Happiness is bumping into an old friend from childhood. Before Spidey and Superman, there was Ultraman on tv, my first staple of superheroes.

This guy here does not look like Ultraman Taro but one of his reincarnations. I found him standing guard at a kindergarten along Jalan Tanjung Bungah, just before Springtide Residences, if you’re heading downtown towards Tanjung Tokong.

Update: Alas, sometime in early 2022 I found him lying sprawled on the ground inside the compound of the property. His arm was broken, and his body shattered into a few pieces. Found out that the kindy had closed - most probably impacted by the Covid-19 fallout and had been turned into a nursing / senior citizens home. Obviously, Ultraman was not part of the new owners' plans. This was one monster even Ultraman couldn't win.

Old friends, old friends sat on their parkbench like bookends

A newspaper blowin’ through the grass

Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly

How terribly strange to be seventy.

Old friends, memory brushes the same years, silently sharing the same fears

Old Friends, Simon & Garfunkel, 1968