Return to Blogging

Yesterday, I was invited to give a talk to a group of Secondary 1 students at NJC (National Junior College), my alma mater. They were attending a seminar on Place-Writing and learning how to write essays and poems about places they remember. Although I know nothing about writing poetry, that topic was covered by two professors who came after me. My task was simply to share my experience of writing about the places that I remember.

And so I shared with the children my experience in blogging about the Singapore that I grew up in. Due to time constraint, I focused mainly on the schools I went to (click on the label “schools” in the column on the right of this page); especially NJC, seeing that I was in the pioneer batch in 1969. Gave them some details of the old campus and shared about how we had to trudge across a big field, which is today’s Nanyang Girls School, and climb 103 steps to go for lunch at the Dunearn Secondary Technical School during the first few months when our own canteen was not ready. The irony is that the ground that DSTS stood on was the very same place that today’s NJC occupy.

1981 Map of NJC and vicinity

I also shared my fondest memories of my two years in NJC. Showed them some photos of our Adventure Camp in Pulau Tekong in April 1969. Not surprisingly, the photo which most intrigued them was this one of me standing in front of a tobacco farm.

I should apologize for neglecting this blog - which had given me my much satisfaction and even a bit of fame – for so long. I haven’t blogged regularly since I discovered Facebook in 2014. Anyway, I have decided that I would try to resume my blogging here, even if it’s on a less regular basis. So do keep tuned.

Christmas Gift Idea

Christmas is just around the corner. And if you are pondering over what to get for someone who, like me, is from the baby-boomer generation, why not get him a copy of my book, Good Morning Yesterday. So far, many of my friends who have read the book have thoroughly enjoyed the trip down memory.

My book should be available at Popular, Times and Kinokuniya (best to call first). It was last seen on the shelves at the following outlets:

• Popular @ Clementi Mall (Tel: 6514-6710)
• Popular @ Toa Payoh (Tel: 6358-1700)
• Popular @ United Square (Tel: 6478-2318)
• Kinokuniya @ Ngee Ann City (Tel: 6737-5021)
• Times @ Centrepoint (Tel: 6734-9022)
• Times @ Plaza Singapura (Tel: 6336-8861)
• Times @ Tampines (Tel: 6782-7017)

Besides these book stores, you can also purchase them at Haf Box and Betel Box. Haf Box deals mainly with lifestyle products for what they call “active agers”. Betel Box, on the other hand, runs a hostel and Bistro in Joo Chiat Road and also conducts heritage tours. Their details are as follows:

HAF Box Pte Ltd

19 Tanglin Road #03-32 Tanglin Shopping Centre, Singapore 247909

Tel: 6235-4560

www.hafbox.com

Betel Box Hostel, Bistro & Tours in Singapore

200 Joo Chiat Road, #01-01, Singapore 427471.

Tel: 6247-7340

www.betelbox.com

Thanks to Catherine Ling for this photo.

Incidentally, the restaurant at Betel Box serves great Peranakan food in a traditional Singaporean ambience. They even have a special corner where you can browse and purchase Singapore heritage-related merchandise like books, dvds and heritage items.

Recently a group of us, heritage and food bloggers, were hosted to a Peranakan lunch by Betel Box’s boss, Tony Tan. Although I am not much of a ‘foodie’ – whenever I go to a food court or hawker centre, I just go for the stall with the shortest queue – I could tell that the Peranakan cuisine here was very good …. at least my fellow bloggers thought so. We were served dishes like botol kacang, ikan sumbat, ngo hiang, hae cho, asam pedas red snapper, nonya yong tau hu and laksa goreng. My favourites were the botol kacang (salad), ikan sumbat and laksa goreng. 

With Tony Tan. Behind us are display shelves of heritage merchandise, including Good Morning Yesterday the book.

Tony giving an introduction to his business and their food

Notice that only Philip Chew and I not taking any photos of the food. We were waiting for the young people to finish their obligatory shots before we could sink our teeth into this delicious salad call Botol Kacang.

Can you guess where this shot was taken? That's me in the toilet mirror. Photo courtesy of Juria T

Back to my book. If you have difficulty getting it from the above places, or if you want to get several copies, you can contact me directly at: cslam@hoshin.com.sg and we will work something out.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Information on Popular’s outlets and locations here.

Information on Times’ outlets and location here.

Singapore Blog Awards 2012 E-Interview

I have been asked the following questions. (I have rearranged the questions so I can answer the simple ones first; and leave the long answer to the last

Question 1. How do you feel about being one of finalists in Singapore Blog Awards 2012?

