December 2016

HOME & PROPERTY

Name: Kim Forrester From: New Zealand Occupation: Holistic wellness educator

THE SCENE

When you walk out of your place, the first thing you see is: Tanjong Katong Secondary School. The closest store toyour front door is: A Shell service station on Dunman Road. Close enough for a sneaky snack, though the potato chip flavours are, well, interesting! Your street would make the perfect backdrop for a remake of: The Aussie TV soap opera, Neighbours . We have an awesome, friendly group of neighbour-friends. Band practice! TK Secondary School has an incredibly talented, dedicated school band that (due to lack of space) often has to practise outside. Their performances are fantastic to listen to, but the days and days (and days) of practice can wear a bit thin. Note: My empirical observations have concluded that brass and drum noises travel more effectively – and with less distortion – than any other instrumental sound. Your neighbours are great, but you wouldn’t mind a little less:

The unofficial uniformof your street is: School uniforms! We have TK Secondary School, Tanjong Katong Primary, Tanjong Katong Girls’ School and the Canadian International School very close by. Which celebrity would be most likely to move in next door, and why? Australian actorMichael Caton. Our home is under the flight path to Paya Lebar Airforce base, so we’re often graced with the sound of incoming Orions or F-16s. It makes me think of Caton’s hilarious character in the film The Castle – Australians and New Zealanders are nodding at this stage (all you others – do yourselves a favour!) – and his famous line about the purchase of their house: “Location, location, location; and we’re right next to the airport. It’ll be very convenient if we ever have to fly one day.” When you’re in need of a dose of culture, you: Walk Joo Chiat Road and silently revel in the chaos of KTV bars, restaurants and hawker stands.

A mandatory stop for out-of-town guests is: Rumah Bebe, an exquisite Peranakan store at 113 East Coast Road, and the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Hindu Temple at 19 Ceylon Road. The lovely neighbours behind us, who live in what was (until recently) the North Korean Embassy. Seriously. Cool. A common myth about your neighbourhood is: That it’s “all the way out there”. East Coasters will understand. If you’re ever woken up at night, it’s almost always due to: School band practice. A massive late-night rager on your street is likely to be: A funeral; we had a five-day funeral in the neighbourhood recently. (Rest her soul.) It was 120 hours of non-stop music, chanting, bells and prayer; a beautiful and poignant cultural phenomenon. You’d swap houses in a second with:

If you’re missing home, you: Watch a game of rugby at the Trenchard Arms.

85 DECEMBER2016