This year, my elder boy was selected to take part in the school's music elective program. As part of their curriculum, music is incoporated into their class schedules (over and above the usual subjects) and they get to learn about music composers, spend time preparing for concert performances etc etc. To top it all, the class is a special class. 12 Year 3 and 12 Year 4 boys are placed in the same class and they learn together.
Today, Friday 13, is the first concert performance for the class. The class teacher had arranged for string quartet to play for the children followed by performances put up by some of the boys. The feeling of sitting under the shade of the huge maple tree and listening to the string quartet in the Rose garden is indeed a marvellous experience. One would not be able to do so under the hot climate in Singapore. I am very happy that Ray is blessed to have such an opportunity to appreciate music and finer things in life..........instead of the stifling academic pressure that he would face when he gets back to Singapore.....no no, I am not discounting the education system in Singapore. Its one of the best in the world....but it breeds competition and misses out some of the finer things in life.
That's all for now.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Black Friday, 13 Feb 2009
Today is the first black friday of the year. Like all things else, I am unable to escape from the clutches of the curse. Sigh....
Been booked today for parking at loading zone. I have parked at the spot for quite a number of times and nothing happens. Today, I had so many parking lots to choose from and yet I chose to park at that spot! In less than 35 minutes, I was fined a hefty A$97! What luck!
Been booked today for parking at loading zone. I have parked at the spot for quite a number of times and nothing happens. Today, I had so many parking lots to choose from and yet I chose to park at that spot! In less than 35 minutes, I was fined a hefty A$97! What luck!
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Concept of Lay-By vs Hire Purchase
The entire concept of Lay-By was a new concept that I discovered when I came to Australia.
I was queueing and paying for a blouse at the cashier when the lady before me paid a small amount (less than $20) and left all her clothes (more than 5 pieces) with the cashier. I was wondering....why did she leave her clothes with the sales girl? Why is it she needs to pay only a small amount?
I cheekily asked the sales girl why the lady left all her clothes and did not take them away after paying for it. It was then the sales girl explained the concept of Lay-By to me.
When I came home, I googled and the concept of Lay-By (according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is as follows:
A 'lay-by' is essentially a contract between you and a retailer where you pay for goods over a period of time rather than upfront. In most lay-by agreements, you pay an initial deposit, followed by regular repayments. The goods are held by the retailer until you have paid the full price of the goods.
In Singapore, we have the concept of "Hire Purchase". Here, consumers are allowed to take the goods home and pay for it over a period of time. The famous "Courts" is a good example of a retailer that relies on hire purchase to sell their products.
I was left wondering and thinking about the 2 different concepts...their similarities and differences. More importantly, why is it Hire Purchase is prevalent in Singapore whilst Lay-By is prevalent in Australia? Is this culturally-driven? Logically, it makes more sense to consumers to prefer Hire Purchase....since U get to take home the goods almost immediately and enjoy it!
Here's what I have pondered and derived:
1) First and foremost, both concepts are developed by retailers to encourage spending. It makes it a lot easier for people to buy on impulse and buy more. The concept tends to be appeal to a particular group of people, i.e. those who live for today and not for tomorrow. For Chinese who with strong values towards savings (live for tomorrow), this concept may be less appealing.
2) Over the weekend, the departmental stores were starting to sell toys for Christmas season and customers are encouraged to Lay-By. I was wondering....isn't it a bit too early to sell Christmas toys in July when Christmas is only in December. Also, wouldn't the toys be out of fashion by end of the year? Lay-By works in Australia because the employees do not have 13th month bonus. So, to encourage spending, retailers are bringing in the goods and getting consumers to start buying and paying bit by bit till Christmas arrives.
3) Lay-By works well for small consumer goods...such as toys and clothing. Consumers can defer the gratification from it until they have saved enough for it.....yet allowing for impulse buying...which is what retailers want. The concept also works for these small items as they have no resale value and hence, the goods are held until it is fully paid.
That's all I have for now on this concept. U are most welcome to post your comments or thoughts about this concept.
I was queueing and paying for a blouse at the cashier when the lady before me paid a small amount (less than $20) and left all her clothes (more than 5 pieces) with the cashier. I was wondering....why did she leave her clothes with the sales girl? Why is it she needs to pay only a small amount?
I cheekily asked the sales girl why the lady left all her clothes and did not take them away after paying for it. It was then the sales girl explained the concept of Lay-By to me.
When I came home, I googled and the concept of Lay-By (according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is as follows:
A 'lay-by' is essentially a contract between you and a retailer where you pay for goods over a period of time rather than upfront. In most lay-by agreements, you pay an initial deposit, followed by regular repayments. The goods are held by the retailer until you have paid the full price of the goods.
