The teacher
I’m Mei
Thirty-two years of primary school. Then a cardigan, a notebook, and the first hour after the doors open.
I’m Mei. I taught primary school for 32 years, and now I walk the gardens every morning before the crowds. I am in my sixties, which I mention only so you will believe me about the cold and about the stairs. Young visitors think they will be fine in a singlet. They are fine for twelve minutes.
The habit started as physiotherapy disguised as leisure. A doctor told me to walk. I am not interested in mall circuits. The bay is close enough, the conservatories are reliable shelter when it rains, and the outdoor paths give me sky. I began writing down the practical bits — which dome if you only have an hour, where the lift is, why Saturday noon is a mistake — because former colleagues kept asking, and I was tired of typing the same paragraph into a chat.
SG Garden Notes is that paragraph, grown into a small journal. It is mine. It is not a brochure. I am not affiliated with any attraction or its operator. I do not sell tickets and I never process payments. If I sound like I am still standing at the classroom door telling someone to tie their laces, that is accurate. Comfortable shoes. A layer. Tuesday if you can manage it. Then go and look at the orchids properly, which is to say slowly, without treating a waterfall as a backdrop for an argument.