Saturday, December 26, 2009

coldest winter

the winter this year is exceptionally cold. In all the years I am here, the newspapers always talk about a white christmas and the big freeze.

For the week running up to Christmas, we had subzero temperatures at night in London, with maximum daily temperature around 1-3C. It snowed, and the roads & pavements remain frozen in London unless gritted. Unfortunately, it became warmer at christmas day, about 5-6C. Only some lucky Scots finally got a white christmas.

It seems that a white christmas was a regular feature just decades ago.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

London- coldest year

This is the coldest year in London since the past few years we are here. Other than a few crazy days of 20C in April, it has been below average.

At this time of the year in the past few years, asparagus would have come and gone. Now, the PYO farms are not even open!! Aw!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Do people really believe what they read in the papers?

Do they?

I hope not.

I have read a lot of commentaries about brain washed Chinese people are, how blindly patriotic they are, exhibiting irrational nationalism, etc etc..China/communist sympathizer, simply because these people offer a view which is different from the main stream media's stand on China bashing and free Tibet. Whatver happen to free speech, which they accuse is lacking in "communist" countries?

With the disaster in Myanmar a few days ago and a the earth quake in China hours ago, reading the news is just plainly annoying. When these heart breaking, catastrophic natural disasters are happening, the media... (or can we extend it to the "West" by proxy?) had unbelievably xxxx (fill in the blanks! )

Reports were largely absent or relegated as small section in page xx , until one free commuter paper picked up the issue and appealed for mass donation to help Myanmar. Hardly a handful of newspapers had paid attention, until uhh.. there is something interesting to say about the "junta", the military government preventing aid from pouring in. I see (yes, "see". Reading them one by one would only make me angry) more articles about human rights issues in Myanmar, than human life issues. Where were these human rights activists/journalists blah blah blah when the monks marched on the streets a few months ago? Where was the support? Now is the time to really save lives, and all I hear is talk. Talk about the "right" to intervene, "right to protect". What rubbish. Talk is cheap. And "intervening" when a country is down and facing such a big disaster is just so "convenient". I did not know whether to laugh or to cry when I saw comments such as "If the junta do not want to save their own people, why help them?" And when I see news about "rejection of aids", I thought, how naive.

Interestingly, there were also articles about the difference between "Burma" and "Myanmar". It is funny how these people insist on calling another country by a name which they prefer, instead of the name the country wants to be known of. "Burma" being less formal, preferred by freedom fighters!? What rubbish about Myanmar being the name preferred by the "junta". (Just say the truth-Burma being prefered by the Brits because that is how they called their "colony".) The next time someone tell me "My name is Robbinson, call me Robbin", I will tell him that does not sound appropriate, not proper.. blah blah... and insist on calling him "Rob". CONDESCENDING, in full capital letters, bold font!

It is sad, isn't it. When the passion in writing about human suffering and human lives pale so much compared to" human rights", "democracy", freedom of speech .. blah blah blah."Obviously, people who are too well fed may find it difficult to understand human life issues.

Perhaps a full stomach and endless cheap booze cause people lack the imagination and empathy about people's sufferings? Look at the cries about India and China causing the increase in food prices. "Oliver, you have eaten too much! Food price is increasing!"

How dare those Indians and Chinese eat so much!
These two billion people in (JUST) 2 countries want to eat as much as the people in US and Europe? Who do they think they are? We need grains to make biofuel for the cars!!

Monday, May 05, 2008

Mr Brown or Mr Bean?


He looks really tired....

and probably helpless. 'cos his ministers told him "You have got one year".

Does that sound familiar? He told Blair similar stuff last year. Wow, how quickly the ministers learned from him. They are now using the same trick?


(This is how he looked before becoming PM. Being PM uglify you.)


Perhaps all he needs is a little holiday, and then he will be able to put a smile on his face again...and look like his old self...
...
...
...
...
...
...

like this...







Do you think Mr Bean could stand in for him while he is on holiday? I cant tell who is who anyway.





Friday, April 11, 2008

welcome to London! This is a good time to go..

...in addition to the great weather, you will get to see some free circus.

Witness for yourself the world of free speech. Argh, the newspapers are entertaining. And read all those comments in those free commuter papers. They may shock you. They may make you laugh. It is a real eye opener. See what they say about China. It is very very interesting. See what they say about the Olympics- that is very important.

Why? London is going to organise the Olympics in 2012. In fact, if I have time, i will do newspaper cuttings and flog them in year 2012 in E-bay.

