Times of My Life

Laokokok : “Excuse me, do you sell tracing paper?”

Young salesgirl : “Tracing paper? …What is it? ..pls wait…”

She hurried off to ask another more elderly salesgirl. Together they showed me to a shelf where it was.

Young salesgirl : “Oh, so this is tracing paper!”

I’m rather surprised that the younger generation like my kids (Primary 3 girl and even my Sec.2 boy may not know), do not know what tracing paper are. Some do know about carbon paper.

OK, these are Tracing and Carbon Paper;

The tracing paper now is a bit too thick compared to the past. Of course, the prices have gone up many folds too. The carbon paper was usually of the brand Pelikan (not too sure the spelling) in the past and they are usually used for typing and those receipts and invoices.

I used the tracing paper mainly for my Geography lessons in the 70s - tracing countries maps. With digital cameras, scanners, Photoshop software, etc.. and many modern technology, all these tracing and carbon papers are seldom used nowadays. So many younger generations may not have seen or heard about it, can’t blame them.

Let me try to show you how I used the tracing paper and carbon paper in the past. Below is an example of me trying to trace Pinocchio from a book onto a piece of paper.

Unless one can draw very well, otherwise, this is what I will do.

So do you still use the tracing and carbon paper?

Paper bags were used during the 60s, 70s and early 80s. They were then replaced by the current plastic bags. In the past, most products or companies advertisements were placed on the paper bags. Of course most of us will remember those bigger paper bags used for the mooncakes boxes.

Look at these 2 paper bags found in my mother’s house. They are probably 25 to 30 years back.

1. Chee Seng Sesame Oil;

Take note of the old telephone number and the number of digit then. Also the old address 937 Serangoon Road. This Chee Seng Sesame Oil probably has a very long product life cycle. They have been here since 1943 though started off as coconut oil instead of sesame oil. Here is their company history  and their double pagoda logo reason.

2. Heng Kee Lemon Juice ;

This was my favourite lemon juice in concentrated form, to be mixed with water. My mother used to buy a bottle of this lemon juice when she was out shopping. Note the address printed on the paper bag - Capitol Shopping Centre, Stall No.52 and $1.30 per bottle. Stall No.52 - those who been there before in the 80s will remember how the place like. Maybe Peter and Chun See can shed some lights.

Let’s see when the paper bags were made and who made them;

So don’t you think every paper bag tells a story? In the past, I used to say to my mother why was she keeping all these paper bags like garung guni…now I’m the one keeping it haha. Now I understand when there are aplenty - it’s like rubbish, and when it’s gone - it’s like treasure!

No no, I’m not talking about that HEROES TV series on Monday! It’s my old HERO brand fountain pen. Sad to say many students nowadays don’t use fountain pen or may not even know/seen one too!

I started using HERO fountain pen since Secondary school, think around Sec.1 or 2. Sometimes I got my fountain pen leaking, so my shirt pocket may be stained. The worst case was the ink bottle cap was not tighten properly thus my whole school bag was filled with the blue ink!

The HERO 336 Fountain Pen;

This is probably the most common fountain pen found here. It was released in 1968. The fountain pen probably costs about S$1.20 (I think)? This HERO pen resembles that of PARKER 51 (American brand).

The iridium nib tip was very tough and we like to use it as a dart. I can use it as a flying dart on the class table or chair. It’s fun playing with it, anyway, what other things can we played with at that time…

For those that have used the Hero fountain pen before, their refill system is probably most memorable;

Above photos credit : Chinapenking

When comes to refilling the pen, sometimes there will be a spill and we need those white blotting paper. Oh my son my not even seen one yet haha. Of course the other item that comes to mind when refilling is the ink bottle;

As seen on the packaging, this HERO brand ink and fountain pen was manufactured in Shanghai, China.

See the Chinese Tradmark below;

The side view of the box;

And the unique cap with the HERO embossed on it;

I wonder if I can still find this old HERO fountain pen at Sungei Road…

…cont’d from Pt.1

I’m talking about the old Roxy and Palace Theatre…funny right…they used to call it theatre instead of cinema. These 2 theatres are located along the same East Coast Road on the same side but opposite to the Odeon Katong Theatre. Both theatres are demolished.

