I interviewed my grandaunt as she had something interesting to share with me. I think that she is suitable for me to interview as she has experience a lot of things. She has six other siblings. Her brother is my grandfather, but he had already passed away. She told me that last time, she and her family used to stay in Chinatown. There were many poor families so, many families stayed in the same shop house. When she told me that the staircase in the shop houses was dimly lilted, I was frightened yet grateful that I was not living there.
As she continued, she said that son later, her family shifted to a flat on Albert Street, built by Mr Lim Yew Hock in 1962. My grandaunt remembered that the staircase was broad and cemented, and her siblings used to play catching and hide and seek near or at the staircase. They thought that it was safer, as they can play without any fear of tumbling down the stairs as the wooden staircase at the shop house was dangerous to play on.
My grandaunt enjoyed staying in the flat as she was able to make more friends like her neighbours. They were all from different races. She learnt to play multi-raced games like chapteh and eat different types of food during festive seasons.
She also told me that last time when there was a wake parlour near her house, there would be lot of chanting at night. She felt scared at night. If I was there, I will be frightened too. My grandaunt saw the burning of paper figures and found it interesting as she can learn more about the Chinese culture. My grandaunt then remembered what one of her neighbours used to do. Since my grandaunt had a neighbour that owned a night market stall, got to see something that she found very interesting. Her neighbour was very creative. He had a pulley system to move their goods from the top floor to the ground floor. When evening came, she and her family had to be very careful not to poke their heads out of the balcony or else they will get hit by the goods. She remembered that in Albert Road, there were people selling records and cassette tapes, and people playing the oldelies and evergreen songs. That made me very curious as I wanted to know how was life was back then.
Another interesting thing she told me was that last time, there was something called tick-tock mee. Every afternoon at around 3pm someone will hit two bamboo sticks together to make the sound “tick tock”. That was how it got its name. When she wanted to buy some, she would shout at the seller and tell him how many she wanted. Then he will lower a basket that was connected to a string with a tiffin-carrier and money in the basket to the street. The seller will then take the money and place in the noodles in the tiffin- carrier in a basket. My grandaunt will then pull the basket up with the tiffin-carrier and she did it carefully to prevent spillage. That was interesting to me and that was the end of the interview.
They improve our lives by giving us proper living conditions, making us feel safer in Singapore.
Written By: Chloe Seah
(Mayflower Secondary School/ Secondary 1D)