I am sure they are worth a lot of money.

Get the message, Hindraf? Why protest now? Protest in 2012!

Monday, February 25, 2008

when people you know are now celebrities...

What would you do?

I just found out that I knew another "celebrity" last night. Had a good 1-2 hours of going OhMY GOD OMG OMG... googling him etc ... "Cool man"? cute? Girls drooling about him? I could only laugh and laugh and laugh.

Couldn't stop laughing that the nerd I knew back in my secondary school days is now tauted as the new "cool man" and have girls drooling over him. All I remember was JA and I used to laugh about how tall he was and that he got to "bow" whenever he spoke to normal shorties like us. We paid extra attention to him because he sat across us at tuition classes, and annoyingly always get every single thing right, scored the highest marks in almost every single subject and spoke 3 languages very fluently. He was good in debates, poetry, and those Chinese "siang sheng".....blah blah blah. What else? Yeah, he could paint very well. Fantastic essays- I used to steal his essays to take a read, and then felt really bad about the rubbish I wrote. Damn. Annoying nerd.

But he got to be cool now, right? Haha.. I could sense sourness coming from my hubby after he looked at "Cool Man"'s photo. ROFL. HUbby announced that it was already very late, and I should get some sleep. This morning when i complained about my pimples, someone mentioned that it was because I slept late. hahaha

Well, I wish Cool Man all the best, and I am so happy for him. He deserves his "celeb" status. He is someone you know know will make it big one day, with his attitude and capability. I wanted to leave a note on his blog, but chickened out.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

What language will your children speak?

If you have a child, what language will you use when you speak to him/her?

Many people will not have a problems, because they only speak one language. What if you are multilingual. Will you be pressurised to speak to them in English?

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

we sponsored the party..

yeah we did. We sponsored it. At least the tax money from our families would have contributed to it.

Won't have been as annoyed if it was ah neh. It probably wasn't ah neh. When these featherless shuttle cocks smoked and opened their windows, we heard their conversation and we heard what language it was. Bloody hell, took tax payer's money to come here and party, smoked, and left ashes on my car!

To top if off, they put up a notice the next day." We apologise in ADVANCE if we have disturbed you. Today is my birthday and a perfect reason to party."

What in advance? After people complained?It wasnt even there in the next morning. It only appeared when we came back late an night.

So, it was your birthday, and the whole block have to put up with your loud music at 3 am in teh morning, so that you can have your birthday party? Get lost! If everyone has a right to keep to whole block up if it is their birthday, we will have a party every week.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

A party-above you

It is 2 minutes to 12 o'clock, and the flat of above you is having party.

Ah neh music
Ah neh dance.
Pounding the dance floor-which is my ceiling.

DO you think i should go up with a cleaver or a broomstick.

My peace in this block of flat of civilised neighbour get disrupted because of this stupid ah neh. Damn it.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Fed-up

人善被人欺? 好心没好报?

I am totally fed-up. I am fed up of people trying to put things into my mouth.

I am fed-up of someone saying that I find others a trouble, when I have never felt that way, and definitely never say or hinted anything about it! That undermine my friendship with others! 不要把你的问题转到别人的身上去!把被人也拉下水。Sigh.

I am fed up of having to use these phrases so many times in one day: "No, that is not true", "We did not say that!"

And I am totally fed-up, when I try to help others, and they turn back and bite me.

不要在我的面前说我的朋友的丈夫好可爱。。。。。不要故意所一些话让别人以为他也对你也有兴趣!听了就发火。不要在我的面前暗示你们私下有来往。听了就发火!For goodness sake. What would people think when they hear it? And I bet that guy don't even know what you say about him behind him! What do you want me to do? Go and tell my friend? haha... Nope. You wish! You want to flirt, go and flirt far far away. Damn it. Don't come and disturb my friends. I might explode one day. You dun want to bear the brunt of my explosion. Just ask my little brother. He quickly wished the person good luck, when I say I might explode. 哈哈

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

£25 congestion charge for 4x4! Hurray

I am evil, I am sooo happy that they are gonna slap £25 to those gigantic 4x4 and big cars. No, I am not an envious wretch who wants a slice of the rich. I am just an angry driver, and have some conscience for the environment. These gas guzzlers are not only bad for the environment, they should not be used in the narrow London roads as well! My little car would be squeeze while parked between them. I can always spaces between two of these huge cars are almost always wasted. Only a tiny car like mine could get in. And I know these owners know that they waste the next parking space. Some of them did not bother to park in the "centre". If they take up two spaces when parked, and two tiny lanes (et at junctions, you cant go straight because this car which is turning right partially block your lane), then it is just right to get them to pay! No one needs such a big car in the city.

