YESTERDAY WAS SINGAPORE'S national day, in case you did not know, and let me assure you that no resident of Singapore is ever given the opportunity not to know.
I paid a brief visit there the weekend before last and mistakenly thought that I could spend a quiet Saturday afternoon in my hotel room catching up with some work on my laptop. My mistake was to select a hotel near the parade ground and all day long I was bombarded with the rah-rah noises of national day parade practice.
They practise it for weeks before the actual day and, with yet another weekend to go, they already had it down as a full dress rehearsal, complete with fireworks, artillery salutes, boasts of military prowess - the 25-millimetre gun fires 72 million rounds per second, or something like that - and military jet fly-bys.
Did you know, by the way, that Singapore has the world's best left-turn air force? I have that on the authority of a friend who was an American navy pilot. They lift off and then have to turn left to avoid flying over Malaysia, left again to avoid flying over Indonesia and left once more to get back home - the world's best left-turn air force.
But what particularly struck me on this occasion was the deflagging of the buildings. I noticed it on the taxi ride back to the airport.
Let me explain. When national day comes up in Singapore, it has long been the bounden duty of all good patriots to show their loyalty to their city by draping the flag of Singapore over their balconies or outside at least one window if they have no balcony.