She is 68 and suffered a stroke a year back. He is 78 and takes care of her. They have no children.
They used to run a provision shop in Tiong Bahru, which was acquired by the Government some 20 years back.
Since then, she has worked intermittently as a tea lady in various factories, but following her stroke, she can no longer walk. They are down to their last few thousand dollars in savings.
They are grateful for the help from charity groups but embarrassed about relying on handouts. That is why they asked that their full names not be published.
One meal a day is sufficient for them, they say in a mixture of Mandarin and Teochew, as 'we don't eat much'. In the evenings, they have some bread or biscuits.
Poor retirees like them are among the hardest hit by rising prices.
The number of such retiree households with no income from work has risen from 3.7 per cent of all households in 2000, to 5 per cent in 2006.
Inflation tends to hit low-income households hardest, especially when the price hikes involve basic food items. Food takes up 29.6 per cent of the expenditure of the poorest 20 per cent of households.
For the top fifth of households, only 17 per cent of their spending is on food. For the middle 60 per cent, it is 24.1 per cent.
The incomes of poorer households are also the least likely to keep pace with high inflation. Their breadwinners tend to be low-wage and low-skilled, and hence will enjoy at best small yearly pay rises.
Last year, on the back of excellent economic growth of 7.5 per cent, the average monthly income from work for Singapore resident households rose 9.1 per cent. But the increase was skewed in favour of higher-income groups.
For the bottom 10 per cent of households, income from work increased just 3.9 per cent to $1,210 per household, or 1.9 per cent after inflation.