My London Adventure Part VI (finale)

At the Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal Football Club





We took off from my aunty's house at about 10am that Sunday and took the train to Arsenal, which was only 2 stops away from Turnpike Lane. A game was about to start and there were a lot of stalls selling the team's merchandise. But as I was not a fan, we didn't buy anything. Just took some photos at the majestic stadium and we continued our journey. Our next stop was Covent Garden.

Huge, huge crowds and a lot of acts were there. Again, I felt like I was in Malaysia's Central Market..hehe...















We didn't stay long though, because I still want to go to many other places. We then went to the Embankment. I wanted to take my parents on the river cruise, but they didn't want to go. So, we just sat at the riverbank, enjoying the breeze and the scenery.

After that, we went to Baker Street. I thought we could have lunch there, but we couldn't find the halal restaurant that I was looking for. Walked for a bit at Oxford Circus and then we took the subway back to Bayswater Station for lunch. Well, at least I was confident that we could find many halal restaurants there rather than we wandering around looking for a place to eat in the other places.

By the time we finished our lunch, it was about 4pm already. I had thought of going to Stamford Bridge (home of the Chelsea FC) and Wimbledon, but we were short of time. We did some last minutes souvenir shopping at Bayswater area, and my Mum bought another hand luggage...hehe...

I asked the ticket salesman at the counter whether our passes could take us to Heathrow, and he said no. So, we upgraded the passes (no fuss this time and definitely NO SWEARING) and we headed directly to Heathrow Airport.

By the time we reached there, it was about 7pm and Hubby had already reached there waiting for us with Abah and Mak's luggage. My parents came to the UK with 2 large luggage, and they left UK with 2 large luggage and 4 hand luggage...wakakakaka! I do not know how much would I bring when I return home later..hehehe...

So, they repacked everything so that the checked in luggage wouldn't exceed the 20kg weight limit per person. A lot of other people were also doing this, which made the scene quite funny...hehe..

I helped them checked in and after a few more moments together, it was time for them to depart. Soooo sad!!! My parents had left their last worn clothes for Daniel, in case if he should miss them or having trouble sleeping at nights because of remembering them. So, when my Mum cried before she went into the departure room, I jokingly asked her whether she would need Daniel's 'kain busuk' in case she would miss him later...hehe...

It was a tearful goodbye. We left the airport for Newark at about 9.30pm and reached home at about midnight. My body was aching from the extreme walking for the last 4 days and I couldn't sleep from the maximum exhaustion. Sempat basuh baju dulu and dry them all up before retiring for the night.

What an adventure!!!

My London Adventure Part V

Daniel at Turnpike Lane Station








And why were we at the Turnpike Lane Station instead of Kew Bridge Station for our next hotel check-in? It was because we couldn't find the darn hotel!!! We had stopped at Kew Bridge initially after the parade. I called the hotel for direction and was given the so-called direction to the hotel from the station. She said "Walk straight ahead and then turn right at the end of the road. We are there. You wouldn't miss it because there is a huge sign."

So, we walked, and walked, and walked, AND WALKED... It must have been about 2-3 km of walking. I became suspicious, so I called the hotel again. The same direction was given, so I thought maybe it was correct after all. A few hundred metres ahead, I stopped a passer-by and asked him the direction to the hotel. He said, "I have never heard the name of that hotel. I've been living here for quite some time but no, not that hotel.." huh???

So, I called the hotel again. This time, we had already reached the end of the road, and you've guessed it right, NO HOTEL. I tried using the GPS on the i-Phone but hampeh as usual...When I told the girl that we are at the end of the road and I gave her the road name, she said, "Sorry, I am not a local. I do not know that road, but if you had followed my direction, you would have been here by now." WTF??????

We stopped at a bus stop and I asked my parents to wait there while I walked further up for any signs of the hotel. NIL. ZILCH. Urggghhhh!!! I felt like wanting to squeeze somebody's throat..Why must you put someone who is not familiar with the area as the receptionist? Do you think that everybody who is going to stay at your hotel would be coming by car? Seriously, if you look up the London hotels in the website, they would usually give you the way to reach them by road (meaning that you are driving) and not by trains or any other public transports! Well, except for taxis, I guess, since we can tell the taxi driver that we want to go to that hotel and he would use the 'getting there' guide by the hotels!! ARSE!!!!

