This phrase 'Once Upon A Time' which is most popular in fairy tale stories, is something which we've learned and heard when we are a young child, be it from story books or stories told by our elders.
Being such, how many do give it a thought of implying the phrase to our real life???? I believe that each of us have our story to tell - fond memories which will forever lingers in our minds and hearts. I am sharing some of my own "Once Upon A Time' down memory lane stories with all my dear friends out there..........
"Once upon a time, roughly forty-seven years ago, when I was just a little girl of four years old, our family was staying in a farm house, built solely by my late father and assisted by my mum, situated at 13 1/2 miles, Kuching/Simanggang Road. As my late father was busy with his shift work at the 7th Mile Mental Hospital as a Hospital Assistant which is commonly known as 'Dresser' at that time, my mum was seen busy attending to our daily needs as well as her endless chores - carrying of water from the stream nearby for both washing and household consumption; cutting of some kinds of plants nearby and cooking it for feeding the herd of pigs which was reared by my parents; planting of several varieties of vegetables for own consumption and many other chores which at the present era is being made easier through modern technologies such as washing machines, refrigerators, water and electricity supply direct to the comfort of our home, etc....etc......
One very fearful incident which I can still recall was the sudden arrival of a big group of European (Angmo) soldiers with big tankers in the middle of the night while we were sound asleep. We were awaken by the loud sounds of the tankers, which also broke the gravel bridge which my dad built that leads to our house and the knocking of our door informing us of their intention of using our land as their base station for their soldiers. I remember my parent's advice to us siblings "don't make too much noise", so, most of the time we tried to be as quiet as possible. What I can recall during these short period of time are : sirens for the curfews; canned foods given to us by the 'Angmo' soldiers, which are deliciously nice (as we've only tasted our local canned foods); the huge tankers which goes in and out of our compound and the soldiers in uniforms!
From our farm house, we then moved to Nanas Road West, the residence of my grandparents. It's a big wooden house with a big huge stairs going up to our sitting room, and with a big wooden door to close up the stairs in the night time - the type of stairs with doors which we couldn't find it in today's modern houses. Another smaller stairs is leading from our back door direct to our kitchen, which is situated on the ground floor.
Surrounding our house are plants, flowers, fruit trees, rubber trees, durian trees and some other huge big old trees - it is as if we are living in the middle of a small jungle! Something interesting to remind me of those good, old, young days are: me and my siblings used to play 'Hide and Seek'; marbles (goolees); skipping ropes; catching small fishes in the drain; cooking using earth, plants, water and even light real fire, which at one time the fire gets out of control; climbing of fruit tress to pluck its fruits and off course not forgetting enjoyed cycling through roots of trees - this is when we all learn to cycle. Recalling those moments, we are like dwarfs (as we are short and small, as kids) paddling the big bicycles for the man (with a metal across) and mind you, the wheels are without tyres, but bare - only the metal wheel frame. These are the very old bicycles of my grandfather, father and uncles.
Some black and white photos, which have slightly turned yellow, taken during Christmas to share.......
to be continued.......
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