Public Holiday

Yesterday, my colleague reminded me that tomorrow would be the Good Friday public holiday.  Being a senior in the office, she told me that there used to be an Easter Monday public holiday in Singapore, eons ago.

Which I have a very vague memory of, when I was still in lower primary school, when life was easier and Singaporeans seemed to have more time to rest.  The weather was not as hot as it is these few years, and the whole family would either spend time at home watching TV programs (not repeated for the Nth time) or perhaps go out to the beach for some fishing.

Sigh, I really miss the beach.  My family used to do a lot of stuff there.  We picked at the sides of a breakwater for oysters, had natural 'fish spa' while wading the shallow waters at low tide.. no kidding, there really were tiny fishies that kept nibbling at us! 

We climbed down this little flight of stairs at the jetty and caught tiny live shrimp that we made into the most delicious omelette when we got home.  We made sandcastles that probably just looked like one heap of sand.. nothing like those sophisticated castles we can now create with sandcastle kits from Toys R Us.  

We collected seashells, and went home to compare who picked the prettiest one.

We had sweet white bread with otak-otak while waiting for fish to bite at our bait - fresh earthworms we dug from nearby with our spades.   


And I used to freak my sis out by twirling an earthworm around my finger like a ring.  

Now, if only we could convince the government to grant us another Public Holiday... ...