Fed up with the whole thing, I decided that we should take a bus or a taxi to reach the hotel. My parents had insisted that we just stay at the long-lost relative's house (which I have blogged about a while back). My dad had actually managed to call his aunty earlier that morning, and she had welcomed us to stay at her house, which I had declined since we had booked the hotel.

Anyway, we took a ride on a bus, which should have stopped at a place and we should have changed into another bus that was supposed to reach the hotel (according to my GPS). But telling the driver where you wanted to stop apparently didn't mean anything because the driver wouldn't stop unless you ring the bell. And since we didn't know where the place that we were supposed to stop was, and the screen on the bus also didn't state the place that we wanted to stop at, we actually rode the bus until we reached the final destination, which is in Hammersmith (and what a winding road too!)

And yes, I got really, really pissed off that I asked my dad to call his aunty again and told her that we were going to stay at her house for the night after all. Yup, lucky that we had an emergency back up plan. If not, we would have need to take the cab to the hotel and I just couldn't imagined how much we would be charged for the fares.

That was why we ended up in Turnpike Lane, and finally, we met with the long-lost English aunties and cousin. They had another visitor, so we had to sleep in the living room, which was not a problem at all. Just thankful that we had somewhere to sleep for the night and furthermore, had the opportunity to meet with the relatives. And had a good dinner that night (my dad's aunty was a chef at a hotel before she retired) so apalagi??? Hentam habis lah...Siap ada sambal belacan lagi tu....hehe....

(to be continued)

My London Adventure Part IV

After we checked out of the hotel the next morning, we walked towards the Earls Court Station. And as we reached the cross junction, we just realized that the station has a rear entrance which was very, very, VERY close to our hotel! The front entrance that we took when we arrived yesterday was quite a distance! hehe...The hotel should have put in their advertisement that people should take the rear entrance if they want easy access to the hotel! haiyaaaaa!!!

So, we went in via the back entrance. There were only machines selling tickets there, no people manning the ticket counter. There was a staff helping passengers with ticket purchases, so I just went ahead and bought the passes for the 3 of us at the machine. The guy helped me with the purchase, but he chose wrong ticket zones for us. But he said that I could upgrade the tickets before I travel, but it had to be done at the front ticket counter! haih! And then, he told me that the all-day passes were also good to travel on buses and trams. What??? And I have been purchasing all those bus tickets for the last 2 days for charity, was it? huhuhu...Takpe, takpe...Kita tak tau.... *bengang sebenarnya...hehe...*

At the front ticket counter, I waited for some time before a guy came to the ticket window that I was standing at. I explained to him that the guy at the rear entrance wrongly pressed the button at the machine for my tickets and I would like to upgrade the tickets so that they would cover more zones. He asked me, "Why did you purchase these tickets if you want to travel to more zones?" to which I replied that it was a mistake done by the staff at the rear entrance. He walked away with an angry face and I could clearly see from the glass window that he was cursing at me! I could actually read his lips!! Blardy fool!!! Manyirap la darah akak! Rasa nak give him a piece of my mind jer! Kurang ajar betul!! Kalau nak curse pun don't let me see it ok?? It was their staff's mistake, anyway!!!

My mood immediately soured after that. Since it was still quite some time for the next check in at the next hotel, I decided that we should go and see the Changing of the Guard at the Buckingham Palace. By the way, that day was Saturday, and there were quite a lot of upgrading services taking place at the underground stations.

When we reached Buckingham Palace, there were a huge crowd already waiting for the ceremony to start. By 10.00am, the security guards had already gathered people around and nobody was allowed crossing the area and we had to stay inside our group. The sun was glaring, but everybody waited patiently at their places.






























