Tiles and durian

I have been unable to do this blog mainly because we were out for dinner 5 nights in a row. And also there was the third Choral Festival to go to and a concert by the PESSOC orchestra. A few days’s rest and I am back at the job.

The photo above is of a section of the hall of the late Soon Eng Hooi’s house in Aboo Sittee Lane, built in the later 1920s. I was delighted to see the same tiles along the five foot way of the shophouses along Moulmein Road built in the 20s in Pulau Tikus.

I was photographing the same tiles at Armenian Street which enabled me to establish that houses along the same street were tiled in the same period to bring them “up to date” and get rid of their terra cotta red when Beng commented that they were tiles from Morocco. When I told him they were Italian he could not tell the source of his information.

Beng is a former businessman who was once locked in his flat by thugs hired by lawyers acting for a buyer who had bought the property from a bank which had foreclosed when Beng failed to pay his instalments. The purchase price was lower without vacant possession and it was cheaper to hire thugs to get the man out. Luckily Ben phoned a friend who got him out and took care to photograph the lock and other things that locked Beng in. They made a police report and are now suing the lawyers for damages.

Beng has made friends with the two lively children of the Serb who runs a pub. He is married to a local. We dropped in for a drink one night when he told us he had a million jazz songs in his computer. That was the night that Beng and the kids were outisde on the five foot way, caring for two baby sparrows that had fallen from their nest.

Sylvia has opened a home for old lonely people to play mahjong and otherwise pass the time. She is a Catholic and has come back from Taiwan where she spent one year learning to speak Mandarin. I suggested lessons in painting and clay working,

One day, along Tanjong Bungah, I looked into a humble eating place to see what food was being offered. To my surprise the man called me by by name. He turned out to be Tat Thong’s hill estate caretaker’s son who reminded me that he was always there when we went up to the rubber estate Sundays for whisky and lunch. He turned to be a jovial fellow, introduced us to his wife and daughter. Food turned out to be good.

Had one piece of buttered bread and 4 durians for dinner one night - excellent stuff. When KH said I was nuts I reminded her that in Trengganu they have durian in curry eaten with rice.