Happy Birthday Singapore!

I am not the most patriotic person but once a year, you cannot help but be patriotic. It just happens and you have no control over that. Growing up, I remember hiding the national flag when it was close to National Day so that my younger brother would not be able to find it to put it up. Why did I do it? I have no idea. Now that I am older, I don't hide the flag anymore. To think about it, I don't think we even have a flag in the house actually *thinks*. Some weeks back, I was surprised to see a national flag flapping in the wind outside my flat. Thought it was probably the neighbour who put it up. But one evening, on my way back home, I happened to look up and saw a whole row of flags at my block. It seems that the RC people put up the flags this year. Guess they gave up trying to get the residents to put up the flags and went ahead and put it up for us.

We've gone through alot as a country and sometimes we do take things that we have here for granted. It's only when we are away from home that we miss what we have. When I travel, I think that's when I miss Singapore the most. I would miss the food that we have here - from the humble prata at Bencoolen to the array of delicious dishes to choose from at Hajjah Maimunah (at Jalan Pisang). Oh yes, the heavenly desserts that we have - my favourite being goreng pisang! Yummy!!! I would miss the fact that I can shop in the evening after work and not worry that the shops will closed at 4pm! I would miss calling the taxi driver 'uncle' even though he is not a relative! I would miss punctuating my sentences with 'lah' and 'lor' and have the other person understand what I am saying perfectly. I would miss watching Phua Chu Kang on telly. And I guess I would even miss some of the irritating things that some Singaporeans do that make us 'Uniquely Singapore' *grins*

Anyways, here's to more good years for us here in Singapore. To every Singaporean out there, 'Happy National Day'!