Better late than never

           I spent two or rather one and a half years in Anderson School in Ipoh attending Sixth Form. It was not a long time but I had wonderful memories; studies and activities there.

            The short period provided me much experience and the opportunity to explore Ipoh; the short cuts and the different locations to famous food and shops. It was not because I wanted to taste the food but to know where the stalls were located.

            Monday mornings were miserable as many would agree with the feeling of ‘Monday morning blues’. Each Monday morning there would be the usual assembly with the same speeches, announcements and the advice biven by the principal and other teachers. Mr. Lam Kok Hon was then the principal of the school.

            For your information, I had to leave my house at 6.00 am and cycle to the bus station in Batu Gajah. Then I would have to take a bus to Ipoh.  There were two buses provided by the bus company and they were always packed like sardines in cans. The bus usually left at 6.30 am or even later. I would then reach Ipoh at 7.00 am at the earliest. Finally I had to board another bus (either one that goes to Ipoh Garden or Fair Park or even Greentown) to reach school. That would take another 20 minutes or more; if we were lucky because the buses were always packed with students and workers. So we were usually late or just in time for classes or before the first bell. The assembly was held at 7.30 so we were either just in time or late.

            It was indeed exhausting getting up at 5.30 am and arriving home again at 2.30 pm or even 3.00 pm.

            To avoid attending the assembly my friends and I stayed at the waiting area of the General Hospital in Ipoh. For your information, the hospital is opposite the school and a stone’s throw across the road.

            The friends included those from Batu Gajah and Gopeng. All of us agreed that the assembly was a waste of time. So we chose the idea to stay there until the assembly was over. There were Yee Kee Mun, Ho Chee Weng, Ng Moo Chee (all from Gopeng), Chan Yit Meng and I (from Batu Gajah).

            The other reason was that by the time we arrived at the school gate, the assembly would have started and we had to wait there until it was over to join the classes. The prefects at the gate knew that we were always late or rather just in time for the assembly. So we chose to stay away from the assembly every Monday.