the festival shop

When I first moved into this block of flats with its heaving shopping centre on the ground floor, there was a shop selling Hallowe’en goods — monster masks, witches’ hats, pumpkin ornaments — located in front of the set of lifts that led up to my floor: a useful signpost in those early days when I didn’t know my way around. I kept wondering though, what would become of the shop when Hallowe’en had passed. Well, after Hallowe’en, it became a shop selling Christmas decorations. And now it’s a shop selling Chinese New Year decorations. And I guess if you’re going to make your living as a festival-decoration seller, then there’s no better place to do it than Singapore because here they celebrate the festivals of every major religion and culture. I hope I get to witness a full year’s cycle of decorations at the shop downstairs.