changes in the neighbourhood

To myself, this seems ironic: I like change, but when it is unexpected, I find myself unable to accept it; yet plenty of changes unexpectedly happen...

I guess one of these examples have to do with the changes in the neighbourhood. Today I finally realise: an Indian barber whom I go to for haircuts is no longer gone. The sadder thing is that this was the same barber my mum would recommend; whom my dad would go to. I guess the Indian barber was old enough to retire. In the place of him, lie shelves of stuff, an 'organic' wholesaler from China nationals, I think.

So what do I make of these sudden, unexpected changes? Frankly, I wasn't totally surprise that he would go - people grow old, retire, and move on in their lives. I hope he has earned enough to retire comfortably for the next few decades of his life. And I guess I have to move on too, frequent another barber in the neighbourhood now, I think.

I wonder too, of the broader demographic changes - I there are many shops in the neighbourhood there have been in the entire span of my life and longer. The aquariums, the provision shops selling household items; the bakery; the many other provision shops; the coffeeshops... I have to, eventually, realise that none of these things will stay for long - the shop owners are near their retirement age, and they too, will fade away.

Yes, nostalgia is seeping in, there's simply something, missing... almost as if a part of you, or at least, a part of the memory has faded away, like a phantom limb, and though one thinks that its there, it really isn't - hence the cognitive dissonance - the disconnect that results. And this change is just is - it is neither good nor bad - it is value-neutral. The change is neither too fast nor too slow - the change has simply happened. And many more changes will happen, for example, USP will move to the Residential College, University Town, and for those involve in it, that change is looming, it will happen, and then it becomes - it has happened. To the alumni whose memory of USP has become fixed onto USP @ Blk ADM, it will be a change that they too, will have to accept... Situations change, people change, and those affected by the change are simply left to cope - find the alternative barber (which I have), or simply learn to get use to the change instead of grumbling about it constantly. Change simply is, most times. Like the cells in the body, like the sky and the clouds, like the waves in the ocean...