A walk down memory lane...
I was going to go to the office after my gym session and getting some toiletries, so I took bus number 145 and as I sat on the seat, I was so tired I fell straight to sleep... When I woke up, I was already at Commonwealth Ave and rather than get off the bus and turn back, I decided not to go to the office since I had my laptop with me and I could jolly well work from home, so I decided to take the bus all the way to the terminal and I could go to Holland Village.
I use to take this bus as a child and I thought it would be interesting to walk thru the lanes I use to walk thru as a child from the last bus stop along Holland Drive to Holland Village. When the bus reach the last bus stop, I was surprised that what greeted me was a huge community center with many shops... Gone were the huge HSBC bank and the red bricked shop houses selling 'zi cha'... When I saw the huge NTUC at the community center, two things came to my mind: where has the old community center gone to and what happened to the old NTUC beside Buona Vista Swimming Pool where my family use to go to when the items at Cold Storage was too expensive... So I walked along the lane leading to the old community center site and they were building a new flat... Hmmm, I wonder how much does the apartment cost in that location...
As I walk further down to the swimming pool, I saw the location of the old NTUC and its entrance were all boarded up and all the other stores were closed... What made the building special was becos there use to be a kindergarten nearby and my mum would bring me to fetch my sister and I would run ard and walk up the spiral staircase looking at the pool of blue water and be fascinated by it... And there use to be a doctor where my mum would bring me to see when the polyclinic at Chip Bee was too crowded... None of it exist anymore... As I walk by the deserted corridors, I can't help but remember the time when I was a little tyke running along that place...
Walking thru the carpark behind, I headed towards Holland Village. I've been to Holland Village many times but for some reason, I feel especially nostaligic and as I look at all the upmarket restaurants and shops, I began to recount what the store use to be, the coffee shop with the cranky Hokkien Mee uncle now stand Crystal Jade, the place where the auntie sell flowers is now a ice cream stall, I went up to Holland Shopping Center and what use to be Emporium is now an expanded Lim's Art and Craft and I remembered how I first shop lifted a birthday card in Emporium for my brother cos I couldn't afford one, I went to the toilet at the corner and remembered that was the first place I kissed a boy, a cubby neighbour of mine...
It was nice to see some of the old stores are still there which makes them over 30 years old!!!! Varieware, the place that sold DIY stuff and it's the first store you see when you take it escalator up to the second floor, EMF bookstore where I use to rent all the books and buy off season Vogue magazines at $3 when I was a teenager, the yarns and ribbon store, I was looking at the window and found it ironic how I never paid attention to that store and yet ended up in the career I'm in...
Things change, there's no doubt abt it. But it's important to hold on to the memories you have becos we tend to remember the good thing than the bad and sometimes, it's those memories that keep us going... So when was the last time you literally walked down memory lane?
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