Reed in Asia - Asian diary - Asia10 A place we could call 'home' II

Reed in Asia

A place we could call 'home' II

We were still sitting in the house and talking about what we were going to do with it when suddenly there was a knock on the front door, I first thought that maybe the housing officer had returned, but when I opened the door there was a girl standing there smiling, then she held out her hand and said "Hello, my name is Pauline and I am your next door neighbour" we shook hands and I asked her in, once inside everyone introduced themselves and then we all sat down. Pauline then said "Would anyone like a cup of tea?" and we all answered together "Yes please!" so Pauline said "okay, I shall go and make a pot and I shall be back in about five minutes" and then left. Myra then said to me "our neighbour seems very nice and friendly and she sounds like she is from North West England too". Pauline returned about ten minutes later with a pot of tea, some cups, milk and sugar, I jumped up and gave her a hand, we placed it all on the coffee table and everyone helped themselves to a cup. Myra had lots of questions for Pauline, so I just let them talk and chatted a little with Singh and after a while he said to us all, "I think you had better do some shopping now and get in some essentials like tea and other general stuff that you are going to need" and added "Come on, I'll go and start the car", so we all got in the taxi, Pauline went too and she told Singh to take us to a place named 'Chip Bee'.

When we arrived there about ten minutes later, Pauline started showing us around, Chip Bee was a huge British Military housing estate in an area of Sigapore called Holland Village, about five miles away from where we now lived. There were lots of things there, shops, a pub, a club house, medical and admin. facilities, so after I had given Myra some money and the girls headed for the shops, Singh and I headed for the pub. The pub was quite pleasant inside but being a weekday, there weren't many people in there, so we just got a pint each, sat down and started talking about Chip Bee. Singh knew it very well and told me about everything that they had there, how many people liived there and which Scottish infantry regiment the majority of the people who lived there belonged to. After a while the door opened and in walked Myra and Pauline absolutely loaded with carrier bags, Myra placed her bags by the table and then said "I knew exactly where I would find you! I just asked Pauline where the nearest bar was" and we all started laughing. Myra then asked me to take care of the bags because she and Pauline were going to the medical centre and they both left again. I then started routing through the carrier bags and she had bought lots of things, food, toiletries, dishcloths, teatowels, washing powder, etc. "Everything but the kitchen sink!" I said to Singh and we both laughed again. This was all new to me, I had never lived with anyone before, so this was the start of a long learning curve.

Myra and Pauline arrived back at the pub about thirty minutes later and Myra told me that she had seen the doctor and explained about the illness that she had a couple of days before. The doctor had told her that she had had a mild case of sunstroke and that with her complexion she should really only go out in the sunshine for short periods of time and he had given her some mild medication to help her body recover properly again. I then said to her that the day that we went out in the sun it was overcast, so surely that can't be right, she replied to me that she had told the doctor the same thing and he had said that the clouds didn't filter all of the sun's rays so she should be more careful in the future. I then held up all of the carrier bags from the floor and jokingly asked Myra if she had bought enough, then I said to her "You got most of the essentials, but you forgot one of the most important things" she then said "What have I forgotten?" I could see that she was seriously trying to think of what it was, so I just held up my pint glass and said "BEER" at which, she punched me playfully in the stomach and everyone laughed again.

We eventually loaded up the taxi with the carrier bags and set off home again, Singh obligingly stopped for me to get some beer, so I got out and bought a case of Tiger beer and we set off again. Back at Preston road again, Myra and I were busy stocking the cupboards, refridgerator and pantry with the goods that we had bought, Singh had made himself a cup of tea and was just relaxing on the sofa and Pauline had gone to her house to get the meal ready for when her husband, John, came home from work. Singh finished his tea and Myra and I were still arranging things in the kitchen, then he walked in and said that he was leaving and that he would pick me up at 07:15 the following morning to go to work. I thanked him for everything that he had helped with that day and then he left and drove away.

Myra and I were finally alone in our first home together, so we sat down in our new living room/lounge and started making our plans for the future.

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