world of my own

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood,
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

*loves *

the colour orange
the sky and the water (:

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Streets Of London

Have you seen the old man in the closed down market
Kicking up the paper with his worn out shoes
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely by his side,
yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

How can you tell me you're lonely
And say, for you, that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old gal who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags
She's no time for talkin, she just keeps right on walkin'
Carryin her home in two carrier bags

How Can you tell me....

In the all night cafe at a quarter past eleven
Same old man sitting there on his own
Looking at the world over the rim of his teacup
Each tea lasts an hour and he goes home alone

How can you tell me....

Have you seen the old man outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading like the ribbons that he wears
In our winter city, the rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero in a world that doesn't care

How can you tell me you're lonely
And say, for you, that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

thank you to http://www.dougie.uk.com/streets.html who provided me with the song and lyrics

hope everyone is coping well with prelims. must rmb to eat and sleep well though.

on another note. bus fares are going to rise again. it may be only 1 or 2 cents but too the low income it all adds up to quite a bit of money. it doesn't help that gst has just risen or that it seems as if singapore is experiencing quite a bit of inflation.

i suppose theres all a rational for this. the thing is, i do not fully understand. isn't there another way to absorb the rise in operations cost? surely the company is still making profits. (quite a bit of profit too although one wonders how much of it trickles down to everyone) like what the straits times wrote, "how much profit is enough?" it would be nice if someone could explain to me or if i had the time to read more about and ponder over this issue.

Bus fares to go up by 1 to 2 cents from Oct 1
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent

BUS fares will go up by one to two cents from Oct 1, the Public Transport Council announced on Tuesday.

But there will be no increase in train fares.

Senior citizen concessionary EZ-Link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult EZ-Link fare band will also increase by 2 cents, up from the current 65 cents.

However, because they are flat fares, the same 67 cents fare will apply regardless of the distance travelled.

'The PTC has to strike a balance between safeguarding commuters' interests and ensuring the financial viability of the public transport operators so that they can continue to improve their services over time and sustain their capital investments,' Chairman of the PTC Gerard Ee said.

The majority of commuters will see no increase or a small increase in fares, said PTC. Taking into account both bus and rail trips, five in 10 trips will see no increase; one in 10 trips will see an increase of 1 cent and the remaining four in 10 trips will see an increase of 2 cents.

$3 million in vouchers to help needy cope with bus fare hike

The government and public transport operators SMRT Corporation and SBS Transit have set aside $3 million to help needy families cope with the latest bus fare increase.The government will draw down $2.4 million from the Public Transport Fund which was set up to help the lower-income households, said a joint statement from the Ministry of Community Development, Youths and Sports (MCYS), Ministry of Transport and People's Association, shortly after the the Public Transport Council approved an increase of 1 to 2 cents in adult bus fares from Oct 1. Rail fares remain unchanged.

The Council said in August that transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT Corp had applied for fare increases - an annual revision exercise governed by a set formula.

Back then, the operators blamed high costs - in particular the high price of fuel and manpower - for the need to raise their fares. They are citing the same reasons this time.
SBS Transit, part of the ComfortDelGro group, for instance, said their costs have gone up significantly.

"Energy costs, for example, rose by 20 per cent or $20.3 million last year - having already increased by 41.2 per cent in 2005," SBS Transit spokesman Tammy Tan said.

"Manpower costs, the company's largest cost component, also increased by about $12.1 million during the year."

SBS also pointed out that it had invested heavily in buses as well as commuter services.
It spent $135 million on new buses in the past two years. And it has rolled out an online bus arrival system, which helps commuters to plan their journeys better.

Lower SMRT earnings SMRT pointed out that the increase in the goods and services tax as well as the 1.5 percentage point rise in employers' CPF contributions will pull down its earnings by about $11 million a year.

It said the fare increase, if kept to this year's cap of 1.8 per cent, would only partially offset the company's total cost increases.

SBS is proposing to keep children and school student fares as well as concession pass charges unchanged.

SMRT has also said it will not raise fares for children and students, and all bus cash fares.

SMRT is also waiving any increase to the first fare band of its MRT single-trip ticket, which costs 90 cents. It added that it would extend its senior citizen concession hours to match SBS'.
Schemes to help the poor Both operators said they would come up with schemes to help the poor cope with any fare rise.

'We have tried to keep fare increase small for as many commuters as possible but we know that any fare increase, no matter how small, would still be felt by commuters, especially tho se from needy families,

'Those who need additional help will receive help from the Government's Public Transport Fund. The public transport four operators will also chip in towards public transport vouchers to help low-income families cope with the fare increase,' Mr Ee said.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) is not entirely convinced that a fare hike is in order.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon has pointed out that transport companies are enjoying "good returns." For instance, SMRT achieved a 39 per cent rise in net earnings to $37.94 million in the first quarter.

"'With such significant increase in net earnings, commuters would certainly expect it to show clear justifications for any need to hike fares at this point in time,' he said.

From http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Singapore/STIStory_156857.html?vgnmr=1

Labels: news, songs

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joo spoke
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