short break in Ayshire - day 1

last saturday morning we drove up to Ayrshire region in scotland's south west coast. this is a very short break to our standard. selalunya kalau pergi scotland we spend the whole week but this trip was to visit an old friend (not old as in tua, but lama).

scottish thistle - scotland's wild flower/national flower

we left home at 9am, berbekal nasi goreng, sambal tumis ikan bilis (thanks to my friend Ti who kirim thro her sisters who visited us last month) and sandwiches. stopped at Glenridding village, Ullswater in Cumbria for picnic lunch. we stopped at the same spot last year for a short break, on our way home from week long holiday in Perthshire.

arrived at Gie's palce at 5pm.

almost 20 years ago

yes, its been almost 20 years since i left Glasgow for good and returned to homeland.

i went to glasgae to pursue my degree in 1986, completed my studies in 1989 and worked for 2 years with a QS consultancy firm until recession hit the UK in 1991. of course being a junior staff & a foreigner, i was one of the first few people who were asked to either leave or take up another job and i chose the earlier.

and also it has been almost 20 years ago since i last met Gie who was one year my junior at college. she & few other close friends/coursemates - ida, epit (she wud kill me for still using this name), shitah lived in a nice flat in cowcaddens. flat ni lebih kurang macam 'port' students melayu lah. people came & left and there were so many batches of malay residents but Gie was the longest resident and lived there till she married Brian in mid 1990s.

we kinda lost touch but i heard bits & pieces about her from some mutual friends. last year after we got home from the easter break in perthshire, our friend Joe told me on fb that he visited gie and she added me in on fb, since then we were re-connected.

so we made plans to re-unite, we drove up last saturday morning to Fenwick, a nice village in Ayrshire, less than half hour drive from Glasgow. it was really good to see her again after all these years.

kenit sitting with 'margie' (she couldnt say mak ogy) on monday morning after she got up from sleep & muncung sebab tak nak balik.

gie had been through a lot for the past few years and she's been holding on pretty well, her children Yasmin, Zhara & Stuart keep her going and have been her pillar of strength.

we had a great time at their place albeit for just 2 nites, her girls didnt take that long to warm up to ours, gie cooked lovely meals as i've always known her. it would be nice if they could come over & spend raya with us, but we hope to see them again when we go up north for our yearly easter break. mean time, i hope she keeps well..

autograph

how about this for an autographed shirt??? scribbles by aisyah's friends and teachers on her last day of primary school.

all welled up

Thursday 22nd July was aisyah's last day at primary school. the parents of yr 6 children were invited to attend the leavers' assembly at 10am. i had a meeting at work so daddy went.

parents & the rest of the children were shown a video of school leavers giving their farewell speech and they did it in pairs - one recited the speech while the other did the sign-ing. aisyah was paired with her best friend lauren. each child was given a copy of the dvd to keep; it was so touching.. almost all of the yr 6 children talked about the fun they had at the 2 days camp in mid july and also how much they like their class teacher Mr Gard whom aisyah quoted in her speech "he always think that he's handsome". the head teacher gave away the leavers certificate after each child's speech. and the girls had teary eyes...

aisyah with kaylee, lauren & mr gard - he's wearing the tie that aisyah gave.

aisyah & ms christian - her year 2 class teacher when she first attended school. now ms christian is the head teacher.
aisyah only spent 4 1/2 years at primary school unlike other kids who spend 6 yrs. when we moved here in jan 2006, aisyah was six 1/2 yrs old so she entered year 2 and lauren helped her from day one and they've been best friends since. for a girl who's one of the youngest in class, came from a foreign country and quite reserved then, she did very well and we are proud of her. in sept, just 3 weeks after she turns 11, she'll be going to secondary school. it will be a challenge for her - going to a big school with 1000 kids (in one session)

even tho the school is small with a total of 160 children, it has offered her with various opportunities - learned sign language, numerous school trips, activities such as cycling lessons, swimming, ice skating, played flute etc etc which boost her confidence..

by the way aunty yan., before you ask for it, we are making a copy of the dvd and send it thro murni.

nice day

these are the pix taken at graduation day yesterday. it was nice & sunny & HOT..


