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Smoky Senior Citizens' Centre
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Edit:
IMPORTANT!!
This post is NOT against the elderly, not because I don't understand them and not because I don't respect them!!
I am posting this out of concern for the 'non-smoking' elder folks who might not be benefitting from the facilities because they are avoiding the place due to the smoky smells.
AND, I have personally heard from other elder folks at the playground that they are avoiding the place just because of this reason!
Do you have a Senior Citizens' Centre just below your block of flats or around your neighbourhood?
In some estates, these are called Senior Citizen Corners. These centres/corners are created for elderly folks to get together for a game of chess, chit-chat, a cup of tea or just sitting around to while away the time. There is a Senior Citizen Centre just below the block of flats I live in and everyday, there are a number of elderly people hanging around there. They will usually have a few rounds of mahjong or card games there. As the estate is a new one, the centre doubles up as a temporary Residents' Committee (RC) centre as well.
As many flat-dwellers in Singapore should know, the RC organizes outings to farms, educational programmes for kids, community development events, etc., within a neighbourhood zone. For these activities, you will have to purchase tickets. Now, this is the thing I hate most... having to go to the Senior Citizens' Centre to buy the tickets.
Why do I hate this? The horrible cigarette smoke smell that the centre is full of!! There is this stale, sourish smell of cigarette smoke that seems to be dead-stucked to the centre. Not only that, if you were to take a walk pass the centre, you will definitely catch a whiff of the same smokey smell! Aargghh!! Yuck!!!
Now, before anyone goes flaming me for disrepect or snobbish behaviour, I would like to make it clear that I am absolutely in support of the idea of having a Senior Citizens' corner! And I do respect the elderly! The thing is that the stench is just too strong to just shrug it off - especially if you have to smell it every morning! Duh!
While on leave recently, I noticed that many of the elderly folks smoked in the centre. Ok, fine. They are smokers, I am not, and I will never understand the need for a fag when it comes... but the centre is not opened the whole day! And in the morning or night when the doors are closed, the smoke gets trapped in the centre and when left overnight... phew!!! The smell is horrible! I wonder how those elderly folks who do not smoke managed to stay in the centre at all!?!? Or do they even go there at all?!?
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moe at 12/29/2005 11:43:00 AM
