Look back to go forward

To Potong Pasir and Nee Soon, 45 km. I cycle with B to my old school and am astounded what they've done to it. Gone is the sandpit where I used to play marbles. The big foreboding banyan tree. And the rifle range. Gone, all gone. At first, I'm sad, even angry. Part of my past is gone for good. But then, what good is a sandpit? The students now have spanking new facilities that mean more to them. And that's part of changes in life. I lost something but in its place is something which others gain more from. And from a kid in shorts (hey, I still wear shorts - bikeshorts), I've grown taller and older. My past has shaped me, including having the brightest in school as classmates. Some of my dreams have been fulfilled, eg office high in the sky with a picture window and being somebody (sort of). Somebody who has more sense than to feed monkeys at Upper Pierce Reservoir, where we see a monkey on the road, with metres of crimson blood flowing out of its mouth. Another victim of a vicious driver. B and I chill out at a park beside a river, where I park my feet at a sandpit.