I was sitting alone in the bus yesterday again. It was such a bad day. I think i screwed up many things... My counsellee will most most probably hate me cos somehow or another i didn't manage to get the 2nd hand books for her. Besides that... i realised i was so rusty and i hope that i will buck up in time. The stupid windows media player kept on hanging on me and force a 20 minute episode of FMA to develop into a 2 hour full blown serial. The worst thing of all was the training i had in the evening. It was so odd as i didn't know most of the people there and it was very unfamiliar. I hate joining activities at times cos i can be so frightfully antisocial. I can't socialise for nuts and its just so awkward making new friends. I have very little friends to begin with thus i felt so lonely and lost. I really hope that somebody who intends to join will join w me too. Not too bad to have a friend together as well.

Then i forgot that the bus doesn't go straight to Toa Payoh but to Hougang and i forgot to stop at Trellis towers. As i trudged my way back to TP central, i took the bus 163 back home and guess what, it brought back so many memories... Not of the bus but of Toa Payoh.

I am a Toa Payoh Boy. I can still remember my past... the past i used to hate and love. Every Sunday i will go over to church before heading to the wetmarket. It was near the library and the 2 supermarkets. NTUC is still there although oriental got changed into shop and safe. The McDonald's is still around with it red brick wall and the community centre is still there. It was just so much memories. Even when i was in RI i had to take 56 back home at times and it wound through TP. Not to mention TP swimming pool, where i always had my swimming lessons. I am not good at writing such memoirs but i could imagine myself waiting in the wet market every Sunday as my parents and grandparents did the marketing. The MacDonald's Playground was always so friendly and inviting and i always played with straws...Sunday afternoons will always be spent in church for catechism and in between i would be rushing around for tuition. Toa Payoh library was where i got my first library card as my aunty dragged me into the bewildering world of shelves and bindings... I do not live in the sanctuary of the wealthy of Bukit timah, nor do i haunt the grounds of PS, Orchard, Bugis and City Hall. I am in my heart a heartlander. I have always been a Toa Payoh Boy since my childhood. I have spent approximately 75% of my life in Toa Payoh, Bishan and Novena. And nothing is closer to my heart than Toa Payoh. I miss the town and the place. The cosy feel it gives and the warmth it vibrates. I miss my past. I really do miss Toa Payoh. I miss its streets and its people. I miss the warmth and the happiness that is everywhere. People living there may not be millionaires but they are happy. I miss that cakeshop outside the wet market. I miss the Dou Hua Shui, the Prawn Mee, the Carrot Cake and the flower stall that is beside all these food stalls. I miss the yellow tiled MRT station, with the very old decor. Its become so reminiscent and so poignant that i shall stop here. Cos i miss Toa Payoh. We do not have French restaurants or Burberry boutiques, nor do we have a huge shopping complex like Junction 8 or Northpoint. But what i know is there is a very nice community there and i wish i could live there again. I miss Toa Payoh...



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