There's probably not much I'm going to write about this set of pictures I recently found from one of my mobile phones.
But it's a good idea to plonk it all down and let's see where we can go with it.
If you're wondering why all these pictures feature the sea, well, yes, that's because I tend to be someone who breathes easier when she's close by the sea.
They've all been taken at different places, different times, however.
Like the first one which, by the way, wasn't even snapped from the mainland but island Pulau Ubin opposite. We'd gone there on some sort of an excursion, I think, and whilst I can't remember just where we visited that day, I know I took this picture not too long before we boarded the ferry back home.
I haven't been back to Pulau Ubin in a very, very long while.
Heck, I haven't even been to eastern part of the island in a very long while.
I don't know if the coconut tree is still there near the Changi Jetty.
I also don't know if this jetty seen here from the boardwalk is still there.
It's always been idyllic a place as I remember it, and Changi Point- this curved area of the diamond-shaped island is the only place I know where both sunrise and sunsets are magically beautiful.
I hope I'll get to go soon.
I've got a bus going there after all.
It's a little more difficult for some of the other places seen in this collection though.
There's one that sits right at one end of East Coast Park just before the airport turn, looking out towards Tanah Merah Besar and the open sea.
There's one that's of the Johor Straits which I took during Covid season and shared with a homebound friend.
And then there's one of the sea off Labrador Park I took couple of years ago.
What's special is that all these places are so memorable.
Cycling to Tanah Merah Besar is something I do when I'm alone but want to clear my head at the same time. It's literally a straight, safe path on East Coast Park and you don't have to worry about traffic or anything of the sort save for the occasional kid running across the path to grab the wayward ball.
It's a little harder for the other two.
Cycling up to Woodlands for the view of the Johor Straits is hard, coming back down is even a wee bit more difficult, and I don't think I've ever been able to do that in the last two years thereabouts.
Then there's Labrador Park, which, technically, isn't as difficult as cycling to Woodlands but given how it's located, can feel like a bit of in-between at times. It would be good and fine if I did cycle to Jurong East via the West Coast Highway, but I haven't got the capacity to, even though I think I should.
There're other pictures, of course.
All of which, by the way, are of the east side.
There's one of Tanah Merah Besar, not looking out towards the open sea like the previous picture, but towards the opposite coast that marks the Tanah Merah curve and which is presently a huge construction site for Terminal 5.
The other pictures here, I believe, are of the waters along Changi Coastal Road right near where the Aerospace building is.
Coming here to the Aerospace building is a journey of its own.
It's not the nearest to East Coast Park, mind, so by the time you got here, you'd have cycled through a fair bit of route, complete with bright sun overhead and humidity levels high enough to justify a fair bit of self motivational talk as your legs cycled on.
But then there comes a reward.
This view.
One of the nicest, if not the calmest views this side of the country on this particular coastal road.
I know there're many who say Changi Beach Park has her own serenity.
But here, on this stretch right at the Aerospace Building behind, lies a serenity different from the other.
I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's the relatively untouched natural scenery.
Maybe it's the close proximity of the water to the shoreline.
It might be the low hanging ball of sun as she descends beneath the horizon.
Or it might be the gentle roll of the waters as she swishes up to the stone breakwater.
I've not come here much.
But there's never been a time when I don't stop and put Daffy down to gaze beyond the curved shoreline of the Singapore mainland.
Never too has there been a time where I looked inland more than I looked beyond the waters and the islands I know are just opposite.
You forget about the land when you're at this place.
You forget what's behind you when you stand at this spot and look out.
Call me sensitive, but even seeing these pictures now, there seems to be a longing at this place that lingers.
A pensiveness I can't describe.
I hope she stays.
It's not a resentment or an anger or a frustration.
It's simply the peace of the one who remains, who still never gives up hope, and knows that beyond the islands of Tekong and the land of Malaysia, there is the South China Sea, and all the other seas connected to lands they may not may not one day be able to see.