Three hours was how long it took for me to do this circuituous route which started from One Farrer, went around Kandang Kerbau/Kampong Java and back to Little India.
I had not intended to walk that far.
All I'd wanted, in fact, was to go around the area of Pek Kio Market and Hawker Center, see if there were anything that could be bought for dinner, and then head right back.
However, it being only late afternoon by the time I finished a gander around the (mostly closed) stalls of the hawker center, I decided I'd push ahead and see the rest of the neighborhood.
After all, I was already here- and it wasn't often that I came.
The last time I dropped in here on a regular basis was many, many years ago. Even so, because I never went anywhere beyond the school where I volunteered in, I never knew that Pek Kio was in fact along the stretch of Owen Road, and neither did I know that the roads in the estate were named after British counties or towns.
Very distinct their names are, really.
There is Dorset Road. There is Cambridge Road. There is Norfolk Road. Then there is Oxford Road, Bristol Road, Hertford Road and Kent Road.
No, I didn't walk along all the roads.
There was no time.
What I did, however, was to make a quick stop at a block on Cambridge Road just to take a look at the view, come back down, then head along Norfolk Road past Carlisle Road until the end where it connected to Keng Lee Road.
From there I walked back down, passing by several landmarks, including a private home that gave me 70s vibes, a Baptist Church that had walls of red brick, a Catholic Church whose building reminded me of somewhere else, an organization whose building had a distinctive-looking roof of Chinese architecture, and a theology school.
I came to a crossroads after that, and although I considered walking around the Children's Hospital that lay across the canal along Kampong Java Road, I decided otherwise and stayed on the same side, entering Hampshire Road, passing by the famous Farrer Park fields, the Little India Bus Terminal, the back of LTA's headquaters, and finally, Race Course Road.
It may be some time before I venture back to this area again but right now, looking at the pictures, I realize, that the greatest impression this British-sounding place left on me that particular afternoon was that of her quiet, serene beauty when bathed in the soft glow of an early evening light.
Maybe it doesn't mean anything to you.
Maybe it doesn't mean anything to anyone anymore.
But I'd like to think that it used to mean something to someone.
And I'd like to think that the meaning for which it had obviously been thought of, designed, developed and crafted for, continues steadfast to remain.