It’s winter, and the subway rats are unashamedly parading in front of commuters’ eyes as they scamper and sniff their way around the railway tracks. This is a somewhat confronting sight to someone who prides herself on living a clean life (hygienically speaking), but, as I’ve discovered in the past three days travelling the subway to and from work, the vision is now also a daily one.

I can only attribute the sudden brazen visibility of these rodents to the cooler weather (hovering between 0 and 10 degrees Celcius at the moment). Perhaps they like to cosy up to the railway tracks instead of fossicking in the dark cold corners of the tunnels?

Those of us standing on the railway platforms, decked out in hats, scarves, coats, gloves and boots, instinctively cringe at the sight of them but can’t help empathising. At least, I couldn’t.