 1958. Seven years later, the anthem was adopted. This song must be sung in Malay, although there are translations provided in the country's three other official languages—English, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil.

Singaporeans are encouraged to sing the national anthem during times of national celebration or at important national events such as at the National Day Parade, at National Day observance ceremonies held by government departments and educational institutions such as schools and universities, and at sports events that Singapore teams take part in.

Since everybody else will be singing in Malay, you might as well practise at least the opening and ending, better still all of it.

Rumi	IPA transcription
Mari kita rakyat Singapura Sama-sama menuju bahagia Cita-cita kita yang mulia Berjaya Singapura. Marilah kita bersatu Dengan semangat yang baru Semua kita berseru 𝄆 Majulah Singapura! 𝄇[1]	[ma.ri ki.ta raʔ.jat̚ si.ŋa.pu.ra] [sa.ma sa.ma mə.nu.dʒu ba.ha.gi.a] [tʃi.ta tʃi.ta ki.ta jaŋ mu.li.a] [bə(r).dʒa.ja si.ŋa.pu.ra] [ma.ri.la(h) ki.ta bə(r).sa.tu] [də.ŋan sə.ma.ŋat̚ jaŋ ba.ru] [sə.mu.a ki.ta bə(r).se.ru] 𝄆 [ma.dʒu.la(h) si.ŋa.pu.ra] 𝄇

 Here is the Chinese (Mandarin)

Singaporean Mandarin	Hanyu Pinyin
来吧，新加坡人民， 让我们共同向幸福迈进； 我们崇高的理想， 要使新加坡成功。 来吧，让我们以新的精神， 团结在一起； 我们齐声欢呼： 𝄆 前进吧，新加坡！ 𝄇	Lái ba, Xīnjiāpō rénmín, Ràng wǒmen gòngtóng xiàng xìngfú màijìn; Wǒmen chónggāo de lǐxiǎng, Yào shǐ Xīnjiāpō chénggōng. Lái ba, ràng wǒmen yǐ xīn de jīngshén, Tuánjié zài yīqǐ; Wǒmen qí shēng huānhū: 𝄆 Qiánjìn ba, Xīnjiāpō! 𝄇

Singable English version (unofficial)

Come, fellow Singaporean people,

With joy aglow we shall as one progress;

May our yearning so noble

Bring Singapore great success.

 Come, let us unite together,

All of us with a new vigour;

Let our voices soar:

Onward! Oh, Singapore! 

I would like a more universal theme, with everyday language, whilst retaining the same syllable count and beat or intonation.

Here's my fist effort:

Come, friends, join Singaporean peoples

Bring smiles and plans, in teams we'll progress

May dreams build towns tall as steeples

Spread Singapore's great success.

Join us, we'll work and plan together

Young, old, rich, poor, in all weather

Bring health, wealth, calm, love, laughs, more

Garden home, Singapore.

You may also have seen versions of a popular song.

What food could you eat? 

Singaporean favourite foods include:

Fish and Chips

Scones (Make your own or buy from Four Leaves in shopping malls such as Bukit Panjang)

Chinese

Chicken rice

Duck rice

Indian

Fish head curry (From restaurants in Little India in Singapore)

Roti Prata (Flat bread made by rolled out in fat fingers of dough like making spaghetti, roughly spiralled and jumbled and pressed together and cooked like a pancake.)

To drink Singaporean Style

Tiger Beer

Some factory tours may be available. Check current situation from their website.

Check the quality of your nearest branch as they are franchises.

Malay

Kaya toast for breakfast (Buy kaya jam in jars)

Kaya is coconut jam, yellow colour, made from coconut cream, eggs sugar, and sometimes added pandan leaf (pale green faintly flavoured)

Add coconut cream or coconut to savoury dishes or desserts

Durian (strong smelling sulphorous fresh fruit or fruit puree on other dishes or more delicate flavour on cake or ice cream like a cross between banana and chestnut)

Useful Websites

National Anthem in Malay, Chinese, English and other languages

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majulah_Singapura

Road Closures

https://www.ndp.gov.sg/traffic-advisories/

Tiger Beer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Beer

Kaya toast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_toast

CHICKEN RICE RECIPE

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainanese_chicken_rice

https://www.facebook.com/NDPeeps

Author

Angela Lansbury

Please share your favourite posts. Join me on Facebook, LinkedIn.

I am the immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, Toastmasters International speakers' training club. We are a President's Distinguished Club. 

Losing your car at an airport:: what to do

Have you ever lost your car in a car park? What a worry. Is it stolen? Moved by the police? Moved by the parking people? Will you ever find it?

Who will help? How quickly? Where do you think you left it? Which car park?