Answer – Proud and happy.

Question 2. How do you feel about the other Finalists in your category this year? How do you think you will fare compared to them?

Frankly, I don’t have any opinions about the other finalists for the simple reason that there appears to a generation gap between me and them. Hence our topics are extremely different. Unfortunately, the organisers did not have a category for Nostalgia or Heritage or Education; otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen this category. I also do not wish to compare my blog with theirs. Just wish everyone the best.

Question 3. Give a reason why readers should visit your blog and vote for you?

This is simple. There should only be one reason why readers should visit my blog and vote for me …… they enjoy reading my stories. My blog is coming to 6 years old; and during this time, I have received many encouraging comments and emails from readers, both in Singapore and abroad who said they enjoyed reading my blog. I have selected a few and published them at the back cover of my book, Good Morning Yesterday. Out of sheer laziness, I will reproduce them here, so that I don’t have to go searching for others.

• “What a wonderful blog - I am telling my friends and children about it” – Tan Tarn How
• “I have been reading your blog with great interest and nostalgia. Thank you so much for this blog; it has given me many happy memories.” - Debbie King
• “I have never seen a more ardent effort than yours (James Seah) and Mr Dick Yip and Mr Lam who make it your mission to archive and make the past accessible to the present. This is what a history textbook can never match up to. The effort is authentic, personal and passionate. I get the chance to read, ruminate and enjoy the colours and atmosphere that make history come alive. Thank you so much, James, Mr Yip and Mr Lam.” - Sim Hui Hwang.
• “I find your web page very informative, interesting and inspiring.  Not many people would have that passion of yours to keep the History of Singapore yet so alive.”  - Ephraim Chan
• “I've been reading your blog on and off for the past few years and am amazed at the amount of information it contains on the social history of Singapore. Many of these aspects would never see the light of day in "official history"; yet these are what give life to history. It is respect for real living people.”  – Jaime Koh
• “I really like your blog; and I envy you being able to grow up in a time where Singapore was still very much in its natural state, with hills here and there, trees and forests, buildings which I haven't had a chance to see before.  … . If I can turn back time, I would wish to go back to the 1950s and take a look at the authentic Singapore lifestyle, and her wonderful and kind people who seem to have changed so much nowadays.”  – Henry Cai

Question 4. When did you start blogging and what drew you to it? Where do you get inspiration for your blog content?

I started blogging in Sep 2005; and since then I have posted more that 600 articles in this blog. As I had elaborated here, I started this blog for two reasons:

1) To reminisce about the ‘good old days’.
2) To educate the next generation about what life of their parents was like when they were young.

Not all the articles were written by me. A substantial number were contributed by friends and readers I did not know before, including men of my generation from the UK who lived in Singapore briefly during the 1960s when their parents served in the British Far East military services.

I enjoy blogging and will continue to do so as long as I have stories to tell – and I still do – and there are readers. I get my inspiration from everywhere; a building I see on the road, something I read in the papers or a blog, or something I heard at a talk etc. etc. Sometimes, when the inspiration hits, I write down my thoughts immediately. Sometimes, I will record the idea in my notebook to research and write about later.

After blogging for nearly six years, I derive immense satisfaction from the following ‘achievements’:

1.  A few months ago, the number of page views for my blog passed the magical 1 million mark.

2.  I have made many new friends; young and old. Regular readers will know who 

3.  I have become quite well-known in certain circles and have been interviewed in the media a few times; e.g. FM938 Live’s, Passion People, Lianhe Zabao, Today, New Paper and My Paper. Have even participated in a couple of TV documentaries such as Foodage and Project Neighbourhood and even the Australia Network.

4.  Often I get invitations to give talks and students approach me for help with their heritage projects and magazines, e.g. the NUS History Society’s publication, 

5.  But my biggest achievement and sense of satisfaction was from publishing a book based on the stories in this blog. 

How to Vote for Good Morning Yesterday in the Singapore Blog Awards Competition

Dear friends. As might have heard, my blog has been selected as one of the 10 finalists in the Singapore Blog Awards Competition – Individual Category. We are now in Phase 2 of the judging process which is based on popularity; i.e. how many votes the blog can garner from its readers. Currently, I think I am lagging far behind the other competitors; and so I need your votes urgently.

For those who, like me, are not so used to this sort of thing, here are some instructions on how to vote.

Step 1: Click on the “Cast your vote here” Link on the right side of this blog. You will be brought to the Best Individual Blog Finalists page that looks like this.

