mountains and fountains
ah yes my unwitting audience, you are, once again, the lucky recipient of a random rant from Matt. See, I have lots of time on my hands, so I'm trying to practise my writing--and of course all writers need an audience. Since I have no one to recite bad poetry to here, and since they'd probably lock me up if I tried, I have volunteered all of you, as usual, to listen to me talk about nothing and everything. Since there is so little to do in Singapore, since I don't shop and can only eat so much, there is lots of writing to be done.
this morning, after the sunday morning tai chi practice with students I headed over to Chinatown for a quick look around. The first place I went was a small park called Pearl Hill. This little green space, no bigger than summit hill park in Victoria, for those of you familiar with it (not a large park I assure you). What I found interesting about this park is that it's not considered a city park. No, this was a national park. I had to laugh a little at that, because I guess, being from Canada, I have a slightly different view of "National Parks," masses of sprawling land with little or no (we should hope, though I imagine it's more theoretical than real) human influence. This was a well manicured park, all lawn and fountain, paved paths and a reservoir at the top. Pearl Hill is a national park. Thinking about it now it makes me a little sad. This is considered by many here a getaway from the city--peace and quiet in Singapore. Now, I guess this is a priviliged position, but I only think of a get away as actually getting away from buildings, roads, traffic, the smell of gas and the roar of the city. It's kind of scary that as we develop our cities, as they sprawl out, we lose track of what it is they're replacing. Once again I see, in Singapore, a potential future for Canada as well--a sense of nature as a manicured, well-behaved patch of green. I hope not though.