I re-visited Portsdown Road today – where I used to live in Singapore – to wander and to relive memories. The area is a beautiful and rare patch of well-preserved countryside (for lack of a better way of describing it) surrounded by a slew of new and upcoming luxury residential and lifestyle developments.

I realise that what I really miss, and what I think perhaps all cities, particularly Singapore, need to cling onto, is this quality of the evocative that is present in places such as Portsdown Road.

It’s a certain potentiality in the landscape; a suggestion of mystery and magic; a hearkening back to the past that lingers on. These add to the character of the city and the richness of its experience.

I wonder what all the new developments will do to the area. I suppose I’m slightly sad that it won’t be as idyllic and isolated as before.  I guess I’ll have to re-visit when I’m next back to see how it is.

Photo © Joe Zandstra