choice

stevens road is not any unfamilair place to marathon man as orchard road is to all the singaporeans. the traffic is always heavy. marathon man criss-crossed it a couple of time to revisit the few nooks he had run before. he went into balmoral park, now with more condos since the last time he was here, very secluded and perching at a higher place, made them look more classy. he had an urge to pee, and he did it into the longkang beside the pine-tree club fence. he was in robin road, a shorter street than the previous he was here. somehow, it's not the same, something is blocking his way to the other part of the place he knew. he went fernhill road, turned into ladyhill road, all the way to the top. he came out from nassim road, then lermit road, and stumbled into the botanic gardens in the liane gate. not far from the gate there was a board walk(new to marathon man) stretched far into the wood - the rain forest walk. a balck stray dog greeted him, it was not the agrresive type. he came out to the amphitheatre end of the walk. the big lake is clear of all water plants except at the bank of the lake. the fish - yes, almost all are tilipia except a few miserable look kois - the last time he was, it was a koi pond! the small pond beside, still had a lot of water lilies, with flowers mostly in buds, would probably full bloom in a couple of weeks time - summer is here! a couple of groups of people had their morning breakfast picnic on the sloping lawn.... a few people takiong their morning walk...

marathon man exited into tyersall ave. he remembered, moving forward to the right, there's this little place where the old-time french embassy was..... and gallop road appeared infront of him, and there that colonial stilted, wooden white building still sat oddly on top of the slope.... not so much older, thought the roofs were in quite a shabby state - torn off roof covers, missing tiles....

he was quite surprised to have found out that one end of gallop road, gallop close was so secluded, he did not think he been here before. a big bungalow 'ownerless' project was in progress on lot 14, gallop hill. he went into all the small dead-ended roads in the area, just to find out what he missed out the last time he was here - just like he started the email conversation with an old-time fren just to see where it would lead to - another dead end again - this time fully prepared for that. even dead-ended lorongs have surprises that touch the heart of marathon man - like those exclusively designed houses, that's truelly magnificent but he sometimes wonders are these for families? how would the kids think of oving in these houses - locked in the high-walls, with aloft neighbors, no access to any amendities with walking distance..... no playmates except your own siblings...

he turned into cluny park road, thru tyersall road, in the cluny hill junction he hesitated whether to go up the hill.... this area was familiar to him, he might be here umpteens years ago..... when you face a junction, no need to hesitate to decide which way to go. you think you are MAKING a decision, but in fact, the junction decide for you which way you have to go! you don't choose your way, the way chooses you!

so cluny hill chose marathon man, and the choice turned out to be as satisfying as anything he has done so far. the area was away from all city noises and dins..... basked in warm sunlight, birds chirping away, plants growing exurberantly..... within the high walls of the bungalows, stories unfolded according to the book of...... destinies....