On the other hand, I am disappointed that they are going to have only 3 categories. exempted- £0, normal (£8) and those suv £25. Between 0 to 8£, i wish that they have a £4, for people who bought smaller cars, but these cars are not small enough to meet the 120g requirement.

The TUBE should pay me money, to stay away

Yes, I am a curse and jinx to the london tube, or maybe the tube is a curse for me.

I rarely take the tube but for the last couple of times I took it, whole lines closed because of signal failure, people jumping on tracks. Is it me, or is the Tube that bad?

I cant recall a single outing in the past 3 months where there was no incident or delays to the line.

At minimum, like yesterday on my way "out", I was told there is a bit of delay on my train because someone was sick. On my way back, they line had to be closed for whatever reason. I was just so tired, that i sat at the platform and just read newspapers, until the line resumed again. I was lucky I guess, because they close the line in another direction for a much longer time.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Another CNY

This was my third CNY here.

CNY here is different from CNY at home.

There is no new clothes, and no ang pows, no decorations etc. We also did not have the usual CNY food like lap chiong, cookies, etc. Most of these things could be bought here, but they are very expensive. Moreover, this year, the 1st day of CNY fell in the middle of the week, where it is just another normal working day.

Nevertheless, we had friends over for a steamboat. Steamboat is becoming a norm for us, I guess. It is the simplicity of wash, cut, dump and eat. That leaves a lot of time for talk talk talk. And this is also the "dish" which allowed us to have chicken, pork, fish, cuttlefish, prawns, crab.. etc without sweating it out or burn a deep hole in the pocket.

Yes, there is something missing. In fact, I found that I could hardly "detect" or "feel" another year had passed. Time just seem to flow continuously, without some punctuations which mark the beginning of another year. Every day is just another day. The only sign of passing time is the change of seasons. Change of activities. Change in the clothes you need to wear. Change in the number of hours you need to sleep. And as winter is coming to a close, the cherry trees begin to blossom.

That is life... am I missing anything?

Saturday, January 19, 2008

very simple blueberry cake

Ingredients

  • 9 oz blueberries - fresh is best, but if berries are frozen, thaw and drain
  • 1 box lemon cake mix
  • 1- 8 oz container of lemon or vanilla yoghurt
  • 4 eggs

Directions
  1. Mix everything together in a bowl except the blueberries. Beat for 2 minutes until well mixed. Fold in the blueberries. Pour mixture into a greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until done.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Don't mess with me, cos....

....I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king.......

Damn I have the worst of both worlds. Weak and feeble like a woman. Always faint here faint there.. and heart of a king--? sure die young of heart attack... stomach? Die. All kings have protruding bellies, but not pregnant.


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

self defense

人善被人欺

My mum used to tell me all the time when I was little, because I was always being bullied. Unfortunately, even at this age, I still have not fully mastered the art of self-defense, or what they call "assertiveness". Even my assistant could jokingly threaten me by saying," ... if I am not happy, I will not do this for you...", as if it is not enough what I ask her to do always went to the bottom of list of things that need to be done. Well, someone else need to be sucked up, and prioritized.

That was her lucky day, so I spared her a joke..."Hmmm....by the way, who will do your performance appraisal? If I am not happy... well...." and gave her the most evil laugh....

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Free internet access???

The stupid hotel did not have my booking, and therefore had no room for me. So, I had to come back "later" for a room. Finally i got a room, a nice room- top floor... yeah!!).Alright, it is a disabled person room with no bath tub, no minibar, no drinking water. Fine. Then i realised that the ironing board did not work, one of the light bulbs was not working, and that made the room dim and difficult for me to do my work, except when I sit at the table. No reading on sofa, or bed. Nvm.. the best thing was the water began to flow out of the shower because the bloody drain hole was choked, despite the low water pressure (that was another annoyance, it took me a long time to shower!). I called the housekeeping many times, but did not even get through. the reception then asked me to call later. I did as instructed and some dim wit told me that it is too late already. Maintenance & housekeeping no longer operate, why didn't I call earlier???!!!

I then asked about my internet access, only to have them tell me that my room has no access. I can use the business centre, go to the lounge on 2nd floor(which was full) or pay for the wired broadband! I was going to scream! My boss booked this hotel because she thought that will give me free internet access, in my room! Doesn't this sounds free?

