It is a quiet night; peaceful. The pale yellow lights of each house shimmer in the dark blue sky, a guard against darkness and the fears that lie within it. Serenity is a still street of evening, patterened against the threads of dusk.

But in the day, the bustling, busy day, it is a different story altogether. Fortunes made, wealth lost, hearts disappearing beneath the rubble. Buildings torn down, remade. Places I scarcely recognise anymore even though I was there barely a month ago; would not have recognised except for the signboards that still bore the same names.

And so, tired of drowning in the enlarging maze of buildings renamed and foundations lost, I captured some photos, brief snapshots, to set down in writing, that I would not forget them the moment they were devoured, through need, necessity and (un)necessary evils.

SNAPSHOT #1:
THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AT STAMFORD ROAD.

For someone to whom Singapore has little hold over, the National Library was a place full of memories for me.

I remember falling in love with it because it was one of the first red brick buildings that I had seen in Singapore (fewer now, with this old stalwart gone), and it had reminded me of England, where red brick buildings were many and plenty. I remember seeing it from a distance as we walked up to it, my mother and I, standing solidly before me, like a good-natured, jovial giant. I went there often in the brief periods when I came back to Singapore for my holidays, running to the children's section and borrowing books.

I remember the huge plastic tree that stood in the middle of the room, with a knobbly tree trunk just like the real thing growing outside.

I remember the quiet that would descend upon my ears as we entered the cool, air-conditioned library, as the sounds of the cars running their marathons on the main road just outside receded into the distance.

I remember the S11 hawker centre that was set up nearby, with its huge green parasols and pigeons and crows, serving passable if expensive fare to hungry library visitors. I remember always eating the fishball noodles because I refused to try anything else. I remember gulping down hot tea with my mother after an afternoon in the cool recesses of the Library.

To me, back then, there was only one Library, and it stood out in my mind as the only library in Singapore that seemed good enough to earn a capital L.

But the LTA has replaced it with a huge wind tunnel, as I like to call it. It does not seem to do anyone any good except perhaps shave five minutes off your journey.

The Library held a lfetime of memories for some, and was the start of many memories for others. It was a homely little place of letters and has been overtaken by the need for speed and the modern age.

SNAPSHOT #2:
THE MPH FLAGSHIP STORE.

I remember the wooden floors and the huge staircase that led up to the second floor of the bookshop. When I was younger, it was like the world of books, a treasure trove of stories.

This was the place where I bought my copy of The Lord of the Rings; you could call it the place where my door to the world of Elves, Men and Dwarves began to open. This book has gone on to become my favourite book of all time; truly the 'best of the best', as the MPH sticker still proclaims on its cover - I was never one for tearing stickers and price tags off book covers, just in case they tore.

I remember thinking that this was one place that would never close down; it seemed like a natural part of the setting, a corner store on a street a few minutes away from the Library itself.

But it did; and now, a private business school occupies the old MPH building. I don't know what is on the second floor because I never have any cause to go in, anymore.

SNAPSHOT #3:
SCOTTS SHOPPING CENTRE.

I liked this building purely because of its architecture; the way the vertical facade of the building gradually sloped outwards, flattened gradually and became horizontal towards the end.

I do not think that there is any other building in Singapore quite like this one; and as a child I used to wonder if perhaps the people living on the lower floors of the service apartments - where the facade became horizontal - suffered from a change in perspective the moment they entered their apartments. You know, perhaps their worlds shifted ninety degrees to the right...?

Of course, they didn't; but it was something to think about every time I walked past that shopping centre and craned my neck upwards to look wistfully at the curving structure.

It's been torn down, only recently, to make way for a new condominium - yet another one - that should sell well seeing as it will be smack in the heart of Orchard Road, District 11 itself.

There are probably many other buildings that are being checked off someone's hit listas I write, and it makes me wonder. I'm only seventeen; how many parts of Singapore will I recognise from my childhood by the time I have my own children? What will I have left to show them of my childhood? Images from a website?

Only seventeen and some buildings in Singapore are younger than I am. My story of childhood will be filled with 'what used to be' because things move so fast here, Singapore is constantly in flux.

Blink, and you might be left with a handful of debris and cement.

Reminders of what used to be.

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