The very last bucket toilets were phased out in the early 1980s I think. You want hot water? Here’s a kettle. Go boil on the stove then bring it in with you. It was a big day when we finally got air conditioning. But it was only in the living room, where the family gathered to watch one of four black and white channels. As the youngest, I was the remote control. Not that there was that much to control.

Things were tough then; I was blissfully unaware in my happy childhood playing on the road with the neighborhood kids, then later with the kids from school. True, these days playing with your neighbours unsupervised isn’t something you do. Well, now you have the Xbox and computer games. We had sticks that became guns and swords. Not. Our favorite game was Police & Thief, not Grand Theft Auto. Later, we got plastic M-16s that prepared us for military service. Not. Girls got dolls that prepared them for domestic bliss. Not.

For my parents, getting food on the table was a struggle which I don’t recall them losing. Though I do remember some meals were rather sparse. Dad would go to work and on frequent business trips.

I don’t recall wanting for anything, only wishing I saw more of him.

Chinese New Year was a special time back then. It was the only time we feasted and the only time us kids got new clothes and more than just pocket money. It’s only later that I heard of the tough times my family went through. Their goal was to shield us from the woes of the world as much as they could, to provide for us as best as they could, and beat us on the fanny if we didn’t do the best as we could in school.

Things were not easy in the wider world beyond my playground. There were race riots and industrial unrest, but I was thankfully too young to experience those. Denied full access to the Malaysian hinterland after 1965 and with the British military pullout in 1971 (which at the time contributed 20% of the economy), there was widespread unemployment in the 1970s, hitting 12%, which my dad managed to avoid by running his own wee business (which nearly went bust more than once). Crime was rampant, but again I was too young to experience much first hand. I don’t remember all that; I do remember the second Bukit Ho Swee fire, which made 3,000 homeless in 1968, because some families came to stay at the temple next to our place with little left but the clothes on their backs.

In the next half a century, Singapore has rushed ahead to be a country that surprises many. It’s the country I choose to call home. Not that the island republic is not without its flaws and shortcomings, far from it. But having travelled to several countries and read widely, I cannot see myself being anywhere else. Not that I am without choices; I have family in Australia and Canada, and might have joined either. Perth is a temptation; breathtaking countryside, perfect weather … but that’s another story.