Anyway, snippets of what happened during the ceremony. This happens every single day of the year, and every other day during winter. Letihnyaaaa jadi guards!!! hehe....







































































Just as I thought we had had enough (2 hours standing under the sun in a crowded space), and we were about to walk out of our standing places, the lady security told us that we were about to miss the best part of the show! So, we waited for a while longer, and voilà, the gate nearest to us were opened, and the troops actually marched pass us! Many people had left before us, because we were not informed that the gate would actually open. Must be because they did not want everybody to flock in front of the gate..huhu...

Anyway, prior to that, we were informed and warned by the security people to take extra caution of our belongings because pickpockets and thief were at large during the ceremony everyday. Since we had our luggage with us, the security came to us many times to remind us to take care of our stuffs. And the lady security actually pointed to my Mum's pocket-sized and zipped al-Quran which she put inside one of the outer pockets of her luggage. She asked me, "Maam, is that a wallet?" to which I said no. "What is that? Is that some thing valuable? Because we have many bad people here everyday stealing stuffs from unsuspecting tourists" I said, "No, it's not a wallet. Just our Quran.." To which she replied, "That IS valuable, because my bible IS valuable to me" and then she laughed. Of course it is valuable to us la...But what I meant was it has no value for the pickpockets....Unless lepas dia curi Quran tu dia insaf ke...bagus gak....hehe....

After everything was over, we stayed a while under the trees at the park, eating sandwiches (sandwiches je la pun yang senang nak dibawa ke mana-mana kan?) They had set up lounging chairs in the park for people to have sun bath. Panas lah...tak kuasa...hehe...

Then, we took the subway to our next check-in hotel, the Kewbridge Hotel near Kew Garden.

(to be continued)

My London Adventure Part III

After a few photo shots at the Canary Wharf, we took the subway again, and headed to the Wembley Stadium. It was quite a distance, and by the time we reached there, it was nearly dark and only a handful of people were left in the train. We got stopped at the exit gates. Apparently, the tickets we purchased were not including the rides to the extended zone that Wembley was located. Thank God the lady at the exit let us out. I thought the whole day passes could be used to travel anywhere, but actually there were zones that were covered by a specific type of pass. Mano la den tauuuuu...hehe....

So, we took photos and lingered for a while there, eating our sandwiches for dinner. There was a concert being held at the Wembley Arena, and lots of people came for the concert. It was getting dark, and since I feared that our subway passes wouldn't let us ride the subway, I decided that we should take the bus. After all, I did purchase the all-day bus and tram passes also!

The bus ride back was quite an adventure, too. I couldn't seem to find the right route back to our hotel, because the bus stops at the Wembley area were quite scattered and the routes that each bus took were confusing. I decided to take the one that went directly to the final stop of the area, and then we would take another bus to go back to the city. But, when we arrived at the last stop, there were also different stops for different areas! I thought all buses would stop there, so it would be easy for us to find the right one to take to our hotel. Macam kat Puduraya kan? Haih!

So, after walking about some more (my legs were really killing me at the time), we took a bus. It was about 10pm already at that time. I thought of going to Oxford Street and then we could take a train to Earls Court. But, it was getting late, and I was scared that there would be no more trains when we arrive at Oxford Street. So, when I saw a subway station, I quickly asked my troop to get down so that we could catch the next train.

Alas! The services at that station were already stopped for the day! I could feel the blood draining from my face! Dang!!! And I felt really guilty for having to drag my parents along. If I could feel the pain in my body from the long walks, how would they feel then? Guilty, guilty!

So, I went back to the bus stop, studied the routes, changed to another bus stop, studied again, changed again and finally I saw the correct route that went directly to Earls Court. After waiting for quite some time, the bus came and I felt really, really relieved. Lesson learnt: Do not wander along until late at night if you don't know precisely how to get back to the hotel...hehe...

We all fell asleep as soon as we got ourselves cleaned up...

