Today, we had lunch with my dad and brother. It’s my brother’s birthday tomorrow, and my dad’s birthday the day after! They turn 44 and 74 respectively. Woohoo!
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Today is my 36th birthday!
For my birthday present, Tiak paid for a Carousell purchase of a bundle of four old books - a 1989 street directory, a Facts and Pictures of Singapore book from 1986, a Highway Code manual from 1984, and a Singapore Teleview (a defunct videotext service) guide, probably from the 1990s. Great buy!
Plenty of photos of an older Singapore in the Facts and Pictures book. Here’s the eastern stretch of Orchard Road with tall trees lining the boulevard; they have been replaced by malls such as 313 @ Somerset and Orchard Central:
Older models of buses and taxis plying the roads:
The Mass Rapid Transit system under construction. It opened the following year, in 1987.
Likewise, the Highway Code is a time capsule of traffic management systems and rules of the 1980s. There’s the Area Licensing Scheme, which was replaced by Electronic Road Pricing in 1998:
Signals given by police officers:
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Tiak made sumptuous meals for me - orh luak (oyster omelette) for lunch, and a huge pork burger with bacon for dinner. Yum!
The heritage consultancy I work for has moved back to its old office in the Geylang area for six months. After more than three years based in Haw Par Villa, I’m back on familiar ground.
This is the walkway on the way to Aljunied MRT Station across Aljunied Road. During peak hours, it is a bustling conduit of Movement. At night, after the peak hours have passed, the street lights guide me home.
I like watching and hearing the trains pass by overhead. Together with the roaring of buses pulling in and out of the bus stop, they meld into a soundtrack of urban existence.
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