8th Reunion!
Our 8th Reunion was held at King’s Hotel in Havelock Road on 27 July 2003, three months later than originally scheduled because of the SARS outbreak.
Despite heavy showers, one by one of our group of 25 septuagenarians strolled into smiling. Discerning body language and animated facial expressions revealed that signs of age have significantly affected some of us by degrees. Was it different in terms of behaviour patterns compared to our last Reunion? Perhaps.
Two proud grandfathers admitted that they had overshot the venue, although they had been there before. Another two complained of poor vision, having given up night driving. Sadly, one could not even recognize himself featured in old Reunion photographs taken in the eighties.
Two others had been hit with “old timer’s disease”, and thus had completely forgotten about the function, despite reminders and the fact they already paid for the dinner. Such is life. The clock ticks on mercilessly …
The famous Penang cuisine at King’s was as usual excellent. The evening also saw the distribution of our Class of ’51 publication, “Sheaf of Memories”, to all present. Casual and serious conversations brought laughter and the ACS Spirit permeated and lingered on throughout the evening. For the first time, there was this focused prime-time sharing of personal health problems between old friends.
“You have prostate problem? When?”
“Well, it comes like a bonus, when you are over 70!”
“Weeks ago, I had gout – terribly painful!” declared a 73-Teochew boy. There was this commonality of sufferings. I suppose the act of sharing brought some degree of comfort.
On the brighter side of life, the Sunday evening was simply nostalgic and equally boisterous and gay. Lots of funny stories and reminiscences brought more laughter. As respectable retirees, we have all grown older – and not necessarily wiser – our combined age amounting to 1788 years!
We were the last group of diners to leave the hotel. After our official photographer Keng Yee had recorded our gathering, we said good bye until we meet again at the next Reunion. Our bodies might have been weary, but our spirits were elated – happy to have seen old friends again.
Sng Cheok Kye
Class of ‘51