If we walked along East Coast Road from Katong Shopping Centre to Still Road, this stretch was known as ‘The Roxy Area’. It was also the traditional ‘Heart of Katong’. From this, what can see how popular is the Roxy Theatre back in the 50s and 60s.

Take a good look at how the ‘landmarks’ changed its look over time… sad to say I’ve not been to any of these 2 theatres for a show but only passed by.

Roxy Theatre

This old theatre was there before World War 2 and much much older than me. Let’s check out some old photos;

Credit : Fairypoint

When I see the above photo, I doubt it’s Roxy Cinema in Singapore as it looked totally different. If it was then it must be very very long ago. Sad to say there isn’t much photos of the old Roxy in Katong. Luckily after searching for sometime, I managed to find another old photo which resembles the above;

Credit : Donor N Lloyd, Australian Was Memorial

The above shows the Roxy Theatre circa 1945. Read more about Roxy Theatre here.

When the Roxy Theatre was demolished, I’m not sure. The land now is occupied by Katong Plaza / Roxy Square and the back portion of the land is Grand Mercure Roxy hotel. Take a look now and you cannot never visualise how the old Roxy Theatre sits in there.

Palace Theatre

This is another old theatre along the East Coast Road which is demolished now. Take a look below see how it looks like in 1960;

Credit : National Archives of Singapore , PICAS

You are still able to see the theatre in 1990 as shown in the photo taken from Ceylon Road ;

Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS

Understand that this theatre in her later years was used more for live performances. Probably in the 90s, the name of the theatre was also changed to Paradise Theatre. Below shows the Paradise Theatre in 1994;

Creadit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS

The theatre was demolished and now a Eastgate building in its place;

These 2 theatres Roxy and Palace were separated by a road called Brooke Road.

Let me wish all friends here a Happy 2008 New Year before I begin my first post for this year.

Katong Shopping Centre;

So when was it built? Yes, 35 years ago, opened in 1973, it was one of the nearest shopping centres from my home in Haig Road back then. I loved to visit there during Saturday especially after my NCC Air ECA (now known as CCA) at the Haig Road Camp.

When my dad bought a 5rm flat at Haig Road in the early 70s, I was so happy as it was within walking distance to so many shopping area there like Katong Shopping Centre, City Plaza, Tanjong Katong Complex, Parkway Parade - of course some were built later.

This 35 years old shopping centre used to be full of textiles and shoes shops in the early days. The popular Oriental Emporium was located at one corner occupying 2 floors. It was fun shopping there especially before the Chinese New Year.

Below is how it looked like in 1994;

Photo Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS

Now the whole place especially the basement and ground floor, are full of eatery shops. But I must said some of the eateries shops served value for money food. The good old Oriental Emporium, and many textiles and shoes shops were gone… This used to be a good place to know some Tanjong Katong Girls School students haha.

Luckily this old shopping centre still retains its old look and not much of a makeover like most other shopping mall. The main structural change is probably the addition of a lift at the corner near the Haig Road.

This is how it looks now(photo taken Dec 2007);

The eateries at the basement;

Somehow as I’m very much older now, this shopping centre seems to have ’shrink’;

Odeon Katong Shopping Complex;

I wonder how many still remember the old Odeon Katong Theatre (Cinema) here before this Odeon Katong Shopping Complex was built? For how long the old Odeon Katong Theatre was here, I really don’t know. If I will to base on the 1988 Edition of Singapore Street Directory, it was still here in 1988. However the 1998 Edition of the Singapore Street Directory, it shows Odeon Katong Shopping Complex instead. So it must be between 1988 to 1998 that there was a makeover.

This is the old Odeon Katong Theatre in 1960;

Photo Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS

Frankly I’m not too sure if there is a mix-up of dates as I recall that in the early 80s, the new Odeon Katong seems to be there already. During the Chinese New Year, I remember I went up to the cinema by escalator to book 3 days advance tickets for a movie. It was a norm to book advance tickets up to 3 days and usually the queue was extremely long during the Chinese New Year period. Haha, maybe I’ve got the years wrong myself….anyway…

Here is the 1994 look of the Odeon Katong Shopping Complex;

And the updated look in 2007 below;

I didn’t realise that the cinemas inside were gone…until I dropped by last month. See what the whole building becomes;

Can’t see…haha…let me tell you: 80% of the building occupied by Cornerstone Community Church! In fact, a number of old cinemas in Singapore have been converted to Church.

