Rainy Dumpling Day

I had woken up with an overcast sky and thought it was still in the early morning, except it was 8am already. It was supposedly an important day for me. Waited 2 months, had to be screened twice by my agent and her boss, before I was presented to their client. And I stopped all job search for this job, which is funny because when I first heard it, I wanted to reject it.

Except this is the only company that has a chance of bringing me back to Swiss.. my most beloved country... and I really wanted to go back Swiss.. no correction, I wanted to work there. It was my thoughts when I stepped in Interlaken Ost in 2004. That I wanted to work there, even if it is just for a short stint. I remember I was envious of a cousin then who had worked there briefly. Later on, I had another cousin in Nestle and went Swiss twice for a few months. And I wondered, when is my chance? I am still wondering by the way. *cross fingers*

So today is an important day for me. Just as it is an important day for Qu Yuan millions years ago. And so rain is expected because mum said it always rained during dumpling day. I silently hoped it will stopped though because I do not want to be drenched.

But the rain continued and showed no signs of stopping even in the afternoon. And so I carefully made my way to the MRT and as usual, checked FB, emails via my phone. That is then I realised everybody was posting something in FB - Orchard River... Flooding in Orchard. I thought was it yesterday news? And opened my chat to find my friend to ask her as she had smsed me yesterday to see if I was in Orchard.. and she said it wasn't raining yesterday at all. Another chat with a fellow FB who posted the youtube video confirmed the horror to me - that Orchard is flooding... today. And I'm not in boots. (Ok obviously I will never be in boots in SG anyway and I don't possess a pair hahaha.) Further google search tells me the flooding is at Scotts Road, where I am alighting. Geez, what great news. I have no choice but to cross my fingers and hope I will still be sufficiently presentable to meet the interviewer.

So I alighted at Orchard and came out of the station. And it does look pretty alright. Roads may be wet but vehicles were on the move. I thought the situation had return to normalcy. Then I passed by Lucky Plaza and saw all the basement stores partially closed with passer-bys stopping to see what they do.. and of course taking photos. I took only one photo though and is after the interview. Too depressing to take more. Shops with clothes, books, accessories are not spared. I guess their whole day was spent fishing their products, packing into bags and mopping the stores.

But my greatest sympathy goes to these car owners. At that time I did not know the extent of the water level in the carpark though from the interviewer office, I saw a crowd had gathered. And from a conversation with one of the employee, I found out that his car was swimming. Swimming, sounds too incredulous that I had to repeat "Really?" After the interview, I went to join the crowd and realised it has been half a day and they were still trying to drain the water. And dad told me all these vehicles probably had to be scrapped. (More rubbish created sigh.) And some of the cars probably were branded or new. What a pity!

Later I met a HK friend working there and she told me the flood was in the morning and it receeded in an hour's time. Oh and she shared with me some photos, one of them being this flooded bus-stop

Credits: Mandy

In the end, Orchard River became a bigger event than the world cup tonight (my interviewer was saying he will first check about Orchard River then World Cup) and more memorable than my interview experience... or dumpling experience... It even became my starting topic to the interviewer who did not know this is a rare sight. Well, neither Mandy nor me (being local) expected such a sight in Orchard either. As for the reasons for the occurrence, as usual, it is still under investigation. Oh and dad said I should carry my camera out daily haha. I admit my camera phone is CMI but at least the shot looks decent in thumbnail version.