Kampong stories

Just read this post about kampongs in Singapore and was reminded of stories from Mother and Aunt.

The family used to live in this kampong in Toa Payoh. I've heard of the marble games they played, the little hill behind the kampong, how dear old Grams would carry her seven kids across a bridge over an overflowing stream so they wouldn't get wet for school.

My kampong stories are not real kampong stories; I've never been to a kampong. The closest to a kampong for me was the provision shop. We kids used to hang out behind the back door where there were pots of flowers planted by the family. I still remember Mother talking about this mysterious 五点花 - mysterious because we were always there on a Sunday and left by 1 pm when the provision shop closed so I never saw the flower bloom!

I think the plot of green behind is still there. But most if not all of the shophouses on that row have been rented out. Without loving owners, I doubt there are pretty pots of flowers behind anymore...

And we loved playing and running around in the big space in front of the provision shop too. I remember doing that on bright sunny Sundays :) But it's now a carpark *.*

Ok, let's see... Going clockwise, we have Gor Gor (Yan's brother - I don't know his name!), LY, ML, Jie Jie (Yan's sister - I don't know her new name!), mf and MZ. But, where was Yan??



I know we took many photos behind the provision shop and on the second floor - it's a HDB shophouse. I should go dig them out to scan and post one day...

The next generation's kampong stories will be very different. This generation will probably still hang out at Grams' flat like we did for the past 30 years albeit less frequently with Grams gone, and so will our kids, which is nice :) And when we visit Popo in Malacca, Clan Sito will have kampong stories at the house.

Next next generation? With families so small these days, maybe there won't be any more kampong stories - after all, what is a kampong without its people?