My London Adventure Part II

We checked out of the hotel after a meager breakfast at the hotel. This time we took the Bayswater Circle Line and took off to Victoria Station. This time, I bought day travel passes for the 3 of us. Then, we took the bus to Trafalgar Square. Since we all are not museum-liking people, we saved quite a lot of time visiting other places than the museums (London banyak betul museums… and theaters…and we are not theater people, either..hehe..)

While looking at the map, I saw ‘Liberty’ and my mind quickly imagined The Statue of Liberty… And while cracking my head to read the map on how we would get there, suddenly a thought came across my mind.. Statue of Liberty bukan kat US ke? Dang! Haha! Nasib baik tak tanya orang ok? Kalau tak buat malu jer…kakakaka…. Turned out that this Liberty is some sort of a shopping place…hehe…

After Trafalgar, we took the bus to London Tower Bridge. We didn’t get into the tower, or go for a cruise bla..bla…Just taking photos around the area and had our quick lunch there before checking in to the next hotel that I pre-booked before the journey. In case you are wondering why we didn’t stay at the same hotel throughout the trip, well, the answer is, there was a Bank Holiday Monday at the same stretch of our trip, and my guess is many people took the time off to go for a break. So, no hotels could offer us rooms for our 3-night straight stay. Before boarding the subway to Earls Court Station, I saw a signboard showing the London Bridge, so we decided to go for a quick photo session. But halfway throughout the walking journey, I suddenly felt too tired to walk anymore, plus suddenly the signboard to the London Bridge went missing…hehe…so we turned back to the station and boarded the train.

We came out of the station, and again, I tried to use the phone’s GPS…and failed again, miserably. So, I went to ask for direction from a street hawker, and she gave me the direction to the hotel. Quite a descent distance and I was not complaining. When I saw the signboard saying ‘Earls Court Hotel’ I immediately went in to check whether it was the correct hotel since our hotel is Earls Court Studios. I had to knock on the window because the reception seemed pre-occupied with something, and when I asked whether I was in the correct hotel, he just said no. And when asked where was the correct hotel, he just shrugged smugly and said “No idea” Duh!!!

So, we walked further up across the street and voila, the hotel is no more than 30 meters from the first hotel. Kut ye pun competitor…huh! Rang the bell on the door and was greeted by the owner a few minutes later. This was a three-floored apartment converted to a hotel, and there wasn’t even a reception area. Our room was situated at the basement of the apartment, and it was much better compared to the first hotel that we stayed. A descent bathroom, a stove and microwave for cooking complete with all the cutleries, plates, pots and pans, a better TV set, a fridge… At least I felt it was worth the charges. We were given the main door keys (since nobody would open the door for us) as well.

After a quick rest, we went out again. Today we were more determined to cover as much of London as possible. First stop was London Bridge Pier. (London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…hehe…) Then, we took the subway to Canary Wharf. I think it was the most beautiful station of all the stations that we have been. Here, brokers and executives in tie and blazers flocked around for a drink at the bar near the London Stock Exchange building (sorry, I do not know the name of the building).

(to be continued)

My London Adventure Part I

It was quite an adventure, so I need to type it down so as not to forget it.

My parents left the UK for homeland on Ssunday, May 24th, so as my last treat for them, I took them to London. By train. Because Hubby was working (we went from Thursday to Sunday). My parents argued that I'd be spending a lot of moolahs for the 4-day trip and we should have gone from Saturday to Sunday only. Well, no doubt it costed me a bomb, but I didn't want to rush everybody around in a short span of time, especially when we do not know our whereabouts in the city and we needed to travel on public transportations and walk a lot. Luckily I planned it that way....I didn't even know about the adventure that awaited us...

We took off from Newark North Gate Station at 10.38am and reached London Kings Cross Station at around 12 noon. As soon as we walked out of the station, my mind went blank. Looking at the buses and people streaming on the streets in front of the station, and not knowing where to head or what to do next, I pranced up and down the sidewalk for a bit. Tried to study the bus routes at the bus stop near the station, but my mind seemed to stop working.

I decided that we should follow the throngs of people walking across the street, but halfway down the road, I changed my mind and we returned to the station. I tried studying the underground routes, and decided that we should use the tube instead. So, bought one-way tickets for the 3 of us (nasib baik Daniel travelled free..hehe..), and took the tube to Westminster Station.

