My First HDB Flat (By Jerry Lee)
My First HDB Flat (By Jerry Lee)
Contributed by Jerry Lee
Above: Photo of me outside my flat at Macpherson Estate
The first three years of my life were spent in a rented house in Lorong 23 Geylang. This was opposite the now Geylang Methodist Chinese Church. I had no memories of myself before 3 years of age.
I only have memories of having lived in a rental flat at Block 15, Merpati Road. It was an unit with an auspicious Number 88G. I shared this 2-rooms flat with my 2 sisters, my aunt, grandmother, my mom and dad. All of us squeezed into it. We slept on mat placed on floors.
My playmate was a boy named Seah Chiu Meng from a Teochew family lived a few units away. The most memorable moment of my childhood was seeing a baby prawn swimming in a plastic bag. A fishmonger at the wet market gave the prawn to me.
My family had a black and white TV and our neighbours would stand outside our unit windows to peer it to enjoy the TV programmes. My father would drive a van on Sunday to bring neighbourhood children to the Sunday School at our church ,Geylang Gospel Hall , at Lorong 29. It is now known as Bethesda Chapel at Kembangan.
From there, my family then moved to live in a terrace house in Kampong Ubi for 2 years when I was in Primary 3 and 4.Later on, my father was successful in the ballot for a flat in Macpherson Estate. This was Block 85 in Circuit Rd. The unit number was 1009B. The flat is still in existence, overlooking the PIE Expressway.
Above: Photo of the flat at Macpherson Estate just after completion.
We bought 3-rooms flat for 7,800 dollars in 1969. Back then, there was no Pan Island Expressway. The flat oversaw the Geylang Kampong in front of it. I went on to attend Mattar East Integrated School for Primary 5 and 6. My classmates were the Hokkien Speaking Boys in the neighbourhood. I was posted to the worst class as there were no places for new students in the best class. I caught fishes in the ponds at Geylang with my classmates. This included Gouramis and other freshwater fishes.
In 1972, I was posted to Raffles Institution. Surprisingly, even in such a school, I was fifth place in the standard. But the top student, a girl who was posted to Tanjong Katong Girls School where she received the Lee Kuan Yew Book prize for Bilingualism in Secondary 4.
The teachers in Mattar East Integrated School were outstanding. There was a Mrs Sundraraji, my Primary 5 teacher, who would hit the knuckles of the boys and girls that failed the spelling test. Instead of hating her, they were grateful to her for making them less lazy.
Our History Teacher, Miss Wong was also outstanding. She was such a good storyteller. She told us excerpts from the Dracula Movies that she had seen. Mr Heng Wah Tong, Miss Lim and her boyfriend also brought us for swimming lessons. I took part in the Interschool 50m Freestyle Event.in Primary 6. Since I only have just started learning to swim in Primary 6, I did not win.
In 1994, I found I could get walk in flats cheaply at Pasir Ris Housing Estate and my father eventually sold his flat for 38000 dollars. The Circuit Rd flat is still in existence. Although it is already 53 years old, yet it is priced around 250 000 dollars. Singapore properties have indeed appreciated in price.
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