Mornings with Ah Mak and Ah Kong were always fun, and while I have previously described else where how we would greet them whenever we went to visit,
breakfast, like all meals with our grandparents was quite a full on and fancy affair, involving staff, at which a special prepared (favourite) meal was served, followed by a wide variety of fruits that were in season.
Although Mee-Sua
was supposed only to be served on birthdays and or to mark special occasions, however when we were young this was our favorite, and so my sister Helene and I would always ask for it whenever Ah Mak, would let us choose breakfast, which was quite often, so despite the apparent house rule, we usually did end up having mee-sua quite regularly when we came for breakfast, whilst the adults often had something different, this was one of the many ways in which Mak used to spoil us…
When we were young and lived across the road at Cairnhll, mother would head across each morning (often running late and not always our fault) to join Mak and Kong for breakfast and on Saturday come rain or shine we would always go as a family, without father, who never went back to Cairnhill or spoke to Ah Kong again once we returned to Singapore from Taiwan, however father and Ah Mak got on very well and she used to come to visit us regularly….
When we were on school holidays and or we were in the afternoon session (there were morning and afternoon sessions in those days) we would quite regularly tag along with mum for breakfast, which on weekdays was served upstairs out on the verandah, whereas on Saturdays it was in the downstairs (ground floor) family dining room, at the back of the house, or on special occasions in the large formal dining room which had 2 round dining tables, each able to seat 12, with a counter sunk glass lazy-susan.
Ku-Ku our uncle usually accompanied by Aunty Barbara, and Jacquie, their daughter (similarly when not at school) would come for breakfast with Mak and Kong at least 3 times a week on Mon, Wed and Fri and after breakfast they (Kong and Ku-Ku) would retreat to Kong’s study for their private chat, which we were not allowed to interrupt…. the rest of us would usually stay out on the verandah and continue chatting, or go to Mak’s bedroom to relax and "lepak", or busy ourselves around the house, playing hide and seek, feeding the fish, swimming and or running around the garden.... from an early age I was fascinated by cars so enjoyed inspecting and playing in them under the watchful eye of either Rawi who drove for Mak and or Rusdi, who was Kong’s driver, that every one referred to as "kaypoh" for he was very chatty and seemed to know everything that was going on and who was doing what and where and when and or who had said what about who to who…..
After Kuk-Ku was done, he would always announce playfully that he had been given his “marching orders” and say “next” which was our cue, if leaving to go in to say our thank yous and goodbyes which involved an exchange of hugs and kisses, after which Kong and mother could get on with their work, and for us it was back to Mak’s bedroom... until it was time for us to go home, which would again involve an exchange of hugs and kisses and good luck wishes... with Ah Mak things were fun and carefree, good luck wishes were expected and as far as we were concerned, this was a fun ritual, and we would continue happily yelling our good luck wishes of "yeng dor dor" (win lots & lots) as we headed down the stairs, where we were met and walked safely back home across Cairnhill Road by one of their drivers and or which ever member of Ah Kong's security detail happened to be available.
Quite often, during the mornings, especially during the school holidays, at least once or twice a week, we would either accompany Ah Kong on his drive to the office, send him up to his office in his private lift, visit with Aunty Evelyn (Evelyn Shaw who was lovely along with her team ran Kong's office, Aunty Evelyn and after Kong was probably the most influential person in the company) we would then either be sent home, to school, the SICC and or back to Cairnhill according to what had been arranged for us.... in those days Kong would have lunch at the bank during the week.
What was even more fun was accompany Ah Mak shopping, which always included a stop for an ice cream either at Fitzpatricks or Cold Storage after she had visited Robinsons and or Centrepoint.... I don't remember Mak shopping anywhere else... and invariably we would stay on for lunch with Mak, either at home with the Poh-Pohs with whom she was to do battle with that afternoon, when hosting the game, and when there was no mah-jong scheduled then we would usually go out, and when ever possible we would go for chicken rice (my favourite) either at the Chatter Box at the Mandarin Hotel or the Phoenix Hotel, where we would sometimes be joined by mother when she was able, for in those days she had 2 jobs, (she worked the mornings for Kong and in the afternoon with father at Ajax
Engineering) and similarly Aunty Barbara would also often join us during her lunch break from her job at the cosmetics section at Robinsons.
If Ah Mak had an away game then we would sometimes send her off to battle, quickly pop in to say our hellos and good byes, and then give Mak an extra special dose of hugs and kisses and good luck wishes, before leaving with Rawi her driver who would send us home or where ever we were next headed, whilst we hollered and waived our good byes to Ah Mak the assembled Poh-Pohs stood out the front door of these majestic homes....
Mum helped Ah Kong in his study collating his notes, drafting letters, and writing speeches, ready for him to take to the office, for Kong was a workaholic and would return home each evening with usually at least 4 and sometimes more briefcases from the office full of paperwork which he would go through overnight and in the morning.... an indication to the house hold that Kong was about ready to leave for work, was when his brief cases would come down the stairs, if I am not mistaken usually at 10.15 am sharp...
Whichever car Ah Kong was going to use that morning, there didn't seem to be a rational to the rotation (that was probably the idea) there was a choice between, his Rolls Royce (these changed every few years when a new model came out), the Daimler, the Mercedes 600 Pullman 6 door stretch limo, and the Lincoln Convertible (with the suicide doors) which was one of my favorites along with the escort car for the day either the Ford Ghia, one of the Holden's, and the Peugeot which were also rotated, I guess for his security, in any event the convoy would be outside at the front door engines having already been warmed up by 10.0 am
Ah Kong was really quite cute as he always made sure that he and Ah Mak had matching Rolls Royce's (although of different colours) and that she always had the latest Jaguar to match his Daimler.
During the week, the Chew family didn’t join Mak and Kong for breakfast, but instead had their breakfast separately usually upstairs in their apartments on the 3rd floor, keeping their own schedule, going about their own business, for we seldom saw them during the week, except occasionally bumping into one another as ships passing in the night along the staircase, they were heading down stairs and off out as we headed upstairs to greet our grandparents and have breakfast.
At some point during breakfast or later in morning as we finished you would hear Ah Mak yell direction from the balcony down to one of the gardeners to "sapu tiet" (literally to sweep shit) as she was always concerned that the dogs may have been in the garden and was worried that we children might head there next to play... in addition to the sounds of birds which Ah Kong liked to keep, there would almost always be another regular interruption as the grey parrot Nero would yell (emulating Ah Mak) either for the gardeners to go back to sweep the garden, which they quite often dutifully did (with much confusion and shaking of their heads) and or for calling out for one of the drivers by name Rusdi or Rawi followed by "mau pakai" which often also resulted with cars sat out the front at the ready.....