Space And Time

I started jogging again. Today was the first time in nearly a year. I don’t remember exactly the last time I went for a run. I decided to go on part of the Bandarku Ceria route. For those of you that don’t know Bandarku Ceria is an initiative to encourage people to exercise by closing selected parts of the road in downtown Bandar. I decided to start near St Andrew’s Church and finish where the road closure ends at the Prime Minister’s Office (about 5km). I felt this was a decent distance given my long absence from running. When I reached the roundabout of The Prime Minister’s Office I felt there was more in my legs to turn around and run back effectively doubling my intended distance.

On the way back I ran past the old site of International School Brunei (ISB) which we affectionately called Jalan Tapak Kuda. Sadly it is not there anymore but it brought back memories to an incident that happened to me when I was a student there.

I had finished school and as usual would wait for my mother to pick me up. Minutes turned into hours until eventually, when she still did not arrive, I decided to walk home.

As I had never done it before, as an eight year old, it felt like a long way away. My school bag slung across my back grew heavier and heavier in direct correlation to the length of my shadow. I seem to remember also carrying an acoustic guitar! Luckily by the time I reached STPRI near Jalan Sekolah I was picked up by a family friend who recognised me and drove me the rest of the way home.

How our perception of space and time change. My childhood seemed like it was only yesterday whereas getting this project started feels like an eternity!