Thursday, April 7, 2011

Katsaridaphobia- Fear of cockroaches & Cleanliness in my neighbourhood

Ever since a flying roach landed on on my toe a few months ago, I think I actually developed Katsaridaphobia- a fear of cockroaches.

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One was first spotted crawling rapidly across the kitchen floor as I walked in to prepare Bubble's food. I was totally FREAKED OUT! Without thinking I grabbed and sprayed almost half a bottle of Baygon--to find that its legs still moving in the air!

Then there was a 2nd one peeping out from under the fridge making sure that the coast was clear- it was a nymph. I sprayed the other half of the Baygon from behind as it was crawling towards the rubbish chute. The thing about roaches is that they can't walk backwards; so literally saying, you can really attack them from behind and catch them by surprise.

I felt victorious. But that feeling didn't last very long.

Within seconds I began to hear 'footsteps' inside my rubbish chute--resembling rice grains being thrown against the metal lid. Soon, black spots emerged from the cracks on the wall around the hopper.

I froze; trembling in disbelief at what I saw- more roaches of all sizes!

That was it. I let out a scream and broke down in tears, ran into the bedroom, shut and locked the door(as if the roaches know how to turn the doorknob). Without further delay I grabbed my cordless phone and called my mom. In between sobs, I described to her the desperate situation I was in.

"Be brave. Go and take the Baygon and sprayed on them. You're alone at home so you have to pluck up courage to save yourself..." she encouraged.

This must be God's will because just then I heard the sound of keys. I peered through the corner of my bedroom door and saw one of my tenant had came home(at noon? Whatever as long she can save me!). She had fallen sick and taken the rest of the day off. Hanging up on Mum, I pointed to the kitchen and told my tenant about the roaches. She courageously dashed into the kitchen and dealt with the matter immediately. *My Heroine!*

The reason why I was totally freaked out:

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I told you it was terrible.

I screamed a second & third when out of nowhere, another big one crawled into my room. My tenant came running after it with bottle of insecticide in her hands.

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Look at how much insecticide we had used.

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We used up all our 'weapons' in an hour and I volunteered to make my way downstairs for more. What a sight when I stepped out of the elevator- roaches everywhere, both dead and alive-at least a hundred of them clustered across the void deck- in the drain, beside the bins, on the staircase, outside the lift, on the pillars, around the letterbox, everywhere!

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photo: That's spilled coke inside the lift.

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Photo: The brown spots on the floor are are ALL roaches.

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See here: I even circled the roaches for you.
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These are LIVE roaches, gathered together to discuss about Plan B(their new nest).

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Apart from roaches, you see mynahs too, feeding on the dead roaches. Wait, are the roaches safe to be consumed now that they're covered in pesticides? I can't talk bird language so technically speaking, there's no way I can tell them not to eat.

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Seriously, I cannot stand it anymore.

Why only fumigate the neighbourhood chutes only when it's coming to election and not often?

Many residents here have been complaining about the cleanliness in my neighbourhood. Ever since I moved back in November, I have to admit that this is VERY TRUE- BUKIT BATOK WEST AVENUE 2 IS EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY DIRTY!!!

There's ALWAYS rubbish lying around, stains on the walls(scroll up to see again) and my corridor is infested with spider nests. Cleaners DO come, but I witness how they wash the corridors- just spray the floor wet and that's it. The dirty stains remains- scroll back UP and look closely at the pictures.

The blocks need a new paint, more frequent cleaning in this area especially after the pupils' dismissal and most importantly, the schools in my neightbourhood, pupils from Hong Kah Primary School and Dunearn Secondary School, garbage disposal education is a must!

Arrangements should be made by the schools or NEA to ensure that these pupils keep the area OUTSIDE BUT NEAR their school clean. Seriously, adults throw cigarette butts and gets a $200-fine, what about these pupils- Don't they have to be punished too? Shouldn't they be sent for corrective work order if they litter?

I mean, before they became adults and threw cigarette butts, they most probably could have started out by throwing packets or candy wrappers on the floor when they were teens. Good habits should be cultivated from young, isn't it?

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Dr Amy Khor, can you please consider the cleanliness issue in my neighbourhood? I would be extremely grateful you, seriously, I've never lived in such dirty neighbourhood and I'm really very upset about it.

Earlier in the morning, I had to help extinguish a flame starting in the dustbin at the bus-stop because someone threw a cigarette butt into the dustbin(not the cigarette butt pocket at the side;dumb or what).

There were 3 people waiting at the bus-stop but none actually took notice of the smoking-dustbin which was smelling like burnt plastic which caught me when I was about 10m away. I reckoned Bubble smelt it too because he ran up to the dustbin for a sniff. I brisk-walked to the nearest fruit stall, asked for a big pail of water from the fruit stall auntie, left Bubble under her care.

Onlookers from the coffeeshop saw me carrying a big pail of water walking towards the bus-stop, the pail of water almost gave way and spilled onto the pavement. Still, no one walked up and lend a helping hand. At the bus-stop I tried, twice,to lift up the pail but failed. It was too heavy for me. By now there were more people waiting at the bus-stop but everyone was still LOOKING at what I was doing in curiosity.

Oh come on, can't you see the smoke & that awful smell of plastic coming out from the dustbin?

"LIKE HELLO, CAN SOMEONE HELP ME WITH THIS?! IT'S TOO HEAVY FOR ME. CAN'T YOU ALL SEE THAT THE DUSTBIN IS ON FIRE AND NOBODY BOTHERS TO HELP?!"

I glared at a 17-20 year-old looking guy who was staring right at me. There was another teenage girl who turned to looked at him. Guilty, he quickly stood up and walked towards me. It was chicken-feet for him; without even a strain he lifted the pail of water and poured the contents into the bin. Then he returned the emptied pail to me.

Satisfied, I walked back to the fruit stall to returned the pail and thanked the auntie. Bubble was super excited to see me as I hurled him into my arms. The auntie said,"this happens a few times already but nobody bothers. Every time the dustbin breaks into flames, I had to run and put out the fire on my own..."

How sad.

Why can't we lend a helping hand to one another in times of need? Why must we wait until disaster happens before we realize how bad the situation is, when we can save and prevent it from happening? Imagine if I hadn't put out the burning, the dustbin might end up in huge flames and hurt someone/someone's pet.

I complimented & thank the auntie for her kind acts and went on to buy lunch.

3 comments:

  1. Elections is coming. Now is the time to DEMAND from your MP.

    There is a mama shop behind the bus stop right? I realise wherever there is mama shop, there are bound to be litters.

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  2. The dead cockroaches are scattered in the void deck because the town council did a fogging. It's precisely during fogging some roaches run up to the rubbish chutes to flee.

    Try to be less ignorant.

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