"Complimentary High Speed Internet Access
Benefit from complimentary high-speed Internet access during your stay at The Xurlington Hotel. Wired broadband access is available in every bedroom and wireless access is available to guests using public areas including the lobby and business centre "

Then the smart aleck offered me a solution, asked me to change rooms. Bloody idiot, changed me to a lousy room, and internet access worked for a while. Then, it all stopped. I feel so cheated. I feel like this was revenge for my complaints. Now I sit at the executive lounge, because they give me a "nice room" (which has many broken things, including a shaky table). I will get all my water supply from this lounge, since this stupid hotel charge so much for a bottle of distilled water from the minibar, since for some unknown reasons, I started to have diarrhoea a few hours after I boiled some water with old looking kettle and drank it... Hotels in Europe and US often irritate me. May be I am too demanding, but they really suck compared to Asian hotels. Forget about sending people here to train for hospitality management. Asian countries can start offering courses about how to give good services to these block heads.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wo Zhen De Shou Shang Le / I've Really Been Hurt
Jacky Cheung

Chuang wai yin tian le yin yue di sheng le
Outside the window it's cloudy, the music is hushed
Wo de xin kai shi xiang ni le
My heart begins to think of you

Deng guang ye an le yin yue di sheng le
The lighting is lowered too, the music is hushed
Kou zhong de mian hua tang ye yong hua le
The cotton candy in the mouth has melted too

Chuang wai yin tian le ren shi wu liao le
Outside the window it's cloudy, I am bored
Wo de xin kai shi xiang ni le
My heart begins to think of you

Dian hua xiang qi lai ni yao shuo hua le
The phone rings, you want to speak
Hai yi wei ni xin li dui wo you xiang nian le
And I had thought that your heart was missing me again
Zen me ni sheng yin bian de leng dan le
How is it your voice has become indifferent
Shi ni bian le shi ni bian le
You have changed, you have changed

Deng guang shi mie le yin yue jing zhi le
The lighting has extinguished, the music has been stilled
Di xia de yan lei yi ting bu zhu le
The dropping tear cannot be held back either

Tian xia qi yu le ren shi bu kuai le
The skies begin to rain, I am unhappy
Wo de xin zhen de shou shang le
My heart has really been hurt

Wo de xin zhen de shou shang le
My heart has really been hurt





Monday, October 15, 2007

Party and food

Yesterday was the Hari Raya, so we went out to get some free food. Hmmm food always seems better when it was the Hari Raya, as opposed to CNY. No questions as to why.

I made my niang Yorkshire pudding again (hubby was hinting so much), and as there was too much left over stuffing, i stuff them into tau fu pok, just like niang dou fu. Not to bad. got to make a note that I was too heavy handed with teh Sage yesterday. The Sage from Asda is more powerful from that from Tesco, and I must use it sparingly! Pity I did not take a photo! I made so much! Oh yeah, I should not say I made it. Hubby told everyone he did it. Hahaha.. but not sure why they come to me for recipe instead. I should ask them to go to him.

Another note.. not to buy the Yorkshire pudding from Tesco value- they are so out of shape! The sainsbury and Asda versions as much better.

I will make it again in 2 weeks time when we do the steamboat thingy! I wonder how I can find teh proper fish meat for a real niang dou fu...

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum: Age

I think I am old. I actually Google to find out more about The Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum..after reading about it in Bisoumoi's blog. I actually can read about religion without rationalising, and use my "scientific thinking" to break them down into mere common sense or philosophy, or worse still-utterances of a schizophrenic.

I was first taught this chant by my uncle, probably when I was in early teenage years- I was told me to chant it if I feel those things around me. Yeah, those were the freaky times- I heard a woman singing at the back lane of my house - a known "dirty" place and I also could tell "something happened"- when I went to a friend's place and went to the toilet. Yeah, something happened. It was a murder scene, and her family soon had to move out. Freakish. And so, I was taught this chant. I was not interested, and had to remember it as "Oh money buy me home"- and thought how could you chant for money? Young as I was , I knew money could buy only a house, not a home. That was it. I did not bother to learn more. Yeah, there were a couple of times I had to chant it...but that was it.


Purifies
Samsaric Realm
Om
bliss / pride
gods
Ma
jealousy /
lust for entertainment
jealous gods
Ni
passion / desire
human
Pe
stupidity / prejudice
animal
Me
poverty /
possessiveness
hungry ghost
Hung
aggression / hatred
hell