bidding my first love goodbye

tanglin halt was my first love.

i spent my entire childhood living in a little 3-room flat at a humble neighbourhood, tanglin halt. it was also my first and only time i would ever live in a relatively high floor (or at least that's what 4 year old me saw). it was also fondly known as the 10-storey flats. i attended the kindergarten at the church nearby, chinese tuition a few blocks away, and would pet all the cats in the neighbourhood. i moved out when i was 6 for the incoming baby my mum was bearing, but still came back to tanglin halt for catechism and church. tanglin halt was my first true love.

news came out that a total of 31 blocks – Block 24 to 32, 33 to 38, 40 to 45, 55 to 56, 58 to 60 and 62 to 66 – at tanglin halt road and commonwealth drive was placed under the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) in 2014 and i was devastated. never in my life would i have thought that where i grew up would one day disappear. everyone was slowly relocated to nearby neighbourhoods like dawson and margaret drive by 2022.

a few weeks ago, my partner asked if i wanted to visit the estate after hearing that it was still around, and is set to be demolished in the near future. of course i said yes! when we got there i showed him around like a tour guide, sharing stories about how i tried bringing a cat home with me once, or how i would play badminton with my family at a nearby court. i was fortunate enough to be able to go up to my old unit as the lifts were still working (some blocks had the stairs cordoned off and the electricity no longer running, leaving the lifts non-functional). a flood of memories returned and i felt like 4-year old me again.

we had lunch at the nearby food centre and when it was time to go i formally bid my first love goodbye. a new tanglin halt will rise again in a few years' time.

#MyLemon8Diary Tanglin Halt Rd