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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Ku char mata ...


  • Often heard among locals, " Ku char mata chengh tuay kor." ("Last time police wore shorts.")

  • When I was a National Serviceman at Paya Lebar Police Station, my corporals and sergeants, those who wore chuli-ayam khaki shorts and over-sized batons swore that Abdullah 37 was one the best. She reputedly was the one who smoked Abdullah 37 with the other lips.

Silicon Gulch Cohort enroute to Reunion

Choon Yong and I were travelling on the same flight and our discussion at SFO airport came to the following conclusion:We were lucky to get tickets on to this flight for $1095 US in May having booked the flight in May when looking for fares. Most travel agents as well as the search engines were quoting higher prices on Singapore and other airlines, and their quotes did not appear to include fuel surcharge and taxes. This low fare was actually found on the Singapore Airlines website. This was a pleasant surprise since we noted that usualy SIA fares commanded a premium.

A bonus was that the trip is on SQ1 leaving SFO after midnight and arriving in Singapore before noon. All round, this is a very convenient flight for departing and arriving. Since it is a direct flight, though not non-stop, there is no change of plane, and less handling of bags and risk of luggage loss or misrouting. The best price offered on the web was $1300 US, and did not appear to include tax. Since SIA did not appear on the fares quotes, it did not appear to be a good viable option. In was in May that Choon Yong found this flight and asked me if there were better flights elsewhere, and since at the time there was nothing that appeared more competitive, even with additional stops, we made reservations on this flight.

The lesson to be learnt - if you are travelling to or through Singapore, check out the SingaporeAir website in addition to all the other travel websites and travel agents you hear or know about. SIA agrees to match any lower price for the same class of travel with same terms and conditions if you get in touch with SIA by 12 midnight Pacific Time of the day on which you paid for the SIA ticket by credit card. Also, SIA seems to be one of the few airlines that has SFO-SIN as a direct flight on the same plane. (Too many times, I have encountered occasions when the flight number is the same but there is a plane change with the corresponding inconvenience of going through immigration and security checks).

See the next post - the flight experience itself

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Additional information added Aug 2. The word recognition exercise has been temporarily suspened because some visitors could not get the image to show up. For now, you can post without showing you are not a machine

Coming soon.. how to add new posts ... how to contactg blog owner

hantam bola ...

· hantam bola lands in goobak kuey teow soup........again (ACS Barker Rd canteen)
· waiting desperately for miss buchanans class to start
· writing "the future of the world is now in your hands" over the boys urinal

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

SQ1 flight from SFO to HK

Not having travelled on SIA for a while, I was pleasantly surprised at the service when compared to other airlines on international flights. Many US based carriers now charge for alcoholic beverages served during the flight. Beer, wine, and other spirits are offered free on the flight, as well as a little pack with a pair of light slippers (sockettes) and a disposable toothbrush with a tiny tube of toothpaste. Also in the restrooms, in the amenities drawers, are individual packs of disposable shavers and shaving cream, and of combs so that weary travellers can freshen themselves before leaving the plane.

As usual, the food was good, but note that on Singapore airlines there is a wide variety of special meals available, to accomodate all diets to accomodate regligious, medical, allergy, and personal dietary restrictions. In fact the number of special meals put together outnumber the number of regular meals - and it is remarkable how the special meals manage to find their correct destination in the friendly skies. And if you are traveling on Business or First Class, it appears you can preorder your meals ahead of time.

And of course, the flight attendants are all well groomed, easy on the eyes, solicitious of the comfort of the passengers, and pleasant and friendly to talk to.

In-flight entertainment is certainly plenitful, and multiple movies and TV on demand programs. Entertainment is plentiful, and for comparison, we will compare side by side the enternatinment programs on SIA and UA (on which another of our cohorts travelled) to illustrate the variety of entertainment. What is most impressive is the number of movies and TV programs on demand, which ire truly on demand so that it is possible to watch what is going on or pausing at any time, rather than waiting for the 2 hour or so cycle on which each program starts individually.

