Outing with WF

Originally, the plan was that on Thursday evening, WY, WF and myself would stay over at CP's house till Saturday. The plan was changed, however, and it eventually turned out that I would have a 'free' day with WF alone.

So WF and I decided that we would go on an outing all by ourselves on Friday.

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Digression:

I was just sharing with my colleague the other day that it is rather weird that when I was a child, the usual mode of transport was the bus. To take the taxi was no good because it usually meant that someone was not feeling well. And for me, a ride in a car was very rare. In fact, until I got to Secondary school, I had never sat in the front passenger seat.

Contrast that with the boys' experience now - travelling by car is the 'norm'; where the car is not available, it will usually be a ride in a taxi. A bus ride or MRT train ride is only an occasional treat.

What a 180 degree change this is! All in one generation.

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The weather was not good on Friday morning. It rained. So WF and I took our time to get up from bed. We had a leisurely breakfast at home. After breakfast, WF asked to watch some TV programme on the Kids Central. Meanwhile, I finished some chores in the kitchen.

By 11am, the rain had subsided. So we had our showers and got changed. After WF practised his Yamaha songs on the piano, we set off on our outing. Our destination? Plaza Singapura!



WF was very happy that we were going to take a bus to go to the MRT station. When we reached the station, we proceeded to the platform to wait for the train. Since it was off-peak hour, the train took about 5 minutes to arrive. WF and I examined all the different signs stuck on the parapet walls of the platform and on the train doors and discussed what each of them meant. It is quite amazing how WF can rattle on and on about the various safety rules - yes, it is good that he has remembered all of these which I had pointed out to him on our previous trips.

When the train arrived, we literally hopped onto the centre carriage. The train was rather crowded at that time. This was no wonder since school is out for most of the kids. By the time we reached Dhoby Ghaut, it was almost 12:30pm. So we decided to grab a bite at McDonald before we started to shop.

The 1st stop we made was the TS video shop where we bought these:

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Then we proceeded to buy the Hello card for Mother from one of the small telecomm shops in the basement. At the shop, I also bought the crystal case for my new hp.

Our next stop was the Times bookshop. We were there for almost an hour. And I spent a bomb there (despite a 20% discount on all the purchases) on some 10+ paperbacks!

After that, WF and I went to the Customer Service Counter at the basement to redeem some promotional gifts:

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At the staff's invitation, WF signed up for the Arts & Craft session held at the atrium. He had to colour a small picture of a penguin character in Surf's Up and the people would make it into a clip-on button. It was so funny - WF finished colouring his picture quite quickly, but he felt that it was a little plain, so he added a car and a monster truck next to the penguin! Some other kids next to us added rainbows and stars to theirs too. So, kids nowdays are quite spontaneous. :)

By the time we collected the button, it was 4:30pm. WF wanted to wait for the on-stage Spongebob Square Pants show which was scheduled for 7:00pm. But how to wait for another 2.5 hours?! Eventually, I convinced WF that to avoid the after-work crowd, we should head back home. He agreed reluctantly.

As we walked towards the bus-stop, WF told me that he was a little hungry. And so we stopped by the Long John Silvers located next to the bus-stop, for its Classic Batter-Dipped fish meal. WF also ordered his Milo. After the Milo, fish and some of those sinful fried-flour crispies, we set off again. It is so much easier to travel with a kid with a satisfied stomach.

To WF's delight, the bus which we boarded was a double-decker bus! Oh, man! I had to contend with some struggling up the staircase - no, the one struggling was not WF but me! I had in one hand 2 bags of books weighing about 5+ kg; and I had to use my other hand to guide WF up the spiral steps. All these while trying to keepmy balance on the moving bus!

Finally, we managed to reach the front seat at the front on the upper deck. This is WF's favourite seat because it offers the bird's eye view of the road and traffic. (WY loves this seat, too.)

Surprisingly, although it was by then about 5:30pm and the roads were packed with vehicles, the bus ride did not take a long time. I think the bus-lane helped tremendously.

We were amongst the last passengers to alight from the bus. As WF walked ahead of me on the temporary metal-covers next to the KPE worksite towards the flats, WF cautioned:

WF: Mama, cannot step on the circle holes, OK?

Me: OK. You must be careful, too.

WF: Also cannot look down into the circle holes, correct?

Me: Yes, that would be dangerous, too.

WF: Mama, cannot jump, too, correct?

Me: Yes, correct.

WF: OK, you must walk carefully, OK?

Me: OK........

Soon, we reached the void deck where the childcare centre is. We both looked in as we passed by. I will always remember how the principal of this centre insisted that she 'had to' forfeit my deposit for reserving a place for WY when we gave up the vacancy because Mother objected to us placing WY in a childcare centre. The amount forfeited was almost $200.

It was TV time for the children. I think the TV set must have been placed at the window (out of our sight, actually). All the children were seated on the floor and staring towards the window where the afternoon sun was flooding in directly. And the curtains were not drawn at all. It must have been very glaring for their poor eyes. (Fortunately, I think the teachers at CH school do a better job than this.)

When we reached the playground, a handful of children were enjoying themselves. WF asked to stay to play for a while. And so we did. As I sat on a bench resting my arms from that 5+ kg load, these were my observations:

a) there were 2 distinct groups of children: the more 'cautious' kids and the dare-devil ones;

b) the dare-devil ones were very aggressive and disregarded general rules like queueing up to wait for your turn + no shoving others + no hogging the slide etc etc;

c) the more 'cautious' ones were better-behaved;

d) the adults who were waiting for the dare-devil ones did not care that their charges were less than well-behaved at the playground;

e) on the other hand, the adults accompanying the more 'cautious' ones would shout every now and then from their seats things like: "Be careful, don't fall!" + "Watch out, don't bang into others!" + "小心，别撞到别人！" + "等一下！有人！" etc.

It was quite interesting observing how people behaved at the playground. And try as I might, I cannot help but notice that the 2 distinct groups of children are of different races. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am colour-blind no more.

There was also this man who brought his dog to the playground. Unleashed. I did not like that. I believe another mother who brought her toddler daughters to the playground also did not like that, especially when her younger daughter lost her balance trying to get away from the dog which came close to her! Some pet owners somehow just cannot understand that not everyone shares their passion for their pets.

After about half hour, WF and I went back home. In the lift, WF told me, "Mama, I am so sweaty. I need to shower soon." I added, "Yes, and shower well, too!"