nasib baik pakai baju kurung - decent, loose & yg paling penting ..comfy

the 3 stooges in QS section - Anthony, Sani & yours truly. at last Sani graduated his msc in proj management after 3 yrs of hardwork.. Ant had submitted his proposal to do PhD.

with Sani's parents who are here for 3 weeks holidays. first time we took 'construction management' group photo on graduation day - this was to commemorate Phil's last graduation ceremony & his retirement after 35 yrs of service
phil, sani & ant

above: my students Lorraine & Samson from Nigeria..they were classmates until lorraine took year out to have their 3rd child.

below: some of my students who graduated yesterday - sam, tommy, shamila & ping (she's from spore)

worthy..

this week is the uni's summer graduation week and students from our school (architecture & built environment)'s turn fell on wednesday afternoon. why not Thursday afternoon...at least i would be sitting on the same stage, one or two rows behind the celebrities - our chancellor, Sir Michael Parkinson would be attending to confer the award of
1. Doctor of Science to Sir David Attenborough, a Darwin of our times and a supreme communicator about the natural world
2. Doctor of Letters to Billy Connolly, my favourite stand up comedian, multi talented stage and screen performer
3. Doctor of Letters to Dame Judy Dench aka Madame M in James Bond.

but anyway, for this summer graduation, i decided to wear baju kurung cos its loose, decent and cooling (panas duduk atas stage with all the lighting). i chose the baju kurung which ainol posted for last year's raya, that i never got to wear cos i had 2 other newly tailored baju kurung. i made a good choice cos the day was hot & sunny..this graduation can be considered 'hari ini dalam sejarah' for the following reasons:
1. first time i baju kurung on graduation day
2. first time took photos with colleague & students
3. my colleague/fellow malaysian Sani graduated in MSc in project management (construction); insyaallah next year will be my turn..
4. another colleague, Phil is retiring after 25 yrs of service as a dedicated lecturer. this week is his last week and this is his last graduation..

the ceremony took about 1.5 hours. after that i got to meet few students. i was hoping to meet Sam, my dissertation student who got first class in his course and also got an award by RICS East Region for best dissertation; but i guess he was lost in the crowd.

i was really proud of them, their hardwork paid off, whether or not they got any job at all is a different matter altogether. it was nice to see their smiling faces..

sorry gambar tak boleh upload tonite.. ada problem sikit

english pantun

follow up to oya's early pencen, our longtime friend, ida who's famously known for her denim jeket hijau, scarf oren & kasut doc martin, wrote a cute pantun for oya in the pesbuk.

enjoy being single,
go mingle,
and just have loads of giggles
while binging on pringles...

boleh tahan jugak minah ni buat pantun 4 kerat ..

ida & i had a fair share of good times when we were students alongside our other close friends whom we called orang2 cowcaddens. dulu2 ada geng red road, clydebank, birkbeck depending on where we lived. ..oya came into the picture a bit later; despite the age gap we were close to her due to her maturity and same wavelength. masa the adik2 (oya & geng) first arrived in glaasgae, they were warned not to get too close to us, takut nanti kena influence yang bukan2. saja la, some people tak leh tengok orang nak henjoy sikit. but anyway, the adik2 know what we were like and we had loads of fun and treasure all the wonderful moments till now.

i've always had fond memories of our friendship, the ups & downs, the gila2 times, the songs that we listened to. oya & ida liked R&B, i liked the new wave but we clicked somehow. sometimes when we reminisced the old days on fb, my eyes 'berpeluh' and make me miss them both so much..

now ida dah jadi cikgu mengajar hengland at an islamic school, active in organising social activities at the school and menjadi cikgu kesayangan because of her coolness; while enjoy doing some voluntary work at the neighbouring countries. now that oya pun dah pencen awal, boleh la dia selalu pergi minum kopi with ida..seronoknya & envious yang amat!!

new life

right now, i'm so envious of my dearest friend OYA aka self acclaimed Mrs Nadal...


after 15 years, 6 months & 15 days of being a corporate slave serving the national oil & gas company, she plucked the courage to take up the CTO/VSS and left...well with some (banyak la jugak) money .. how nice!!

its great not having to wake up in the morning, drag the body out of bed, drive in the bad traffic jam, face the huru hara at the office, then drive home in worse traffic. she's got plans for her future which i'm pretty sure she will do well.


