quoted from Tuesday's Straits Times.
Kinda admire the way she put her points across.
"ouch". 
I TOOK my first ride on the North-East Line (NEL) at 9 pm on
Saturday. After a somewhat-confusing walk from the Dhoby Ghaut MRT
station, involving several escalators, some going up, and some
down, I made it to the new station.
I boarded the spanking-new train with several middle-aged women and
a family of three. After one stop, we were treated to a spectacular
display of how well the doors had been made. The train stopped for
10 minutes at Farrer Park Station, seemingly for no other reason
than to show us the doors' ability to open and close 10 times
rapidly. This was followed by an announcement for passengers to
alight and board the next train.
We all alighted and the train started to move off, prompting one of
the women to comment, 'Now no people in the train, that's
why can move.'
The next train was rather packed. I managed to find space to step
in, not a moment too soon. The doors closed barely four seconds
after they opened, separating the family of three.
The train must have been on a very strict and precise timetable
because the couple outside banging on it were ignored and left
behind as we sped away with their child.
The other passengers in the train must have sensed the operator's
unyielding schedule and jostled to get ready at the doors even
before we reached the next station. Imagine their horror when the
train pulled into the station and they were greeted by a sign stuck
on the station door saying, 'Door Faulty. Please use next door'.
There was a small stampede to get to the next door before the four
seconds were up.
The rest of my trip was spent eyeing the doors, trying to guess
which might correspond to a faulty door at my destination. All in
all, it was a very interesting ride.
CHIANG SEOK PHENG (MADAM)
