Of Yellow and PEACOCK Blue

Met up with a JC mate last week, and sometime during the dinner, he said, "You know what, after so many years of boys' school (9 that I knew of - 4 years of studying in one, and 5 years of teaching in another), I am going to the other side."

"What?" I replied in between mouthful of pizza and beer (I is super hungry then..gosh so unglam) "Make sure you dont end up getting caned at the end of the day!"

"Choy..I'm not that stupid!" he quipped. "Guess where I am going?"

I looked at him looking expectantly at me..."You are going to Crescent??" He smiled gleefully "Yup. The school with the yellow shirt and blue skirt!"And just then, he pointed to someone walking past where we were sitting, strolling down Lorong Mambong, obviously way past the time she was let off from school, "That's from Crescent right?" I turned, looked, laughed and said, "It's not blue! It's PEACOCK blue! And that kid is not from Crescent - she's from Fairfield Methodist la.."

And it's confirmed by wiki. No matter that the school song says that school colour is blue..cos I am sure that's just cos the composer can't fit the whole phrase "peacock blue" for aesthetical reasons. That's what sets us apart from other yellow and blues such as Fairfield (think it's only between Crescent and Fairfield?).

And that was last week. Today, out of the blue I was trying to recall how my school song went...I thought I lost it until I heard the first line of the "Oh let us join our school to praise.." and the rest just came flowing. 4 years of weekly singing during school assembly had some how ingrained the tune and words into obscure corners of the brain, but you never lose them totally :)

Oh...and so many other memories! As a Crescentian, I existed during the time of the 武则天 Mrs Ng Gek Tiang, whom left me the everlasting impression that education is a number game, and Mr Samat - the small Malay man whose son went to Taonan Primary and my first ever hockey coach. Mrs Wong the ever so nice Arts teacher, Mrs Loo the feasome discipline mistress (and I suffered once when I fell asleep in her history class..), Mr and Mrs Kit the married teacher-couple. Our temporary school site along Queensway, where I spent 3 out of 4 years, our small hockey room at the back of the canteen and subsequently near the bamboo grove (with many incidents of snakes..), our CLDS sessions on Saturday mornings (the most memorable year was the one when I had to devour the whole book on 杨贵妃 to come up with a script in 快板 for a drama depicting her life story. Shit I should have kept that script. It's amazing how I managed to do it). The irritating rotunda at the new site (where the school stands now) that led to our "exclusive" classrooms for the graduating classes at the highest floor. And our infamous cheer on the hockey pitch, which was so distinctive that I ever had a ACS boy my age repeating that to me once like just 2 months ago ("Oh you played hockey in Crescent? C-R-E-S-C-E-N-T Crescent! Can never forget that". I was seriously stumped and lost for words at that instance :/)

What I always remember is what Mrs Ng Gek Tiang said once. Though the 武则天's take on education was purely how the school stood in ranking, she said this, "You would never forget the school that you graduated from, no matter how long you have left the school for". (Ok, and she continued by saying "So you all better perform well so that next time after you graduate you wont feel shameful that you graduated from a bad school" Yes. She really said that.)

"The day when we must part,
May Crescent remain in our hearts"

Oh well, it's true that a bit of that yellow and peacock blue will always be there.

C-R-E-S-C-E-N-T CRESCENT!