Step 2: Scroll down until you see my blog; Good Morning Yesterday and click on the Vote For Me button.  If you are voting for the first time, you will need to register. Yes, it’s a bit tedious, I know, and if you feel it’s too much of a bother, I understand. Subsequently, you will just need to “Sign In”

Step 3: Look for my blog, Good Morning Yesterday and click on the “Vote for Me” button

Step 4: Answer “Yes“ to the pop-up question; “Do you want to vote for Good Morning Yesterday”

That’s all.

And now for the bad news. You can vote once a day. Which means that if you really want to give me your votes; you have to log in everyday and repeat. Again, if you find it too much of a bother, I understand.

Thank you.

Thanks a million!

Whoa ... I just noticed that the number of page views has passed the 1 million mark. Actually, the number since I started in September 2005 is probably higher because, for the first few months, I did not know how to add a counter to my blog. In fact at that time, I did not know how to add hyperlinks too.

1,000,000

Anyway. Thank you dear readers of Good Morning Yesterday.

Capturing Memories through blogs

This week Char Lee and I participated at the two-day When Nations Remember international conference where we jointly presented a paper and facilitated discussions on the topic, Capturing Memories through Blogs.

For my part, I did my usual ‘evangelistic’ pitch to persuade the audience to document their memories either through blogs or the NLB’s Singapore Memory Project. I reminded them of the two reasons which made this task urgent for us here in Singapore.

1) Places in Singapore have a way of disappearing overnight when you are not looking. They should thus ‘gather moments while you may’.

2) Many of our seniors and even baby boomers of my generation are passing away from the scene. In fact, even as I write this post, I learnt of the sad departure of former football star, Dollah Kassim. And I don’t just mean their physical departure. Many of the old folks could be losing their precious memories through old age and ill health.

I think my talk was generally well-received. Mr Gene Tan, the director of NLB’s Singapore Memory Project immediately announced that they were going to push ahead with their Seventies Project. That’s not a project about the 1970’s as I initially thought, but a project to interview Singaporeans who are in their seventies to capture their memories of the Singapore of old.

I was particularly proud and happy that the man who helped put me on a career in Industrial Engineering and subsequently in Productivity, my lecturer in varsity and final year project supervisor, Dr N Varaprasad, was sitting in the front row.

As for Char Lee, he shared about the methodology he adopted in investigating his subject matter. And I think he chose a brilliant example to share with the largely Singaporean librarian audience; the old library building at Stamford Road. I think I should leave it to him to blog about his experience at this conference. I should say though, that had I been in his shoes, I certainly would have taken the opportunity to take a dig at the top guns for their short-sighted decision to replace our beloved library at Stamford Road with a soul-less tunnel.

Finally, I would like to thank the NLB for inviting me and Char Lee to do this presentation and to talk about something close to my heart. Like many of the other participants I thought the whole event was very well-organised and the usual professionalism and enthusiasm of the NLB staff is beyond reproach. I reminded myself that these are the folks who won the coveted Singapore Quality Award. I also got to meet some new friends and a few old ones. Quite possibly, I might even have gained a couple of fans judging from the sudden increase in the number of ‘followers’ of this blog.

As this conference was held at the Carlton Hotel in Bras Basah Road, I took the opportunity to do a ‘second shot’ of George Shaw’s 1948 photo of the Cathay Building. I leave it to the readers to spot the differences.

Looking the above photo, I realize that my skills in 'precision photography' are no match for Char Lee's. Maybe we should invite him to redo this and show us how it should be done. In fact I even mis-spelled Bras Basah Rd but I am to lazy to make the correction.

** Related post by James Seah here.

** Read Pauline Loh's review/summary of our talk here.

Nuffnang's featured blogger for March

Guess who is Nuffnang's featured blogger for the month of March?

.............. Me!

Read my article here.

We built this city

Did you read the Today today? There’s an article written by Brian Richmond titled; “We Built This City … so don’t overlook the baby boomers”. Coincidentally, this is the very same title of an article that I submitted to the “50 years of self governance, my memories, my moments” blog competition a few days ago. You may want to read it here.

I did not cross-post my article here because it is actually quite similar to something I wrote a couple of years ago about the Dead Chicken River. Anyway, there are attractive prized to be won, so why not give it a try? It is always nice to get rewarded for doing something you enjoy don't your think?

