A Singaporean In Australia

Influenced by KL-J's interest in salted eggs, I finally decided to do it.

Before I did it, I checked the retail price of salted eggs in Perth. The cheapest was about 92 cents per egg. The price of a chicken egg I was buying to salt was about 20 cents per egg. The problem: the salted egg from China was of course, a duck egg and it would definitely weigh higher than a chicken egg. If I could even find a supply of fresh duck eggs here, it probably would cost so much that I would be better off buying the product from China off the shelf.

So hypothetically, how can I make profit out of this? I have no clue at the moment but it doesn't matter. What I want to do at this stage was to find out what the fuss was about. If I could not reach a level where I could be cocksure about a product, I wouldn't be able to believe in it let alone market it. Did I just say market it? Me? We'll talk about that much later.

To salt an egg at home was a no-brainer, even my 5 year old daughter could do it. Salt, water, eggs. Simple as. Add salt to water so much until the brine saturates. Then soak eggs in brine. The brine will both preserve and salt the eggs. With adequate time, we get salted eggs. That's all. It isn't rocket science. Of course to produce salt eggs commercially, we will need to do it cheaper, better and faster. That is another story altogether but my current focus is to make some, use them, taste them and see what this is all about.

All that was left to do was to wait. By the time the eggs are ready, Judy will still be in Perth. I'll leave some for her to do pastries with and use some myself to cook stuff. Will the curing turns out to be successful? Let's wait and see.

If it works, I would have turned a 20 cent into 4 times the amount of money I would require to spend to acquire a similar product in retail, which suits a pissed poor peasant like me to a T. I no $ don't want to pretend to eat atas food lah but make them myself? Why not. When I call mum again I should tell her that the I couldn't even afford one of the peasant food that poor families like ours used to eat to save money.

The side gate was finally completed after spending another few hours after work. It wouldn't be done without the help of Jen and Judy so all thanks to them. Jen spared me some time despite being busy with her chores. Judy cooked dinner. With my time freed, I told myself I had to try to get the shit done up once and for all. Jen must be the most relieved one when it was all done. She always wanted the compound enclosed. Most importantly, she didn't have to work with me anymore. She had to run about to fetch tools and hold up things while I cursed and swore at the bloody pan head crossed self tapping screws provided. I only want hex head self tapping screws, noobs! 

Due to that, I actually found getting the gate accessories installed harder than the fence itself. For the tiny bit of fence, after Jen leveled the U channel, I was on my own for the rest. Cutting up metal ....  a piece of cake. Back in my metal grinding days, I knew the skill would not completely go to waste in future. I still use my knowledge at work once a while. For little stuff to complete around a house, a little confidence with a sharp blade on an angle grinder can help a lot.

Slash. Slash. Slash. I didn't even mind sparks hitting on my bare shins. It was the first time I cut colorbond sheets. Quite easy to work with. In less than 10 minutes, my channels and sheet was cut. 

By the time Jen was out, the fence part was already completed. Judy called for dinner but I was desperate to fix the accessories and finish up the job for good. I was getting a little sick of it all. All I wanted was to complete it, pave the remaining area and start work on sorting out the garage. There is still much to do.

See (left), done. I think it looks awesome. I don't care what the others think. Finally, an enclosure. Is it time for a dog? Don't even think of it for now.

Did I really save any money by installing it myself? Well.... let's see. The original fence people who worked for the developer quoted us $500 for just a gate at the back. That was supposed to be the cheaper "cash jobs." They can go a bit lower than other professionals because some of them pinch materials from their companies. Anyway, we didn't take it up. If we were to ask for a quote to do a gate and a little bit of fence, I don't think I will get anything lower than $650.

My materials cost me $400? The savings is a little meh, nothing to be excited about. But hey, money is money ok. Besides, we usually need to pay to learn something so if people offer to give you $250 to learn something, wouldn't you bite off his hand? I'm not sure about you but I will.

The back felt a little better so I decided to do something after I came back from work. For the past year, I had taken on quite a bit of dirty work around the house. You do not complete a paint job without staining your hands. Even a master painter does, just less frequently. If you are completely clean throughout the job, it simply means you haven't work. Flooring the house was dusty business but it could be much worse if I had unwisely decided to tile. Paving outdoors wasn't too bad, until you have to cut paving blocks to fit nooks and crevices around the place. In fact, anything that involves the cutting of stone, cement, concrete or scorched clay creates great clouds of dust. Believe me, you will not enjoy being right in the middle one of those clouds.

