It is a surprising number of pictures that I took on this relatively short bus ride this afternoon.
Bus 42 does not have a long route.
What it does have, however, is a sort of roundabout route that goes up and down and left and right and afterwards zig zags in a sort of three-point turn that loops you back round.
There're a couple of bus stops all along the route, and mine this afternoon was from the Blk 102 bus stop on Lengkong Tiga.
Coming here from Jalan Daud, I, of course, had to take a couple of pictures, like that of Lengkong Tiga looking towards Jalan Kembangan, the blocks of Lengkong Tiga themselves, the pretty terraced houses in front, and the canal, which, by the way, is a connector from this side of Lengkong Tiga all the way down past the zone of Telok Kurau, Siglap, and finally, the sea.
The bus took me along Lengkong Empat this afternoon where, seated on the other side of the bus, I took a couple pictures of the lovely houses on the other side, some of which I had passed once, or twice, on foot before.
I didn't wish to look at the condos on the left.
They made me think of the situation we were in- and this afternoon I had no wish to be reminded of that.
What's interesting about this road is that some of these houses really do have unique architecture, and, with that, a special charm. I'm not sure if it be the walls, or the roof, but some of these houses make you sit up and look. They become noticeable, even if you be on the bus with half your mind stoned whilst on your way somewhere.
Up the Lengkong Empat slope the bus now went, then it was the Lengkong Enam Park right at the top which I had come a few times before to sit under some of these trees.
The park looked a little different today under the glow of an early afternoon sun today.
Still, just as serene, just as beautiful.
Along Jalan Selamat the bus went after, going down the hill, all the way until Taman Kembangan and Jalan Kembangan at which bus stop many got down to walk to the MRT.
The houses of Taman Kembangan are actually also very charming ones.
They aren't like the ones that I passed by on Lengkong Empat; more like the regular homes we see in nearly every suburban estate around the country, but they're cute, and pretty, and it boggles me just how many residents and families there are in this not-so-large housing estate of Kembangan.
I took a picture of the Astoria Park condominium right next to the MRT.
It were a scene unique to this season, this time, for such a view very likely would be blocked once the new flats- now under construction- were built.
From the traffic light on Jalan Kembangan next to the MRT, across Sims Avenue East the bus then went, stopping at the bus stop across Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor.
On the schedule it seems like a short route, but it in fact isn't. The bus goes past a couple of houses, all of which seem to be standing squat firm in the middle of two major thoroughfare roads Sims Avenue East and Changi Road.
They fascinate me, these houses, not just because of their exterior colors of teal, yellow and green, but more so, the location where they stand on the easternmost edge of Changi Road, open to traffic day and night on all sides.
I wonder if they feel vulnerable.
The bus goes down Sims Avenue East a little bit more, then turns right and slopes down Siglap Road into the area we call Opera Estate.
It is a very steep slope, mind, with a curve, to boot, and the driver must be able to apply his brakes in some sort of skilled driving way lest the bus get pulled by gravity a little too fast down the slope.
I always wonder at how they do it.
But now the bus turns left into Fidelio Street, and after the second bus stop, past Jalan Khairuddin, past Opera Estate Primary School, we get down.