In Singapore, we have the concept of "Hire Purchase". Here, consumers are allowed to take the goods home and pay for it over a period of time. The famous "Courts" is a good example of a retailer that relies on hire purchase to sell their products.
I was left wondering and thinking about the 2 different concepts...their similarities and differences. More importantly, why is it Hire Purchase is prevalent in Singapore whilst Lay-By is prevalent in Australia? Is this culturally-driven? Logically, it makes more sense to consumers to prefer Hire Purchase....since U get to take home the goods almost immediately and enjoy it!
Here's what I have pondered and derived:
1) First and foremost, both concepts are developed by retailers to encourage spending. It makes it a lot easier for people to buy on impulse and buy more. The concept tends to be appeal to a particular group of people, i.e. those who live for today and not for tomorrow. For Chinese who with strong values towards savings (live for tomorrow), this concept may be less appealing.
2) Over the weekend, the departmental stores were starting to sell toys for Christmas season and customers are encouraged to Lay-By. I was wondering....isn't it a bit too early to sell Christmas toys in July when Christmas is only in December. Also, wouldn't the toys be out of fashion by end of the year? Lay-By works in Australia because the employees do not have 13th month bonus. So, to encourage spending, retailers are bringing in the goods and getting consumers to start buying and paying bit by bit till Christmas arrives.
3) Lay-By works well for small consumer goods...such as toys and clothing. Consumers can defer the gratification from it until they have saved enough for it.....yet allowing for impulse buying...which is what retailers want. The concept also works for these small items as they have no resale value and hence, the goods are held until it is fully paid.
That's all I have for now on this concept. U are most welcome to post your comments or thoughts about this concept.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Olympic Torch in Canberra 24th April 08
OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY IN CANBERRA
The olympic torch relay was held in Australia in Canberra on 24th April 2008. It was a rare ocassion and we decided that it was worth it to brave the cold (it was 2 degree celcius the morning) in the early morning and held for the opening ceremony.
The olympic torch relay was held in Australia in Canberra on 24th April 2008. It was a rare ocassion and we decided that it was worth it to brave the cold (it was 2 degree celcius the morning) in the early morning and held for the opening ceremony.
The event also coincided with the one week hot air balloons festival and organisers decided to hold the opening ceremony and the launch of hot air balloons at the same venue....outside the old parliament house.
It was 5.30am when we woke up the kids and it wasn't until 5.55am before we managed to drive out of our house. The morning fireworks was supposed to go off at 6.00am and naturally, we missed the morning fireworks since we depart late.
The entire venue was starting to be filled by 6.15am. Throngs of people...especially Chinese wearing shirts in red and waving red flags were filling up the ground. Such spectacular display of nationalism with thousands of Chinese waving flags was a sight to behold. One can't help but feel that it was a orchestrated event as there were simply too many people wearing red and waving the red flags (PS - it was subsequently reported in the newspaper that the Chinese embassy had a major role in mobilising the crowd at the venue). Many of these people who came were not staying in Canberra. You could see bus loads of visitors (mainly Chinese) arriving at the venue with their luggages in tow.
When the pro-Tibet demonstrators arrived at the scene, they were over-whelmed by the floor of Chinese supporters and had to retreat. There were some skirmishes between the 2 groups but the pro-tibet demonstrators were far and few and gave up their cause very quickly.
The other highlight of the event was the launching of hot air balloons. This is one of the major attraction and event in Canberra during the hot air balloon week. Many hot air balloon vendors, corporations were busy launching their balloons. There were corporate sponsored hot air balloons, commercial hot air balloon vendors and balloons with shapes (kookaburra hot air balloon and star shape balloon).
In spite of the early morning and cold, we felt that it was all worth it. When we came home, we were all tired and hungary. We wolfed down one whole loaf of bread with ham and egg along with hot aromatic long white coffee.
What an experience!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Misadventure - At the Car Park
For those drivers or owners of vehicles, I am sure most of you would have experienced in one way or another......locking your keys in the car. Well......I never thought this would happen to me.....but it did!
It was one of those "unlucky" days (happens on a Thursday), as U would call it that "THE" incident happen to me. I was shopping downtown at Civic area and as usual I would push the trolley of groceries to my car. As I opened only the boot of my car, I had left the bunch of keys in the boot of my car (for convenience) as I unloaded my groceries into the car. After transferring all the groceries from the trolley into the car, I did the most automatic response....close the boot of the car. Imemdiately I realise my deadly mistake!
The 2nd deadly mistake I made was to pay at the ticketing machine before wheeling the trolley to my car. How am I going to get out of the underground car park with an expired ticket even if I managed to retrieve my spare car key from home?
First things first, I had to sos my husband to help me to retrieve my spare car key from my house. Fortunately, I had my handphone with me and I could call him for help.
