DSA

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Of course, u knew! U just couldn't stomach that I commented on your personal rant on your wife losing her heel, and u went squealing "This is war!" Whichever combat training u underwent, if this is how u gonna go for your ICT and turn combative over a heel? I dread to be your commanding officer. Even your inability to comprehend simple English is evidently apparent Precisely I see your post: Your wife lost a heel, BIG DEAL! Some shop lost $860,000! Is your unit in Linear Green even worth $860k?? Someone's wife lost her panties, another's wife lost her bra, one particular hussyband lost his ballz - who in Linear Green is interested in your own sorry plight? There are far more important issues happening in Linear Green than u losing your face, your fat ego feeling bruised or your wife losing her heel. Do I give an iota of a da.mn about what your & your kind's opinion of me? Absolutely NOT! Coz they are all irrelevant & useless. I suffer no fools and I categorically reject mediocrity. I will be right on the blood than to please people like u.

Anyone, everyone, except perhaps you, knows all the news I posted here are either from ST or CNA. The link in the news points to the source. I guess u never bother to click on them at all. Moreover, did I ever once claim credit for authoring those news reports? And, yes u are overly sensitive coz your ego felt bruised.

Armed suspect in goldsmith robbery nabbed Apr 29, 2010 ONE of three suspects behind the armed robbery at a goldsmith shop in New Upper Changi Road last Friday has been arrested. A police spokesman said the 35-year-old man was nabbed on Tuesday night, following extensive investigations in which the police managed to identify him and track him down. The spokesman did not elaborate on how the suspect was caught as investigations are still under way to track down his two accomplices, who remain at large. The robbery at Yong Sheng Goldsmiths at Block 210, New Upper Changi Road, saw three men making off with jewellery over $800,000. The men went into the shop, brandished their knives and pulled down the shop's shutters. Shouting at the four employees there to move behind the counter and squat down, they opened the shelves and emptied trays of jewellery into bags. Witnesses from neighbouring shops said they heard a commotion and thought it was a quarrel. The robbery, which lasted about five minutes, happened at about 3.30pm. The police said the suspects are believed to have fled on two motorcycles in the direction of New Upper Changi Road. They were last seen wearing helmets and were clad in dark-coloured long-sleeved tops and jeans. No one was held hostage or injured during the attack, which took place on a crowded street in Bedok Central. The owner of the shop had earlier told The Straits Times that closed-circuit television footage of the incident had been handed over to the authorities. Anyone with information should call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Armed robbery of $800,000 worth of jewellery vs petty sabotage by pinching of ONE heel? Where's the contest in terms of news worthiness & importance to the Bedok Central community??? Unless it's 1 half of Stuart Weitzman’s Rita Hayworth Heels lah, then it makes some gossip fodder by creating a big HOOHAA over it. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Goldsmith robber charged Apr 29, 2010 By Elena Chong A MAN was charged in a district court on Thursday with the goldsmith robbery at New Upper Changi Road last Friday. No plea was taken from Koh Koon Hong, 35. He is alleged to have robbed Yong Sheng Goldsmith of $860,000 worth of jewellery with two others while armed with a knife. He was remanded at Central police station lock-up until May 6. If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 10 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane

Police nab one Bedok goldsmith robber, search continues for others By Evelyn Choo | Posted: 28 April 2010 1835 hrs SINGAPORE: Police have arrested a 35-year-old man in relation to the goldsmith shop robbery last week. The shop, located at Bedok Central, lost more than S$800,000 worth of jewellery. Police said they arrested the man late Tuesday night after extensive enquiries. Investigations are on-going to trace other accomplices involved. Witnesses told MediaCorp they saw three masked men walking out of the goldsmith shop last Friday. The arrested man will be charged in court on Thursday with armed robbery. If convicted, he faces a maximum jail term of 10 years and 12 strokes of the cane.

