What you'll see below are pictures that we'll never see again.
Simply because, like what life sometimes brings us, there are farewells that need be said. There are farewells that we have to speak ourselves. Of people, of belongings, of beloved creatures, and of homes.
It is when it is such that they enter into the realm of Memory.
And there they stay.
These pictures, few that they are, represent a cross-section of one of Singapore's housing estates that we've had to say goodbye to in recent years. More than 5 years ago, it was announced that this estate, standing on the fringe of Downtown, would have to make way for an expressway. Everyone questioned it, to some degree, but hey, in this country, when it happens, it happens.
I didn't dwell in this neighborhood. I'm not one of the families who have had to say goodbye to their times here and move to the new apartments elsewhere.
But 90% of Singaporeans are dwellers in housing estates.
And at differing degrees, we all understand.
So I was a visitor here for a mere afternoon. A tourist to Rochor housing estate, if you would like, and such are the scenes that we shall never see again.
Because the last person in Rochor housing estate has said his or her goodbye. The people are gone. The shop shutters are down. The lifts no longer operate. The stairs are boarded up. flats have fallen silent. The flats have gone dark. And so have the corridors.
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| between the shops |
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| did they bring the plants? |
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| what i saw from the corridor |
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| i see your kitchen you see mine |
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| the playground |
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| where little trikes play |