I am a ‘Silver Ambassador’

As some of you may already know, I am one of 3 so-called Silver Ambassadors appointed by Infocomm123 to encourage senior citizens to “get onto the infocomm bandwagon. The other two ‘senior bloggers’ are Mdm Laozhabor and (Unker) Dick Yip.

Launched on 21 February this year, Infocomm123 is “a one-stop resource and community portal for all your infocomm answers”. It offers a wide array infocomm-related content, FAQs, walk-through guides, articles and so on. Supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), this new site has attracted more than 3,700 members to date.

Last Thursday, Infocomm123 launched a new quarterly contest called The Silver BlogContest. It is a blog contest whereby senior citizens aged 50 and above in Singapore are invited to submit one blog entry on the theme, ‘Family’. Attractive prices are up for grabs. So why don’t those of you who qualify give it a go?

As Silver Ambassadors, our role is to share our experience at an interview and appear on a Video Ad Jingle. For the period 20 November to 10 December 2008, we also have to do some blogging at the website.

My fellow Silver Ambassadors have already blogged about this project in their blogs and so there is no need for me to go into details; accept to direct you to the relevant sites as given below;

1) The Infocomm123 Website
2) Dick Yip, The Wise Old Owl’s posts about this project here, here and here.

3) Mdm Laozhabors’ post about this project here.

All in all, I am quite happy to be given this honour. My only complaint (as a true blue Singaporean, must always complain right?) is the silly head-jiggling image they put up of the three of us for the whole world to see. Frankly, I think it is quite inappropriate to use this type of gimmick to attract the attention of mature people. Anyway, that’s only my view. The people behind this project are all quite young and they have their way of doing things.

Maybe I am just too old fashioned :(

This blog just turned three!

Hey ... I just realized that Good Morning Yesterday has turned 3. How time flies when you are having fun. My first article was posted on 15 Sep 2005. Since then, I have posted 333 articles. That works out to an average of 2.1 articles per week. No bad eh?

Of course I couldn’t have done it without some help from Friends of GMY who contributed articles; like John Harper, Brian Mitchell, Tom Brown, Zen, Chuck and others. Special thanks of course to Peter who practically co-owns this blog with his prolific inputs and photos. And then there are the regular kakis and fellow bloggers like Victor and other Friends of Yesterday.sg and some new ones. And also fellow bloggers who linked their blogs to mine.

To those who enjoy following this blog, no worries. I have lots more to write about. Only problem is time.

Foyers Gathering 2008

Last Friday, the Friends of Yesterday (or Foyers as we call ourselves) had a gathering at the home of Shaun, the “Superman”. Besides the usual makan, we were treated to a display of Shaun’s amazing collection of super toys. I must admit that I don’t quite know how to appreciate such sophisticated toys.

Siva had brought along a DVD of the movie Saint Jack which was filmed entirely in Singapore in the 1979. In it were several scenes showing Singapore in the 70’s. However, with all that chatting and eating, it was a bit difficult for us to concentrate on the movie and pick out the places. Anyway, if you want to know more, you can wait for Victor to blog about it because we gave him the assignment to view the movie again. He gladly accepted the assignment. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact this movie has several ‘adult’ scenes.

Anyway, I recognized the lead actor Ben Gazarra, and I told my younger friends that he used to act in an old TV drama series called The Fugitive. But somehow, at the back of my mind, I sensed that that wasn’t correct. And so the next day, I did a search on the internet and found that the old TV series that Ben Gazarra acted in was not The Fugitive. Do you know which TV series that was? I give you a hint. It was about a lawyer who found that he had terminal cancer and had only two years to live. And so he decided to “drink life to the lees”. Click here for the answer. You will probably see why I made the connection.

On the way home, I had three young men in my car when we drove into Bishan. I asked whether they could possibly picture in their minds what Bishan was like in the 60’s when it was nothing but hills and cemeteries. They all said, no way. In fact, Ivan said he simply could not imagine what life in a kampong was like.

That remark sort of stayed with me, and made me think that perhaps, I should blog more, about the kampong days, even though, much of what I can recall about my kampong days, I have already blogged about in the past two-and-a-half year. Yes Good Morning Yesterday has been around that long. For a start, perhaps, I will try to do some homework and try to figure out where roughly were the cemeteries of Pek San Teng located compared to today’s Bishan New Town. But with my limited skill with Photoshop, I guess, I might have to rely of the old-fashioned army style of using real plastic overlays!

Meantime, I hope some of the older bloggers like YG, who grew up in a small kampong near Tan Tock Seng Hospital, will share more stories of kampong life.

