A misnomer it must be. Not sure if it is the need to be seen as embracing avant-garde designs or just trying hard to be stylish, but the metamorphosis of Dhoby Ghaut MRT brought about by Dhoby Xchange must have gone into the heads of those SMRT folks for them to justify buying those circa 26" metal benches that are placed close to the wall, with a slight tilt on the seat and a smooth finishing on the surface. These seats are impossible to be sat on as it will cause you to slide forward and eventually fall off. Those who can master the legwork to keep from falling may well be giving their legs a much needed workout. But i've observed with much amusement, people trying those benches, only to migrate off to the traditional marble top benches what is not just more comfortable, but stable and not as frustrating. Maybe the only reason why they had this installed is to amuse the kids, as Lucas will demostrate in the below clip: Give me a wall instead... and I'll gladly lean on it... I think as far as sitting objects with amusement value is concerned, the head honchos at NLB have scored with flying distinctions with their Italian plastic chairs in the kids section at basement one, central lending library. These chairs can be sat into normally, and if turned on their front, it can be used as a rocking horse. But the customer service there is a fine example why we would never reach service levels like Japan.

that is what our public transport operator for the mass rapid transit (mrt) trains have in mind. according to them, the mrt is not utilized fully even during peak hours. there was a straits times report which had people actually agreeing to that... strange... why is it that i always get the crowded train? i find that the north-south line tend to have commuters that don't give up their seat to the elderly, pregnant or those with young children. the north east line (nel) commuters are more gracious. usually giving up the seat upon seeing people who need the seat more than themselves. my wife thinks that this is because the people staying along the nel where we board the train at seng kang station, are usually the younger crowd. they would be those who bought flats in seng kang or punggol, living with their spouse and probably without a kid. well... i guess when the nel population increases especially with all the condominium developments in areas such as kovan, woodleigh, potong pasir starts packing in the crowd, our train operators would be the ones who win. anyways, i just wanted to post this youtube clip that i took of Lucas falling asleep on the train between novena and toa payoh station along the north-south line. one nice commuter gave up the seat seeing that i was carrying Lucas and his bag. since we are on the topic of trains, i might as well mention that i happen to take one of the new trains about a month ago. it was pretty spacious, and had aircon that is blasting away. i guess this would be useful in peak situations to prevent commuters from fainting due to body odur, bad breath, the occasional farts, etc... i happen to be on one of these "new" trains today and it was completely deviod of air conditioning... luckily i was onboard for a stop or two. i also noticed that the metal platform between the cabins was rather old... implying that the "new" trains could have been retrofitted or upgraded from an old platform. well... guess the mantra of "retrain, reskill, rehire" applies to trains as well as the workforce.