He had to drive from his office back home, pick up the spare key and then drive to the civic shopping centre's car park to pass me the keys. Next was the wait. I had to wait patiently for my husband to turn up. The wait seemed an externity....minutes were like hours and each car that drove past the gantry raised hopes only to be dashed when it was my husband's car.
Finally, after waiting for a good 35 minutes, my husband turned up with the keys. He then drove off and returned to his office.
Next, I had to solve the expired car park ticket. I went to the machine and explained to the person at the other end of the intercom what had happened. After some clarifications and explanations, the lady at the other end of the intercom understood what had happened and decided to let me go without having to pay additional penalty of 60 cents. I had parked for 1 hr 5 mins and had already paid the 1 hr limit. This meant that I had exceeded by 5 minutes which would have cost an additonal 60 cents. Given the miniscule amount, the lady probably made the decision that it was not worth her effort to make me pay for the penalty....I would assume it would mean more work for her. So, she suggested I drive straight to the barrier and buzz the intercom and she will open the barrier for me. You can imagine the relief when I was told of it.
With the heavy load off my mind, I headed back to my car and drove towards the barrier. When I buzz the intercom, I was shocked to hear another voice at the end of the intercom. This person was not the same lady that I had spoke to....and when I explained to her my situation, she suggested I drive back and pay the penalty! I argued with her for a good 5-10 minutes and held up a queue of cars behind me before she gave in and let me off by lifting the barrier.
What a relief!
What's the morale of the story?
1) Lesson number 1 - Do not put your car keys in the car boot! Put in your pocket or handbags
2) Lesson number 2 - (only those with car keys that give U option to only open your car boot). Open all car doors instead of opening the car boot
3) Lesson number 3 - Do not pay at the ticket machine prior to U emptying the grociers in your trolley. Do so only after U have emptied your trolley.
4) Lesson number 4 - Do take down the name of the person at the other end of the intercom.....U never know if its the same person when U are at the barrier
5) Lesson number 5 - Know and insist on your rights. Do not give up easily especially when U know that U can create more havoc if do not give in.
It was one of those "unlucky" days (happens on a Thursday), as U would call it that "THE" incident happen to me. I was shopping downtown at Civic area and as usual I would push the trolley of groceries to my car. As I opened only the boot of my car, I had left the bunch of keys in the boot of my car (for convenience) as I unloaded my groceries into the car. After transferring all the groceries from the trolley into the car, I did the most automatic response....close the boot of the car. Imemdiately I realise my deadly mistake!
The 2nd deadly mistake I made was to pay at the ticketing machine before wheeling the trolley to my car. How am I going to get out of the underground car park with an expired ticket even if I managed to retrieve my spare car key from home?
First things first, I had to sos my husband to help me to retrieve my spare car key from my house. Fortunately, I had my handphone with me and I could call him for help.
He had to drive from his office back home, pick up the spare key and then drive to the civic shopping centre's car park to pass me the keys. Next was the wait. I had to wait patiently for my husband to turn up. The wait seemed an externity....minutes were like hours and each car that drove past the gantry raised hopes only to be dashed when it was my husband's car.
Finally, after waiting for a good 35 minutes, my husband turned up with the keys. He then drove off and returned to his office.
Next, I had to solve the expired car park ticket. I went to the machine and explained to the person at the other end of the intercom what had happened. After some clarifications and explanations, the lady at the other end of the intercom understood what had happened and decided to let me go without having to pay additional penalty of 60 cents. I had parked for 1 hr 5 mins and had already paid the 1 hr limit. This meant that I had exceeded by 5 minutes which would have cost an additonal 60 cents. Given the miniscule amount, the lady probably made the decision that it was not worth her effort to make me pay for the penalty....I would assume it would mean more work for her. So, she suggested I drive straight to the barrier and buzz the intercom and she will open the barrier for me. You can imagine the relief when I was told of it.
With the heavy load off my mind, I headed back to my car and drove towards the barrier. When I buzz the intercom, I was shocked to hear another voice at the end of the intercom. This person was not the same lady that I had spoke to....and when I explained to her my situation, she suggested I drive back and pay the penalty! I argued with her for a good 5-10 minutes and held up a queue of cars behind me before she gave in and let me off by lifting the barrier.
What a relief!
What's the morale of the story?
1) Lesson number 1 - Do not put your car keys in the car boot! Put in your pocket or handbags
2) Lesson number 2 - (only those with car keys that give U option to only open your car boot). Open all car doors instead of opening the car boot
3) Lesson number 3 - Do not pay at the ticket machine prior to U emptying the grociers in your trolley. Do so only after U have emptied your trolley.
4) Lesson number 4 - Do take down the name of the person at the other end of the intercom.....U never know if its the same person when U are at the barrier
5) Lesson number 5 - Know and insist on your rights. Do not give up easily especially when U know that U can create more havoc if do not give in.
