From my inbox

I had a couple of pleasant surprises in the email this past week.


(1) Royal Singapore Flying Club

Bob Nobbs sent me this 1952 photo of the Royal Singapore Flying Club. Can you recognize the building? If you are have been reading this blog for more than a year, you probably would. It was the subject of one of my Old Buildings Quizes. Bob wrote;

“I spent three years in Singapore during the 1960s (Tengah) and I am still in love with the place. I still hope to come back one day although I know it’s changed beyond all recognition.”

Bob. We certainly hope to see you in Singapore. I guarantee you will not recognize Chua Chu Kang Road. John Harper was here last year, and Brian Mitchell will be visiting next year.

Thanks again for the photo. And thanks also to my friend and regular guest blogger, Peter Chan for this even older photo of the same place. It was taken in 1936.

Below is a photo of the Merdeka Bridge/Nicoll Highway courtesy of Memories of Singapore.

For the purpose of comparison, I post here some 2006 photos of this building which at one time was the headquarters of the Singapore Netball Association.

(2) Troika Restaurant

In some of the earlier articles about food and dining, the name Troika Restaurant was mentioned by you the readers in the comments section. For example my article about Coffee Houses and possibly, Peter’s article about Dining in the Old Days, and perhaps also on Victor’s blog.

I was indeed pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Arwyn Rees who wrote from England.

Dear Mr Lam Chun See,

The wonders of the Internet have brought us together in a most unusual way. I was looking through a scrap-book which I had kept from nearly 40 years ago when I had the great fortune of living in your wonderful City. The scrap-book contained an advertisement card for the Troika Restaurant, a place I visited many times for the wonderful food. My interest made me put the name into the computer to see if it still existed, and looking through the pages a reference was made to your blog site that apparently mentions the place. I consequently started reading your Blog with nostalgic interest. I enclose a copy of the advert for the Troika that may be of some interest to you. Thanks for a enjoyable hour of reading.

Best Regards.

Arwyn Rees (England)

Arwyn. On behalf of all readers at Good Morning Yesterday, thank you for that picture of the Troika Restaurant. We certainly hope you visit again.

And as usual, Peter’s memory proves to be uncanny. As you can see from the picture above, Troika was located at the Liat Towers in Orchard Road. In case you want to make a reservation, their telephone number is 371833.