A dying trade

What do you do when your scissors and knives become dull, and cannot be used for the purpose they were meant for?  Do you throw them away?

In my childhood days there was the 'Tajam Gunting' man who used to ply his trade riding a bicycle.  Housewives (it's always the wife, never the husband) will bring out their dulled knives and scissors to be sharpened whenever they heard his call or the ring of his bell.

Its been many years since I've seen this in KL.

Yesterday I chanced upon a Tajam Gunting man when I was in Sungei Wang Plaza.

This uncle said that he has been involved in this line for over 30 years.  He is not stationed here but comes once every few months and his services are sought by the many hair dressing salons that are located here.  According to the uncle, you can earn a living (cari makan) but you can never be kaya (rich) in this trade.

Just a note: In those days the sharpening stone used to be attached to the bicycle and the Tajam Gunting used 'pedal power' to spin the wheel.

An appeal to KLites - Help Keep Our City Clean and Beautiful

A few days ago I was walking from Benteng to Dayabumi through the Central Market area.  I choose to use what I thought would be the more scenic view, the walk-way along the river.  While the authorities (DBKL) seem to have spent quite a bit in beautifying the place, maintenance is another thing.  I think we all share a responsibility to keep KL clean and beautiful.

 

Cameron Highlands - a Flower Factory

With the heat wave we're having, the family decided to spend a recent week-end up in cool Cameron Highlands.  My cousin was formerly from the Department of Agriculture and, courtesy of one of his friends, we visited a flower factory.

It's quite a big factory and the owner/owners must have spent a tidy sum on landscape and decorations possibly with a view to improving the 'fung sui' of the place.

Although flowers are being grown in the area around the factory, it is not sufficient to cater to the various orders, most of which are for export.  So flowers are brought in from the surrounding farms.

The first process is visually grading the flowers and removing excess leaves from the stalks.

The stalks are trimmed to a standard length.

The stalks are counted and bundled with rubber bands.

The bundles are then attached to a machine with a metal bar across that thumps the bundles as they are conveyed from one end of the machine to the other end.  This is to get rid of any loose leaves or flowers and the occasional insect or two.

The bundles are then slipped into plastic bags.

The flowers are ready for export... well almost...

They need to be packed into boxes and stored in the freeze room ready to be transported.

The plant waste can be recycled into organic fertilizer, but at this factory they are just sent to the dump.

The factory employs about 60 - 70 Bangladeshi workers, so meals are also provided by the company.