$500k jewellery heist at Bedok by Evelyn Choo 05:55 AM Apr 24, 2010 SINGAPORE - Armed men made off with about half a million dollars worth of jewellery during a daylight robbery in Bedok Central on Friday. The police received a call at about 3pm about the incident at Yong Sheng Goldsmith (picture) at Block 210. Eyewitnesses told MediaCorp that they heard a woman yelling from the goldsmith shop. Ms Amanda Tan said: "I heard someone run across and shout 'robbery, robbery!' in Chinese." By then, the shutters at Yong Sheng had been rolled down halfway. Peering into the shop, eyewitnesses said they saw three masked men, all dressed in black. They said two of the suspects jumped over the counter. The robbery lasted for about two minutes, after which the three men calmly walked out of the shop, witnesses said. Two of them were carrying bags, while the other had a 30cm long knife, the witnesses added. "They carried a sling bag ... They walked like normal people," said another eyewitness, Ms Sarina Goh. Police said the suspects fled on two motorbikes with an assortment of jewellery valued at half a million dollars.

Dear Linear Greeners, There is a spate of public graffiti that I've observed recently during my daily walkabout in the public areas of Linear Green:Unethical, rogue contractors polluting our beloved Linear Green by sticking their unauthorised & illegal notices on: Aluminium side panel next to the lifts at the ground level lift lobbiesLetter boxes and also Our nice, white, clean pillars I do not wish to comment on the quality, the lack thereof actually, in their service level but I would NOT entrust the leasing of my entire unit to them! The simple reason being, since they obviously do not even give a hoot about the 'newness' of my beloved Linear Green precinct, I am seriously very doubtful of their service quality and wonder aloud their sincerity in protecting my interests which is obviously my precious unit in LG! What if they introduce illegal immigrants? Or unsavoury characters? Or some rowdy foreigners from certain developing but less advanced countries? I have good neighbours and I am rather thankful for that and I like to be one as well! 多一事不如少一事嘛! And I digress. Coming back to the unauthorised & illegal notices, I've tried removing & disposing them in the BIG friendly green trash bins where they rightfully belong. But I am only but one person's effort. Therefore, I ask Linear Greeners to please remove as & when you see such unauthorised & illegal notices & deposit them in the BIG, friendly green trash bins where they rightfully belong. The reason is because of the adhesive used to anchor these unauthorised & illegal notices to the surface on which they are displayed - if not removed expeditiously, will be changed chemically by the high heat of our climate, which causes them to harden & the resulting stain irremovable even using the most powerful industrial cleaning solutions which must not be used as they will damage the surfaces. Let us be generous & protect Linear Green's clean & green image by rejecting categorically such cheapskate & crass way of service advertisement which mars & damages the image of Linear Green. Case in point: Observe the notice board under the bus stop shelter nearest to the kiosk nearest to Bedok MRT ground exit closest to Bedok Bus Interchange. Now imagine that in Linear Green = attractive market value of units in Linear Green will plummet. Once the condos emerges up next to Bedok Bus Interchange in 2018, Linear Green will not be the newest HDB flats in Bedok Central anymore. I warmly urge & encourage all Linear Greeners to come together & keep our beloved precinct clean & green. While performing my daily walkabout, I have managed to learn from the workers from Clean Solutions that only ONE of them are in fact: honest to goodness;hard-working;NOT Superman - they are just like any other person that we come across daily;Thus cannot be expected to clean every single dirty spot in the public areas in Linear Green!Simply because they can't be in every spot of Linear Green at the same time what......!But Linear Greeners can. If every Linear Greeners refrain from littering from windows and also in public areas, our Linear Green can be the most spectacularly clean estate in Singapore. Please be nice to them - they are VVVIP = They make sure our Linear Green is reasonably clean & green. Let's be warm & gracious to them so they can be motivated, despite the meagre salaries Clean Solutions pay them, to help keep Linear Green clean & green. Esp when you need to seek their expert assistance in eliminating the most stubborn stain outside your unit. Like what I had to yesterday and I enjoyed the most delicious humble pie. No one is responsible for the state of Linear Green but us, the Linear Greeners. We keep our homes clean - this spirit can be extended to your surrounding environment. If we, as good Linear Greeners, don't even bother to take care of Linear Green, who else will? Keep It Clean Keep It Green For All That We Can Win For Everyone in Linear Green! Thank you!

