Pretty Tiles and Thoughts of an Old Fogie

As we were walking around Club Street and Ann Siang Hill, towards our lunch destination, the pretty tile designs on the walls called out to me. The prettiest ones I saw looked like they have been here since the seventies.

These days tiles have become really expensive, so I know that some people just use a few on their white walls for decorative effect. When we had them back in the day, no one really looked and appreciated them and we probably yearned for a more modern look then.

It’s strange how we appreciate things years later and they become vintage, rare and expensive. I am still thinking of all the vinyl records that were thrown out together with the old record player. I was just a kid then so I never quite learned how placing a needle on the surface produced music  – it totally blew my mind. I guess I was also afraid to scratch the record so my dad always played it for us. I thought he was a genious for knowing where to place the needle so that the exact song we wanted was played.  The sound quality was just soothing and we used to fall asleep to musical records for children.

The design and the colours of these blue tiles seem so perfect. I wonder who designed them.

photo by bookjunkie

And such a pretty effect against the mostly white facade.

photo by bookjunkie

There were also the newer funky skull tiles. From afar they just looked like a pretty monochromatic design till I saw them up close.  And again those lovely green glass on the windows that we used to have back in good old days.  The sliding windows we have now seem dull in comparison.  The old stuff was hard to clean though. Can you imagine cleaning those grills, and often we had really ornate patterned ones.

photo by bookjunkie

This place must come alive at night. I am not a clubbing kind of person. Even when I was younger. But once in a while it’s nice to soak in the lively atmosphere. The last time I went to a club was for my cousin’s hen party. It wasn’t quite a club I guess but more like a music bar where they served really expensive food and drinks. The reason why I can’t get used to clubs was that you can never quite hold a conversation and the music was always deafening. I also can’t bear smoke, especially stale smoke. Yup I was quite the fuddy duddy, even back when I was in my thirties. In my twenties it was still new and exciting.

photo by bookjunkie

I am a sucker for rose designs. Just sweetness. Rose designs were big in the seventies. Makes me recall our rose mugs and plates. We even had a toothbrush holder with a huge red rose on it.

photo by bookjunkie

If we were not in a hurry I could spend a lot of time here just photographing the tiles.