I stayed on the the aircraft while in transit, and found myself, in the company of the pretty and friendly flight attendants, many of whom took the excellent service as a given. They are not above doing the unpleasant job of cleaning the lavatories when required, and found it inconceivable that on such long flights on other airlines this was not done. I confirmed that alcoholic drinks were served at no charge on the flight.

As I write this, I find a lot of activity going on with the ground staff cleaning the plane. This is in addition to the flight attendants coming around and collecting papers and wrapping before the customers deplaned. The ground cleaning crew drag large plastic garbage bags behind them, and go from seat to seat cleaning them, and doing whatever else is necessary to refresh them, loading and unloading all the meal packs in boxes.and running. Blankets are plentyful, and in sealed clean plastic bags to show they are fresh, and replace the used blankets. The ground crew removes any of old blankets, and replaces them with new blankets, and wipes tray tables, and vacuum the floor.

The flight attendant stay in the plane as long as any passengers stay on board. A ground staff came in to check my boarding pass and passport to make sure they accounted for me, and tagged with the green sticker saying "transit". This is differnt from other situations where transit passengers leave the plane with all their belongings and go through security all over again coming on to the plane. Passengers were told they could leave their carryon baggage on the plane, carrying only their valuables with them. I chose to stay on board to avoid the inconvenience of the security checkpoints and lining up again to board.

written on wed morning Jul 30, 2008 in the plane in Hong Kong during transit and posted later .. the post date and time is approximately when it was written.

kuti kuti....

· "when we used to play during recess 'kuti kuti' to see whose kuti jumped over the other to win the 'kuti'
· When we used to play 'hantam bola' and ran around the school
· When we could buy "kanchang puteh' for 10 cents from the mama guy with a box on his head
· when we could get milk for 20 cents and plate of mee for 15 cents at the school tuck shop durig recess
· when we say a bayee walking under the cana with a soap box to stand up on it to perform tricks on a cow
· when we wore little fake gold rings with a lion's head to school
· when we carried small brown school bags to class with two snap locks on either side the first day we could ride a bicycle to school and it had a speedometer on it
· when we would assemble behind the old scout building across the street from Coleman Street school to witness fights between many of our famous contemporise
· when we would drop little pencil sharpeners with mirrors on it to check the lady teachers' legs and panties if any
· when Ms Christina Loh was the sexiest and sauciest teacher we ever had at Coleman Street
· when some of us had to parade around the school as part of the 'late comers parade' for being 5 minutes to school

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Welcome to visitors from around the world!

Wow, it is impressive to note through clustrmaps and FEEDJIT we can see where people come from. Florida, Bellevue,Washington Cleveland,Ohio Bristol,Bristol Manchester,Manchester Houston,Texas San Jose,California.

Yet to see some visitors from Singapore......

Yardley Brilliantine Pomade ...