Oh, that's a pity coz I hear HDB will have a booth there so any Linear Greener who wishes to provide feedback on wrong fixture & furnishing material choices & shoddy workmanship can approach the HDB staff manning the booth. Our MP will also be there - can CC the feedback to him as well.

I'm no ID nor contractor so I can't really provide much help for your use. However, my unit is somewhat similar to yours - I didn't do a feature wall for my TV which sits on a TV cabinet chucked into that corner made by that 1.5 m short wall. Looking at the floor plan of your unit, I consider the flow of 气 as most important, i.e. humans entering thru' the front door into the bedrooms where recuperation & recovery is to take place every night and the reverse flow of 气 in the morning when the occupiers leave their bedrooms for school and work. If u were to do a perm feature wall that extends out into the 1 m ultra narrow corridor, that might impede the flow of 气 and the space behind the feature will be darkened unless u install lighting in the corridor that can illuminate the back of the feature wall. This, however, may proved to be too bright for the occupiers when they wish to sleep = bedroom doors must be closed, which again, impedes the flow of 气, ie circulation of air in the bedrooms. So the other alternatives are a swing out or a slide out feature wall. The downsides of such designs are the risk of the hinges or rolling tracks giving away in the future due to daily wear & tear. Therefore for such designs, you will need a very practical ID who can draw designs that guarantees to work for a very long time or a honest, trustworthy contractor with experience of designing, fabricating & installing attractive AND durable feature walls. Such ideas must survive your thorough evaluation and scrutiny by professionals whom u can trust coz remember I am no ID nor contractor so I know nothing. I just provide intuitive ideas which may not work at all in reality.

From: HDB e-invite <WelcomeParty@hdb.gov.sg> Subject: Linear Green @ Bedok Central Community Party To: All Linear Greeners @ Bedok Central Date: Thursday, 1 April, 2010, 1:17 PM Linear Green @ Bedok Central Community Party Dear Linear Green Residents, Congratulations on your purchase of a home at Linear Green @ Bedok Central. We hope you have settled into your new home and got to know some of your neighbours. To welcome you and your family into the neighbourhood, we warmly invite you to a fun-filled Welcome Party on 17 Apr 2010 (Sat) from 4.00 pm - 7.00 pm. A range of exciting activities such as stage performances and interactive games are in store for you. Make use of this opportunity to mingle with your neighbours and enjoy a sumptuous buffet dinner with your family. Do join us at the Community Party with your family*. Look out for the invitation cards which would be distributed to you nearer the date of party. See you at the party! * Remember to bring along your NRIC to register and collect your souvenir (1 per household) during the party. Organised by : Linear Green @ Bedok Central Community Party Committee

Bubbly!!! E-----!!! Where have u hiding arh?! Nong time neber c u! April 17th u & your family FREE or not? PS: Best not to quote entire posts that are lengthy to which you are responding as that will lengthen the page length & increase the amount of unnecessary scrolling by readers. The

Any Linear Greeners are enjoying superb quality deep sleep every night on Serta mattress?? I wanna dump my current one - TOO HOT to sleep without aircon!! @#!@$!%$^$%&%* Serta is having a clearance sale of their mattresses starting from just $999. If you are in the market for a new mattress, like me lor, you might want to check them out! QUICK!

