It is the rainy season now, and weather has been pretty predictable. Strong sunny weather in the first half of the day, and then heavy showers in the second half of the day. Yesterday I was reminded of the many things that I love, and why Singapore makes me happy (for now...).
As I walked out to get some stuff from the nearby shop, the weather was windy and cool, and for some reason, the tranquility of the Sunday afternoon reminded me of Heaton, the tranquil neighbourhood in Newcastle I often walked across. It reminded me of a place children could run around the streets and grow up in, and where you could go home after work in the evenings and rest and enjoy the surroundings (I don't do enough of this).
Everytime I hear a certain type of bird caw at my condo, I always think of Taiping, where my earliest childhood memories are. I always remember of the time when I crossed the streets of Taiping town from my grandfather's store to the nearby night market, where there were yet trishaws and those birds cawed as the evening settled. I remember looking up to the skies trying to catch sight of the birds in the greying skies, and with my hand in my grandmother's I would wonder at the sound.
I wish I knew what those birds were called. I only hear them in Singapore other than Taiping, not even in KL.
Sometimes I would catch a whiff in the air that reminds me of Taiping.
A forgotten memory yesterday evening came drifting back, how when I lived in London, I would carelessly think to myself that I missed the heavy downpours in Malaysia of how the earth has been cleansed after a big shower.
Now, if only toads would croak loudly in the night after a heavy shower.