I've always liked music and envy those with good vocals and can sing really well. I know where I stand in this category. I cannot sing for nuts. And in those days when I was growing up, learning music was a luxury which my family couldn't afford. My mum did let me learn to draw when I was young. I guess she might have thought that, that's the next best thing she could do for me; to at least try to develop the "artistic" side of me (think the simple reason was that learning to draw in the community centre was cheap back then). But then again, it was money down the drain as I still cannot draw for nuts.
So I can't sing, I can't draw..sad right? And I was poor...so so sad right? And so how to satisfy my love for music? No money to buy cassette tapes, so how? Go rent lor. Rent cassette tapes? Where?! Unheard of now right?
Haha, cos in my era, each library had an audio/visual section, where you could rent cassette tapes to listen to, in one of those cubicles as well as shows to watch in the form of video tapes. I used to like to listen to classical music (why? anything wrong with that?) and watch movies, action packed movies such as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "Rocky","Godfather" etc. But interestingly, my all-time favourite then was "The Sound of Music"! Haha shocked right? I have lost count of how many times I have watched this show.
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages, tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things"
"I am sixteen going on seventeen...."
"Doe a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun, me a name I call myself, far a long long way to run. Sew a needle pulling thread. La a note to follow so. Tea, a drink with jam and bread, that will bring us back to do (oh oh oh). Do re mi fa so la tee.."
And so I used to go to Queenstown Library a lot, during my primary school days. I was quite independent back then and would go to the library by myself. Now that I recall, my dad and mum had never accompanied me to the library! (Dad was busy for obvious reasons and mum had to stay at home to sew to earn extra bucks)
I spent most of my free time in that old double storey building. Boring childhood, you might say. But to me, some of my happiest childhood days were spent there. I could borrow my favourite books, books on war/history, the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys series. Books by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl etc. I could listen to my favourite music and I could watch my favourite movies.
On top of that, especially on weekends, Mum would give me extra pocket money to buy snacks or treats for myself from shops around the library. (I guess she was glad that I was going to the library instead of wilding my time away playing at the void deck with kids from the neighbourhood). I still remember that one of my favourite snacks was this chicken burger from a confectionary near the library.
Life was simple but very fulfilling back then, when policeman was just starting to wear long pants, when we were still sucking "ice tube"/ "冰包” , when we were playing block catching and when we were using student bus stamps which allowed unlimited bus rides around Singapore.
Looking back, though the distance from my home in West Coast to Queenstown was quite far apart, I always enjoyed the bus rides to and back from the library; especially on my way back home, happily chomping away on my favourite chicken burger.. life was really really simple and carefree back then:)
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