SINGAPORE: “Interesting spring-cleaning find,” wrote a Singaporean who took a handful of online users on a trip down memory lane with him after he found a nostalgic keepsake while doing some cleaning. A picture of an old 50-cent parking coupon caught the attention of many Singaporeans, who took to the post’s comments section to exchange childhood memories and anecdotes.
“Great memories,” said one. “My late grandfather used to keep decades of used parking coupons. He had this phobia that someday he’d receive a parking summon, and he’d have to prove his innocence.”
Another wrote, “I remember when I tried to help my dad set up a coupon by folding the tags back instead of tearing them off because I didn’t want to litter the area. This nearly got us into trouble with an officer. Luckily, we explained the situation, and he just let us off with a warning. I’m still peeved that they didn’t let us refund the unused stacks.”
For people wondering how the parking coupon worked, a few commenters took some time to explain the system. “You’d just tear out the numbers, to reflect the date and time you started parking,” said one. “If you started at 10.30, you’d take out the 10 under hour and 30 under minutes. This meant you started parking at 10.30 and had to leave by 11.00 (50 cents for 30-minute parking). If you wanted to extend, then you needed more, so your next would start from 11, and so forth… in 30-minute increments.”
One commenter even referred to the coupon as his “fidget toy from the 90s,” others admitted that seeing it made them feel old.
See also: “Brings back good memories”: Singaporeans nostalgic over blast from the past, old Comfort taxi