We celebrated the first work week of the Western new year by going back to one of our neighbourhood kopitiams (literally 'coffee shop' but more a collection of food stalls) which had been closed for renovations for some time.
We really like how it looks and feels now. Everything's brighter and cleaner and the ceiling even looks higher though I don't know how they could have managed this.
Plus we've just received our CDC vouchers (digital vouchers from the government to be used on food and household costs)
Here's what I spent mine on... $5 crispy noodles and a water chestnut drink! (Block 289 Bukit Batok St 25 in case you're in the area!)
It's almost worth the months of construction work that's going on. Which is something to remember now that our condo's currently in the middle of the government-mandated cycle of re-painting, re-grouting and re-tiling, meaning temporary barriers, exposed wiring, dust everywhere. It looks worse before it looks better. It always does.
But it's something you get used to if you live in Singapore. Something around you is always in the process of getting dug up, torn down or upgraded.
Residential blocks get upgraded. Schools, libraries, hawker centres are closed and reopened looking shinier and smelling cleaner.
But sometimes even this isn't enough. We tried to help with a neighbour's tripped circuit the other night--after ruling out all the visible appliances, we had to conclude the issue was somewhere behind the walls where aesthetically concealed wiring had fused.
That's the problem with things that look good--you can't tell when things are going wrong and everything looks fine—until it suddenly isn’t.
(They're getting an electrician in--it's hard to find one free now because they're always busiest before Chinese New Year. I stopped by a van in the car park to say 'you're blocking my car,' but before I could ask him to move up a little the driver handed me a card and said 'no more booking until after New Year'. The poor guy looked exhausted. I took the card and gave him a packet drink and yes, he moved the van.)
Of course we're also practical people here. You can see it in how fast Christmas disappears and Chinese new Year appears--the lights strung across building fronts and along roads are the same LED lights, but the little green Christmas trees have been replaced by little red lanterns and the 'reindeer' have lost their horns and become horses...
I like this season--it's cooler now across than the rest of the year. But it also feels like we're caught between the Western vs Chinese New Year.
In anticipation of the Year of the Horse, I've been clearing cupboards, repotting plants, cleaning out the turtle pond and fish tank filters--here's a look at the underside of some of the water plants. I'd not realised till now how pretty and delicate their roots are--
I've also been thinking that the whole thing about clearing stuff up regularly/ before New Year is about stagnant energy trapped in stagnant spaces and how entropy works on everything, from stuff we don't touch or look at to parts of our bodies and minds. I have so many books, projects and ideas that I don't want to work on yet am not ready to let go of!
But I will.
And I've been pushed to relook at some old things recently, thanks to external factors--
This month, The Mushroom Tree Mystery is a Kindle Monthly Deal at $0.99 on Amazon US.
And the television series Aunty Lee’s Deadly Delights, based on my Aunty Lee mysteries, premieres on MeWatch on January 19.
Entropy never ends. But there's always the hope of rebirth and renewal!
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