Haze Haze Haze

We are totally fed up with this extremely bad HAZE. It is coming from Sumatra and largely caused by illegal agricultural fires. I think last time they had the air this extreme, we managed to escape from it as I was in Japan with all the kids to give birth to Ashley.

This time we were lucky to be away for the first 10 days in Osaka but since we came back it has been pretty bad. I thought it would last only a month or so but now people are predicting it will last till November, another whole month.

I took this picture this morning. Isn't it awful? It got worse as the day went on. We are now very cautious on both how it looks/smells outside and the official PSI levels.

Apparently Singapore has improved their integrated air quality reporting index since last year. Now they have included PM2.5 into the current Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) as its sixth pollutant parameter according to the National Environment Agency (NEA). I have an app on my phone with the 3 hour PSI which takes into account PM2.5 concentration and I can also see 1 hour PM2.5 concentrations.

It was very scary last week when the index hit "Hazardous" level which is over 300. Less than 100 is considered good/moderate then goes up to unhealthy and very unhealthy.

I kept the kids at home today. Even they wear protective masks during the school run, I cannot get Ashley to wear one plus at their kindy they have to have doors open for ventilation - the kids are pretty much exposed to the bad air all the time.

I might have to seriously look into spending this awful time somewhere with fresh/crisp air. My only concern is that Oliver only has a month and a half left till his graduation. Plus I have finally finished running around organising the house, enjoying my house and my time.

But my head and eyes are sore. I went out to water the plants and now my lungs are hurting... You can categorise me as a "healthy person" but even a "healthy person" is starting to suffer.

It is extremely depressing!!!!