That might be the 2nd last time I had to create clouds of dust for Savvy Steve's house. Certainly hope so. Cut this shitty slab, plant the 2nd post, level it, cast it. When it is set the next day, install the lockset to the gate and complete the fencing to close up the rest of the gap. Once done, lay the rest of the pavings till it abuts the lawn line. That will be the final cloud. You bet I am looking forward to it. It has been nearly a year since I started on this.

One PRC fellow I met in Perth will be preparing to move to the next house, if he is at this stage. He buys houses in near derelict conditions at a steal. Move in, rents out his previous house and repair his new old house regularly, with whatever spare time his day job left him. By the time he has done it up nicely enough, he will either sell it if there is a decent profit to be made or rent it out when his next purchase is secured. The last time I saw him was 3 years ago, he had already gotten himself 4 houses. Not all of them were paid up but I was sure 1-2 of them were. Let's hope he survived the rental downturn. I don't think he will be hit hard. A resilient lot, his kind. They have a lot we should learn from.

I don't think Savvy Steve will have an axe to grind if I propose to sell his house. In fact, the other day when I hinted all he said was, "Suit yourself, just send me money over when you are done." He wanted an inflated sum to his share, as that was part of the agreement. Anything else, if there is anything else, is mine to keep as a pathetic reward to my work. In a worse case, a deficit position will enslave me further to Savvy Steve. The time isn't ripe. I should concentrate in finishing my work.

As I didn't have that much time after I came back from work, I reckoned if I manage to plant the 2nd post, it would be considered a good day. Some men in Singapore do not even have time to change a diaper for their babies after work. I consider myself lucky. 

Cutting the rest of the stone took awhile but the post planting process was satisfying. Once the cement sets, I will be able to proceed with the rest of the work from the next day onward. Soon, Patrick will not be able to sneak into my compound from the side. Soon. Hahaha!

There are only 3 things you want to do with your fly screen.

a) Install a brand new one

b) Change the fly screen. (either from fiber glass to aluminum or replacing a broken screen)

c) Tighten up a dislodged fly screen

Since I eat-full-nothing-to-do (am free) today, I thought it would be a good idea to write a simple guide so you can do this yourself too. I am going to do fix up my fly screen but the procedures are similar for all 3 tasks.

1) The problem

This is how my problem looks. It happened after my daughter (who was 2 back then) kept leaning onto the door as if it is a solid door. Of course it wasn't. There was only a flimsy fibre glass fly screen on it. Needless to say, the area she kept leaning on eventually came loose out of the groove that was holding it tight.

During Summer, these gaps will be easy options for flies to enter the house.

Since the net was only pulled out of position and not broken or tore, there is no need to replace it. We just need to re-spline it.

2) How to remove a fly screen door

To remove this, we have to understand how the screen door works. I removed the door so that I can show you the locking component of the door to hold the it to its tracks, to prevent the door from snapping out of its track anytime during usage. All doors should work in a similar way. In my case, a screw acts like a pin to stop the roller (or wheel) from moving. When the screw is removed, the roller can be pushed up. It will spring back to position when we let go. (see below)

Thus when we remove the holding pin (screws) of all four corners of the door, the whole door will be easily removable by pushing it upwards and outwards towards ourselves.

3) The Spline System

The fly screen net is held by a spline system. A spline is a coil of gasket-like rubber and it fits into a perimeter of grooves around the door, just tight enough to hold the fly net beautifully.

If your spline is broken or shattered to bits by prolonged sunning, it is available on the cheap at any hardware supplier near you.

All you need for the door is a pair of scissors (or shears if you are using an aluminum net) and a tool they call the spline roller.

The spline roller is available in many forms, ranging from $3.50 to $15.00. Every model does the job. So if you buy the most expensive one to do a once-in-a-while job, you are not showing your friends that you are rich, just an idiot. So don't be an idiot and do the right thing.

4) Roll the spline while stretching the net

The sub title described it all. Stretch out the net so your end product will look smart and taut. While you stretch, use the spline roller to force the spline into the groove. That portion pressed down net will locked down firmly. Proceed to the next portion until you reach the corners. Cut off excess spline when your the entire perimeter in completed. For minor repairs, you will only need to roll the loose portions of the net. It took me less than 5 minutes to fix my net in.

5) Fix your door back

Do the reverse steps for the removal of the door. The key thing to take note is to push the door up slightly (you can do this alone or with a helper) when you tighten the screws at the top corners. The purpose of this is to make your door slides freely. If you want a tighter door or if you are comfortable with the smoothness of your sliding already, you can skip this step. Make sure all 4 corners are secured. 

We are done! Easy as ABC. You can do this yourself at home easily by following these steps. If you are still uncomfortable in doing it, you can contact me (Perth Metro only) and I'll be happy to lend you a hand.


This is yet another example why migration to Australia is a bad idea. You have to do these shit yourself. So please don't come.