What is the numberplate? The colour? The make of car?

Lost Car
A relative of mine lost their car for about half an hour on returning to S t a n s t e d airport. The driver noted the car park (three huge car parks) and the nearby bus stop for the link bus to the airport. But when they came back they could not find the car.

Trudging around a car park, although brightly lit at night, when you are tired from travelling and its raining and you are worried is not fun.

Websites
I went on line to try to help. The help lines go off at 6 pm. Nobody to call for help. I remember once something similar happened to us as Disney, I think it was the one in Florida. They had a bus to drive people around. Each car park was named for an animal or something memorable. At least you were driving in the warm. And there was no charge for the help.

Stansted
Back to the problem at S t a n s t e d. (Predictive text called it stagnated. Yes, the driver was stagnated.)

Valet Parking
Valet parking sounds a good idea. Unfortunately the cost is £45! I presume that's on top of the cost of the parking charge. If you are highly paid and on expenses, maybe.

Photos
My solution in an unfamiliar car park, at a supermarket, is to take a photo of both my care and the parking place and the exit I use. I can show any helper the car I have lost. I have a record of the number plate. I know the model of the car. I can't do what has happened a couple of times, forget I am looking for my relative's car instead of mine. If it's a hire car, I know the numberplate.

Number Plates
No good just remembering just the first three letters or the last three letters. I've done that, either deliberately or accidentally (having forgotten the beginning or could not read my writing. It may turn out that all the city's cars have that ending which happened to me (in India), or all the country, or all the state, or all the county (Middlesex), or all this year's cars (UK), or all hire cars have the same prefix or suffix (Malta).

Success
The good news is I got a call half an hour later to say the car had been found. What was the reason for the problem? Two nearby bus stops, went to the one ahead of the car and not behind it, the furthest not the nearest.

Remote Control Sounds
Eventually the driver had thought to try using the remote control door opener. The lock or unlock flashes twice as it does when you get into or out of the car. So you walk along the rows and whether the car is right or left, even a few yards away and in the dark, the remote locates it and alerts you. If you are really desperate you can press on the warning triangle which makes the siren.

Happy ending. But remember not to rush off in your haste to catch the plane, and end up delayed on your return. As the saying goes, more haste, less speed.

Remedies
At least one of the Disney theme parks has or had characters (animals) in the names and visual reminders of the car parks. A multi-storey car park in Paris has or had different colours or murals on each level.

Malta had numbers on each marked parking place.

Call To Action
If you are a regular user of an airport or have any kind of clout please write and ask the airport to address the problem and to provide ways of remembering.

I hope you will always find your car. Happy holidays.
http://www.stanstedairport.com/parking/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.

Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In

French word of the day: carillon

The letter C seems to be the most common in my ongoing list of French words used in English. About a fifth of the words start with the letter c.

To give just a few examples:
café, chateau, contretemps, carillon, cachet, contre jour

Today's word is carillon. After I looked up carillon for my research on my post on musical buildings I realised it was also a word to add to my list of French words.

A carillon is a group of bells playing a tune. Very interesting that you start with the lowest sound and rise up the scale to the highest as a warning of fire or other alert such as wartime emergency. The carillon was not an amusement for tourists but practical, the forerunner of the modern siren.

From the article on carillon I noticed another word, carillonneur, which you would not often need, unless you were one, or needed one. But if you are a conoisseur, you will be pleased to learn a new word.

A carillon nowadays often plays a tune, especially to mark special occasions such as a national day, festival or royal wedding or celebration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillon

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher and author, English and French teacher and tutor.
Please follow my posts here and on Facebook.

Singapore and Malaysia haze - my friend says

A friend of mine just phoned about the haze. He said schools in Malaysia had shut (KL I think). At another property in Singapore an expat heard the alternating siren from defence which (according to an announcement interrupting the classical music channel Symphony 92.4) signals go to shelter. The continuous sound from the siren indicates it's safe to come out.

I presume this means the haze, not some kind of international attack, although you might think it amounts to almost the same thing. When your school are shut, your sports events and charity runs are cancelled ...

In Singapore you can see people on trains and buses wearing the white masks bought from pharmacies. Some employers distribute masks to their staff.

A neighbour in Singapore told me he is now waking in the morning having to clear his throat.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/air-quality-in-singapore-remains-unhealthy-on-tuesday-24-hour-psi-at-8am-122

To get official updates go the local newspapers and government websites.
todayonline.com (Today newspaper, Singapore)
straitstimes.com (Straits Times newspaper, Singapore)

Sympathies to those in California suffering from the fires.

Glossary
PSI Pollutant Standards Index

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer,