Retirement

All of us looked forward to retirement when we were working. We dream of the day when we don't have to wake up in the morning and rush, packed like sardines in a bus or the train for work. We dreamed of being able to be free to do whatever we want with the day, or with ourselves. For most of us, that day will come and we are happy to begin another phase of our life - retirement.

However, there are some people who do not look forward to retirement. They have been working all their life. Work occupies their time, and gives them purpose. Work is all they know. Because of their work, they find purpose in life. They feel useful. When they retire, there is no work to go to. There is no reason to wake up in the morning. No problems at work waiting to be solved. No adrenalin rush, no deadlines to meet. They wake up and they wonder what to do for the rest of the day. They feel useless. Their lives become aimless and empty. And they wonder if it is going to be like that for the rest of their life.

Depending on who you are, or what sort of person you are, retirement can be a fun and exciting new phase of life. Or, it could be the time when your mind and body start to deteriorate. For some people, life begins at retirement. For others, death begins at retirement.

Retirement can be a great joy if you have enough money, and have figured out what you want to do with your time and how to spend your money. If you don't have a lot of money, you will have to be a shrewd planner. Make sure you don't spend all your money before your time is up.

Retirement is a new phase of your life. It is a time when you get to decide what you want to do with your time. You can travel to see how the other half of the world lives. You can pick up a hobby, enrol for a new course; you can be a volunteer with a community or organization, or you can take it easy and go with the flow - decide what you want to do for the day after you wake up.

If you have a family, you can spend more time with your family. If you are single, you are even more free to do as you please. The trick is to enjoy yourself to the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money. That would be troublesome.

If you can afford to retire, appreciate it and make the most of it. There are people who do not have that luxury to retire due to commitments.

For those of you who are retired, are you enjoying your retirement? For those who are going to retirement soon, have you planned for your retirement?

If you are one of those who do not look forward to retirement. You need a change of mindset. Take retirement as a new ‘work’ project. Plan an adventure, reinvent yourself. Think about all the things you wanted to do, but didn’t have the time to do. Now is the time to do them. Think about what might be interesting to do, what you might like to do. Formulate a basic plan for your retirement. Plan it beforehand so that you will not be caught unaware when the day comes. You can always change your plans as you go along. You might want to do more of what interests you and less of what you do not have fun doing. It is all up to you.

The key to retirement is to relax, have fun, enjoy what you are doing. Learn to appreciate the little moments, the little things in life. Most importantly, keep yourself active – body and mind. Otherwise, both the body and mind will begin to deteriorate. That would not be fun at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLOGGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for stopping by. Follow me if you find my posts interesting. If you know of anyone who might appreciate these posts, do share the link with them. Cheers!

Snippets From My Recent Visit To Chinatown

I saw this fancy coloured car in Chinatown the other day.

A new hotel in Chinatown – Hotel 1888 Collection? What a name. There are quite a few of these shophouses converted to hotels already. Some of them are boutique hotels, some are basic hotels, and some are hostels for backpackers. Whether it is a boutique hotel or a basic hotel, being in the heart of Chinatown, they are costly to stay.

They can’t be doing well in these times of pandemic. During the first wave of the pandemic, when we were all caught unaware by the seriousness of the pandemic, the government reached out to theses hostels and hotels for help to house people under quarantine. I guess the reimbursement helped to defray some of their costs and expenses.

Shops in Chinatown who catered to the tourist trades are the hardest hit by the pandemic. There were many shops selling simple, affordable souvenir stuff. Business was already competitive before the pandemic. With hardly or no tourists at all, there have no business. There were some support from the government, and also the landlords to cover their rentals in the initial stages of the pandemic. I am not sure what is the situation in the way of help from the government like now. Many shops had no choice but to give up after a year, because rentals cost an arm and a leg.

Some shops in Chinatown. A medicinal shop, a souvenir shop, a porcelain shop and an arts shop. All very quiet, empty of customers.