Would you believe that this is what Potong Pasir used to look like (Picture scanned from the book, Singapore, An Illustrated History, 1941 ~ 1984, Information Division, Ministry of Culture)

Two more reasons why seniors should blog

Last Saturday, I gave a talk to a group of about 40 seniors at the Silver Infocomm Day at RSVP at Bishan Central. This event was jointly organized by RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme and IDA as part of the Active Ageing Festival. Entitled, "Blogging today on yesterday.sg", my talk lasted about 40 minutes.

The main aim was to encourage the seniors to take up blogging as a hobby. I shared with them my own experience and thrill in blogging about stuff of yesteryears. I also argued that blogging is good for their health because blogging involved much mental exercise which health experts claim can stave off age-related diseases like Alzeheimer’s disease.



Yesterday I found another two reasons why seniors should blog; but alas the talk was over already.


Reason No. 1: You will have less quarrels with your spouse

According to researchers from Loyola University, reminiscing about the good times can make people more cheerful. Pleasant memories, it seems, are a good antidote for the blues. I read this in an article by Tabitha Wang, the ‘Budget tai tai’ of TODAY. “Reminiscing can motivate you. It can give you a sense of being rooted, of meaning and purpose – instead of being blown around by the whims of everyday life”, she quoted Loyola psychologist Fred Bryant.

And here’s what I found in an article in Psychology Today:

According to studies by psychologist Tim Wildschut and colleagues at the University of Southampton in the U.K, “people who write about a nostalgic event are more cheerful after the exercise compared with people who write about an everyday experience. The studies also show that people who write about good memories report higher self-esteem and feel more positively about friendships and close relationships.”


Reason No. 2: Writing stuff about the good old days can even earn you some cash. I received $400 in the mail yesterday from taking part in the Singapore Heritagefest 2007 MyStory Portal Competition. Apparently my essay about the days of black and white television in Singapore has won first prize in the Memories category!

So guys … what are you waiting for? Go to Yesterday.sg and post your stories, or email them to me and I will put them up here at Good Morning Yesterday.

Blogging today on yesterday.sg

I will be speaking at the Silver Infocomm Day which is an event jointly organized by RSVP and IDA as part of the Active Ageing Festival.

Date: 24 November 2007, Saturday
Time: 9am to 5pm.
Venue: RSVP office at Bishan Junction 8

I will be giving a talk jointly with friends from National Heritage Board entitled;

"Blogging today on yesterday.sg".

and it will be from 4 pm to 4.40 pm

I will be talking about the basics of blogging, my experience in blogging and yesterday.sg. It will be similar to the one I did last year at Queenstown Library except that this time I will be talking less about my experience and more on how start blogging. Furthermore, this year, we will be giving some handout materials in response to requests from some participants in last year’s event. Included in the handouts is a copy of an article I wrote for the May/June issue of Prime, a magazine for ‘over 45s’.

If you want to introduce blogging to your older friends and relatives, do encourage them to come down to listen to us.

More details can be found at RSVP’s website.

Why Seniors Should Blog

Yesterday, myself and Ivan, another Friend of Yesterday.sg, gave a talk about blogging to a group of more than 100 senior citizens at the Queenstown Community Library. We want to thank the participants for their warm response and we do apologise for any shortcomings in our presentations.

As Ivan and two other 'Friends of Yesterday.sg', Victor and Walter have already blogged about this event (here, here and here) I will not go into the details again. What I would like to do instead, is to report on what I covered in my presentation.



The aim of our talk was basically to encourage the seniors to take up blogging as a means of sharing their stories of Singapore's past. My part was to share my own experience, as one of the oldest bloggers in Singapore in starting Good Morning Yesterday, whilst Ivan gave a demonstration on the basics of blogging.

Essentially I touched on four points.

1) Why I started Good Morning Yesterday
2) The Stuff I blog about
3) The challenges I faced in blogging
4) The satisfaction I derived from blogging.


These 2 senior gentlemen arrived half an hour before the commencement time and sat in the front row.


I also spoke about why seniors should blog.

1) We have more stories to tell.

In his 2006 National Rally Speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong exhorted senior members of our society to share their stories with the young. "Keep alive the Singapore story", he said, "Celebrate our heroes and remember the good times and hard times we’ve been through together ... Our young generation need to know the heart of the Singapore story and understand how we got here ... Parents and grandparents play an important role. You provide the links to our past. Pass down the stories, emotions, and values to your children and grandchildren."