· Yardley Brilliantine Pomade - the green sticky stuff for hair thats in a small low round glass jar with gold-colour metal cap. Years later came Tancho from Japan. Also that time Brylcream and Vaseline were figthing for market share, of course Brylcream was the market leader.
· Yea, for trousers, the tigther the better, must be no pleats, remember I proudly owned a pair of and-coloured stretch levis jeans which I wore and wore and wore.
· Milk Bars - Magnolia milk bar at the old cold storage in Orchard Road, Capitol Cinema, Mont Dor at Ngee Ann flats where the original Mazda showroom was opposite FitzPatricks.
· Yes, tea dance at Princess Hotel Garni and Golden Venus, where the richer had babycham and the less endowed ordered bacardi coke, the guys drank the bacardi and the girls the coke to save money.
· Talentime - Remember Andrew Liew participated and came very close to winning. Then there were the 3 chubby girls, think they called themselves Petals, and the guy with the Tom Jones, Engelbert Hum pa lang tak voice who won 1 year, can't remember his name though.
· Thunderbirds, Flybaits, Crescendo, Naomi & The Boys (sixteen Candles).
· Monthly Movie News and weekly Students World newspaper that I just can't wait to lay my hands on.
· Kept fishes, bred them to sell to fish-shops for pocket money, kau-hoong or live worms which you coiuld get for 5cts or go to longkang use thread to catch.
· Redifusion, and the famous Lay Tai Sor story-teller. Pavilion cinema in Orchard Road, see Sunday matinee for 50cts.
· Hantam bola, badminton, basketball for me. Volleyball at ACS which I never got to play.
· Bicycle racing around the circuit surrounding ACS Barker Road quadrangle, and John King for his magnificent size always outraced everyone. That time Robin Hood brand bicycle and Shimano never heard of.
· Catching big black ants in school by sticking thin blade of grass in anthole, pull off their feelers and let them fight to the death.
· Chinese New Year firecrackers, WALAU really the bestest. Shoot rockets at each others house and frigthening the girls with the little round bomb that explodes loudly when you throw it hard against the floor.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Brylcreem

· Brylcreem; teenagers (and adults) plastered Brylcreem on their hair, shiny hair with not one strand out of place!!! There was a pre-occupation with combing one's hair. Just about everybody had a comb in the pocket!!
· tight trousers, there was a time when teenagers wore very tight narrow pants (and walked with difficulty! explains the high-pitched singing !); it wasn't cool to wear loose pants then.
· "milk bars"; for a short period (early days of rock'n'roll) milk bars sprung up all around; it was cool to be seen in a milk bar with one's mates; yup, milkshakes was the "in thing" to drink, and "floats" was also "in" !!!
· "fighting fish"; those living closer to or in rural areas will remember catching "fighting fish" which were kept in glass containers; the "fighting fish" developed striking bright colours when kept in a dark environment and appeared to be more fierce than those kept in a bright place. Mates would pit their fighting fish against others
· "talent time" - the local/national live-on-stage radio precursor to today's TV American Idol
· "tick tock" - a game
· "shuttle cock" (or some other name which I can't remember), a game where a feather is stuck in the centre of a bottle cap and the idea is to keep the "device" in the air for as long as possible with one's foot.
· rounders - a sport similar to baseball
· pointed shoes; ouch! caused many an ingrown toenail!
· collecting photos of movie stars; in the early fifties, publicity for new movies were in the form of illustrated pamphlets accompanied by autographed copies of photos of movie stars. These photos were collectibles and often exchanged.
· the Elvis Presley hairstyle
- martial arts movies......... Wong Fei Hoong etc
- comics
- raiding neighbours' mango, rambutan, langsat, etc during the fruit season
- writing in to radio stations to play our "requests" i.e. popular songs (pre-TV days when radio was king)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

In Days of Yore

I heard our school Anthem had the same tune as the Canadian National Anthem but never checked it out until now to see if this was true. A google search found that the word phrasing appears similar, but the melody itself sounds different from a song called "The Maple Leaf Forever"

Anyone with additional insight into this matter would do us all a favor by sharing such knowledge.

April Fool's Day

The First Day of the month was when the school fees were collected and sent to the office.
One year, an announcement came in mid morning saying that no more coins would be accepted for school fees. It sounded pretty ugly. As a side note, the principal or vice-principal added "Poor Mr Anai has been counting 1c coins all morning".......

