My Memories with an Old Charcoal Shop

Another sketching session with Urban Sketchers Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia.

On 7 September 2025, we sketched an old charcoal shop located near Batu Pahat riverside. The few wooden houses there will be demolished soon. Therefore, we were there to make our records before they disappear.

I had been to this shop when I was working at Sandman Guitar Centre on the next street many years ago. Back then, there was a dead mouse up at the ceiling of a storeroom, and we only noticed it when it became smelly.

My colleague told me there was a charcoal shop nearby. We bought a few packs of charcoal back and used the charcoal to absorb the foul smell of the dead mouse.

Now I am no longer working in the guitar centre, and the wooden houses are going to be replaced with new buildings. While it was a rainy day, I recorded this old memory in blue.

After it was completed, only then I found a small mistake with the date. I suddenly realized that it was already the month of September! Time flies.