Our Bedok Kampong House Singapore

Interestingly, when we did our housekeeping of our late father’s belongings, we found among the many photos not just those of his and of his own family’s but also photos that he kept that once belonged to his father and older sister that were given by friends. Especially wedding portrait photos. We are indeed blessed to see one from each decade before the 60’s or precisely 1934, 1940 and 1952. Observing the wedding gowns and suits of the bride and groom in themselves was a marvel! We do not personally know these couples and would be glad to connect with anyone who know them as your relatives or ancestors. But so glad we found them! Several of these are already on their way to be archived by the National Library Board Singapore to whom we are grateful.

Every once in a while, the family would make a trip to visit our maternal second aunt and her family at Jalan Khairuddin at Opera Estate, Singapore. What was interesting about that house was the music selection our cousin enjoyed, and played while we were there. While we (already 12 and 10 years old at this time) had been exposed to music that our father played at our Bedok kampong house with his LPs (33 1/3 rpm) and EPs (45rpm) vinyls, we heard different kinds of songs from her. Bread, America, Sergio Mendes, Carole King – unfamiliar sounds to us at that time.  But on this day in 1973 it was to celebrate our cousin’s 21 st birthday. To us boys it was a loud party! She and her friends were dancing in the living hall which had its main light turned off with some psychedelic lights to create the atmosphere. No rock’n’roll by now and we distinctly heard them play “I Feel The Earth Move” (1971) by Carole King and “Smoke On The Water” (1972) by Deep Purple! But after the party was over...