Why is this amusing? It is because this prank seems to appear not every year but through every generation of students. I only heard this once...... but the link to the ACS Class of 1979 website describes the same thing happening in 1977, and it sounds like they think the School Admin was surprised -- I doubt very much this was new to the teachers and principal/ vice-principal but it appears they good naturedly played along with this prank.........

check out this link to "Tall Stories" of Class of 1979

Forty Years On - from Wikipedia as of date of posting

Forty Years On (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Forty Years On is a song written by Edward Ernest Bowen and John Farmer in 1872.
Forty Years On is a song about life at school and is meant to give pupils now an idea of what it will be like in forty years when they return to their old school, and to remind old boys about school life. It is the main school song of Harrow School, and is sung there at the end of any songs (this is an occasion when old boys of the school return to hear the schools songs being sung by current pupils, or an occasion within houses for singing the same songs at the end of each term), followed by Auld Lang Syne and the British National Anthem (God Save The Queen). Traditionally, verse three is sung by Old Harrovians in attendance at School Songs. The Churchill verse is only sung once a year at a special Churchill Songs. The penultimate Follow Up! in each chorus is sung unaccompanied by the School XII, which is made up of the best singers in the top year.
Contents[hide]
1 The Words:
2 The Starehe Boys' Centre and School Rendition
3 Parody
3.1 Other uses
//

[edit] The Words:
Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along,
Follow up! Follow up! Follow up
Follow up! Follow up
Till the field ring again and again,
With the tramp of the twenty-two men.
Follow up! Follow up!
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won,
Strife without anger and art without malice, –
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
Then, you will say, not a feverish minute
Strained the weak heart and the wavering knee,
Never the battle raged hottest, but in it.
Neither the last nor the faintest, were we!
Follow up! etc.
Oh the great days. in the distance enchanted,
Days of fresh air, in the rain and the sun,
How we rejoiced as we struggled and panted –
Hardly believable, forty years on!
How we discoursed of them, one with another,
Auguring triumph, or balancing fate,
Loved the ally with the heart of a brother,
Hated the foe with a playing at hate!
Follow up etc.
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!
Follow up etc.
Churchill Verse:
Blazoned in honour! For each generation
You kindled courage to stand and to stay;
You led our fathers to fight for the nation,
Called "Follow up" and yourself showed the way.
We who were born in the calm after thunder
Cherish our freedom to think and to do;
If in our turn we forgetfully wonder,
Yet we'll remember we owe it to you.
Follow up! etc.
The original Churchill verse, sung to him on 12th November 1954, was as follows:
Sixty years on--though in time growing older,
Younger at heart you return to the Hill:
You, who in days of defeat ever bolder,
Led us to Victory, serve Britain still.
Still there are bases to guard or beleaguer,
Still must the battle for Freedom be won:
Long may you fight, Sir, who fearless and eager
Look back to-day more than sixty years on

[edit] The Starehe Boys' Centre and School Rendition
FORTY YEARS ON (adapted from the famous song of Harrow School, written in 1872)
Forty years on, when afar and asunder,
Parted are those who are singing today,
When we look back and forgetfully wonder
What we were like in out work and our play:
Brotherhood strong and teachers devoted,
Assembly, Chapel, the House where we grew,
Posho, Githeri, the Founders' Day dinner,
Talks in Baraza, the friendship we knew.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
Give honour again and again,
To Starehe where we became men,
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
O the great days in the distance enchanted,
Hours in the classroom and hours in the field,
In games and athletics we struggled and panted,
Learning to strive hard and never to yield,
Scouting, exploring, those long expeditions,
Fighting of fires, swimming and First Aid,
Playing of music, debating and drama,
Voluntary service – our first steps we made.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Etc.
Forty years on growing older and older,
Shorter in wind as in memory long,
Feeble of foot and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help us that once we were strong?
God gives us duty for us to discharge it,
Problems to face, struggle with and overcome,
Service to render and glory to covet,
Twenty and thirty and forty years on!
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!

[edit] Parody
Forty years on, when in a bar down-under
Farting are those who are drinking today,
When you look fat, and regretfully wonder
What you were like when you weren’t overweight,
Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,
Glimpses of notes like the ning nang song,
Visions of hunger shall waft then before you,
Echoes of Burger King shall bear them along,
Follow up! Follow up! Follow up
Follow up! Follow up
Till the fields ring again and again,
With the flatulence of the thirty true men
Follow up! Follow up!
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Longer in wind, as in memory short,
Feeble of foot, flattened by a boulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us goal lines to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, with swords or a gun;
Fights for the dickheads, and trees for the beavers,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!

