All Fired Up!

I wish I was talking about my zest for what my job entails... or the long, overdue family vacation in a faraway beach resort somewhere...

Alas, it is not... not for a foreseeable period of time.

The newspaper only told what has been felt by all here that the month of February was the hottest and most driest month in Singapore in all 140 years!

The has not been rain in Tampines for the whole month. There were rainfall in other parts of the island, but amounted only to a drizzle. The weather is not about to let up anytime so soon either. We are looking or rather, going to feel this scotching heat for a couple of months to come.


Already into early March, Tampines has been all "fired-up!" Bush fire along Avenue 9 has been in the newspapers every year, but never this often.

Apart from the searing heat, intermittently since last month, we had to endure burning smells and traces of soot flying into our home and dirtying our white day curtains from the bush fires that had been raging a few blocks away in the wooded area along Tampines Avenue 9.

That has been the place where I like to go mountain biking on weekends to escape the city life and reconnect myself with nature. Nothing much to see there; no spectacular view that is worth a picture to be taken but the quietness except for the rustling of the leaves when the wind blows accompanied by the songs of the different kinds of birds make the place my oasis away from home.

Now, as I am typing this post, this oasis of mine is still burning. I know this because I can see the hazy cast I see outside my window. The smell of burnt grass is strong too.


I surprised that the fire was raging as I got off the bus along Tampines Avenue 9 after work today. Stopped a while and took some pictures and some video shots with my iPhone.

I was quite immersed in snapping pictures and shooting videos that when I turned around, I could see a cluster of after-work people like me, doing the same thing... with their iPhones! It will not be a surprise to stumble upon the same bush fire take in their blogs or Facebook.


Poor Wifey has had her first rash on parts of her body simply because the weather is just too hot and humid that her own perspiration irritated her skin... and Wifey is not the kind of person who perspire so easily.

That is not all that has taken its toll on Wifey. The air quality, though not as bad, has triggered her with mild asthma attacks. Fortunately, the recent trip to the doctor's at Changi General Hospital has kept her prepared for this and make it bearable for her.

I on the other hand, has been perspiring like a pig. The fan is and aimed at me wherever I am in my home... either at the living room watching TV or at my den, surfing the net or blogging.

We cannot really turn on the air-conditioner often because Wifey hates it and I do not like it because it is costly energy guzzler and not environmentally friendly. We tried turning it all night while we slept when the air was bad and the fan was effectively blowing warm air. I slept soundly and did not break a sweat but Wifey was not as comfortable.


She told me the next morning that she had to take a puff of her inhaler in the middle of the night before she could get to sleep again.

So, as hot as 35 degrees Celsius it gets, this household will have fans blasting its occupants until the weather is said to come down to its normal average temperature of 30 degrees Celsius during the day and 26 to 28 at night.

For now, the fire fighters will be busy putting out sporadic bush fires around this island for two more months.