Saturday, 6 December 2014

Jalan Wijaya and Google Earth


Firstly, sorry for not blogging for a long time but I've been busy writing books, many of which can be found at : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-Tait/e/B0034NQ5E0
I love Google Earth but when I've tried to look at our old house at 103 Jalan Wijaya, Century Gardens (Taman Abad), Johore Bahru, all I've been able to see is an aerial shot and it's been hard to make anything out.
However, it seems that Google Earth has recently introduced street view and it's been amazing to not only see our old house (it looks so small now) but also to travel along the streets and see how the area has changed over the years. It's certainly a lot more built up with houses and tall rise buildings in the distance. The jungle of the 1960s has long since gone but it's still easy to recognise many of the places I visited as a boy. Across the road is Mr

Lee's house (he'll be long gone now) and travelling along the road takes me to the shops where we got our groceries and where there was an insurance man with a pet monkey. Jalan Dato Sulaiman (where the shops were) was once a quiet road but is now very busy and built up. At the bottom, was 'Flip Flop Hill' where the bus would brake down and everyone would jump out (or off the sides) and give it a push. It was called Flip Flop Hill by the

British residents because it ran by the old rubber factory. The factory and Flip Flop Hill are now also long gone and it's hard to tell where it was nowadays.
I don't suppose I'll ever travel all the way to Singapore and Malaya again so, I suppose, Google Earth is the next best thing!

Monday, 31 March 2014

Christmas at Robinsons


Here's a lovely photo that was kindly sent to me by Helga Ford showing her younger daughter at Robinsons in Singapore in the early 1960s. I'm sure we all remember visiting Santa when we were kids. I particularly remember the ones at the Naval Base and the parties and the presents we got. My present was a wonky camera that fell apart when I got home. Seems such a long time ago now.
(Sorry, photo temporarily mislaid but here's another showing Robinsons at Christmas).