Take your average Singaporean household and chances are, there’ll be a can of shoe polish around, particularly if there are males in the house who’ve had to go for national service.
There was once a time when polished shoes were a must during National Service. Chun See blogs about how to get the perfect shine on the boots:
Can you recall how it was done? I remember we had to apply a thick layer of shoe polish with the ‘orange cloth’ and wait for it to dry. After that I would polish the toe cap using a piece of cotton wool and water until it shone. But some my smart-alec platoon mates taught me how to use a candle to heat the toe cap before polishing. I did try it but it did not seem to work for me. Often, we had to continue with this arduous task after the “Light Out!” command, working in the dark in the candle light. I usually went to bed worrying if I would get into trouble the next day. Thank God, I never did.
Thankfully for the army boys of this generation, shiny shoes aren’t a must for regular duty, so gone are those days of polishing shoes by the candlelight. So things do change – read Chun See’s post here.
