The essential software of neighbourhood shops

This neighbourhood shop is rather big and has bright and neat window display. Well and good. Some may not have such orderly display, but that's ok too, because the service inside is usually warm and friendly. What's important for neighbourhood shops is their software.

SOME time ago, Bharati Jadish and Keith de Souza (Talkback on radio) were getting opinions from the public on how neighbourhood shops can be improved to attract more traffic. Government has given these shops funding. Which is a good thing.

Some said window displays can be improved. Some said the goods can be better packaged. And one said there should be more promotional campaigns by these shops.

We heartlanders go to neighbourhood shops, sometimes in our pyjamas, for practical reasons -- and for a touch of warmth. So, they don't have to look like a mini Cold Storage or mini NTUC Fairprice or even a mini Seven-Eleven.

The charm of neighbourhood shops lies in their haphazard window display -- a hodgepodge of items not arranged aesthetically nor even neatly. And stepping on the tail of the shop's resident cat is all part of the happy experience  (maybe not for the cat) of shopping at a neighbourhood shop.

The wares they stock are not exactly brand names unless you count Ayam brand or Mei Ling. So I don't really care how glam their window displays are.

What do I usually get from these shops -- heavy or unwieldy stuffs like toilet rolls, washing liquids (giant sized), mops and brooms, pails, bottles of various sauces including my favourite Bull Dog brand vinegar for making trotters. You don't want to be carrying these around town while doing your shopping.

I do buy smaller things from these shops too, like Brands essence of chicken, tissue paper -- and canned drinks (which are much cheaper than those sold at coffee shops). DIY items are fantastic. A provision shop near my place also sells sliced fruits and freshly squeezed juice, so that's great. They even sell pet food. If you browse around, some actually stock a whole lot of things like needles and thread, rubber bands, raffia, face powder, hair sprays, colognes, baby powder, Panadol... the list goes on.

I know in some neighbourhoods, there are furniture shops too. That's excellent because I can lug a stool, a foldable mattress, or even a shoe rack home without having to take a cab.

These shops deserve whatever funding they can get -- and I think some of the money can go into maintaining the personal service they have been providing so well. Hopefully, this would include maintaining the health and welfare of the proprietor too -- the smiley old man sitting outside on a crate -- so that he will be around for a long time. He is so much a part of the shop and he is the best window display I can think of -- and the best promo the shop can get.

It would be a sad day if these shops are ousted out because of rising rents. They are important to our lives.

77 years of grandeur and still counting

Tranquility reigns on the top level, with a great view to boot.

Clean lines and elegance.

Concrete blocks and airy awning, a pleasant contrast.

This building has been around 77 years and two Fridays ago, it was the first time I entered it. It is of course, the National Gallery now.

You won't regret spending a long afternoon at the Gallery. So many things to see, so many cafes and makan places... Many quiet nooks with nice seats and books which you can browse.

Both adults and kids can have fun painting (digitally) and then have your finished works projected and animated on the wall. I found that immensely fun.

A national monument, the place used to be the Supreme Court  -- and the building was as stately as its name sounded. 

Now, the stateliness has taken on an overtone of breeziness and modern chic while retaining its old elegance. So cool. 

View from one of the many splendid windows on the ground floor.

A rehearsal in progress. Don't you love the red grand piano?

The shrine that travels from Zheng Hua to Jurong

The Jin Fu Gong is vast, with two huge courts for sports.

So thrilled to see a live chicken, even
though it's in a cage and not roaming
around in a kampung.

The chicken in the cage reminded me so much of the wet markets of my childhood. I have not seen a live chicken for a very long time. 

I wonder what a lone chicken is doing here in this temple called the Jin Fu Gong (Jurong West). For the next offering, I guess. 

Anyway, this temple had its origins in a shrine that was rather far away from the temple's current premises -- at Zheng Hua Village (Bukit Panjang). 

In the 1960s, residents of this village found a statue of Tua Pek Kong and a shrine was erected round it, known as Kim Hock Keng (Jin Fu Gong) -- Golden Luck Temple. It was known for its well -- people drinking its water were said to be cured of their cough. With development in the 1990s, the temple was re-sited in Jurong West.

In looking up the temple's origins, I came across this blog which described Zheng Hua Village so well, with such interesting anecdotes and lots of old pictures: Diary of a Singaporean Cabby. The author also described the wet market there -- which made me think of the chicken I saw at the temple.

Today, the Jin Fu Gong's main deity is still Tua Pek Kong. Other deities there include Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin), God of War (Guan Di), Goddess of the Sea (Mazu), Tiger God and Datuk Kong. 

Jin Fu Gong was originally a Tua Pek Kong shrine in Zheng Hua Village (Bukit Panjang).

Several "dragon" pillars offer firm support for the temple. 

Wall reliefs that tell of tales from The Three Kingdoms and more. 

Signboard at the temple appealing for donation to erect a new eco-friendly burner.

A lovely carp pond also graces the temple's compound. 

Hooked on a little shop of wonders

Some useful hooks and stuff which I got from a provision shop in Jurong West.

Big glass jars with metal lids containing all sorts
of biscuits. You can still find them today
at some provision shops.

I can spend hours in a provision shop, pouring over their goods and visualising what I can do with some of them. The bigger shops combine hardware with sundry goods -- which is great. So you wander around the shop, from Brands essence of chicken, dish washing liquids to pots and pans and then to one of my favourites -- various kinds of hooks for hanging various things. These days, there are hooks and hooks.

But thank goodness, provision shops don't try too hard to keep up with the times. They play songs you can tap your feet to -- like Sukiyaki -- though most of them have cash counters and even Nets service.

But I know of at least one which still uses a rusty can and pulley, operating in the heart of a HDB estate. The boss insists that this relic be used instead of the cash register. Probably in his late 70s, he has a full crop of white hair. Hale and hearty, you can see him almost every day, fanning himself and seated on a wooden crate while his two daughters managed the shop. His wife occasionally emerged to help out.

Did you catch "The Provision Shop" on channel 8 last Sunday? I think the idea is great -- with the provision shop and the characters reflecting a rapidly changing Singapore. Indeed, the provision shop is one of the last icons in retail (and service) with the "personal touch". (I once borrowed a ladder from them.)

The telemovie's centrepiece (for me) was the honest look into the relationship between a Singaporean and a foreign worker -- and the rapport and understanding that came too late.

Overall though, I think the storyline is a little contrived and doesn't capture my attention as much as the interviews given by Royston Tan. He is a great storyteller and very captivating -- like when he talked about his childhood at his family's provision shop in Lorong Chuan -- and when he talked about his philosophy in film making. I love the props (some he had saved from those days) -- tikum-tikum, packets of snacks (are they still edible?), etc.

Wonder if he kept some of those tubes of gel that came with a small straw? You press the gel (which came in many wonderful colours) into a ball shape at one end of the straw. You blow from the other end and voila, the gel grows into a balloon. (Alas, to the disappointment of many kids, the balloons being transparent were not as colourful as the gel.)

Perhaps I'll find them at Rosyth Road, the provision shop where the filming took place.