The Minton – Post Renovation Two Years On – Part 1

It’s been more than two years since we’ve moved to The Minton and I figured it’s time to do another annual post on little things we’ve observed about our home, and our plans beyond that too.

Adults are too busy to use amenities

That’s in specific reference to us, and not as a general rule. One of the main selling points of the condo was the wide-ranging facilities. As in, what other condo can boast of having a full-sized and air-conditioned badminton dome. As it turned out and funnily, we’ve still yet to use that dome – and it’s not just on account that we’re not badminton players. The dome is also used for other selected sports activities – e.g. Yoga, Zumba. We’ve been invited several times now by our neighbors to join into these fitness groups (and they sure look fun!), but Ling is too busy at this point, and me – no thanks. I have too much flab, and would rather just jog in the gym! And the latter is just about the only facility that we use.

Hannah is a different story though. She has swimming lessons now every week at the pool. So, it’s not quite a total loss against the quarterly condo maintenance fees we pay for.

Commercial and retail establishments

Apart from the wide-ranging facilities, our condo also has several units designated for commercial and retail businesses. Briefly: the mini-mart is still there and quite convenient when we need some household appliances or common food items double-time (e.g. “Ahhhh… we forgot to buy onions from NTUC!!!”). We also had Peter enroll in the condo’s childcare center this year for several months, until they had to suddenly close down, leaving parents scrambling. Quite displeasing, but at least Peter is now as happy (if not more so!) in the other childcare center we found him. There was also a pizza joint ran by a bona fide Italian person, but they had to vacate after about a year. They made pretty yummy pizzas for residents to buy, but I wonder if the business volume was ever sufficient to sustain their ongoing operations.

More recently, there’s a in-condo hair salon which also serves kids (super convenient), and also a new cafe which dishes up home-cooked styled food and a daily changing menu. The cafe has been quite a big hit among residents, with genuinely tasty food, reasonably-priced, and run by a very pleasant and friendly lady and chef. In fact, one of the longest-running threads in The Minton Residents Facebook group are the daily reports from residents on what the cafe is serving for the day LOL.

Just a very small sampling of the daily stuff that’s whipped up for residents to try out:

Babi Pongteh (stewed pork)
Babi Pongteh (stewed pork)
Fried pork cubes
Fried pork cubes
Honey-baked Chicken
Honey-baked Chicken
Japanese curry
Japanese curry
Sweet and sour fish
Sweet and sour fish

Poolside vs Amazonian Lily Pond

This is one of those almost accidental decisions that we didn’t realize the significance of until well into the fact. When we decided to purchase a unit @ The Minton almost 5 years ago, we had an inclination for a quiet apartment. Our previous home @ The Rivervale was peaceful for the most part, until the previously nominally-used road our unit faced became a major connector for the just-about then completed Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway. As luck had it, the Minton apartment configuration we wanted – a 3+1 bedroom type – against the actual units remaining when we were committed to purchase resulted in us having to choose a unit that was facing the very Tranquil World. A happy coincidence we thought at that point.

Well, more than 2 years living here now, I reckon that our unit’s facing is one of the most lucky coincidental outcomes we’ve had. The Minton main pool is an extremely popular area for kids and partying adults young and old alike. And early on, there were feedback from residents whose units faced the main pool complaining about the noise generated. Because of how sound can bounce around the compound or get especially amplified by the surrounding blocks, we can occasionally even hear kids screaming out their lungs at something fun at the pool from our end of the compound, and it’s probably even worse for the pool-facing units. Still, at least the pool users are mostly well-behaved, and the condo’s guards are fairly strict in keeping the peace in the night hours. So past about 10PM, the pool returns to its serene state.

And before one thinks that the Amazonian Lily Pond-facing units are heaven, we ‘enjoy’ a potpourri of barbecued and grilled food aromas from the three BBQ pit locations. Every. Single. Weekend… without fail.

Getting In and Out

While the condo is situated along a main road, we’re also lucky in that the end of the road – Lorong Ah Soo – where the Minton is situated is actually not too heavily used. So, the traffic junction that resident vehicles have to turn out from moves vehicles pretty quickly. And the three different vehicular exit points also help loads.

Though we still get occasionally comical car-jam situations like these. This I think was caused by a visiting vehicle unfamiliar with the entrance and exit points.
Though we still get occasional comical car-jam situations like these. This I think was caused by a visiting vehicle unfamiliar with the entrance and exit points. Required the estate guard to untangle the mess.

It’s quite a different story just further down the road in the early morning though. Two popular schools sit right along Lorong Ah Soo, and it can be a bit chaotic every morning when school-going children get dropped off in the two-lane road.

Well; next post to come soon once I think of more things to say about our home. We’re also planning for a mini-home renovation project in 2017, so a post somewhere in this series will deal with that!