the beauty of being her own boss means she

1. can start work anytime at her convenience - sementara ni rest dulu..
2. can cuti anytime, for as long as she wants to layan her itchy feet & travel to africa & south america, buat charity work or jadi Lara Croft ala2 Angelina Jolie
3. can stalk Rafael Nadal wherever he plays in tennis open or wimbledon
4. can watch Brazil plays in the next world cup
5. would be able to follow where Schumacher/Ferrari races in F1 anywhere on this planet.
6. can visit us anytime and stay with us for as long as she wants to - i hope she will put this on top of her list once she's done with all the preparation for her future plan. one can only sit on one's bump doing nothing until the fund runs out, then one starts getting itchy feet and hands and bumps etc etc

i suggested that she writes travelogues like Bill Bryson or Michael Palin.

apparently one of our friends who's been with the telecommunication company for around the same period of time also took up VSS and sekarang tengah seronok jadi mem & lady of leisure..if only i had the same opportunity, alangkah seronok nya. its still a long way to go before i can retire and goyang kaki like them.

all the best to you dear...and jangan lupa i bila u dah kaya raya or jumpa rich spaniard muallaf..

new word

last nite hujan lebat, siap guruh & kilat. and someone said 'mummy..there's funder (thunder) and storm...'

selamat pengantin baru

this entry is written while waiting for the shipping company to come and collect 4 boxes to be shipped to msia. its past midnite, patutnya depa sampai pukul 9 malam tadi tapi terbabas sebab traffic jam and banyak rumah kena pergi. dah biasa dah jadi macam tu.

sebenarnya nak cerita pasal majlis pernikahan my cousin Arn to Shay aka Epul (guess his full name is Shaiful..betul tak tekaan ku ini Arn?) which took place at Masjid Wilayah last weekend.

above : arn & her mom & siblings and their mak tok.

below : arn & younger brother - Daniel who's the wali

upacara menyarong cincin (from Tiffany's ke??)

syahdu nya gambar kat bawah ni...

2 great men in our lives - our uncles. perasan tak shape mulut yang sama..(thanks cik zah for pointing this out)

2 cousins who are more like sisters - suzie & the dashing bride. the big day meant a lot to suzie who basically watched arn grew up from a little girl to someone's wife.

posing ayu yg menjadi trademark from suzie & aunty glam

the gedik cousins ... one person missing...where were u zett?

i promised myself that this shouldnt be a wishy washy post but its 'unthinkable' especially when writing about close friends and relatives. my auntie Cik Zah always said my entry about family members memilukan hati so, i'm trying hard to make it cheerful.

Arn & Shay got engaged in July last year, theme colour was red & black, sebab syok sangat dengan cerita Twilight..theme colour for the nikah ceremony was white (or offwhite kut) for the pengantin and grey for the immediate family members and tukang angkat dulang on the bride side. best kan, ada theme colour macam tu. when we got married dulu, never even bothered about theme colour..janji siap..

from the pics posted on pesbuk by my bro, my cousin Edi and cousin suzy's hubby Din aka Danger San which i hijacked for this entry, the ceremony was very lively and sempurna seadanya. Arn & her siblings sama kapal (same boat) with me & my siblings - we are all anak yatim at very young age, our dads are brothers, both of them passed away at the young age of 39, both due to heart failure. thats the reason why we are close to our uncles and aunties who helped our widowed moms look after us while we were growing up fatherless and why we are close to our cousins; hence any kind of family kenduri penuh dengan ahli keluarga terdekat.

the wedding will be held on 31st July and i'm sure its going to be more meriah, nothing less. wish i cud be there tapi apa kan daya, keadaan tidak mengizinkan. i've always been famous (cewaah) in the family for my gelak ketawa yang tak hengat dunia, especially bila dah bertemu dengan geng2 yang sewaktu dengan nya. so, kurang la bising sikit majlis nanti agaknya...

but anyway, to Arn (trying hard not to call her baby An..) and Shay, have a wonderful life together, look after & respect each other (marriage is not all about love but respect is important too) and your parents, have lots of lovely bambinos... with guidance and blessing from Allah swt.

btw.. orang shipping company came at 12 midnite..kesian depa kerja long hours. kamar siap buat kopi lagi before 2 hours drive back to manchester.