Here is the escalator leading to the old Odeon Katong cinema;

There is some changes to the road when the Odeon Katong Shopping Centre was built.

Before the Odeon Katong Shopping Centre was built, the Mugliston Road was terminated before the canal at the Katong Shopping Centre Carpark Entrance;

Now after the Odeon Katong Shopping Complex was built, the Mugliston Rd was extended below the building and joined with the Ean Kiam Place;

I don’t know how long these 2 buildings will last especially the Katong Shopping Centre. Those old buildings surrounding are going and gone one by one…

to be continued in Pt.2…

Credit : National Archives of Singapore

This was the first type of phone my Godparents had in the 60s/70s. No choice of color for the phones back then, I think. Not many households are able to afford a telephone; my parents do not have one too.

I remember my Godparents got engaged those telephone cleaning lady to clean the phone every now and then. The cleaning lady would carried a hard bag like those cosmetic makeup bag, containing all her cleaning kids. She would changed the white color mouth piece ‘filter’ and then sprayed some ‘fragrance’ onto it. And they wore those gloves when doing the cleaning of telephone.

So what does STB stands for? It stands for Singapore Telephone Board. And its logo back then has a swallow bird - don’t know why?

Even the telephone carried the logo, as shown on the telephone above.

Back then the bills envelopes are like this;

See the above envelope. So in 1971, it was still STB and the postage back then was 6 cents!

OK, Singapore had its first telephone service in 1879, almost 128 years! The British were providing the telephone services until 1955. In 1955, STB was formed.

TAS (Telecommunications Authority of Singapore) provided overseas services while STB on local services. In 1974, both merged to form Singapore Telecom.

So when did we first have our push button phone? That should be August 1970. By early 1980s, all rotary phones were replaced by push button phone. Regret didn’t keep one of those rotary phone or the first generation of the push button phone with the Telecom logo at the bottom.

Here is the First Day Cover for the 100 years of Telephone Service in 1974;

So what will be the next change be?

Credit : National Heritage Board, Singapore

I remember when I was in Primary School, the girls in my class were playing five stones whenever the teacher was missing in action. I have never tried playing them as I thought it was more of a girls’ game. So until now, I’ve yet to play them.

They seems to have disappear from my memory until recently this year I saw them again at the National Heritage Fair at Suntec. Likes see how it was played;

So why was it called Five Stones since the pyramid bag contained either beans or sand. It is because Five Stones was originally played with real stones or pebbles. To play the game, one has to complete a series of complicated movement by tossing and catching the stones without missing them. The movement becomes more complicated as one proceed on.

My first electronic handheld game was most probably the Casio Calculator ‘Space Invader’ game, or more correctly - ‘Number Invader’ game. It was actually modeled after the late 70s popular Space Invader game.

I don’t really remember the model of that Casio calculator, but a Google search shows me the model MG-880. Wonder if it was the same calculator… Anyway it looks alike;

The player have to press the correct number on the extreme left to match any of the number on the right that keeps coming out randomly, so as to kill ‘it’. The 3 horizontal short lines on the right of the extreme left number indicates the number of lives you have remaining. The ‘n’ is what makes me remember the game most!

Here is the closeup of the screen;

So when was this calculator game in fashion? It should be in the early 80s, during my Poly time. Now where have I dumped this calculator???

For those that wish to try out this ‘Number Invader’ game, here it is;

DigiInvaders

The instructions are here.

Credit : National Heritage Board.

Yes I’m talking about the above old compass and not those when you lost your direction type haha. Saw the above old set during the National Heritage Fair at Suntec City some months back, and I remember I do have a set of that in the past.

My first set of compass was purchased when I was in higher primary level. It was exactly like the one shown above, the pencil was tightened to it. We have to keep those shorter pencil and use it for the compass. The compass, dividers and other instruments were kept together in the metal box. After some time of use, the compass and the metal box will get rusty!

