They were having a sale and we wanted to browse - I specifically wanted to buy a poster : 'Palmer Tyres', which I saw the other day but hesitated, did not buy it and hence regretted till last Saturday. Thankfully it was still there so I scored a lovely vintage poster, which is in a beautiful glass frame as well. It is now sitting on my floor behind the door until I prop it up on my dresser.
The Boyfriend also bought a fan. A fan, those standing on the floor, looking like a vertical aircon - gray fan. It has a remote control too, I am fascinated by that fact. Because there was a 30% sale, he scored it for $21? Incredible. There were old drawers that we both loved, something that could sit well on the bedside, or as a phone-table. A low table with two drawers, made of good, dark brown wood for $100. After the sale, it's $70! And you can hardly buy good wood, or a good drawer, for that price. Sigh. If we had our own house right now I would buy it in a blink of an eye, and spend the next weekend sandpapering and painting it up.
My poster is mounted in a lovely dappled glass frame, and I bought a old-school 'Green Spot' glass cup they used for those old-school kopi tiams as well ($1!) Total amounting to $13.30 after discount, I think it was a pretty worthwhile trip. The last, I bought two books for... $3. One was Elisabeth Elliot's 'Passion and Purity', and I can't find that book in any bookstores, so to me, that is priceless. The other is a travel book which is a good read and I will sell it away during my end of the year book-sale... so that someone else can enjoy it.
We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going to visit another Salvation Army Thrift store again this weekend!
On Sunday, we went to the olden Seletar Airport black-and-white. Lovely, lovely place, just enjoyed the slow drive - it was a rainy day, a slow cosy drive up the roads of people's houses, some terraced black-and-white old colonial houses, the others, bungalows, and even huge-ass ones which we wondered who would rent. Some of them are eventually torn down for the Seletar Aerospace hub, which we can see signs of being constructed. I think it really spoils the beauty of the area. For now, it still remains a tranquil, serene place with sounds of nature. I spotted 2 chickens roaming in a backyard, and lots of flora and fauna blooming in the people's yards. Who owns these places? I wondered aloud. We googled it later and found the past rent from the 90s to current times to be about $1.2k, which is quite affordable for your own piece of grass and backyard, but recently the rent trebled, leaving lots of these places empty. It is no longer affordable to us, and the main reason why people want to stay in such an off-the-road place is also because they want it quiet and peaceful. So, the building of the Aerospace centre there would give it a industrial, horrid feel with machinery sounds and all. While I know that advancement ultimately leads to the destruction of our natural habitat for tall, new buildings, I always feel sad when the last open places around my estate become some eaten up by the good of our economy. If only, we can have it all - the beauty of the old school places, and the revenue from our award winning industries. But we can't and I guess the ones with the least monetary value has to go. So now it seems we have to place a premium - PAY a premium for the things we desire to have. But if we were truly rich and able to afford all these, would we still want it, or would we have other 'higher' desires such as a 7-million condo in Balmoral? I have no answers for that, but I find it increasingly difficult to live within our means, here.
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