As u can observe on HDB Event Calendar, it is stated that the coming Welcome Party on 17th April is organized by HDB. This fact leads to a bold conjecture that HDB is likely to have allocated budgeted fund$ to stage this Welcome Party = it should be as FUN, ENTERTAINING & uber SUCCESSFUL as the one held on 20th June 2009, organized by our Linear Green RC. There will be, in addition, a FES Multiplier Effect = FES x the number of times the funds allocated by HDB over that received & raised by Linear Green RC for the 2009 version of Linear Green Welcome Party. With the budgeted funds from HDB, I can infer, at 100% confidence level, the 2010 version of Linear Green Welcome Party will be a HUGE event for Linear Greeners. And I strongly believe all 5 MPs will be invited by HDB which is an uber eager beaver that wishes to showcase, to Prof Jayakumar, Mr Raymond Lim, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Ms Jessica Tan & Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, its achievements in public housing planning & development in Bedok precinct. I would like to also think the 5 MPs are highly likely to attend this Welcome Party, baring unforseeable events that might borrow them from visiting Linear Green @ Bedok Central on 17th April 2010. Here are the details for this Welcome Party: Event Date: 17 Apr 2010 Time : 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm Venue : Linear Green Garden NB: This event is listed on HDB Event Calendar. What can this event do for Linear Greeners? As some Linear Greeners may encounter defects in your LG unit due to shoddy workmanship and/or utterly wrong materials used for certain fixtures, I would like to propose a feedback garner exercise in which Linear Greeners' experiences, thoughts, suggestions & recommendations on such issues be collected, collated & compiled for constructive channelling to HDB in the achievable aims that certain remedy or repair actions can be taken by HDB. Mr Lee Yi Shyan, our MP for Kampong Chai Chee constituency, WILL be sought and consulted for his expert advice & recommendations on the viability of this feedback exercise IF his busy schedule allows such audience. And IF Mr Lee graciously decides to give us his blessings on this Linear Greeners' endeavour, it will greatly boost our chances of a favourable outcome thus his approval & fullest support of our MP, Mr Lee Yi Shyan willl be very much appreciated. Thus you are immensely invited and more than welcomed to post your experiences, thoughts, suggestions & recommendations on the wall of our Linear Green @ Bedok Central on Facebook. United Linear Greeners stand a better chance of having our feedback channelled to HDB with more Linear Greeners contributing their experiences, thoughts, suggestions & recommendations to this feedback garner exercise. There are 958 households in Linear Green = at least 2 x 958 = so we are looking at 1,916 signatories if every household in Linear Green supports this endeavour.

Hmmm? Is there a need to send the floor plan of your LG unit through a scanner? HDB issues floor plans in JPG. For $5? or is it $10? If u have the image of the floor plan, just upload it to any free image hosting provider, such as iMageShack. Once the upload is completed, you will be presented with a bunch of codes & hyperlinks for u to deploy. Check out the photo albums of our Linear Green @ Bedok Central Community in FaceBook - there are three floor plans uploaded & displayed.

Any Linear Greeners using Singnet 10 Mbps plan to do BTing? Wanna find out the performance leh before re-contracting with Singnet.....

You can post the floor plan of your unit so that Linear Greeners can visualize the view u are getting coz there are three types of 4 roomers = 87 m², 94 m² and 97 m² in Linear Green, in addition to 1 type of 3 roomers, 1 type of 5 roomers. Or u can just knock on the door of your neighbour on the other end whose unit occupies the same floor area as yours & SING a joy-inducing hello!

Well, instead of wondering, why not call the mobile number of the cleaner assigned to Blk 220A? His number is listed on the notice pinned on the block notice board beside the lift.

Welcome Party @ Linear Green Type: Party - House Party Date: Saturday, 17 April 2010 Time: 16:00 - 19:00 Location: Linear Green Garden Street: Bedok Central Linear Green RC is organizing a Community Party to welcome residents of Linear Green @ Bedok Central to their new home. The party will be held on 17 Apr 2010 (Sat) from 4.00 pm - 7.00 pm. Exciting activities such as stage performances, interactive games and free snacks are in store for all residents of Linear Green @ Bedok Central. Residents can take this opportunity to mingle with theirs neighbours and enjoy a sumptuous buffet dinner with family, friends & neighbours! We look forward to seeing you and your family! Organized by Linear Green Welcome Party Committee

That depends on how you are able to twist & wrangle HDB's arm into admitting that Surbana, the architect appointed by HDB, made an unpardonable faux pas in using Semi-Solid Timber Door With Laminate Finish for Bath/WC, supplied by CHNG WOODWORKING PTE LTD, at an area where water will cause bloat damage to the seams of the timber door. And also timber for the skirting. In the hands of low-skilled China Construction workers, the application of the timber panel skirting results in hollowness. Just take a chopstick & tap on various points of the skirting - they will sound different due to the pockets of air embedded between the timber panel & the wall. The air pockets are the PERFECT nesting grounds for ants & other insects, such as rice weevils. HDB will rectify architectural and structural defects within the 1 year defect liability period which commences on the date of sale. During the one-year DLP, HDB will rectify defects in the flat reported by the flat owner. Please note that defects arising from the flat owner's renovation works or usage are not covered by the DLP.

