What The Park? Who Changed Its Name?

My new old favourite song right now is 'Moving To New York' by The Wombats. It came to me in a 2-disc CD compilations called Q Anthems. Awesome songs, all of them, as the name of the album implies. (it was almost someone's birthday gift but I kept it instead)

Speaking of names, some bloke in the paper Geraint Wong wrote today that the gahmen had remained Bishan Park Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. This is the first time I've heard of this change and like Geraint am equally surprised and a little appalled. The park's been around for 24 years and now after a full generation has known it such, some bugger thinks changing its name is a good idea. It's like changing someone's name after his entry into adulthood. Weird and wrong. (Unless a sex change was involved.)

This placename thing has been in the papers quite a bit. There was Tommy Koh's thing about Petain Road, named after an infamous French general who farked it up a bit and the French aren't quite proud of anymore. Well it's more downright scorn. Then there was someone writing in about the confusion between Farrer Park and Farrer Road MRT stations. That's a nice apt example how the lack of a Ministry of Common Sense has allowed this deceptive trick enter our transport system. The two places are good several kilometres apart separated by Newton, Balmoral, Stevens, Whitley, old NIE and the Botanic Gardens.

One of my biggest problems is that they've decided to name the train station outside Hwa Chong, Tah Kah Khee station. Some of you might go Tan who? Other will nod in appreciation. He was the guy who founded Chinese High and so some people thought it would nice to name the station after the bloke. Intention's all good but seriously nothing else in the area is named after him. There isn't any location that bears affinity to the man. None I can recall. So picking a name like this out of blue doesn't help anyone much less the residents of the area who will use the station every day, constantly reminded of the fact that things don't quite make sense anymore.

Then there's going to be a trio of Tampines stations in Tampines. Two of them will have a 'east' and 'west' appended to the estate names. I can already imagine the lost aunties, laden with vegetables from the market, waiting in vain for fellow oldies who are similarly clueless at other Tampines stations.

Once, girl on the phone, from a travel agency, introduced herself as Carrot. Yes, the root vegetable of Bugs Bunny fame. Alrighty then.

Time will heal this set of wounds I guess unless sanity kicks in sooner.