Seletar Chronicle

Yes, Gong Xi Fa Cai! I knew the year of the rat was coming. When they knocked down the last bit of hangar next to Haymarket and behind my house, I was swamped with refugees – snakes, centipedes, spiders and a family of rats. All but the latter have settled in nicely, but the rats unfortunately fell foul of my feline patrol. A Chinese friend assured me that their demise was an auspicious sign for the coming year. My greatest sympathy went to the centipedes – with all those sensitive feet, imagine how they must have suffered when the bulldozers and jackhammers were in full swing. The air, full of cement dust for the past few weeks, seems to have cleared with the refreshing rain. One animal not disturbed by all the machines in the camp is the owl, who can be heard hooting all over the camp during the evening and night.

Spotted a group of RAF veterans in Jalan Kayu a few days ago. They were reminiscing about how they had bought their first set of china in a shop in Jalan Kayu (now Mad Jack’s). They were most impressed by the greenness of the camp and how splendid the trees were.

Nowadays in conversations with people around Singapore, they constantly ask me why Seletar Camp has to be demolished, since it is absolutely unique in nature, and why other plots of land can’t be used to lay down tarmac. I haven’t found a really good answer for this. The sad thing is that nobody really gets to hear all those voices who continue to tell me, “It’s a shame, and we’ll regret it when it’s gone!” “It should be kept – people need to know what Singapore used to be like!” “I love to go there with my family” etc. etc.
16th Feb – fancy a new year’s knees up with other residents? We’re having another of our famous parties in the Camp. Drop me an email at amy23s@pacific.net.sg if you’d like to join in. And don’t go out of town for the Easter weekend either – there seem to be quite a few things happening in the camp around that time.