2358. Down and out in Singapore

Nov 16, 2015

When I checked in with a group of travelers to the Queen Astoria Design Hotel in Belgrade, an old lady came into the posh lobby to beg for money. Today, I was having coffee at the busy Toa Payoh's Ya Kun coffeeshop, two older ladies went around the table to beg for money.


My insurance friend whom I had treated her old dog wanted to give me her 2016 insurance notebook and I invited her for coffee.  She gave the second lady who was emaciated and in her late 70s some money. The old lady continued begging at the other table.   "Maybe she is hungry and wanted to eat something," May said to me.


Suddenly, a younger man to May's left asked the old lady whether she wanted to eat some food from Ya Kun. The old lady petted her back side and said: "Give me the money."
"I don't have the money," the young man shouted. "I can buy you the food!"


"She wanted cash in the first instance," I related an incident I encountered last time. "Some weeks ago, I offered to buy Ya Kun coffee and toast for the cardboard collection lady outside. She just said, 'Give me the money!'" I gave her the money.

Singapore is said to be a developed country. Yet it has senior citizens needing cash for survival based on today's incidents.