HDB clamps down on illegal subletting By H88 Showing that they mean business, HDB will repossess a flat that had been illegally rented out. The 4rm flat at Blk 336 Bukit Batok Street 32 belonging to a registered real estate agent was rented out to 3 Burmese couples without HDB's approval for $1,900 a month. It was bought in 2007 for $150,000 in cash (so cheap!?) and now roughly worth $320,000 based on recently transacted prices. HDB however will return the owner $150,000 (the original price) less penalties which was not specified. Although the owner might have missed out on potential capital gains, it might not have been a loss making venture if the penalties are not too severe - considering the owner already pocketed roughly $45,600 in rental if it was rented out for the full 2 years. And for those wondering what kind of annual yield this translates to, it is a staggering 15.2% annual return on investment ($1,900 x 12 / $150,000). It was also reported that the owner was connected to two other cases of subletting, either acting as the housing agent to illegally sublet flats or collecting rent for flats owned by relatives. HDB will be seizing these two other flats as well. The best part? The owner, a registered housing agent claims that he did not know HDB approval is needed for subletting, or that flat owners need to wait 3 years before they are eligible to sublet the whole flat. HDB has also taken action against 56 other errant owners (out of ~1,000,000 flats in Singapore?) between January 2008 and December 2009 and fining them between $1,000 and $21,000 (peanuts if the owners were yielding as much as the highlighted case). If this news really make errant owners think twice before illegally subletting, we suspect this might cause rental prices to climb. So what are you waiting for? Call 1800-5556370 (HDB Hotline) to report any "suspected cases" now and see if that nasty neighbor of yours can still flash his new beemer around your HDB car park! FYI Maximum number of subtenants allowed in HDB flats: 1 & 2rm: 4 people 3rm: 6 people 4rm and larger: 9 people

Illegal subletting: HDB to repossess man's flats By Yeo Shang Long Additional reporting by Joan Chew 13 March, 2010 IN A clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties. One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, 52, who had illegally sublet their four-room flat in Bukit Batok. The other two flats in Telok Blangah and Bukit Batok are owned by the couple's daughter and Madam Khoo's 91-year-old aunt respectively. Both flats were also illegally rented out. He acted as agent for the elderly woman and collected rent on her behalf. The HDB said it is taking legal action to take back the units. It is the most serious case of illegal subletting in the last two years. Only three other flats have been compulsorily acquired in that time. In November last year, the HDB checked and found that Mr Poh had sublet his flat to three Myanmar couples without HDB approval. The Pohs, who were not living there at that time, had also breached the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of three years. This rule states that buyers who purchase resale flats without a housing grant from the Central Provident Fund Board have to live in the flat for three years before they can rent out the whole unit. The HDB then told Mr Poh this was unauthorised, and that they were intending to repossess his flat. On Dec 23, the HDB pasted a notice of intention to compulsorily acquire his flat. The HDB told The Straits Times yesterday that Mr Poh will continue to hold the title deeds until investigations are complete. It will then decide whether to take back the title deeds officially and compensate him to the amount of $125,000. Mr Poh, who claims he paid $155,000 for the house, can lodge an appeal against the notice. When asked, he said he was intending to appeal. Mr Poh, an ordinary member of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), pleaded ignorance of the three-year MOP; he said he had been told by the HDB's counter staff that he could sublet the flat after a year. He could not name the HDB employee. But the HDB said that because of Mr Poh's links to the other illegal subletting cases, his claims of ignorance could not be substantiated. 'There is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains,' said the HDB spokesman. Mr Poh said he had not seen the acquisition coming. He added: 'I can't believe a notice can be served within a month of the HDB giving a warning letter.' He said it was more usual for the HDB to send a second warning, or even fine an errant owner first. The Housing and Development Act says, however, that the HDB can compulsorily acquire a flat once it ascertains that the owner is illegally subletting it. 'HDB takes a stern view of unauthorised subletting, and will not hesitate to take strong action against those who flout the rules,' it said. The Board added that it will bring Mr Poh's case to the attention of the IEA. Mr Poh, who claims his daughter is stuck in the United States with marital problems, declined to discuss the cases involving her and his wife's aunt. He said he did not know for sure when they bought their flats. The HDB has taken action against 56 such owners in the last two years, dishing out punishments ranging from fines of $1,000 to $21,000, to repossessing the flats involved. HDB added that there was no discernible upward trend. Flat owners who wish to rent out their flats must obtain approval from the Board and fulfil the MOP. The current MOP for subletting flats is five years for flats bought directly from the HDB or resale flats purchased with a CPF Housing Grant, and three years for resale flats bought without the CPF grant. About 682,000 flats are eligible for subletting, but only 3 per cent of these flats are sublet. Note: HDB flat dwellers do not own their HDB units; they merely hold the physical possession of their HDB flats and a less than 99 years old lease. One may argue that a HDB flat buyer obtains equitable title to his flat. What matter is HDB holds the legal title to HDB flats esp new ones as only old HDB flats are owned by HDB dwellers by strata titles which are only applied to old HDB flats at the time of their sale from HDB donkey years ago. Do not lose your Linear Green unit over illegal subletting. There are eyes & ears abound.

