Memories of Redhill in Singapore

Redhill Market & Food Centre

12507435_10153537072188432_3377003991340466153_n

The Chinese New Year of the zodiac animal Monkey in 2016 with traditional decorative items of the Monkey God are displayed at this stall in Redhill.

12523048_10153537072243432_1870265304530662144_n

12573865_10153537072158432_3009341218726679637_n

The God of Wealth is prevailing every Chinese New Year to bring luck and prosperity to everyone.

1623675_10153537072108432_2416109442432289136_n

Chinese New Year falls on Monday, February 8 2016 and the shopping for this traditional festival for Chinese Singaporeans is in full swing everywhere in Singapore, including the heartlands at Redhill. In the past, the Chinese New Year goodies were only found in Chinatown.

Redhill Then and Now

Redhill is a place in Singapore; the engraved memories of my adulthood life in the 1980s when my family and I moved from the Jalan Bukit Ho Swee “emergency flat” to a 3-room flat at Jalan Rumah Tinggi, near Hoy Fatt Road.

Many events in my life happened at Jalan Rumah Tinggi in my early twenties.

Both my parents passed on due to old age and I became an orphan.

It was a new experience to me and many lessons and experiences to learn about life to be independent and earn a livelihood. I was a “newbie” in every stage of my life and would still be a “newbie” for as long as a “visitor” in a borrowed world and borrowed times.

Lessons acquired from the last life have to be re-learned, unlike the life of a flat worm.

Fortunately, I have many friends, colleagues and family and a blessings to be grateful.

It reminds me the century-old writer and sage, William Shakespeare on this topic.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwilling to school.

And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’eyebrow.

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.

And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childhishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I shall not dwell too much on this off-topic blog to bore my heritage friends.

Searching from Wikipedia, I found that there is more than one place named Redhill in the world. This is an interesting geography knowledge for students.

Redhill, South Australia
Redhill, Nottinghamshire, England
Redhill, Shropshire, England
Redhill, Somerset, England
Redhill, Surrey, England
Redhill, Worcestor, England

Redhill in Singapore should be Red Hill, as the earth is red.

More interesting information from RemSG blog to share with thanks.

Redhill Food Centre

12509428_10153537072948432_8023037071546768497_n

12509033_10153537072688432_5870792573361018555_n

3592_10153537072608432_5434486350045033321_n

12552601_10153537072488432_8058164439923429020_n

941030_10153537072423432_6222636653625014265_n

12592322_10153537072303432_7554389415651089919_n

12523201_10153537072278432_7717465599268781016_n

Redhill Housing Estate

The archived photos of Redhill are curated from the National Archives of Singapore with thanks and acknowledgement.

Balloting of HDB flats (below) and the children at the Redhill HDB Estates playground (above).

img0006-4

An open-air dinner held at the Redhill carpark for temple devotees in 1970.

Redhill Kampong

This candy (ding ding tang) vendor with tray of candy balanced on his head. He holds a cutter in his left hand which he raps with a stick in his right hand to attract the young customers in Redhill. I knew him when I was a child in Bukit Ho Swee and enjoyed his candy and cheerful Hakka songs. Great childhood memories for those who met him decades ago.