BBQ, Strawberry Picking & Picnic

When I was in London last week, my aunt said something about fruit picking. Oh, my... I can't remember when was the last time I did fruit picking. It was so, so long time ago. About nine or ten years ago and it was an apple farm.


This morning, I was taken to a strawberry farm by Anne, my friend from my MARA College Banting days, who is also a superb cook. With us, there was a group of lecturers from Malaysia who are currently reading their postgraduate degrees in Loughborough and Nottingham. I'm the only one, which is NOT an academician.

After an hour in the strawberry farm, we went to a carboot sale in Gotham. As usual, I bought myself two novels, namely, The Da Vince Code (yeap, I've read this book, but at 10 pence each, I'm so tempted to read it... baby, one more time!) and No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson. This is my first time reading his.

We didn't stay long there, not because there's nothing to buy, but one of our friends, Fit, was so "carried away" to the extent, he even bought a candle holder! But it's a nice one, very huge and I personally think it's meant for a private garden or in a gazebo.

On our way to send Fit home, we stopped @Nottingham Uni for a casual picnic (ada ke picnic yang tak casual???). Oh, my... Anne made me one of my favourites i.e. lempeng with sambal sardin. She also cooked fried meehoon. Ad and the gang brought along karipap special and burgers while Nurul and Zai cooked for us nasi goreng.

While waiting for my coach, Harris has been so sweet and kind to bring me to his Uni for a brief tour and photo session. If I'm not mistaken, this is where Danny was supposed to go for his Master degree. Unfortunately... tak ada rezeki kot.






Millions thank you to Anne, Harris, Ad and the gang for your generous hospitality. And special thanks to Kak Pari and her friends for a lovely barbeque yesterday. Also, Anne, Ad, Fit and the gang for a wonderful dinner last night. Terima kasih daun keladi, jemputlah lagi...

And please do invite me for your next karaoke session. Fit (budak in the middle in the picture below), you really have a nice tone!

Amusing, candid but... ngelat!

I've been reading her blog for years now. In fact, some of the participants of Beyond P. Ramlee Project are regulars to her life like this..., a colourful takes on her life.

Reading her essay on, not one, but five outstanding Malaysians (four, if you still consider M. Nasir as a Singaporean) in the local entertainment industry, made me believe that there are indeed fellow Malaysians with big talents. And thank you for her generousity in reminding us how great P. Ramlee was and to a certain extent, still is.

I've no problem with Zetty's style of writing, which is similar to Mus' but hers is slightly less formal. What I meant by less formal here, is that if the article were to be published on any printed media, it needs editing work and can't be published instantly.

A friend of mine used to say that one of the reasons why she likes to frequent to life like this... is because the posts have no expiry date. In other words, each post can be read again and again. The same thing applies on Zetty's submission for this contest. I could reread it so many times without feeling bored.

Nevertheless, Zetty was a bit cruel to us, when she decided NOT to single out the ONE, as what we'd expected. It feels like she took the easiest way and left us on our own to draw our own conclusion. Although I don't feel any wrong with that approach, I just wish that Zetty could have provide more perspectives in illustrating these five talented people.

Overall, this is another commendable article which was written with lots of passion. It sounds popular, yet plausible. However, it was too safe. Or, should I openly say it... awak ngelatlah, Zetty!

Pictures and I

As promised, here are some of my pictures taken during my trip to three German cities, namely, Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen. Since I'm in London now, insya-Allah, will put up some remarks (name at least) about each picture once I got back to Manchester.


Part 1 - City of Hamburg.


Rathaus (City Hall of Hamburg)

St. Nikolai Memorial

St. Katharinen Church
The Building of Hamburg Port Authority
City Sporthafen


Art Hall and Contemporary Gallery

Part 2 - City of Berlin












Part 3 - City of Bremen