Fond memories of those born in the 70’s and 80’s.
You grew up watching He-man, MASK,
Transformers, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse.
Not to forget, Ninja turtles,
My Little Pony and Smurfs too.
You know what SBC stands for.
You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in
Primary school during recess time.
You will squat by a drain with all
your classmates beside you,
and brush your teeth with a coloured mug.
The teachers said you must brush
each side 10 times too.
You paid 40 cents for Chocolate or Strawberry MILK
every week in class.
You watched a very popular Malay dubbed
Japanese drama on RTM1 about schoolgirls
who possessed powerful skills
in volleyball called Meoro Attack.
You found your friends with pagers and
handphones cool in Secondary school.
SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned.
The bus seats were made of wood and
the cushion was red.
The big red bell gave a loud ring when pressed.
There were colourful tickets from TIBS buses.
The inspector would check for tickets by
using a machine that punched a hole in the ticket.
You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine.
You know who’s Vinny the little vampire
and Acai the constable.
You were there when they first introduced MRT.
You went for the first ride with your parents
and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.
Envelopes were given to us to donate money to
Sharity Elephant every Children’s Day.
Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.
Girls were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake
and Barbie Dolls.
You learned to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.
You longed to buy tidbits called Kaka
(20 cents per pack), and
Ding Dang (50 cents per box), that had a
toy in it which changed every week;
not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and
the ring pop,
where the lollipop was a “diamond” on the ring.
You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons
because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.
Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators,
Famous Five, Secret Seven, Sweet Valley High,
St Claire’s and Malory Towers your favourite books.
KFC used to be a high-class restaurant that
served food in plates and
let you use metal forks and knives.
The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and
idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS ‘super white’...
you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.
Catching was the IN thing and twist as the magic word.
Your English workbooks were made of some damn
poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow.
CDIS was your best friend.
The only computer lessons in school involved funny
pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about
trying to teach you maths.
Waterbottles were slung around your neck and
a must everywhere you went.
Boys loved to play soccer with small plastic balls
in the basketball court.
Teng-teng, five stones, chapteh, hentam bola
and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too...
Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana
being the most important plants of our lives,
guppies and swordtail being the most important fish.
Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John,
eternalized in our minds from the textbooks.
Even Mr Wally & Mr Yakki. What about Miss Lala???
And Zaki and Tini in Malay Textbooks?
We carried out experiments of our own to get
ourselves badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.
Every Children’s Day and National Day
you either get pins or pens
with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1993’
or dumb files with ‘Happy National Day 1994’.
In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids
like big sister and brother.
We wore BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.
Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.
The worksheets were made of brown rough
paper of poor quality.
You went to school in slippers and
a raincoat when it rained,
and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down,
dry your feet,
and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.
School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.
There would be spelling tests and mental sums
to do almost everyday.
Your friends considered you lucky and rich
if your parents gave you
$3 or more for pocket money everyday.
You saw Wee Kim Wee’s face in the school hall.
You freaked out when the teacher told you to
line up according to height
and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.
Boys liked to catch fighting spiders.
Collecting and battling erasers was a pastime for boys.
Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”,
“Forget Me Not”, and small poems like
“Birds fly high, hard to catch. Friends like you, hard to forget”.
Class monitors and prefects loved to say,
“You talk some more, I write your name ah!”
There were at least 40 people in one class.
Large colourful schoolbags were carried.
You brought every single book to school, even though
there was one thing called the timetable.
Never frown when you’re down,
you never know who’s falling in love with your smile...
Though you may be wondering why
this "poem" is posted here,
ask yourself if it has given you ideas,
about what to look out for when you
Eye this City in 2006?
What else do you remember of Life in Singapore,
that you can still "witness",
before they get "washed away" by the Tides of Time?
Join us in Eye é City 2006!
