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  Straits Times Forum 21 Sep 06
Punggol lacks amenities and is too quiet? Please keep it like this
Letter from Veronique A Dawson (Ms)

I read with interest the recent letters and articles in the paper regarding the facilities, or lack thereof, in Punggol.

I would like to offer a very different perspective, albeit a seemingly unpopular one.

My family moved to this lovely green estate in August 2003. At that time, MRT train services had just begun. Our bus stop was served by just two buses. There was no market, no supermarket, and the nearest coffee shop was four bus stops away, let alone a cinema, post office and bank. You get the drift.

The strange thing is that we have loved it since. Instead of going down to the coffee shop or McDonald's for breakfast on a weekend as we had done before, our family has leisurely breakfasts at home. My husband makes mean egg dishes.

Instead of going to the movies, we fly kites and go for family walks. I don't think any other town in Singapore has as many playgrounds as Punggol has. Nor open spaces. Nor breathtaking views of the horizon. Some rainy evenings, I even get the distinct smell of sea breeze.

We don't miss the facilities many have taken as a given in a new town. We relish the slowing down of time in our town. Our children love running in the open fields. They have a back-to-nature childhood they would not have were we to live in a town bursting with facilites but devoid of open spaces, nature and most importantly, a soul.

I love my estate. I love the verdant green. I love the feeling of space I get looking out from our windows. I love the fresh air. I love the fact that I now look forward to my morning jogs just so I can inhale the cool crisp breeze.

Do I miss any facilities? Not for a minute, I don't. And when I look at my children's faces, flushed red after an intense run with a kite that can't seem to stay up, I know that neither do they.
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