Patches of my life

Why am I doing this? I want to record all that I can remember before I forget it all..Who's to know..I might be afflicted with some sickness that wipe out all my memories and I don't know who I am..Anyway this is for me and my children..I intend to write down all that I can recall that has happened in my life..patches here and there.

The earliest event I can remember is breaking my coin bank.. I was just a bit older than three.. My parents and my two older siblings (there were only three of us then..later two more came along) moved from my aunt's house in Kampung Bahru to a rented two-storey terrace house in Margaret Drive.. In those days coin banks (piggy banks) were made of plaster (of paris) or clay or something breakable..We three kids have those plaster types that are very chalky..The broken pieces were used like chalk to draw on the pavement..graffitti in those days.. My bank was a rabbit (what else), my older brother's (bless him) was a tiger (born in the year of the tiger) and my older sister's was a rooster (no, she was not born in the year of the rooster but I think they couldn't find one of a cow).

These things were quite big ( or maybe I was small)..about 100 cm long..maybe my concept then..but then the other two surviving banks were later broken when I was already in primary school..so I think they were quite big... I was about three years old then and all I remember was my father was either taking it down from on top of a glass showcase or putting it back on the showcase..the thing slipped from his hand and fell and broke into pieces and all the coins fell and I cried.. After that all I had to keep my coins was a tobacco tin..and the broken pieces I used to draw on the pavement..How sad.....

Another early memory was of waking up from anesthesia after a visit to the dentist...this is very traumatic for me..I was about four or five, before I enter primary school..there were no kindergarten schools then.. I started teething very young, at about 5 months and I suppose I had a sweet tooth..My mother like to pacify me with sweets and so by the time I was four-plus my milk teeth were all in a terrible state and had to be taken out. So I supposed my mum took me to the dentist where I was knocked out with anesthetic and I woke up on Dawson Road exactly at the spot over the canal that runs parallel to Margaret Drive.. [This canal is currently being covered so that there is a walkway all the way from Queenstown to downtown] That's all I remember - waking up right there.. Can't remember what happened after that.. I didn't eat much sweets after that but that's not to say I don't eat sweets at all..I still like cakes and other desserts..

That brings me to what I like to do.. have a cup of tea with some sweets on the side...Mmm