Rowell Road

Next to my bus stop, there is a gem of an old shop called Tong Ah Radio and Electrical Traders, which displays in its shop windows loads of old potentiometers, retro-looking bejeweled LEDs, and old buttons like these beauties....

A middle aged lady gets on board with her elderly mother, who quickly steamrollers onto the bus straight to a seat without tapping her ezlink card. With a look of mock outrage on her face, her daughter the middle aged lady bellows heartily and loudly across the bus, "AH MA, BOR TEEEEEEEE??" [Translation: "Mother, why no beeping sound?"] I love how she equated the sound to the act of tapping your card.

For a moment I was convinced that I was actually living in a real city.

I saw the red brick from the corner of my eye as I passed a narrow street and I just knew I had to take this detour. Somehow this street corner gives me that certain... European feeling.

The Sultan surveys Jalan Besar.

I took out an effervescent vitamin tablet and put it in a glass so I could drink it after having a shower. 10 minutes later I arrived back to see this horrific sight of it having spontaneously effervesced on its own. THE HUMIDITY AND THE HEATWAVE HERE IS UNREAL.

Bingo?

I wanted to buy a bottle of water so I walked towards Mustafa, but I suddenly recalled their no-bags policy, so I walked on to another small family owned shop, replete with nostalgic signboard, dimly lit and grey in a certain manner that reminded me of being in Malaysia. I rummaged in my pockets for coins to buy some water but I had none. So I had to find a cash machine at City Square, the "eco" mall, air-conditioned paradise of chinese families looking for their fix of fast food, baby clothes, and household products. Eventually I bought some tea and walked down where Kitchener meets Jalan Besar. Suddenly I realised I had almost walked to Lavender.

I thought of ousting "Chakrii" from his Mayorship of the "Samsung Refrigerator at Mustafa Centre", but I suppose it might already be a bit crowded inside his fridge...

On a wall along Rowell Road... where broken tables, old mattresses, and trishaws are heaped next to large wooden delivery trucks.

I've noticed that the tiny little daddy long legs spiders keep crawling straight up along the wall right in front of me. But where are they going to??? When they reach the ceiling, where do they go from there? Is this actually the same spider crawling up and then jettisoning itself off into the air and floating down again?

This morning I opened my window and there was a tiny indian boy walking down the little path straight ahead, between the trees. He was holding a huge plastic bag full of groceries, which was almost as big as he was, such that he had to raise the handle above his head, in order to keep the bag from touching the ground. Suddenly a big chinese man came down the path from the opposite direction. The boy stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the big man coming towards him on the path. Then he bolted and ran in the opposite direction, making a clattery clanging noise as the tins in his plastic bags touched the ground and he ducked behind one of the trees. The boy continued visibly peering around the tree at the man, as the chinese man walked by completely unperturbed. When the passerby was gone, the boy finally dashed down the road in his original direction, making some unintelligible squeaky noises...