Deadpoet’s Cave

Met up with Deanna, who’s in Singapore for a short stopover, with the COSDU bunch. Ate at Makansutra. Dessert at Ben & Jerry’s.

I lightened up a bit after the ice cream. The Ben & Jerry’s staff are very friendly. Hopefully they maintain this standard of service unlike the Carl’s Jr staff. They started off friendly but now are run-of-the-mill fast food crew. But Carl’s Jr food still rocks.

Now, I’m home. And my mind has wandered back to an expensive piece of polycarbonate plastic and its associated piece of paper that’ve (seemingly) gone astray.

On a more positive note, I discovered goodmorningyesterday through tomorrow.sg. This blog, maintained by Lam Chun See, is, in his words:

… for Singaporeans of my generation to share stories of Singapore back in the kampong days when we were kids. I started this blog because I realised how much our country has changed in our life time, and it would be good if our kids can visit this site and learn a bit about our past.

He’s got photos of a bygone Singapore. A Singapore which my generation can scarcely imagine - urban squalor in technicolour. But more than that, he describes a simpler time. When wordly goods weren’t the sole preoccupation of this country’s occupants.

Singapore’s official history tends to skip from WW II to merger and separation to NS to economic powerhouse. Well, that’s not entirely accurate but I think you get what I mean. In Mr Lam’s blog, you can read about life as it was in the late 50s and in the 60s. His and his friends’ accounts may seem trivial and humdrum. But they are personal.

And the personal is powerful. The personal is as valid a history as any textbook, perhaps even more so.

It’s very heartening that a Singaporean of my parents’ generation understands blogging. And that he understands the educational value of blogs.

Thank you, Mr Lam for your contribution to the blogosphere. All Singaporeans are richer through your efforts.

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