At Westminster, we stopped for a while to take photos of the Big Ben and London Eye. There was a group of people picketing in front of the Parliament House, demanding Britain citizenships for the Nepalese/Burmese etc soldiers whom served the British Government during the wars, so there were policemen everywhere. On that very same day, the reunioun of workers for the Victoria Line decided to hold up a strike because one of their drivers was sacked following his mistake in opening the wrong side of the train doors while stopping at one of the stations. So, the whole line was shutdown for that day. No service for that line, causing chaos for the other lines and also the buses. Traffic was just horrible that day. Nice timing...huhu...

While trying to snap more photos of the Big Ben, I was suddenly stopped by a lady, whom immediately put a dried wild flower on my jacket. She asked me for some contribution for the children (which or whose I don't know). There were a few of them around, handling out flowers and pamphlets to the public. Suddenly someone came up to us, asking the lady something like "Are you collecting money for the children" to which the lady nodded and the other lady passed a 5 pounds note to her. So, I rummaged my purse, eager to get away (since she didn't seem like wanting to let me off until I give her something) and pulled out a 2 pound coin and passed it to her. She said, "Can you spare a paper note for the children? FOR THE CHILDREN" she emphasized. I felt cornered, but strangely enough, I obliged and gave her a 10 pounds note! That was a freaking RM60! And I regretted it as soon as I gave it.. Hilang pahala, I know, but I just felt like I was being cheated. For all I know, maybe the other lady who gave that lady the 5 pounds note was just acting as donor? Her timing was just nice, anyway..Well, I didn't even know if the lady was genuinely collecting the donations for the children, anyway. And I thought the money would be better spent to our own orphans or poor children back home in Malaysia...*sigh*

Aaaaanyway, after that my mood for more photos snapping turned sour, and all I wanted was to get to the hotel where we were supposed to check in that day. The GPS maps on the phone seemed somewhat stupid, because it told me that it would take about 3 hours for us to get to the hotel. Cheh...Ada barang canggih pun tak boleh guna...hampeh... so, I had to resort to the normal map. Nasib baik ingat nak bawak map..Kalau ingat nak depend entirely on the GPS, m*mp*sla kitorang kat London tu...huhu...

After a few minutes, I got the gist of the bus routes, so I bought 3 one-way tickets for the bus. I called the hotel, telling her that I was at the Parliament Square and asked her the direction to the hotel. She said she didn't know where was Parliament Square (WTH?? It's your Parliament, ok?), but she told me to stop at Queensland. Hopped on the bus which should have brought us to our destination. Little that I know that we were on the wrong side of the road, which only meant that we were brought even further from our destination (the bus actually CAME from our destination). Naturally our stop wasn't called out until the end of the bus route, so we hopped off when the bus stopped at its final destination.

By this time I was devastated already. We crossed the road, tried to find the correct bus route and bus stop, again bought the tickets (this time I bought the whole day ticket so that if we were on the wrong route again, we could change bus again and again) and hopped into another bus. I asked the driver whether he goes to Queensland, and he said yes. Phew..At least we were on a correct bus.

When we reached Queensland, I once again tried to use the phone's GPS to locate the hotel. Again, it showed us a haywired, stupid route, so I decided to call the hotel again. By this time, everybody's feet and shoulders were terribly aching already. The hotel reception gave me a direction, but alas! He gave the direction on the other side of the road! Again, it meant that we walked EVEN further away from the hotel! DANG! DANG! DANG!!!!

I asked a passerby of the hotel location, but apparently, he didn't know where it was. I told him the street name, and he said that we should have walked the other way round. He said that we needed to walk through Kensington Garden (which housed the Kensington Palace- where Lady D lived during her time as the Princess of Wales). So, we turned back, I asked my parents to stay behind at one of the benches inside the park, and I continued walking towards the end of the park. And you guessed it right- it was a dead end..huhu! Lucky that I brought sandwiches and fried beehoon along, so while we rested for a while at the bench, we ate our very, very late lunch.

