Sunday Blues at East Coast Park

Unlike some of them, K and I don’t have much of weekend rituals. Sometimes, we feel like we should have a ritual, like something that would signal a Saturday for us. Maybe like pancakes in the morning or bisibelebath for lunch? Erm, I don’t know for we clearly have none. Some weekends we like to sleep in until noon and go for brunch, we work sometimes, watch movies, travel, hike, meet friends or just spend the entire day fighting who gets to be what character in a game. It keeps changing. For the last one month, we have been cycling in the East Coast Park(ECP) every Sunday.One of Singapore most popular beaches, ECP is the easiest weekend urban getaway with diverse sporting, dining and recreational opportunities. It is open to people of all age groups. There are several barbecue pits along the beach and one can just have a weekend barbecue and camp along the beach as well.  

Really, what we love about the ECP is how it feels like a different place altogether, away from the air conditioned malls, high rise buildings and clean streets of Singapore. It is one of those places that remind us that we are indeed on an island.  An island! That is all I wanted to be on when I started reading Famous Five by Enid Blyton. I think George has her own island (tell me if I am wrong!) and I was like, “I want an island of my own!” Well, Singapore is not my island (that I wish it was is another matter), but atleast I am on an island. It is way different from how I pictured an island to be – I imagined sleeping on sand, gathering fruits from the tree and being smart enough to know the right berries from the poisonous ones, where I can take a book to and where I sing songs in harmony with the waves. I can go on and on. But, I digress.

So yes, for the past few weeks we have been spending Sunday mornings at ECP. After snoozing the alarm for like 10 times from 5 AM, we wake up at 6:30, get ready and start off like 7 AM and take a cab to ECP. We start by renting cycles for like a couple of hours. We go all around the park, stop in between to take pictures, complain about having fat butts for tiny seats, race each other (doesn’t look like one given our speeds anyway), sometimes chat or sometimes just cycle away on our own. We also sometimes unknowingly stray into the joggers’ lane and then sheepishly find the nearest way out after stupidly grinning at the joggers. Then, after cycling, we return our cycles, walk along the beach a bit and then go stuff our faces with a continental brunch or Thai food always followed by mango and sticky rice. Always.But don’t mistake the cycling to be the exercise-to-earn-your-calories. Definitely not. We just cycle because well, it feels nice and breezy and somehow makes us forget that we are in a bustling city. We also enjoy watching others take their dogs for walks and then dream about how we will immediately adopt a pet once we move out of the university campus. It just feels wonderful doing this on a Sunday and somehow feels like a befitting end to the week and sets the tone for the next week.  Let me show you a sneak peak.

I don’t know if this can be called a ritual. It is for now and until we find something else, someplace else, this vast blue expanse will be our go-to. If Sunday blues can be like this, we aren’t complaining.

So tell me, do you have a weekend ritual? What do you do?