Later in secondary school, the compass set also got upgraded. It got longer and “more professional”. We use pencil leads and need to “sharpen” it using sandpaper. The box containing it were usually plastic instead of the old metal box.

Now the compass set is mainly make of plastic and won’t get rusty. Here is my son’s compass set;

It’s so convenient to use - just put in the 0.5mm pencil lead like those for mechanical pencil. No need to sharpen anymore!

I carried a big technical drawing board with a T-rule and a drum of technical drawing papers to school! You can never imagined how big that technical drawing board was then. Luckily, I don’t have to carry it for long, only for the first few lessons.

When I walked past my neighbour’s house, I saw this spade hanging on her plant.

I remember that was a spade made during my Metal Workshop in Secondary school technical class. Her son was also a Victorian years back! I didn’t know that the same spade design (only slight changes in design) was used over so many many years.

During my Secondary education from 1975 to 1978, the educational system was very much different from now. The aim then was probably to develop an educational system that will support and develop the country into a modern industrial nation. Thus in the 70s, we see the evolution of strong technical education component in our secondary education.

For the first 2 years (Sec.1 and 2) of secondary education, we were to study technical subjects outside school hours besides our normal academic subjects. As my secondary school - Victoria School, did not have such technical workshop facilities, we had to attend our technical training at a McNair Centralised Workshop at Towner Road (or McNair Rd). This was different from the then Vocational Institute education.

Below shows the McNair Centralised Workshop at the then Towner Road;

Photo Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS.

There were a number of such Centralised Workshops to cater to students from the normal academic secondary schools for district or area. Secondary schools then were divided into Morning Session (7.35am to 1.00pm) and Afternoon Session (1.05pm to 6.30pm), so those in the Morning Session will attend the workshop in the Afternoon (from 2.30pm to 6.00pm) and those in the Afternoon Session will attend workshop in the morning (8.00am to 11.30am).

At that time, I remember we were taught Woodworking, Metal Work and Electricity. The most unforgettable thing was the smelly dark blue apron we wore over our school uniform when we attended the workshop session.

Below shows the drawing of the Letter Rack we have to make during the Woodworking Workshop;

Credit : Unesco, Asian Centre of Educational Innovation for development, Bangkok. Ministry of Education, Singapore.

As Victoria School is a all boys school, so all of us have to attend the technical training. But I heard that those in the mixed school, all the boys and half of the girls population needed to attend the technical training; the other half of the girls population will attend Home Economics. Maybe later in the years, all will have to attend the technical training.

The purpose of technical education was to expose students in the lower secondary to practical workshop experiences in handling some basic tools and machineries. I appreciated such training as it makes us a more “DIY” person.

After Sec.2, we were streamed into Science, Technical (or Commerce in some schools) or Arts streams according to our grades and selection. I selected Technical stream to continue my Sec.3 and 4 education then. In Sec.3 and 4, we continued our Technical education at Balestier Hill Secondary Technical School (think now it’s known as just Balestier Hill Secondary School) instead of McNair. I hated the morning assembly at Balestier Hill Secondary Technical School, as their disciplinary master always picked on us students from VS, especially claiming that our hair is too long, etc….

Now my son in Sec.1 (same Victoria School) only have D&T (Design and Technology) as a subject in the first semester of the year! Finally the project has changed, and they are making a simple guitar;

The painting is done in the 2nd Semester of the year under the Art Lesson;

Personally I think without painting looks better hehe.

Though the subject title Design and Technology sounds very “great” but what they are learning are very basic. Here is their textbook;

For only half a year (1st semester only), how much can they learn?

If you make a trip to the Singapore Philatelic Museum, you can find the 1981 issue of Tehnical Training First Day Cover stamps;

Credit : Singapore Philatelic Museum.

When I compared my son’s textbook and notes, I think we were taught more in detail during our time compared to now. When I asked my son how can we divide a straight line into 5 equal parts using only a compass; he said he can only divide a straight line into equal even numbers by bisecting them but not odd numbers. Now, let me show you;

Below shows a typical 10years series of the G&M (Geometric and Mechanical) Drawing for Sec.4 students given to me by my friend, Annie Chin in Pre U 1 in VS then (there were girls in VS Pre U in the past);

Here is a sample of the 1975 Paper;

Oh no, how I miss my T-rule!