Green City

Look on and wonder. Keep yourself from gaping you're doing well.

The fella kitted out in the corporate uniform: white polo with green leaves rising from the extremities—the sleeves, front lower band and more profuse again on the lower back. Grey slacks; matching shoes. 

But in fact not a corporate cleaning outfit at all. Look again…. More strictly, Garden Maintenance. Hence the leaves. (Corporate clean carries blue or yellow.)

Catching the fellow first-up gave the wrong impression. 

Trolley with a couple of large plastic buckets riding, parked beside the pots in the library forecourt lining the path toward the cafe entrance. 

Mex-Latino type initial impression; giving the smile even more so. Friendly sort up for a joke, fun to be around. 

Closer up the sub-continent was evident; perhaps the western coast around Goa. 

Zapata moustaches were all over now.

Greening the World We Live In waving over the rear of the polo.

In this company's case greening and polishing. 

The contract with the municipal authorities which oversee the National Library building & grounds stipulates keeping the plants weed-free, watered and fresh-looking. Therefore care over dusting and polishing the elephant-ears of the potted plants down here in the forecourt around the cafe. Kinda promotes growth perhaps too.

First sight with the rag out wiping and scrubbing it was CLEANER that flashed. 

Bent at the work. 

Circular motion. 

A bit of polish. 

Hard taskmaster that supervisor. 

All in a mistaken first flash.

Over-filling the pots once or twice, the man bends with the rag to soak up the spillage. 

Urban gardener. Civic pride. Certainly in Singapore. Bucket-loads in Singapore.

A report in the paper recently on a model Chinese city that had made great strides in re-vegetation. In that case the choice of trees to plant unfortunate. The model was Singapore.

Clean, as every visitor remarks—despite bad practices continuing in rabble Geylang