Had insomnia Sunday night. Tossed and turned until way passed 1 am. Still couldn't sleep. Suddenly a feeling of homesickness hit me. Don't get me wrong, I'm in my own home with my own family. The homesickness that I felt was for my "home", the place I grew up....
The Flat - 5th Floor, Block 75, Singapore Road. Its the place that I spend 26 years of my life. A cozy place of about 1,000 sq. ft. consisted of a living room with front balcony, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a dinning room that we seldom dine in, a kinda small kitchen that Mom rules and the back balcony.
A very windy place with a big old tree next to it. Sometimes some squirrels will drop by for a visit. Occassionally a bat or two would fly into the house while we were watching TV. Birds would make their nest next to the pots of plants Mom planted in the balcony. When the eggs were hatched and the Mama and Papa birds left the nest to look for food, Mom would take out the chicks and let us feed them with rice soaked in water. In October to December we would look out from our balcony to the old tree and get to see fireflies dancing around. When there was a power cut, we would sit there with candles lit and Mom would sing us some of the old english melodies.
The neighbourhood kids that I grew up with, the Lees (Chiew Ling and Chiew Yung) from the 1st floor, the Soons (Ah Thsun) from the 2nd floor, the Chiams (Ah Hiang) from the 3rd floor, the 4th floor - tenants changes so many times couldn't remember them, and the Wongs (Ka Sam, Ka Yue, Tze Soon and Ka Wai) from the 6th floor.
During Lunar Moon festival, all the families would gather at the roof top of the building to celebrate. All the kids would light up their lanterns and have fun. Sometimes we would carry our lanterns and walked up the dark winding path to St. Mike Secondary School near our place.
Other times we would all gather for some kids' birthday party, etc. Then there was a time when Master Wong from the 6th Floor taught us kids the Preying Mantis kung fu at the roof top.
All the games we played and the fun we had on the ground floor parking space. With a piece of chalk or coal in hand, we would turn the parking space into an art museum with our childish graffiti. The many ants and snails we tortured and killed in play.
Spring cleaning day before the Chinese New Year is the day all the kids had the most fun! It would start with the Wong family cleaning their staircase, all the dirty water splashing around! Then its our turn to wash our part of the staircase and so on down to the ground floor. Kids like us would scrub the stair and splash dirty water to each other. Kids + Water = FUN!!! The grown ups would indulge us during this time.
Well a few years back after Mom and Dad moved to KK, we sold the house. The Lees are still there (actually the girls' uncle); Mrs. Soon is staying there alone, Ah Tshun passed away a few years ago. He was in his early Thirties. The Chiams are still there. The new tenant on the 4th floor, I never get to know them since we moved out before they move in. The 6th floor is rented out to some Malays, the Wongs moved out in the early 80s.
Whenever I passed by Singapore Road, I would always, always try to catch a glimpse of the flat on the 5th floor of Block 75. A place that no matter what, still holds a very very special place in my heart. A place that I will always called "Home".