[edit] Other uses
Forty Years On is the school song of the prestigious Napier Boys' High School in Napier, New Zealand. The "tramp of the twenty-two men" line is altered and instead is "the tramp of the thirty true men" - in reference to Rugby Union which is the national sport. The same is also true for Wellington College in Wellington, the capital of NZ. Hamilton Boys' High School in NZ has also used it with the "thirty true men" since the 1950's. Nelson College, in Nelson, New Zealand, sings the first verse (and chorus - with the reference to the "thirty true men") at Senior Prizegiving
As well as this it is also sung at Melbourne High School's Speech Night (Graduation Night). Only the first and last verses (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) are sung. Rather than the "tramp of the twenty-two men", Melbourne High School replaces the line with the "tramp of the thirty-six men" in reference to Australian rules football being the dominant football code in Victoria.
In the United Kingdom: the school song of Netherthorpe School Colyton Grammar School, Woodford County High School in Essex, Beverley Grammar School in East Yorkshire, Bolton School, Manchester Grammar School, High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield, the now defunct Salford Grammar School and Harrow School's affiliated school, The John Lyon School.
In the United States: sung at the Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) at the commencement ceremony.
In Kenya it is sung on Founders' Day at Starehe Boys' Centre and School
In South Africa: at Pretoria Boys High School, Pretoria sung at all School Valedictions and assemblies at which Old Boys are present, with certain minor adaptions. 22 good men is substituted by 30 good men. It is sung in Forty Years On, a play by Alan Bennett. It also sung at Westville Boys High School, Durban, when the matrics have their last assembly and ring the bell before departing the school.
In Thailand: at Vajiravudh College which is a boarding school built by King Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) in 1911, the "tramp of twenty two men" became "The Might of Thirty Best Men" in refernece to the school's supremacy in Rugby. There is also lyric in Thai which is sung each year before the King of Thailand at the Graduation Ceremony.
In Hong Kong, the melody is used by Queen's College as its school song, with its lyrics written by Headmaster Mr. William Kay (1920). The school song of Heep Yunn School is also adapted from this song. But its lyrics is in Chinese, rather than English which Queen's College uses.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Years_On_%28song%29"
Categories: 1872 songs British songs