Dear Linear Green Residents, this is an broadcast message of great importance to the well-being, health & safety of all Linear Greeners. There is confirmed & verified empirical evidence gathered on the ground that Linear Green is infested with mosquitoes. I bitter mouth grandma heart urge each & every Linear Greener to exercise utmost daily caution and protect themselves & their loved ones, esp babies, toddlers & kids from such wretched insects. Please spare just 10 mins to mount a S&E effort within & outside your LG unit: Search & empty all traces of stagnant water that are bigger than a 10 cent coin. A good [for the expecting female mosquito but bad for humans] example is the saucer that serves as a base for potted plants, which is an excellent catchment container for stagnant water which is the 2nd love of mosquitoes whose 1st love is human blood which can be easily infected by malaria, dengue & any other blood-based infection and diseases. So look out for potted plants on & below the floor you reside, from the end to which your unit is connected to the other end, including the rubbish chute area. Check for any traces of water larger than a 10 cent coin. Empty the tray or container. Or better! Inform the owner of the potted plants that mosquitoes are trespassing onto their potted plants and they're illegal squatters who ain't paying any rent to them - well, we know some Singaporeans hate losing out on money-making opportunities so this reason should work on them. PS: Title to all areas outside your LG unit resides with HDB & and ECTC is the official agent to perform management of such non-lessee areas. As such, HDB can instruct ECTC to remove any object that is occupying these non-lessee areas. Dengue, malaria & other diseases transmitted by female mosquitoes pose grave fatal danger to humans for if any of these female mosquitoes were to feed on someone who is not infected by malaria and/or dengue fever virus but merely a carrier, the female mosquito can transmit the virus to the next person she feasts upon. QuickView of Info sheet on Aedes mosquitoes & the various diseases which can be transmitted by mosquitoes. PDF version. For those Linear Greeners who have experienced mosquitoes stings in their own residence, it'd be good to state your block & floor so that the info can be useful to NEA who will deploy mozzies hunters who can descend upon the block & attempt to trace down these insects which produces extremely irritating buzzing noises & other life-threatening diseases.