Winter Delight in Canberra
FROM THE LENS OF RAY
Okay, I have been told that my blog narrates only the negative aspect of living in Canberra. “Surely, there must be something good or positive about Canberra!”
Yes, I totally agree with that statement. I guess I was overwhelmed by a couple of negative episodes/events for the last few days that I had to blog it out of my system…..hence all the negative blogs.
Now that I have got “IT” out of my system, I will re-focus on the positive aspects…what’s its like to experience winter in Canberra.
Unlike other major cities in Australia, Canberrans living here experience definite seasonal changes. The shedding of flowers and leaves leaving only bare branches and tree trunks lining the streets of Canberra are common phenomena throughout winter. What was UNCOMMON was the blossoming of cherry blossoms during winter at the Bower’s Park. One of our friends introduced us to the place one fine Saturday morning and it was a sight not to behold! Imagine you would have to pay thousands of dollars to go to Japan to see the cherry blossom …..and U get to see this in Canberra….PLUS the bonus of it being situated next to a lake.
Naturally, the friend (who is a professional photographer taking family portraits) who introduced us to the place was already eyeing the place and wanted to take pictures of my husband and his sons under the cherry blossom. It was for a collection/series that he is under-taking on “Father & Son” theme.
The boys were simply blown away when they saw the place. The flowers (pink and white) were just blossoming and emitted strong fragrance smell that was better than perfumes. The cherry blossoming against the bright blue sky is just the perfect picture of photography buffs.
Just a couple of metres away was the Lake Burley Griffin with plenty of acquatic animals …such as swans, pelicans, mandarin ducks etc frolicking in the waters.
The Canberra Model Yacht Club had also made this a meeting point for all fanatic fans w
ho own model yachts. They would launch their model yachts into the lake and use their remote controls to maneuver their model yachts around the lake.
Winter Cheers From Canberra
Okay, I have been told that my blog narrates only the negative aspect of living in Canberra. “Surely, there must be something good or positive about Canberra!”
Yes, I totally agree with that statement. I guess I was overwhelmed by a couple of negative episodes/events for the last few days that I had to blog it out of my system…..hence all the negative blogs.
Now that I have got “IT” out of my system, I will re-focus on the positive aspects…what’s its like to experience winter in Canberra.
Unlike other major cities in Australia, Canberrans living here experience definite seasonal changes. The shedding of flowers and leaves leaving only bare branches and tree trunks lining the streets of Canberra are common phenomena throughout winter. What was UNCOMMON was the blossoming of cherry blossoms during winter at the Bower’s Park. One of our friends introduced us to the place one fine Saturday morning and it was a sight not to behold! Imagine you would have to pay thousands of dollars to go to Japan to see the cherry blossom …..and U get to see this in Canberra….PLUS the bonus of it being situated next to a lake.
Naturally, the friend (who is a professional photographer taking family portraits) who introduced us to the place was already eyeing the place and wanted to take pictures of my husband and his sons under the cherry blossom. It was for a collection/series that he is under-taking on “Father & Son” theme.
The boys were simply blown away when they saw the place. The flowers (pink and white) were just blossoming and emitted strong fragrance smell that was better than perfumes. The cherry blossoming against the bright blue sky is just the perfect picture of photography buffs.
Just a couple of metres away was the Lake Burley Griffin with plenty of acquatic animals …such as swans, pelicans, mandarin ducks etc frolicking in the waters.
The Canberra Model Yacht Club had also made this a meeting point for all fanatic fans w
ho own model yachts. They would launch their model yachts into the lake and use their remote controls to maneuver their model yachts around the lake.
Winter Cheers From Canberra
Fireworks
8th June 08 (Sunday)
It was a long weekend. Queen's birthday was on 9th June 08 (Mon) and Canberrans were allowed to purchase fireworks to let off from their homes during the long weekend.
This was the first time that our family had the opportunity to buy fireworks and let it off from our house courtyard. We were very excited. The fireworks had to be purchased from authorised shops selling them and they had to take down identification before they could sell it to their customers.
We headed for the fireworks shop in Fyshwick and there were limited varieties of fireworks. They came in 10 different types of packages...with limited names such as Package A, B C...etc. Prices started from $25 to $100 per package. Being an amateur, we chose the mid-range and paid $55 for our package.
Smack in the midst of winter, the day was shorter and by 5.45pm, it was already pitch dark. By 6.30pm, the children were already asking impatiently if we could set off the fireworks....which we (my husband and myself) agreed to.....as we were also very excited.
It was indeed a very thrilling and exciting evening for the children. They enjoyed themselves thoroughly....an experience that U would not get back in Singapore.
I read from the newspaper the very next day that the authorities may consider banning fireworks next year. At least I am very happy....for now....that we get to experience it.
Here's a video of one of the fireworks let off from my house courtyard.
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