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'sesaons' of games

· 'sesaons' of games during childhood
· making 'glass on strings' to do kite fighting
· a walk down Desker Rd and the side / back lanes where one could get a lay for $5.60...
· school canteen ( tuckshop ) : fried noodles, soup noobles, mee siam, laksa, Indian rojakall at 20cents per order
· for 50cents one gets curry chicken or beef rice...
· bottle of plain or flavoured Cold Storage milk for 20c...done on a weekly order basis thro the teachers...then we get a daily coupon...i remember selling them off - even at discount to get cash for other things...
· we come back from recess all sweaty from playing catching & 'police & thieves'... got so many shirts torn playing these games that my mum went to school to enquire what's wrong we me...fights ending up with cuts, bruises & black eyes...had to bullshit about 'accidents'...
· we were probably 10 or 11 years old then... and if you're stupid enof to want to steal from an indian ! well, we were up this rambutan tree, busily plucking & stuffing our mouths full...when she discovered us .. oh oh !she was waiting at the bottom of the tree cursing us in Tamil...waiting won't understand if vulgarities were used... and she had her moments whacking us with a rubber slipper when we slided down and made a hasty retreat... can't remember the details, there were at least 2 of us... so she didn't zero on juz one...we probably had a fair share in taking the beatings ! we took note to stay well away from that particular hut ever since... hahahaha !
· another time, outside some junction near Mckenzie Rd... i was rammed by a motorbike... it was in those days when the gangsters were not wiped out yet...the guy fell, got up yelling in hokkien vulgarities... the main point was " " knn aye ning peh mng si hor larng lai aye ah ! " ( fu jian ) literally, " !@#* your father here is not a good person ah ! "i was in my early teens and was quite shaken up... can't remember if he was full of tattoos or not...but he certainly behaved the part, even if he was acting ! luckily, Eric Fong's house was nearby...i had to go borrow a few bucks to placate this self-acclaimed gangster ! i think it was $5...nevermind that i was merely riding a bicycle AND that he ran into me on a motorbike ! bloody 'ell...i guess we know when to roll & when to fold !!! sheesh...dam ! but we live to fight another day... hahahaha those were the days my friend...
· hantam bola on that small patch of grassey slope in front of the clock tower...
· we used to target the 'barisan socialis' with extra venom : yourself, Seow Pong, Poh Huat, i think maybe Hei Pin & Hwei Yin ( i think ) becoz your mandarin was better than ours ! hahahaha !
· and directly under the tower clock - inside... we played football with a ball made from paper and rubber bands. the 2 goal posts were the 2 alcoves on each end of the hall - on the same side, beside the main entrance... it was actually, foot brawl... often ending with frayed tempers and fights - whether ' chi kek' or punch outs... double recess usually spelt double trouble... those were the Sec 1 & 2 days... hahahaha !
· bought some Hacks the other day from the asian grocer wholesaler there's the original black cough drop the chief competitor to which was Hudsons later came the honey lemon one in a white & yellow wrapper i bought both cough drops / lozenges or to us as kids, simply sweets during teenage days, we ate it to :
o refresh our taste after smoking, in order to smoke some more or
o to camouflage the smell of our smoking - probably fooling only ourselves..
a sweet in one's mouth does bring back memories... memories of childood & adolecence long gone by...
- marbles x 2- kah seng- layang- catapult- catchin fish- catchin spiders- kacheng- kuti kuti- pic cards- cycling- wrestling- football- badminton- basketball- eels- frogs- worms- coconuts- rambutans. mangoes, chikus, sugar cane, guava, jumboo, durians, mangosteens- fighting- temples / festivals / wayangs- evening classes- tuition- hikes, poaching at reservoirs- buah cherry guns- sling shots from vines- bird traps- pets- free range chicken / eggs- chicken slaughtering- mediums- 4-D, samsu, 12 nos

Saturday, July 26, 2008

best chendol

· the best chendol was just outside Rex cinema
· Tay Koh Yat bus fare to Orchard road was 15 cents
· free movies at the Elizabeth Estate playing field - you had to bring your own seat
· avoiding the mama stoners at Newton toddy shop
· Orchard road carpark was the best hangout
· the chee chong fan man came around with his baskets on a bamboo pole.... and the yong tau foo man too.... and the 'tick-tock' man with his hard white candy
· the best goreng pisang was at Koek road
· the 'speed trials' at Shenton Way
· bullock carts on Serangoon road
· bullock carts delivering cow dung
· 'pah hong chia' taxis
· A&W's was the first drive-in at Bukit Timah
· Fitzpatrick's supermarket was the 'other' supermarket to go to

Red Socks

"Dear Teech, The best thing I like about you is your red socks...."

Question: Who was Teech?

3 Tit Bits ..

· The 3 chubby girls were called the Tit Bits not the Petals with Serene Wee the lead singer.
· The craze of having your school pants tailored made and shirts bespoken at CYC tailor.
· Consulate cigerattes were sold loose for 5 cents each and if you bought 5 you could have them in a packet of your choice.

Friday, July 25, 2008

"Montdor" (at ngee ann building)

· being taken to "Montdor" (at ngee ann building) for ice cream
· having to walk across the quadrangle to the principal's office after being summoned over the PA system
· praying for flooding of bukit timah canal so that school would be shut
· "Remember When" Yellow river was top of the pops. Every cabaret in town was playing this song.

lived in Balmoral ...

