Basket.

I returned to Ghim Moh today for breakfast; of the lor mee that sustained me all throughout A-Levels. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the time to go have a look at our old, decaying stomping ground, presently the site of Dunman High, reason being that I had to hurry home to catch Winston's TV debut as a curry puff salesman. Honestly the rest of the show was crap though.

Ghim Moh market and food centre has changed little. Same worn red tiles, same friendly hubbub, same eclectic mix of cagey elderly, blinkered policemen and loudly-Hokkien stallholders. But most importantly - same excellent selection of wonderful food. I spent mornings there as a primary schoolkid, and much later afternoons as a JC student, and the food never changed all the way. It still hasn't. My family has patronised this lor mee stall for close to a decade and another particular prawn mee stall for more than one - and there is no reason to stop because they still know exactly how to dish out delightfully fulfilling meals.

Ghim Moh is a place of many memories for me. Much of our family groceries come from there, so I've been going there for years now. It was a good way, as a child, to spend a Sunday morning, until sleeping-in and cable internet beckoned, years down the road. It was an even better way, as a student, to spend weekday afternoons, killing time either before History S or simply unwinding after a long, hard day. Or sometimes, if we felt like something more appealing for lunch. Those afternoons were always filled with jokes, horsing around and plenty of laughter: the stuff of unforgettable memories. After which we could still adjourn to McDonalds' and get 25-cent ice cream cones, enjoying air-conditioned comfort while still spinning yarns.

Later on, when I was supposed to be studying for A-Levels, the McDonalds' became yet another refuge, as I whiled away long afternoons at chess there. Unfortunately, the place did not long survive our departure, for whatever reason. It is gone now, only existing in the memories of so many thousands of students that spent so many memorable moments within its premises.

I really miss those days.