Flames! Flames!

Beware the humble chilli padi. You are looking at a saucer of light soy sauce within which luxuriously soaks -- not a just a run-of-the-mill assassin -- but a consummate artist of genocide poised and ready to smite the unwary casual diner. Me.

This deceptively innocuous condiment is usually served sliced into fine rings. The moment I put just one little slice into my mouth to accompany a spoonful of bee hoon, there was an eruption of pure pain. Tears gushed forth in a futile bid to quash the flames... 

and of all times, the kopitiam auntie just happened by right then and asked if I wanted a drink. Of course I bloody wanted a drink! But with all the coughing, spluttering and choking going on, it took a while to translate.

The effect of that single crimson fragment lasted minutes! Needless to say, though as a habit I polish off the ordinary side servings, out of respect for the Deiety of capsaicin (whose divine presence I unmistakably discerned at the table set before me), I left this unholy relish undefiled for the remainder of my meal.

Sticky fingers

The time after morning service doesn't usually get any more dramatic than what happened today. During the post-service breakfast, some auntie looking person was caught brazenly walking off with someone else's handbag. There was a confrontation, protests of innocence and counter-accusations of persecution which continued until the police arrived on the scene. A harried police officer had his hands full ascertaining the facts of the case from the increasingly hysterical suspect and the equally excited crowd of witnesses standing around her, preventing any possibility of escape. It eventually ended in handcuffs and a ride to the nearest cop shop for the perp.

While the church has the power to forgive people's moral failings, the social and legal consequences of crime still have to be dealt with by the secular Authorities. Such is the separation of Church and State.