Tarmac Memories

Edric recalls his good times on a road that will soon disappear.

- Edric Pan

THERE was a sense of loss as I read about the impending acquisition of a large chunk of the Lim Chu Kang area for the expansion of Tengah Air Base – not so much for the 80,000 graves that will be exhumed or the farms that will have to relocate, sad as that is, but for the fact that a stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road which was central to many of my early motoring memories is to be realigned beyond all recognition. If for nothing else, I at least had National Service to thank for introducing me to this arrow straight, six-lane road (three lanes each way) that stretched literally as far as the eye could see – for well over three kilometres, in fact.

Never mind that the road was surrounded by cemeteries and that the air hung thick with the smell of chicken dung from the nearby chicken farms, there was something surreal about finding this stunning, vast expanse of tarmac in the middle of nowhere.