Creative Writing — Places I Love To Hate

Singapore is a great city to live in. It is a clean, modern and safe country for us all to stay in. But could anyone think of any places that they will surely avoid? Well, I certainly can.

The first place that I will surely avoid is public toilets. Especially those dirty ones. Those long strands of hair that are thrown into the wet sink, those black footprints that are a result of many people stepping and walking across the damp floor. Simply disgusting. Whenever I enter one of these gross-looking toilets, goosebumps start forming against my skin and a shiver will travel down my spine. It is even worse when you enter a cubicle and notice that the previous user did not flush. It happened once and as I stared at the toilet, I could feel a lump in my throat as the smell of the unwanted waste travelled up my nose. Not hoping to puke out the delicious meal that I had previously had, I turned around and dashed out of the toilet.

Another place that I will avoid is the alley. Not only is it dirty, but it is scary. I once saw movies that show how the character was murdered in the alley. The way the murderer picks up the shiny blade with his hands, or the way he would clench his fingers around the hard bricks. That particular scene always plays in my head like a broken record whenever I encountered an alley. Also, do you know how dark is it? It is almost as if an alley is made for murder cases to happen. Since I do not wish to die young, I will gladly avoid the alley.

Thirdly, a place that I will avoid is those stores that sell branded goods. It does not need to be Gucci or Prada, but an Apple store at Orchard Road is enough to make me go crazy. Those MacBooks that are displayed so prettily on the table seems to be saying “Come and buy me. You know you want to”. Of course, I want. Who doesn’t? But whenever I look at the price, I will feel the same kind of feeling radiating throughout me – disappointment and sadness. It is almost as if God is finding a sense of euphoria through my sufferings. With a heavy heart, I will always end up caressing the sleek and modern keyboards of the wonderful MacBook, then proceed to leave the store with a heavy heart. To avoid such disappointment again, I am determined to avoid looking at such stores.

But despite all these reasons, Singapore is surely a place for me to live. No matter how dirty the toilets might be sometimes, no matter how dark some streets in Singapore might be, no matter how expensive some products might be, I am glad to be born here as the pros outweigh the cons.

Written by: Blondie Tan