· I used to live in Balmoral but I have no recollections of the ' rojak man '. Perhaps it was before my time, but I can remember vividly the delicious curry puffs sold on every Saturday during the midnite shows.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Mr Suppiah Sayings

  • Affirmation: "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better"
  • Advice: "Don't be a fool, man!"
  • Bad Breath: "Amasol" to keep it away

Launch of Febo's arkival site

William Meyers archives of travel around the world is now online ready to be enjoyed by clicking on the title of this post.

Churi Ayam...

  • Remember when Boy Scouts were associated with "Churi Ayam"?
  • Sad to say, in all the years I was a scout, the opportunity to "Churi" any "Ayam"s never came up
  • The score stands as follows: Ayam - 1 ; Scouts - 0

Physics ..

  • collecting and chasing mercury droplets in the hand before knowing that it was toxic
  • focusing sunlight onto various body parts to test power of magnifying glass
  • growing sugar, potash alum, and copper sulphate crystals

When the best Indian rojak was in...

· When the best Indian rojak was in Waterloo Street (but had to go in a group, SJI boys would pick a fight with any ACS guy!)
· When we would slide down the slope to the football field at ACS Barker Rd (now a multi storey car park I think!)
· When the meeting place for boyfriend/girlfriend was @ Capitol Magnolia snack bar
· When there was a bus company called STC (Singapore Traction Company)
· When flats were called SIT flats (Singapore Improvement Trust)
· When we used to go to Kallang Airport to watch BOAC Dakota planes land and take-off
· When weekend fun was a visit to Great World or New World or Happy World amusement parks
· When we teenagers would save for weeks to go to a 'tea dance' @ Princess Garni(?) or Golden Venus
· When we pontang school to watch the first Grand Prix at Upper Thomson Rd (1960?)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

When swimming in McRichie Reservoir...

· When swimming in McRichie Reservoir could mean getting chased by wardens, and loosing your clothes which were left on the bushes
· When sunbathing on the 17th hole green at Island Club could mean getting chased by caddies and loosing your clothes which were left on the bushes
· Picking the sweetest wild Mangosteens on the Johor pipeline track just when they ripened – 1 day late and they would have all been picked by some other kids
· Newton CharQuayTeow, even better if you took your own eggs
· Ice balls behind Rex cinema and chuck them at passing bus windows when the syrup had all been sucked out
· Catching lonkang fish in Chancery Lane longkang when it floods
· Balmoral Road 'best in world' rojak man, and buah Li juice after
· Old men making cigarette packet sculptures
· Main 'Chatek'
· Aching legs cycling back from Ponggol after swimming
· Wrapping red crackers in greaseproof roti paper and sticking them into yellow, ripe JambuBatu, then lighting them and using them as ‘fragmentation grenades’………poor kampong dogs!!
· Swimming from Changi to Frog Island across the path of Royal Navy frigates - scary
· Spear fishing off the causeway and smelling like a trashcan on the bus home
· Trying to ride all the way from Upper Thompson to town without touching the bicycle handles
· Fashion was once loafer shoes with a patch of goat’s ‘fur’ on the uppers!!
· Pulling the Hacks sweet wrapper tight and place it close to your lips and BLOW!!!......................pheeeeeeeeet!!
· Most after school fights were in the football field, but the ‘serious’ ones were up at the abandoned colonial house on Mount Rosie.
· Attending the ACS senior students Grand Prix on the Saturday night streets, starting at the Cold Storage car park – got busted by the cops a few minutes before the starting flag went down – trouble with the principal the next day!!
· Mr Suppiah’s (Maths / Physics) famous advice to all his students, “Every morning, when you wake up, say this to yourself – every day, in every way, I am getting better and better” Now we realise that it worked!!
· Getting chased at night by Sikh watchmen after throwing 10cent rocket fireworks through the upper windows of the old rubber factory near Adelphi Park.
· Why did we always loose ONE of our flip flops when running for our lives – after successful escapes a crowd of panting lads each with ONE flipflop on!!
· Cooking flying lemur curry (illegal even back then) with Singapore’s self-styled ‘last professional hunter’ Tony Chua – his favourite phrase “you ah!! Like teaching elephant to stand on its prick”
· Watching John Ape’s favourite Python getting killed by the rat we threw in as ‘Python food’.
· Getting bitten by snakes we were catching, and sitting down beside a tree to see if we would die.
· Being towed by one foot while learning to water-ski – thank heavens the ski rope broke before I drowned.
· The first ‘dancing with girls’ parties – friends saying “you look like a farmer pushing a plough”
· Hiding up trees in MacRichie Res at night to watch old hookers ‘entertain’ their clients – one sarong, four legs!!

