Maps

Many of you might know that Viscoelastic has an obsession with maps. I love reading them, and my hoarding instincts drives me to own every map I come across. I have no clue how I came to be like this, even as I child, I saved my pocket money to purchase maps. My sister never understood my obsession and always felt that I was wasting my money, to the point that I usually had to hide these little purchases to avoid her scornful comments.

In a little brief case I keep my maps, ski maps, road maps, tourist maps... most of them are freebies picked up at rest stations or hotel lobbies. Some of the nicer ones are bought with my stipend. I have an affinity to historical maps. I like to imagine how undiscovered the world felt at that point. My most recent addition is a map of Europe at the turn of the century (ca 1897). It was before the first world war, when the world was ruled by Kings and Princes. It was the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Sherlock Holmes has returned after the "final problem" encounter with Moriarty and Col Flashman's career was winding down. If you happen to be an upper-class englishman, you had it good, perhaps even a chance to see the world. While if you were a serf stuck in Romanov Russia on the right of the map, life might not be so comfortable. In the south were the eclectic Austro Hungarians and exotic Ottomans.

If you too have an obsession of maps, I will like to introduce you to a hidden gem at the "Institute". In the basement of the Hayden Science Library, at the far end behind the most god forsaken journals lies the Institute's map room! Inside the room are piles and piles of maps from all over the world drawn over the last hunderd years. My favourites are of course those of my hometowns: Hong Kong, Singapore and Cambridge. A strange excitement fills me when I see the ill fated gun emplacements in Pulau Blakan Mati or the empty spot on Mt Nicholson which is later to become my home! Cambridge (UK) being Cambridge has really not changed that much for the last 500 years. I was introduced to this treasure room together with the Rheologeewoldt through some obscure IAP tour and I encourage all of you to check it out!

With increasingly sophisticated technology, something like google earth is inevitable. Needless to say, I am a google earth whore, I can easily spend hours scrolling through the landscapes and I leave you with the KMZ file of my grand dad's house in Singapore (its the file named googleearth.kmz).