Bukit Batok bus interchange

I stays in the East and hardly goes to the west side of Singapore.

Yesterday I was at Hillview finding my way to Jurong West extension and have to find the MRT at  Bukit Batok.

It was a familiar yet distant place to me, having last visited 20 years ago.

In an era where the bus terminals are demolished and made way for modern enclosed air-con ones, I find an familiar bus terminals that is at the same era as Bukit Merah interchange where I always frequented.

There was a feel of nostalgic in the air.

Dental issue

Today I went to a dental surgeon, a popular chain in Singapore in a neighbourhood shopping mall next to a LRT station.

This contrasts with the time I was young.  My great grand mother used to bring me to SGH Dental block for my medical appointments. I guessed I am still in Primary school.

The Dental block is on a slope near the main road and we walked up. Nowadays there is free shuttle bus that stops in almost every block in SGH.

In those days, most do not know English and we showed the appointment card to register ourselves. In my vague memory, I think it is wooden lettice "window" at the reception counter, I could be wrong though.

Sitting on a dental chair as a young child is quite daunting. But the rewards is that I have white teeth that many people praised.

As I wait outside the consult room today, I couldn't help but think that the disparity of dental consult in my young days and today's consult is in fact a progression of a nation.

I tried to find some pictures of SGH dental block online but to no avail. All stays in memory.

Primary school Education

I have never thought much of me getting an English Education in the 70's (a few years after independence), it was a decision jointly arrived by my father and mother then.

It is only when I started working in a clinic in 2014 that I saw so many patients that are in my age group that does not seem to have completed a formal education, let alone an English one, that I started to appreciate THE decision made by my parents.

I remembered going to kindergarten then was quite a scary affair, I don't seem to understand what the teachers say (we only have one year before starting primary school).

One particular incident I remembered though, is when teachers pinpointed to those that hasn't pay up for the text books. So 'malu' as a 6 year old little girl.

The uniform is a pinafore printed in red and white checks.  We sat on cemented floor to learn the ABC's.

In 1973, it seems that queueing for a place in primary school is a system respected and applied. I heard from my maternal great grand-mother that she queued for me.  We were staying in Redhill area then and all the schools were full, schools like Bukit Merah Primary school, Henderson Primary school,

I think we were allocated (or is it queue, I am no sure) to Havelock Primary School which is near Bukit Ho Swee. It's a distance from where I live, Blk 67 Jalan Bukit Merah.

I remembered going to school on the first day with my mother, and there was a little girl in front of me wearing blue frocks, swaying in the wind and looking quite cute.  The girl later turned out to be my longest known friend, even though there were years we lost contact but we found each other through Facebook, a new technology which we would never have imagined during those times.

In 1979, we shifted to Telok Blangah and I transferred to a new school, Blangah Rise Primary School which is just below my HDB block.

By the 90's, there is no more Havelock Primary School and Blangah Rise Primary School had shifted to Telok Blagah Heights (the new address is not reflective of the schools' name).

Post 65-er

I am born in 1966, a year after independence of Singapore.

Most of my friends have stayed in a kampong, but not me. I have always said that is because I have stayed in a slump ! (not exactly one, Redhill area)

The starting of this blog is inspired by an ex colleague who started a blog at mid-life (assuming life expectancy is 80). Well I thought, for me it is exactly mid-life (based on 100) ! Nah, life expectancy is not so long.

I started work in 1983 in a local bank as a teller before progressing to foreign banks and stopped working after 30 years.  After I resigned, I pondered what to do next, an opportunity fell on me and I became a clinic assistant.  The pay is much lower of course, but I have learnt to make do and I am loving my current job now.

Bedok hawker centre 8 June 2017

After I got married in 1997, I stayed in Bedok North and going to MRT to take a train to work is a daily routine for me for 12 years.

During my pregnancy, I have cravings for char kway teow and would take once a week when I finished work.

I have since shifted to Punggol in 2009.

Hardly stepped into Bedok anymore.  So imagine my surprise when I walked from NTUC to the hawker centre, I exclaimed where are the Malay stalls?

Took a stroll in the new Bedok hawker centre and is so 'sua ku" to realise there is free Wifi now.  I googled for the shifting of the hawker centre and it was in 2014.  So the last I stepped foot into Bedok town centre was in 2013 then.

Saw a new hotpot stall and a queue was in sight.  Singapore don't have such cuisine then in the 90's.  With the influx of immigrants, more cuisines from Northern China surfaced.

The fried bananas stall ! still there.

The Hollywood desserts stall is gone.

Um, what about the Katong laksa stall, don't seem to find it.

Teo's Noodles familiar signboard is still there.  I remember it was always in sight if I walked from the MRT to the ATM machines.  Oh, where are the ATMs?

We took lor mee, not the famous one I think.  And I went searching for my char kway teow, I'm quite sure its the same stall although the signboard looks unfamiliar.

There were a few panels of history at the town centre next to the foodcourt where NTUC foodcourt used to be. My husband and I took our time to read every single panel (which is shaped like a sampan) and reminisce the old times.

So much have changed. In the century after 2000's, suddenly every HDB town has rejunevation, old buildings are demolished and every town centre now has a shopping mall with identical tenants such as Bossin, Hang Ten, NTUC, medicinal halls, Old chang kee, same in every shopping mall.

My husband and I seem to miss the old times all of a sudden.  Are we getting old?