I am currently visiting Singapore. Thank you very much Qantas frequent flyer points!

Those ordinary things that are done just a little differentlty to home are always interesting. For instance, at major intersections here, where we would normally have a “green man” to indicate “walk” and a flashing man to indicate that the lights are about to change … here (at least on Orchard Rd) they also have a big set of digital numbers “counting down” to tell you exactly when the mad taxi drivers are about to run you over :)

This actually makes a lot of sense, because at home.. I always cross when the man is flashing.. but sometimes I don’t know how long he has been flashing for. So on a particularly wide street, it’s easy to get caught in the middle.

I’ll see if I can get a photo…

[UPDATE 5:40 PM Sunday, 23rd Oct]
… I’m actually in Bangkok now. This is an amazing place, but more on that later. I just noticed that at some of the intersections here, there is actually a huge count down for the cars as well :) It works a bit differently to the pedestrian version though. The green countdown tells you for how long you can keep driving through - this one changes to amber in the last few seconds. Then there is a red count down to tell you how long you will have to wait until it’s your turn again :) I think it would help with road rage and that old habit of reversing back over the sensor plate to try and make the traffic lights change quicker.