Living in Upper Thomson

1. I'm surrounded by food.
Was remarking yesterday to a student that Upper Thomson is just full of food!
Confirm become fat lah, like that. How?
And those are just the ones that I've tried / can remember.. I'm sure there are lots more.

2. No fast food at all along the entire stretch!
For all the different types of food represented, surprisingly there is (almost) no fast food at all. Not a single outlet along the stretch. No Macs, no LJS, no KFC. Only one lonely BK hidden away in the depths of Thomson Plaza and believe me you won't know it's there until you get into the mall itself and come face to face with it.
Note, said BK is so obscure that I actually had to come back and edit my post to include it. Sheesh.
Oh well, maybe there's hope for my waist after all.

3. Proliferation of Price-Warring Petrol Stations
I quite liked that alliteration! Heh.
Nevertheless, there are at least 6-7 petrol stations along the road illustrated earlier. A stunning amount, especially when you consider 5 of them are adjacent to / opposite each other, clustered along one 500m-long-stretch near Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. Coming from Yew Tee, which is served by *one* measly Esso/Mobil station, you can imagine the culture shock.

4. TIBS buses
All the buses that ply Upper Thomson (With the exception of one), are TIBS buses.
Sigh, and here I thought was escaping The Idiotic Bus Service by moving away from Yew Tee.
I don't like TIBS buses - their LED displays are hard to read, the drivers drive fast and recklessly, they do NOT follow any predictable schedule, and they have really erratic air-cons. Previously, the air-cons used to be so cold that you would shiver onboard the bus; windows of TIBS buses would be dripping with condensation even in the hottest part of the day. Nowadays, it seems like the air-cons are not working; I've taken countless buses where the air-con is just acceptable (ie it is slightly cooler than outside air, which is saying something since it's August), and at least two buses where all the air-con was doing was blowing in air at exactly the same temperature and humidity as atmospheric air. It made for a bus full of people dripping in perspiration.. ugh! Boo to TIBS! I miss taking SBS buses!

5. Traffic jams grrrrrrrrrr!
The stretch from Upper Thomson down to Lornie Road and /or Thomson Road is perpetually jammed. On weekday mornings, weekend mornings, weekend afternoons, you name the time, its' always stuck. It once took me more than an hour on the 162 to reach town! On a Saturday! Argh! I suppose it's the alternative to taking the *** CTE and having to pay tolls, but don't tell the LTA, skarly they end up charging toll for using Upper Thomson too. Shudder.