I doubt my regulars readers like Victor, Zen and Chris, who know of my fondness of employing misleading titles for my blog articles, will be tricked into believing that this one is about love and sex. Actually, I am referring to people like myself - lovers of old photos of Singapore.
The other day, I borrowed a nice book from the National Library entitled Singapore Changing Landscapes, which had lots of lovely old photos. I discovered that there are other Singaporeans who have a strong love for old photos; to the extent that they would not hesitate to desecrate these lovely public properties by cutting out the objects of their love.
A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. There were 3 or 4 such missing pictures.
18 comments:
It is terribly disappointing to hear this.
That is loving carried out to the extreme and for the wrong reason. It is a downright despicable thing to do, even if the book belongs that person. Why can't this selfish vandal just scan the photos into his PC and leave the book in its original condition for others to enjoy? I just can't understand some people.
In future, you should flip through the book and if any missing pages or photos are found, report to the library staff immediately. They may be able to catch the culprit.
If the book belonged to him, do you think he would used scissors on it?
What a dirty trick! Oh... I'm not saying you Chun See, even though the way you "tricked" us into reading your post with misleading titles is just as dirty! wahahaha..
"Cham" already lah you. Why never checked the book before you borrowed? You sure got some explaining to do to the Rambling Librarian! ROTFL.
"If the book belonged to him, do you think he would used scissors on it?"
Why not? If he owns the book, he can do what he likes with it and nobody would care a hoot. Looking at the good side, at least he had a heart to leave behind the text portion for you to read. He could have torn out the whole page, you know.
This is a case of depriving others to benefit oneself. Not too long ago, Malaysian newspapers reported that some our motorists unloaded their litters once they hit Malaysian highways. This is a blow to our reputation of being a clean and green country. The good images of our school children cleaning up beaches and other social workers doing good causes, all tarnished by this small group of ugly Singaporeans.
"If the book belonged to him, do you think he would used scissors on it?"
I would think certainly NOT! These sort of selfish person would only deface other people's properties. And probably guard their own like treasures.
No problem with NLB. I reported to them and they put a sticker on the book.
I just saw a book with a similar title ("Changing Landscapes of Singapore") on sale at Popular at Bras Basah Complex for $25.15 per copy. It's a soft cover thin book in light green. One of the authors is Peggy something.
Out of curiosity, I flipped through the browsing copy. I was surprised to find very few photos and all of them were in black-and-white. They were also not very interesting and quite blur. So I was wondering why that crazy fellow wanted to cut out the photos.
After I came home and looked at your photos, I realised that the book I saw must be different from the one you borrowed because yours had colour photos.
When I got married in 1971, to save money, I got my cousin to snapped photo in back and white for me and later on regretted for this decision for being so 'obliang' . Now I realise that b&w photo could be quite hype and sought after. I have a deep satisfaction inside me.
The full title of 'my' book is: Singapore Changing Landscapes: Geylang, Chinatown, Serangoon . I saw the same book in at the main library. The photos our vandal removed were mostly related to barbers.
On my first visit to Japan, I went into a small toilet in a Merchant Museum in - I think Kyoto, and I was surprise at the level of cleanliness, which could easily rival a five-star hotel one. Public spiritness, in my opinion, really takes time to evolve, maybe a generation or two.
I was conducting a class on 5S, the Japanese technique of good housekeeping at a factory recently. One of the senior managers in the class shared this with the us. He was told that in Japan, whenever they sweeped their driveways, they also sweep the public road in front of their houses. And they will always sweep inwards, i.e. sweep the rubbish from outside the house inwards toward their home.
As for me, I must confess that I offer agonised about the rubbish left by passers-by infront of my house, but I never bothered to pick it up, considering it the job of the sweepers. Time to change perhaps.
While in Tokyo during holidays, I wanted to throw a piece of paper, but no bin was in sight, unlike Singapore which has many bins all over. I was asking myself, how is it possible to have the place so clean and yet so few bins around? I had to practically go into a shop to dump that piece of paper! One thing I am quite sure, there is a sense of civic mindedness among the people.
only pictures on barbers are gone? venturing a guess, maybe the pictures are in a student's project now
Actually, NLB should ve check on those returned books for signs of vandalism and query the last borrower on the current state of book loan then & only then such horrigible acts can be erradicated & kept in check. Even though, NLB might not be able to "catch" the real culprit. But at least, those who ever cherish such uncivic acts will think twice before doing it.
Barber photos cut out? Humm, sounds like a student getting an illustration for his/her school project to me. Perhaps teachers should police and fail students who use any images cut from books, whether or not the books were bought or borrowed.
yah I got very annoyed finding missinng pages from library book particularly on cooking books.Don't understand why the stupid fellow cant just photostat what he wants?He must be adult if interested in recipe.I agree barber photos may be cut out by students.Teacher should remind students on this.It is common to cut out from unwanted magazine to do project.
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