Sometimes life be such that you just go around taking pictures of your life. where you are, how it is, how your day be for you.
It doesn't have to be spectacular, momentous, impressive or even memorable.
It just needs to be present, and comfortable
This afternoon we were heading to Millennia Walk, both of us, and so, with us being at Toa Payoh, we decided to take the bus direct from the Pei Chun Public School side of Lorong 6 all the way downtown.
To be honest these days it is very seldom that I take pictures of my surroundings especially when I walk.
By right, I should.
It is, after all, important, that we see the beauty of our surroundings on the day by day. That, even if our mood be not of the best, that, even if our mind be distracted and not in full spirits, we be mindful of the moment, be mindful that every breath, every place, and every moment, be a gift to treasure, and remember.
It would be wise, I should say, to take these couple of pictures- few as they are- as a reminder that 2026 should be a year of the moment, of the day, of the grace that keeps me present in the hour by hour, day by day.
Because that's exactly what these pictures here are.
I took them whilst walking to the bus stop from the traffic light.
The light was so good.
You know, it never ceases to amaze me just how leafy and green this stretch of Toa Payoh is.
Until coming here at the start of last year it had not occurred to me that Toa Payoh estate had so many huge, large-canopied trees.
Might it have been that I didn't take notice of them when I used to hang out at Lorong 7? Might it have been that my mind had been too controlled, and occupied, at that time to really notice the presence of nature, grass and trees around me?
I don't know. I can't remember.
There are things of Lorong 7 that I remember well.
Trees as large as these are not one of them.
Which is why it becomes so surprising that Blk 17 (or what I think should be Blk 17), with her tight knit apartment units and walking corridors, actually has the presence of all these shrubs and huge tall trees at one side.
I did not think they had them.
I did not think they would be there.
It wasn't just the block.
There was the school- Pei Chun Public School- with all these shrubs and all these trees and leaves outside, lined up along the length of the fence, separating them from the school classroom block to that of the housing block directly opposite.
And then behind Blk 17, there was Blk 18, right in front of the Kim Keat Palm Market & Food Center, with her kitchen windows peeking through the same foliage that dropped from the huge canopied tree, the tall swaying palms, and the burgundy-colored leaves of the shrubs in front next to the bus stop.
From where I stood I could see the roof of the market and food center, although not very clear, nor very sharp at all.
But it makes a difference, seeing the view around me in the light of all these green.
Maybe it is a reminder of what Toa Payoh used to be.
Maybe it is, too, a reminder of how every housing estate is not defined by the stories that others tell, but the stories that belong to one's own.