one job done

hari ni patutnya work at home tapi kemalasan menimpa..never mind, will make up for the time lost petang/malam nanti. weather has not been kind to us, since monday asyik hujan aja. this is what british summer is all about. pagi ni sunny interval sampai noon, forecast hujan dari 1pm till malam and continues on for the next few days.

so, sementara panas sikit, i took the opportunity to plant the hydrangea & geraniums at the prepared upper terrace at the back garden. tanah has gotten a bit soft so its a bit easier to dig. i like planting geraniums sebab senang hidup. as for hydrangeas, this is my first attempt. both our previous houses memang dah ada mature hydrangeas. so this is more like trial & error. kalau hidup, hidup lah. otherwise, tanam pokok lain.

ta..daaa.....

also this morning i 'plucked' the raspberries yang dah masak from our one & only mini pokok raspberry which kamar planted last year, dapat one 'palm full' and semua habis dimakan oleh sikenit. kakaknya prefers strawberries.

fresh n sweet raspberries ..no preservatives..no baja chemical...

due to the wet days, i had to put all the potted kesum & hibiscus & pokok cili & rocket seeds which the girls tanam last weekend, in the green house. when gill dropped by on her way to derbyshire on monday, she said that the pokok in the greenhouse could be grapevine..wahhh kalau betul and menjadi, boleh la makan grape from our very own backgarden!!

by the way aunty yan, just to let u know.. at this very moment, orang tengah pasang new hob kat kitchen. the hot & cold water pipe will be flushed sometime soon..

penat tapi happy

this morning, after breakfast we went to the hardware shop dekat rumah, beli garden tools, few bags of compost, geraniums and 2 pots of cayenne pepper and other accessories.

today's activity started at 11.00am - buang weed, gembur tanah, letak compost at the proposed flower patch then siram weed killer at the nettles yg telah menyengat my legs and fingers sebab tadi pakai bermuda and sometimes terlupa pakai garden gloves; nasib baik ada gel gamat.

above pic was taken on the day we moved in... see the difference after clearing the weeds..

kids' sandpit and our herb/flower spot..the raspberry plant below was planted by kamar when we moved to nr 28 last year. dah makan hasil..
the soil at the upper terrace is quite hard, so kamar kena gembur tanah before spreading 2 bags of compost.
before & after - hard work !

we finished at 3.30pm and had lunch - last nite's dinner leftover.

the back garden looks a bit better now, tunggu esok nak tanam hydrangea - we cut some branches from the other house and geraniums which i bought from the hardware shop.

i dug all the geraniums which i planted at the other house, re-potted and arranged them in the wooden wheelbarrow beli kat carboot last sunday and put it at the front door. since kat msia dulu lagi berangan nak tanam bunga dalam wheelbarrow; akhirnya kesampaian..jangan lupa siram cukup la.

bye bye

after 6 months with us, the kids' aunty yan left for home last nite... sekejap aja dah 6 bulan. it was a real blessing that kakak was here when we moved house. last year when we moved to nr 28, my mom was around. so bab2 kemas dapor & guest room ie for my mom/kakak's use memang diserahkan bulat2 to my mom/kakak. i would just leave the pinggan mangkuk, periuk belanga, cutleries, asam garam etc where/how they put them.

kakak's flight was at 12 midnite, so we left for the airport at 7.30pm, got there at 10pm. tak ramai passengers, so check in pun cepat and tak leceh. luggage weight pun ngam2. we left after kakak went into the departure hall at 11pm and got home at 1.30am, watched a bit of tv while waiting for subuh masuk pukul 2.30am.

when we woke up this morning, rasa sunyi and the house feels too big for just the 4 of us. nak hilangkan rasa sunyi, all of us were in the same room at the same time - either dining at the conservatory, lazing in the playroom or watching tv in the living room. naik atas pun tidak. macamana la perasaan orang yang tinggal kat rumah besar2 tu ya..

now that kakak dah balik, i have to get myself more organised with the daily chores. i've been spoilt rotten when kakak/my mom was here. so back to life, back to reality.

we miss you aunty yan. panjang umur, murah rezeki InsyaAllah kita jumpa lagi in a year's time...