Two weeks ago, I wrote about waiting. And no, not the poetic kind — not “waiting for love” or “waiting for rain in a drought.” I mean the actual, soul-sucking Singapore version of waiting: standing at a bus stop or MRT station, staring at an arrival board that might as well say “Good luck.”
Because these days? Services are getting more unreliable, fares are rising, and the public — that’s us — are just stuck. Literally. Like a sardine can that doesn’t even arrive on time.
And what can you do about it? Nothing. Not a thing. You can complain, yes, but that usually means yelling into the void or typing furiously on Facebook where your friends just “like” your rant but nothing changes.
So the only thing left is to change how we wait. Not the bus, not the MRT. Just ourselves.
Milan’s Bubble Wrap Hack
In Milan, they solved the problem of waiting with something so simple, so ridiculous, that it deserves a standing ovation. They put bubble wrap at bus stops.
Yes, actual sheets of bubble wrap. Small ones for a three-minute wait, medium ones for five, glorious big sheets for ten. Above it, a sign reads: Antistress For Free!!
And you know what? People don’t complain about the wait anymore. Because they’re too busy poking air bubbles and listening to that sharp, addictive pop. That sound is universal therapy. Doesn’t matter if you’re Italian, Singaporean, or Martian — that pop will heal your soul.
The idea came from conceptual artist Fra.Biancoshock, but the science is solid. Psychologists call it “occupied time.” Do something — anything — while waiting, and suddenly time doesn’t feel so painful. People doing nothing in a queue tend to exaggerate their wait by over 30%. Ten minutes feels like fourteen. But if your fingers are busy stabbing little pockets of air? Time flies.
Houston Airport’s Genius Trick
Take Houston Airport. Passengers used to complain non-stop about waiting for their luggage. So management added staff and cut the wait to eight minutes. Still, the complaints continued. Why? Because passengers only walked one minute from the gate to the carousel, then stood around for seven, doing nothing.
So the airport got clever. They moved the gates further away. Passengers now had to walk six or seven minutes to reach baggage claim. By the time they arrived, their luggage was ready. Complaints dropped to almost zero.
Moral of the story? The wait didn’t actually get shorter. It just felt shorter because people were occupied.
The Singapore Problem
Now let’s be honest. Can you imagine bubble wrap stations at our bus stops? I can already see the announcement:
“Dear commuters, due to rising costs of bubble wrap, fares will increase by 15 cents from next month. Thank you for your support.”
No chance.
So what do we do? We turn to the next best thing — our phones. And sure, scrolling TikTok helps pass the time, but sometimes it makes things worse. You see your friend’s holiday in Japan, and suddenly you’re even angrier that you’re waiting for a bus in Tampines.
That’s why the Milan bubble wrap idea is brilliant. It’s not about being productive. It’s not about catching up on emails or replying WhatsApp messages. It’s about fun. Stupid, silly fun.
Enter Virtual Bubble Wrap
Because no one here is going to fund real bubble wrap for commuters, we have to help ourselves. Thankfully, the internet provides. Websites like virtual-bubblewrap.com and snapbubbles.com let you pop bubbles endlessly. You tap, you hear the pop, and the bubbles refresh forever. Infinite supply.
The first time I tried it, I thought, “This is nonsense.” Three minutes later, I was hooked. That pop sound is addictive. It reminded me of opening a Shopee parcel and ignoring the actual item inside, because the real prize is the packing material.
And now? Every time the app tells me the bus is ten minutes away, I don’t panic. I pop. Ten minutes later, the bus is here, and I didn’t even realise.
The Waiting Mirror
Here’s the deeper thing about waiting. It’s a mirror.
Some people pace. Some sigh loudly, hoping the bus uncle can hear them from three stops away. Some unleash their anger on innocent arrival boards. And some of us — the rare few — actually turn the wait into something else.
A moment of fun. A moment of stillness. Or just a moment to laugh at yourself for sitting at a bus stop furiously stabbing at fake bubble wrap.
Waiting is frustrating, yes. But it can also be an uninvited pause in our rush-rush-rush lives. A pause that asks: “What are you going to do now? Stress, or play?”
Final Pop
Waiting will never disappear. Buses will be late. MRT lines will break down. Flights will be delayed. And sometimes, people in our lives will keep us waiting too.
The only thing we control is what we do with the wait. Do we stew in frustration? Or do we poke bubbles until the stress pops away?
For me, I choose bubbles. Always. Because waiting is compulsory, but suffering is optional.
Written by: Adi Jamaludin
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