2007-10-07
Thursday afternoons.
Thursday afternoon was spent celebrating the official end of exams in the heartlands, then by the bay.
Contrary to the norm of the city, Dilys led me to the quieter Junction 8, where she treated me to a Delifrance meal (with vouchers) and comfortable talk. The time in Coffee Bean was spent shivering in the air-con (I should have known to have brought a jacket) and sipping Ice Mocha. They have nice double chocolate muffins there.
The rest of the time was spent exploring The Arts House, with its nostalgic colonial feel, the dark wooden floors and the tap tap tapping of our school shoes. It felt almost awkward, as though we were intruding on the memories of history long before. We perused the Merger Treaties (yes, treaties. One in every of our multi-racial languages) with our glorious MM's signatures, found out the actual identity of JBJ (made famous to us by Eleanor Wong) and noted our PM's very interesting appearance as a younger man. Loved the turtleshell glasses.
Of course, there was the fantastic Earshot that Dilys very marvelously showed me, with its treasure trove of Singaporean literature, music, film, et cetera. I could have spent hours there, but the Esplanade library was calling out to my companion who gave up and shook me till I relented to leave. My first visit left me with only one book, however, considering how they did not accept Nets and I was terribly short on cash. So I left, slightly crestfallen, but considerably happy nonetheless, with A Visitation of Sunlight by Aaron Lee Soon Yong.
And so we traipsed along to the Esplanade, getting up to our happy capers along the way.
We paid visits to our magnificent forefather Sir Raffles (both the black and white statue) and held a rather one-sided conversation with him about the current state of Singapore.
We greeted a pigeon as Angela, and ended up attacked when it flew at us in a huff and fluffed around our heads (it was Angela alright, just void of whining :D).
We educated four British (hah, colonial rule) women tourists on the history behind the frangipani tree, along with its tradition of being planted in graveyards and being home to pontianaks.
Of course, there was the couple-spying as well, through the corners of our eyes. If any males (or females, for that matter) would like to woo us, we mutually agreed that they would have to bring us to here, the Bay, the Arts House, some place away from the cliched chaos of the city, before we accuse them of being boring.
With the couple-spying came school-watching, as a hoard of primary school girls were enjoying a tour of the area. Their identity, however, did spark off a little giggle fit in the two of us, considering how the day before we were perusing clips of the Dim Sum Dollies in school get-up, and as Selena innocently proclaimed: "You convent girls are so havoc!" And no Angela, we were not being mean. 0:)
The Esplanade Library sent Dilys into hysteria, considering the various DVDs she managed to get of the other Angela. On my part I attempted to get 2046 by Wong Kar-Wai, but after inquiring at the service counter, found it to be on restricted access and not permitted to be borrowed. As such I contented myself with the screenplay of Lolita, which I borrowed and devoured in the same day.
Contented with our finds, we strolled through the Art Gallery upon our exeunt from the library. There were surreal creations made from dried leaves, pottery blended with glass and various paintings on the walls. Definitely more interesting than any Zara display, might I say. 8D But really, it was a very exceptional experience, although I am far from being a master of art, I must say that it was quite enjoyable.
By a stroke of luck and a little bit of coincidence, we found out that there was an ATM downstairs from a Mrs Fields lady (they didn't accept Nets either), and as such my very first transaction took place. Delirious with happiness, we ambled back to Earshot at The Arts House (the one at Esplanade sold the books at a higher price) and I managed to get hold of Testing the Silence by Alvin Pang and A Third Map by Edwin Thumboo (Professor Thumboo!).
Ecstatic now with my larger collection of poetry, we enjoyed a glass of iced tea each, Dilys having a second glass with iced lemon tea. It was a quaint, comforting moment, in the plush scarlet of the armchairs, the calm wood of the coffee table and the tinking of ice and glass, jazz soft and heartbreaking in the background. We held quiet, meandering conversations for awhile, along with discussions of plays and thought bunnies, refraction, glass, light bending away and flickering.
It was around four or five that we finally made our way back to the MRT station and left the bay and poetry memories behind us, around us. Dilys got off a stop early and as such we spent a while in the humming silence of Newton station awaiting the train and talking even more. It was then Dilys went off for tuition, and I headed home.
I'm not sure if any one would really bother with this or care, in fact, considering how nothing that funny happened (save for the furious pigeon attack), but I suppose I just wanted to remember, more than anything, like the heat of the breeze and four o'clock sun, soft and nostalgic, slipping the shadows beneath our feet.
abstracity at 9:02 a.m.