MacRitchie Reservoir (2)

Today i pass by MacRitchie Reservoir and memories of that place makes me chuckle for a moment. This place is famous for 2 things - cross country run and a hangout place for couples. I browsed through my archives and found out that i did blog about patrolling that area during my NS time. The post abit vague but im going into details how fun it was. And also going to touch on how we treat cross-country run during practices and actual competition differently.

During my secondary school days, it was a single session so after lesson ends in the afternoon, we were required to go for practices for the cross country at MacRitchie every week during a 2 months period. You all could imagine the bus we board from our school to the destination, we can reach there in 30 minutes. Why? Because the bus is so full and the driver cannot stop until we reach the destination. And the bus looks so empty after that.

Practices for cross country were very lax, there were no time keeper or a person to flag off. Officially there were 2 routes to run, a shorter route for girls and a longer route for guys. But we got 1 more unofficially route, which is the shortcut. Once run into the forest, we go up the hill and reach the pavement already. Again, we have to see our mood whether we want to have a serious run (boy route) or cut short the time by going through girls route. Teachers know about it and when the actual day comes, there will be "guards" stationed at the designated spots to prevent any cheating. Anyway, this is one of the many memories that i had in secondary school.

Fast forward a few years later, im in NS already. And i get to patrol with my colleagues in Bishan area which covers MacRitchie Reservoir. I did bring my dog out to patrol but he got car-sickness that he vomitted during the trip, and we have to bring him back to let him have a rest. This is when the real fun begins.

We went back to MacRitchie Reservoir again to patrol. We didnt use any torchlights to disturb the environment. But in order to show our presence, we have to switch on the blinkers when we patrol. That's a standard operating procedure (SOP). I remembered very clearly it was on a Saturday as there were too many cars with air-con switch on to full blast. The cars have been there for quite long due to the cold mist that is form on the windscreen.

We also cannot act like chee-ko peks that peek into the cars and see what is happening inside the car. We never get to see and we never know. We were only there to patrol but to have fun as well.

After that, we head to Bishan Stadium carpark to have an official break and rest. When we reach there, we saw only one cab in the carpark. Feeling strange, we decided to have fun again. Bear in mind, the blinkers were on throughout the whole night. But before we wanted to have fun, one lady sit right up and stare at us. We didnt get frightened, but we get out of the place after we drove around the stadium premises. 20 minutes later, we went back again and the cab was still there. Again she spoil the fun by sitting up and stare at us. We left the place without having an official break yet. But my colleague was so tired from driving for the whole night that he suggested going back to Bishan Stadium carpark to take a rest. However when we got back, the cab is nowhere to be seen. Maybe we have scare them away instead.

This is my most memorable patrolling that i had in my NS life. I have nothing but wonderful memories of MacRitchie Reservoir.