So how do Linear Greeners find the two nearby supermarts that operate 24 hrs? More going on midnight grocery runs 24-hour stores sprouting up in the last few years to meet demand By Jessica Lim Feb 18, 2010 Shoppers at a 24-hour Shop N Save supermarket in Toa Payoh Central around midnight recently. PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA SINGAPOREANS are staying out later and later, for work and play, and are getting their grocery shopping done in the wee hours as a result. Now, supermarkets are rushing to cater to this trend. Once a curiosity here, 24-hour grocery stores are now opening at a steady clip. Singapore's largest supermarket chain, FairPrice, now has 19 24-hour outlets. In 2008, it had just one, in Jurong. Shop N Save, which first dipped its toes into the round-the-clock pond in mid-2005, now has 25 such outlets. Cold Storage has three. It is not just the big boys who are in the game. The iEcon chain of more than 100 minimarts - which sell groceries like rice, frozen meat and fresh vegetables - now has 10 such outlets. It had none two years ago, said PSC Corporation, which runs the franchise. AJ Supermart opened its first 24-hour outlet in 2008 and has 15 such outlets now. Heartland chain MCP Supermarket has seven 24/7 outlets now, with one more on the way, up from five three years ago. These 24-hour outlets are different from the convenience stores of old. There is good reason, too: Their customers, mostly professionals stuck in the office till late or shift workers, are not stopping by to grab just a bag of crisps or an emergency supply of beer for a night in front of the television. Instead, many are buying chilled meat, vegetables and other perishables, either for cooking the next day or for late night dinners. MCP owner Raymond Tan, 47, said the change has occurred in just a few short years. He considered going 24/7 in 2005, but decided against it because 'by 9pm, there were no customers already'. 'But in 2007, things began changing,' he said. 'The stores would be very crowded at 10pm, and it was hard to close because we had to chase customers away.' Business has been so good despite higher overheads - Mr Tan said manpower and utility costs have risen 20 per cent since he started the 24-hour stores - that MCP will open another all-night outlet in Jurong in May. He said his 24-hour stores have played a large part in doubling the chain's revenue. Last year, MCP's turnover hit $32 million, compared to $16 million in 2007. The Republic's late working culture is a key reason for the increase in the number of such shops. Singaporeans continue to lead the pack when it comes to the number of hours they put in at work: 46.2 hours a week as of last September, according to statistics from the Manpower Ministry. This compares to under 40 hours a week for a Taiwanese worker, for instance. Though the figure has not changed that much in the past 10 years, business school lecturers and economists say there may be more to this than meets the eye. 'Official figures track people who clock in and clock out each day. Many of us here don't, and we work long overtime hours. This is especially so now, when everyone is aiming to prove his worth in the wake of a downturn,' said senior lecturer Sarah Lim, from Singapore Polytechnic's School of Business. FairPrice managing director Seah Kian Peng agreed. 'As Singapore's socio-economic landscape evolves, we are seeing a trend of more people staying out late for both work and play. Working hours are less fixed, so people need more alternative timings when it comes to grocery shopping,' said Mr Seah, who is an MP for Marine Parade GRC. Avoiding crowds is another reason more people are shopping in the wee hours, customers said. Air stewardess Cai Xiumei, 27, hits the 24-hour Cold Storage outlet in Katong Mall three times a week because of her irregular working hours. She said: 'Many of my friends in regular jobs work till 9pm and can't make it to a supermarket before it closes.' Despite the booming business, stores say opening all night is not without its drawbacks. Hiring people to work the night shift is one major hurdle, say supermarkets. To get around this, the chains try everything from giving a monthly allowance to more flexible rostering. Another problem is that not all the shoppers who walk in at odd hours are welcome. Late-night partygoers seeking one last hit of alcohol are especially problematic. 'Some people buy alcohol, then drink entire bottles at the carpark outside my stores and make a lot of noise,' said MCP's Mr Tan, adding that drunk customers have tried to force cashiers to sell them more booze. To keep such incidents to a minimum, some stores do not apply for licences that allow them to sell alcohol past midnight. For Madam Kok Mei Yue, 48, the choice is easy. Said the owner of a 24-hour iEcon minimart in Bedok: 'We don't want to sell to customers after midnight anyway, they just get drunk and create trouble.'

LOL! I like to think that I do know my neighbourhood rather well. Suspiciously shady, cramped LC joints of the likes such as 欧亚按摩 are & will never be my cup of tea. Apart from the natural rationale decidente of such illegal activities are just not me, I have my lovely loving wife who easily shines all of them to shame simply with her poise & presence. 女人我见的多了，真正的美女没几个。 用钱买来的女人根本不值一文！ So why do I have to even pay such LC & crass joints for blah whatevers when I have one rare beauty to amour & to hold? Thus I highly recommend you check out the address physically I stated above before your pun turns out terribly not ticklish at all. That will be the foot in the mouth for the day PS: Their $46k salt-water aquarium is quite a sight & a great centre piece. Probably from Atlantis Aquatic Lifestyle, I guess.