And so it is another of those nights where I take a glance back at this blog and have this sense of guilt that I haven't updated Renzo's blog as regularly as I would have expected myself to. It is not like nothing happened, in fact, so much happens that most of the time Mummy Chan and myself don't know which to start penning down and which to just ignore.
But in any case, fact is that it has been almost a whole month since I wrote here and I guess I can't blame it on writer's block or lack of time... haha
So without further ado, here is a post for our memory's sake, Renzo's first visit to the Fire Station~! (an excursion more than a month ago *hide* )... and yes, I'm writing from memory here, so pardon me should there be a lack of detailed information on the trip itself... *sigh*
We came back from our China trip with knowledge that Renzo would have to make a Fire Engine to bring back to school as his "homework", though we fully understood that this task was more for a parent-child bonding activity to have parents and children come together to do some craftwork together, but judging from Renzo's inability to fully cooperate due to his young age, the intention seems to be little/no-at-all applicable in my case... :/ ... so this becomes a parent "homework"... heh
But still, we thought that it would be a good reason to bring our little boy to the local fire station to take a look at the real deal... and to have him equipped with more knowledge and exposure to our civil defense.
A simple Google search led me to
SCDF's website and a call confirmed that members of the public of less than 10 members can just walk-in to the station and request for a tour (
details here). Lovely service!
So that Saturday morning, we took a direct bus ride to the Fire Station to let Renzo see what these guys do to protect our neighbourhood. We were introduced to Warrant Officer Farhan who gave us a very warm welcome and handed Renzo his very own fireman hat (which he eventually lost in school anyway... lol) and started giving us a walkabout and introduction of the vehicles and equipments that were part of their daily use. The compound itself wasn't nearly as big as I expected but it sure was equipped with all the things needed to complete their duties. From hydraulic jacks to lift heavy loads to tracked vehicles to maneuver difficult terrain, you name it, they have something for it. Interesting to note is that I did ask if they really received calls from the public to rescue cats stuck high up in trees like it was rumoured, and to my surprise, they used to receive and respond to such calls, but now that there are more critical situation that involves more lives/property damage, such "urgent" pet-rescue missions are left to the SPCA.
We left the station with a better understanding of how our unsung heroes diligently strive to keep our neighbourhood safe and also with some fold-along-the-dotted-line cardboard cutouts for Renzo to play around with.
So back at home, we starting putting our thinking caps together and with the cutouts provided by the SCDF, some HL milk cartons, 4 drinking bottle caps and parts of some renzo-destroyed toys, we completed our masterpiece that was to be marveled at by schoolkids in the weeks that followed after its submission... and till date, it is still in Renzo's toy box as one of his Fire Engine toy, complete with fully extendable, rotating fire ladder... ^_^... A home-made toy by Mummy Chan and Daddy Chan...
