Chitchat Fire Hydrant

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

I walked past a fire hydrant near my office at noon on my way out for lunch. It triggered some memories which I thought I will write about it here.

When I was in kindergarten, I was often fascinated when I see a fire hydrant. The bright fire engine red colour, sprouting out from the ground was like a instant attraction to me.

When I was lonely, I would always run to nearby fire hydrant outside my grandparents' bungalow, imagining that I was a young, tall and macho fireman, in full webbing with cool sun shades, arriving in a stylo milo fire engine.

"Weee-oooo, Weee-oooo", "Weee-oooo", and the fire engine would arrive at the house on fire. Then I would leap out like a hero, launched the fire ladders like a pro, and become a life saver to those trapped in there.

Even up to this day, (decades after my initial childhood obsession with this funny looking red object lying innocuously everywhere), I will always stop and look at one , whichever country I am in, be it Singapore or elsewhere.

Here's some pictures of my obsession with fire hydrants from the internet. The usual boring fire hydrant seen around Singapore nowadays.



Older versions of fire hydrants are still around in some parts of Singapore, and sometimes when I walk past them, I wonder whether they are still functioning, aside from its aesthetic value.




Children are always asked this question since time immemorial : "What you want to be when you grow up?" (Then), I had always replied : "Fireman!". Simply because the fire hydrant was my playmate when I was a little one. Or at least it was my best friend and kept me away from loneliness.

I remembered a kindergarten classmate with the last name "Loong" (Nota Bene : Not the same Loong that the 69% is intimately fond of), affirmatively and proudly declared he wanted to be a One Eye Pirate, much to the laughter of some and chuckling of others in the class. I wonder what and how he's doing now. Perhaps he is a very successful billionaire.

Well, I didn't grow up to be a tall and macho fireman but I do don a pair of cool aviator shades now and then.

What was your childhood ambition? Did it materialise ? :)


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