I say, what better way to do this than through blogging. As Kenneth Pinto, another Friend of Yesterday.sg, put it so succintly in his blog, "The personal is powerful. The personal is as valid a history as any textbook, perhaps even more so."


2) We, at least some of us, have more time.

3) We can write better. Most of us have decades of experience in expressing ourselves in English. Many have gone through the old fashioned but tested rigours of learning English, and are more disciplined in its proper usage.

4) Blogging is good for our brains. Health experts have found that exercise is the best way to keep our brains healthy and beat back the effects of ageing. Blogging involves the exercise of the brain in 3 ways. Firstly, writing is a strenuous mental exercise. So is digging up all those memories of long ago events. And it involves learning many new things with the computer and internet.

5) Bloggin is "cool". It helps us to connect with the younger generation. It helps to bridge the so called 'digital divide'.

6) Everyone's doing it. So why not we seniors.

7) It's Fun. After more than a year of doing it, I can testify to that.

8) It can even be profitable. It is not unkown for bloggers to make some money through advertisement and sponsorships on their blogs ... well maybe not much in a small country like Singapore, but who can tell.






I concluded my section by asking the participant to do at least one of the following 3 things. If possible, start your own blog and post your stories there. If that is too much of a hassle, then send your articles to Yesterday.sg or Good Morning Yesterday and we will gladly publish it for you on our blogs, as what I have been doing for some of my friends. At the very minimum, visit our blogs and share your short stories and annecdotes in the comments section.

Forgotten Blogo-Generation

Victor, aged 50 and I, aged 54 are officially part of the forgotten blogo-generation. No wonder the Zaaboa article referred to us a Ah Gong （阿公）.

In the newspapers today, you can read of a survey by the Media Development Authority about blogging in Singapore. The survey found that 49% of those aged between 20 and 24 years, and 18% of those aged 39 to 49 years blog.

The survey was carried out on a sample of 1,000 Singaporeans aged 15 to 49 years. But what about those above 50? MDA probably thinks that people of that dinosaur group do not even know what is a blog, so what is the point of asking them.

Blogging Is For Kids Only?

Recently, I attended a training workshop on e-Commerce. During the break, I took the opportunity to ask the trainer to teach me how to insert a counter to my weblog. Yes, I know it's child's play for the youngsters, but for a 53-year old newbie to blogging, it is quite a challenge.

Anyway, one of my fellow course participants, a 30-something looking lady, overheard us and remarked, "Hey, I thought blogging is for kids only?"

"I don't think so." I replied; "Anyway, I enjoy it".

Actually, as I far as I know, very few Singaporeans of my age blog. I came a across only a handful, including Frannxis, Victor Koo and Mr Tan Kin Lian of NTUC Income (please see links on right side of this page ). I think more older Singaporeans should blog.

Firstly it is good for our aging brains. Putting your thoughts into words is great exercise for our brains. You also get to learn new things - like how to create a blog, how to insert pictures and links etc. Last year I attended a seminar by Tony Bunzan - he recommended continuous learning and lots of exercise for the brain as an effective way to keep away dementia.

Secondly, you get to meet people with similar interests. I have found a few new friends like Frannxis, Victor and Chris - By the way, thank you Victor for teaching me how to insert link.

Lastly, people like me like to write; plus digging up those old memories is great fun.

PS - I like that snippet they play on the radio which ends with the line, "See - you do learn something new everyday". The other day I learnt the meaning of LOL. I often see it in other people's blogs. I always thought it meant Lots of Love.

What Prompted Me To Start This Blog

Recently I was in Myanmar for a business trip. On my way back to the airport, I shared the hotel car with a Japanese visitor. During our conversation, I remarked that Yangon was very much like Singapore during the time when I was a kid. Many of the old British style buildings resemble those in Singapore.

He was surprised and said that Singapore must have changed a lot during the past few decades. Yes, and too fast, I replied.

It occurred to me that life in Singapore, the physical landscape especially, has changed a lot during our lifetime. There are very few spots that have not changed during the past 30 years.

I have therefore started this blog to share my memories of life back in the 60' s and 70's when we were kids. If you are my age group, I am sure you too have a lot to share. Whenever, my old and friends and relatives get together, we like to reminisce about the good old days.

Hope you like the articles I put up here.

Incidentally, the title of my blog is inspired by the opening lines of Paul Anka's classic, Times of Your Life:

“Good morning, yesterday.
You wake up and time has slipped away.
And suddenly it's hard to find
The memories you left behind.
Remember; do you remember,
The times of your life?"


Lam Chun See
15 Sep 2005