london diary...

a summer night at 111 cromwell road kensington...a view from my boutique hotel window

haha..you're not alone jasper! it's a global phenomena silly!...

Kakteh choc-a-blog was too busy and had no time for me...uwaaaaaa. She was a dear fren and had been a UK permanent resident with her family more than 20 years ago. Her last text message to me was, she was with Minister Rais Yatim. 2 ministers were in london, Rais (Foreign Affairs) and Minister Ong (tansport). The former was trying to persuade the British Government not to impose visa requirements to bona fide Malaysian travelers (like yours truly), and the latter was there to witness the signing ceremony of MAS purchase of the new 737-800 Boeing when reports in the UK that I had read said that at least 14 of the world's LCC (low cost arlines) had gone bust! (hurmm). I briefly met Mowardi (Utusan) and BK Siddhu (Star Biz) my good ole journalist friends at the holidayvilla Leinster Gardens, Bayswater, while they were dining with Transport Minister Ong. Only managed to see Jaffri (resident manager holidayvilla london) a day before I left.

It was a bloody hot summer, flights were full and I had to downgrade to economy....ceh. Many Malaysian parents apparently, were in UK for their kids' graduation. On my flight to london, I seated next to this pregnant tall welsh lady and her 18 mth old first daughter who kept calling me daddy...hahaha. Even MAS crew thought that we were travelling as a family until I corrected the perception hahaha! On my way back yesterday, I was seated next to a nice warm English lady (roundabout my generation...she used to go to school in penang in the early 60s when her dad was in Malaysia). I shall not reveal her name but she is an anthropologist and curator of Horniman museum in london, on the way to Banjermasin, Kalimantan to present a paper at a conference and then spend the next 6 weeks in Bali for her research. As we chatted, it seems that we have a common friend, Prof Terry King who took the whole chunk, well in fact the whole department of South East Asian Studies from the University of Hull to the University of Leeds! Prof King was an old friend during my good ole days at OUP and we had a picture taken together during my MBA convocation at Middleton Hall, Hull on December 8, 1994 (see my earlier blogpost). She was talking to me about her two nephews, one about 26. Brilliant chap now living in Melbourne, works for a top 4 global accounting firm. The younger brother 23, wasn't academically inclined and lazy. Behaves like an 11 year old asking his auntie...can u please buy me an ice cream? made his mum pays the rent for his flat, and kept saying oh...i am differrent from my brother...I wanna be a poet! hahaha.. (sounds familar isn't it? plenty of this type of characters in our midst as well kan? hahaha). So, you hingats owang puteh nie tere sangats kers? yang haprak melambak....tapi tau aje ler...malaysians (melayus to b specific) kalau matsaleh je...wow...tengangga mulots..(bukan cemolots ok? hahaha)...cam arab2 middle east pon camtuh gaks...klu matsaleh kan main lagiek!

Oh I forgot, YM Tunku Naqiuddin was also on the same flight to London. Said hello to him who was seated in first class cabin, he remembered me cos we were buggymates ( first flight yuh! hehe) at the last inter university alumni golf games at KGPA. I must reiterate however, that we were never hostelmates (now now...don't get mischievous ideas now..hahaha). He was on the way to receive the University of Wales at Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University) award of Fellow. Congratulations Tunku Bill! (as he is fondly referred to during his university days...). He said to me he may not be in the country for the coming Aber golf event. Well, so much for a week away in london. I have blogged the serious bit earlier, took out the sleezy and classified ones..lest my cover is blown or at worst....I may have to detonate you...in any case, like I always say, like the Balance Sheet, life is also a bikini, what is revealed is interesting, what is concealed is even more vital than you could imagine...hahaha...do enjoy the rest of the weakend folks...hahahahaha...