Durians - the king of fruits, here in the tropics anyway. They are seasonal, and this is almost the end of the season now. When we were children and lived in the village, we had two durian trees. We all look forward to the durian seasons.

A hawker center in People’s Park Center, or was it People’s Park Plaza. I keep getting these two buildings mixed up. Pre-pandemic days, they were always busy, noisy and messy. Not my favourite place to eat. Now that Covid-19 restrictions here has eased and dining out is allowed again – albeit with a restriction in numbers allowed per table, it is still better than nothing. They were quite busy when my friend and went to have a drink to keep out of the rain. Very good crowd, I would say, for a weekday and a rainy day at that.

Saw this beautiful tree with flowers and fruits. I had meant to go back and take a proper picture of the tree when it stopped raining, but forgot all about it.

Beautiful bougainvillea. Most of our overhead bridges have beds of these. They liven up the place with their sweet colours.

An Indian Temple.

One side of the sky is clear, you can even see the moon. Another side of the sky, dark clouds were looming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLOGGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for stopping by. Follow me if you find my posts interesting. If you know of anyone who might appreciate these posts, do share the link with them. Cheers!

A Visit To Chinatown

It’s been a while since I have been to Chinatown, due largely to the Covid-19 restrictions. Recently, there is some easing in the restrictions. We are allowed to dine out again. So, together with my friend, we were going to have a walk around Chinatown to see if anything has changed, and then later, find a place to have dinner.

Unfortunately, it was pissing rain when we arrived – and quite heavily too. I didn’t bring a brolly with me as I hadn’t expected it to rain. It was Murphy’s law at work. It rained heavier and longer when you don’t have an umbrella with you.

We wandered along the shop fronts taking pictures of what we found, or thought interesting. Eventually, we decided to find a place to sit down and have a drink while waiting for the rain to stop.

When we emerged from the shop after our drinks, the rain had stopped. It was early evening, and the lights were coming on. Not very good lighting for phone cameras.

Here are some photos from that visit to Chinatown.

This was what greeted me when I came out of the station. Wet, wet, wet.

Shops in Chinatown.

An apartment in the vicinity.

Looking up from the exit of the train station.

Looking down onto the train station’s entrance.

Views from the overhead bridge. Pasting time while waiting for the rain to stop, before deciding that it is not going to stop anytime soon.

The rain had stopped and the lights were coming on as we emerged after a drink. Our next stop? Dinner. But before that, we had a quick wander about the place while it is still light enough to take some pictures.

Quite a nice shot of the moon – considering it was taken with a phone camera on a grey, misty early evening.

Most of the shops that catered to the tourists were closed. Victims of the pandemic. The streets were very quiet. A pale shadow of the pre-pandemic days. The rain didn’t help, I am sure.

This restaurant was always very busy, and this was the busiest corner in Chinatown. But now, there was only a table of two here and there.

A nice, new and empty restaurant.

Things are not any much better along the main road. Most shops were closed, some for the day, some until the next tenant takes over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLOGGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for stopping by. Follow me if you find my posts interesting. If you know of anyone who might appreciate these posts, do share the link with them. Cheers!

Palm Trees

Does palm trees make you think of tropical, sandy beaches?

Palm trees grow mostly in tropical climate and they are evergreen. Apparently there are over 2,600 species of palm trees. Some palm trees look very similar, it is difficult to tell which is which.

Here are some palm trees seen around Singapore. The names of the first three palms I am sure of because there have a sign on their stem.

The Itaya amicorum palm

The Mexican blue palm

The Date palm

The following few palms resemble those I saw on the web. So, I am reasonably sure.

The Fuji fan palm

The Fan palm

The Bismarckia palm

The following looks like Bismarckia palms, but I am not sure. Maybe they belong to the same family.

These looks like foxtail palms.

The following palms - I do not know the names of. Instead of trying to name them and ended up confusing you, I will just let them be. Or maybe you can help me identify them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BLOGGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for stopping by. Follow me if you find my posts interesting. If you know of anyone who might appreciate these posts, do share the link with them. Cheers!