I must have walked more than 10 km by that time, and finally the phone's GPS decided to give me the correct route! So, we walked towards the hotel, and halfway through, we saw a tube station- the Bayswater Station. Dang!!! Why the hell didn't the reception lady told us to use the tube for easier access to the hotel, instead? Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

We finally reached the hotel (an apartment converted to a cheap hotel). Cheap by their standard la.. It costed me 75 pounds (RM400) for a triple bedded room, with a small bathroom and really, really cheap furnitures and all. Satellite TV pun tak ada ok? But, we were so thankful to have a place to stretch our bodies and rest our feet, nothing really bothered us that time.

It was about 6pm already, so after solat and a few minutes rest, we walked to the town for dinner. Halal restaurants were quite aplenty there at Bayswater, and there were a lot of souvenir shops as well. We dined at Halal Restaurant (yes that was the restaurant's name) and walk about town for a while. Initially we wanted to take the bus back to the city centre (we bought the all-day ticket earlier, remember? Rugi la kalau tak guna..hehe..) But, after thinking again, we decided to go back to the hotel to rest properly. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillows...

(to be continued...)

Relatives

We have distant relatives here. By distant, I meant, REAAAALLLY distant. My grandma's cousin. Distant in the terms of the relation, and also the distance...hehe..

My grandma's cousin migrated to the UK since her younger days after some mishaps at her former workplace, involving a blue-blooded person. She practically ran off, and never returned for quite some times. She then married a local here in the UK, and got 3 children. I only met them once during our kids days, and another time a few years back when their Mum insisted that they have Malay wedding receptions in KL.

So, since we are here, my parents have mentioned that they want to go visit this Mak Uda (Nek Uda to me) and her family. We have got their home address in London and also the phone number of her youngest and only daughter.

The problem is, how do I call her and introduce myself? "This is your long lost niece" doesn't seem very right...hehe...Hmmmm...Need to ponder more on this...

How to buy fish in a supermarket?

This happened on the first week I was here in Newark.

Was grocery shopping at a local supermarket in the town and was about to buy a fish. By the way, I don't quite fancy the fishes here..Pelik and rasa semacam hehe...

Anyway, I selected my fish (seabass if I still remember correctly). I lifted the fish with my hand to pass it to the lady to be weighed and packed. She was surprised at my action, but didn't say anything. Then, I saw a washing basin near where she stood, so I went in to wash my hand.

She stopped me immediately and told me that I was not supposed to come into her area. And apparently I was not supposed to touch the fish also. For hygiene purposes, she said. She took a handful of tissue papers and wet them, then passed them to me to wipe my hand, and took back the used tissue.

That was totally a new experience for me...Kalau kat Malaysia, lantak hang la nak pegang ikan ke, nak hanyir ke...hehe...

Alhamdulillah...Free...hehe..

What was?

Daniel's medical treatment yesterday. It was for his constant coughing which has been going on for more than a month now. I had bring him to a paediatrician before we came here, and was told it was a normal viral infection only and it nothing serious because his lungs were clear. But until he had finished up the whole bottle of medicine and until today, the cough didn't cease. He had consumed 2 whole bottles of Boots cough syrup here and was into the 3rd bottle, and this got me quite worried.

So, we went to Lombard Street Surgeries to seek medical advice for him. I didn't know where else to go and I haven't seen any private clinics here in the town area. There is Newark Hospital within walking distance also, but I decided to try the Surgeries first.

I was told to come back the next day (which was yesterday) to fit Daniel into the schedule on Friday. Apparently, you cannot see a doctor without making an early appointment first. And I was told that since we are not permanent residents, we would be charged for the treatment. Initial registration fees might be 20 Pounds, which is about RM100++, so go figure the treatment charge..hehe... I remember I was charged about RM300 for treatment in Ho Chi Minh for a bout of diarrhea, so I was expecting the worst here :-)

When we came again the next day, I was asked a few questions about our stay here bla bla, and walla! Since we'd be staying here for about 6 months, we are entitled to a permanent registration with 0 charges. Alhamdulillah. They said normally we would only need to pay for prescribed medicines at the pharmacy, but alhamdulillah again, Daniel's was free. But my son had to be on Ventolin already now, and we shall see whether his condition will improve. If not, we will have to see the doctor again for the next best course of action. And no. He is yet to be diagnosed with asthma. Hopefully not, nau'zubillah...