Green Bus ...

  • hanging on to the handle at the door of the overcrowded Green Bus when trying to get to and from school
  • arguing with conductor who sometimes insisted that minimum fare got us one bus stop short of school
  • cursing at the bus driver who refused to stop because the bus was full
  • overshooting the right bus stop on the first day of school in Sec I, showing up late, and ending up in Sec IB when most classmates from ACS Coleman St ended in Sec IA

...............................shahid

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Yeah..

· when an ice-ball cost 10 cts; and you could buy half for 5 cts.
· when the max bus fare for "children" was 10cts.
· when "roti manis" meant a cane.
· when we hid behind the door when we were made to stand outside class
· when we went to Chinese Wayangs to eat a plate of see-ham for 10 cts
· when we could spin a "tee-kam, tee-kam" to see if we can get 2 or 3 scoops of durian ice cream for the price of one : 5 cts
· when you look for Elastoplasts if you had a cut or blister you are more likely to find a spider and 2 leaves in an Elastoplast tin than plaster
· when marble was something you carried in your pocked, rather than walk on (or lie beneath)
· when "goondu" did not mean stupid, but your prized marble
· when you could be expelled from school for saying "f--k"
· when you could tell the tide half a mile before you reached Singapore / Kallang River
· when there were tong-kangs traffic jams on the Singapore and Kallang Rivers
· when there were more trishaws than taxis
· when one could share a taxi from Rochor Rd or Bugis Street to ACS for 40 cts

Monday, July 21, 2008

About this Blog

The dates and times are in Singapore Time, and may appear strange if in some other country. The reason is unproven unverified hypothesis that the center of mass of cohorts is in Singapore.

It was pointed out that it was not clear who started this blog, and which year it is for. acsian-blogger is pen name of Shahid who originated this blog together with the related website, and some postings are done using that name, especially if they were posted on behalf of someone else.

This site is dedicated to the 1966 Sec 4 cohort and the 1968 PUII cohort of ACS Barker Road. At the time we were there, there was only the Coleman St school and the Barker Road school; Independent School and ACJC all came later.

Blogs and webs are a different way of communicating than the way we used to communicate by letter and words, and is a great way of distributing information.

The name acsian-nostalgia.blogspot.com was chosen because it seemed most appropriate for the posts initially started off with. Depending on the content and who posts, renaming the blog to more accurately reflect the postings is a perfectly valid option.

New Acsian-Nostalgia Blog

From July 22, 2008 through August 8, 2008 (Singapore time) new blog entries are scheduled to be added daily. The blog entries are to immortalize Nostalgia comments provided and sent to William Meyer by past ACSians (particularly the 1966 Sec 4 cohort and the 1968 PU II cohorts), and presented here by individual contribution. Names of contributors were removed at the request of some of the contributers, but from the headings you may be able to guess who wrote them. If you do recognize your contribution and would like to use a pen name for future contributions, please feel free to do so.

It is presented in sequential order from the compilation provided by Wiliam, and other than having the names and headers removed, in most cases entries survive intact with the original spellings, mispellings and grammer (or lack of). William is proud of this collection, and humbly admits that he has contributed but a small number of entries.

Dates of past contributions are not available, but future contributions will be marked with the posting date and time.

You may add new comments, debate existing comments, or request deletions.