Punggol Settlement Run

Run baby run. Occasionally, I'll take a drive to take a run. I like driving through the old Punggol road that leads to Punggol End that is now called Punggol Settlement.

The dense foliage of old allowed only intermittent sunlight to pass through but not it is little balding with age.

Was happy to get a car park and a tortoise greeted us.

It was hot and humid and it makes us want to get into the water.

But the tortoises were getting out of it.

Is it warmer in there?

An outdoor run is always better. Saw a Wan Hai Lines container vessel that was steaming pass.

As you run the landscape is changing. The sun, the skyline and ...

...the sea.

You can focus on the things nearby.

Or let the mind wander further in the distance.

Or of fallen trees and fallen dreams.

Or peek into a lone man fishing with just a brolly and a rod.

I don't know about you but wherever I go, my senses always work overtime. Like feelers of insects picking up the sights, the noise and the smell. As I plod along, pictures, words, memories and songs fill my mind. There will be a bit of indulgence in time travel too like how things were before when it was just simple humble Punggol End. Not sure if it's a kind of disease or just me. Can you feel it? The life.

I would remember the songs not just of my time when I was a youth like it was just yesterday but also the songs when I was just a child. When I saw this and took a pix, I started thinking and humming... "why does the sea rush to shore"?

And then the song flowed: "don't they know, its the end of the world..."

I have completed my run so boon or bane but with the aid of technology, I searched and played the song on my mobile phone:

Here is Skeeter Davis with The End OF The World released in 1962: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonLd-32ns4

"I wake up in the morning and I wonder, why every thing's the same as it was...I can't understand how life goes on the way it does...why does my heart go on beating? Why do these eyes of mine cry? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71zCm1ugVXc

This song has a haunting melody with the most befitting voice of Skeeter Davis. 

Inspired by the song, I feel that we must realise that in life, when we ask the right questions of ourselves, we will find the answers or at least find the paths that will lead us to the answers. 

Which path shall it be? Will it be long and winding? Let me know the way. You'll never know the many ways I've tried.

(Beatles - Long and Winding Road): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqu9qhBHWNs

The smooth one, through waters or the one filled with gravel? 

What if it were the gravelled path? Fear not. 

It is not the mountain ahead that wears you out. It is the pebble in your shoe. 

No need to remove the mountain. Just remove the pebble. Walk on.

With my heart still pounding, lungs bursting and and beads of perspiration trickling down, I have returned to the jetty where above it they have now built a huge platform. A good place to catch the rising or setting sun.

As I warmed down, I walked to the good old jetty coming back to the time when we were youths and were fishing with friends. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 

Alas! Those were the days. Seasons in the sun. Here is Terry Jacks in 1974 with Seasons In The Sun (Another one of my favourite childhood songs):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_Fdly3rX8

If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing I'd like to do is to save everyday. I'd save everyday like a treasure and then again I would spend them with you. But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do ....

If I had a box just for wishes and dreams that had never come true, the box would be empty, except for the memory...

Jim Croce put time in a bottle in 1973. We are fighting a losing battle with time but I got a name. 

(Jim Croce - I Got A Name):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcqauC49Xmc

I've got a name and I'll carry it with me like my daddy did. Moving ahead so life won't pass me by. I've got a song and I sing it loud. If it gets me nowhere I go there proud and I go there free. I've got a dream. They can change their minds but they can't change me. I can share it if you want me to. If you're going my way, I'll go with you. I got a name.

Before I went off, I was walking back  and decided to play The End of the World once again on my mobile and when it came to the chorus "don't they know its the end of the world" a wedding couple and their entourage walked past. I quickly lower the volume and paused it.

When I got past them, I started playing again and began walking to my car. I was almost at the car when the chorus came. Suddenly the same couple walked by again. Were they disturbing my song or were they thinking I was trying to be funny. Well, it is not the end of the world. I am happily married with children of my own. Haha. Chill.

After feeding the mind and soul, I got to feed the tummy. I found a coffee shop stall that has a good bee hoon mee and in particular the lovely french beans, one of the most awesome vegetables.

I met a group of guys behind the exercise stations aged perhaps from their 20s to their 60s. They were doing incredible stuffs with the chin up bars. 

This one on the left is probably in his 60s. I believe they have been featured in the newspapers.

I love running at the park, even better along a river and now most definitely by the sea. Tomorrow going you know?