Exactly a month after the last post..

Life has been filled with so many things for the past one month that I left this blog untouched. As most of you, my friends, might have known, alhamdulillah Daniel and I have been reunited with our guy here in the UK. Reached here on April 11, 2009. We are currently residing in Newark, a small town in Nottinghamshire.

I was so busy trying to settle so many stuffs back at home before my journey, that I even needed to meet a client a few hours before departure time to Heathrow. Only managed to pack up the suitcases right after that, with a few hours break to meet my PIL who purposely came to my SIL's house from Melaka to send us off to the UK. Thanks Mak & Ayah! I was so touched by their gesture.

The journey was about 14 hours and quite smooth. Only a handful of Malaysian were on board of quite a full aircraft that day, and we had a nice, funny and experienced pilot handling the aircraft. There was a terrible turbulence while we were passing India-Pakistan border (which the captain later said was due to Indian and Pakistani mothers cooking a lot of curries..hehe...)

By the 8th hour on board, Daniel had became so restless that he was crying and asking us to go back home. Luckily, I had my parents travelling with me, so we took turns to calm him down. If it were up to only me, I wouldn't think that I could manage, with myself also being lethargic from the long journey.

Oh ya! For those of you whom are unaware of this facility, we could actually perform solah on board. Just ask the steward/ess about this on your next long-haul flights, and they would be able to assist you. From what I have read from believable sources, if you perform solah while sitting in your seats in the aircraft, you would have to perform the solah again when you have safely reached your destination, wallahua'lam..

It was extremely cold for the first week we were here, with temperature ranging from 0-10 deg C. Alhamdulillah none of us got sick because of the sudden change of climate. The temperature gradually increased, but the chill was still there due to the strong wind and occassional rain. Last week we had very nice weather, with sun shining every other day and the wind was just nice for days exploring in the town. But it rained again almost everyday this week, so there goes my hope of not having to wear those thick and many layers or clothes!

We are adjusting well to this place. Although it is a small town, Newark has a lot of shopping places (and that is the most important thing..hehe..) They have Marks & Spencer, Dorothy Perkins, Argos, Bon Marche, Mothercare, CG among others and there are a lot of supermarkets and value for money stores scattered along the small town. People walk a lot here, and most people have dogs as pets. Our apartment is about 5 minutes relaxed walk from the town, so that explains why we were out at the town almost every day. There is also a marketplace at the town centre, where the hawkers take turns to sell different types of things including antiques, clothes, pet food, accessories, veges, fishes, CDs and DVD's, shoes, magazines, books, you name it, every other day except Sundays (and yes, most of the stores and supermarkets are closed on Sundays).

Currently we are having longer daytime, and my day typically starts at around 5 a.m-ish, where I would be cooking lunch for Hubby to take to his office. By 5.30am, it would be daytime already, and we would still be able to see the sun right until about 8 pm-ish everyday. Hubby would go to his office by 7 am and normally would be home by 6 pm, when I would already have prepared dinner. Usually by 9 pm-ish I would have doze off already, what with the early start of the day AND the lousy TV channels that we had. But today, we have subscribed and installed the satellite TV channels (thanks Hubby- dia kata install sebab sayang bini...hik hik..), so maybe I will sleep later every night from today onwards..hehe..

I have posted some photos at my FB. Feel free to look them up (if you have got nothing better to do, that is..hehe..). Will try to update the blog more frequently now that I am currently 100%, pure housewife! Life can be pretty mundane, especially when I do not have my own car to roam around..hehe..Kalau tidak, sure dah jauh merewang ni...haha...