Beautiful Rainbow Day

Thursday was a beautiful rainbow day! It was lunchtime when Sharon returned home. She had never done this before, Thursday being her half-day off and she would take her children swimming, returning only in the evening, just before dinner.

"Surprise!" she said as she came into the house. I looked up and there was my younger daughter Grace! Surprise indeed! I couldn't believe my eyes. Grace lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

"Surprise, mummy!" said Grace. Then my younger sister Doris walked in. Huh??? I thought, when Doris also said, "Another surprise coming." I was quite light-headed by then. Wow, another surprise???? I ran out the door and there to my final surprise was my sister Ellie.

This was a super surprise, my daughter Grace and my two sisters, all having flown in to celebrate my birthday! It really made my day. I still couldn't absorb the fact that all three of them were really here, in Kota Kinabalu to celebrate my birthday. To me a birthday, especially my birthday is just another day, another milestone that reminds me of the journey so far with the end looming. However each milestone passed is a bonus these days.

We passed the next hour catching up. My youngest sister Rosalind had wanted to come along too but had stayed back because her two girls were returning home on Saturday from Melbourne but she sent her love and her present. Since Sharon would be fetching her children and taking them swimming, I decided to take both my sisters for a short city tour as they had not been here for a long time. Doris' last visit was more than 20 years ago while Ellie's last visit was more than 10 years ago. There would be changes that they hadn't seen.

As usual the traffic jam was an irritant but we managed to point out the landmarks that have come into existence. A drive to Tg Aru Beach and the resort hotel, past the Kinabalu Golf Club, then on to Sutera Harbour Resort with its lovely golf course, past the KK Times Square & the newly built shopping complexes, heading into town going through the central business district and the latest shopping centre cum boutique hotel under construction drew admiring comments from my sisters. Kota Kinabalu had certainly changed.

Then we headed to Tun Fuad Park for ABC or ice kacang, a cold dessert concocted from ice shavings, palm sugar, red beans, black jelly, atap seed, etc. It was certainly a favourite thirst quencher and we had pisang goreng and cempadak goreng ( snacks of fried banana and a fragrant fruit, kin to the jackfruit )to boot. So up the short flight of stairs cut into the hillside we went, to walk off the calories ingested before dinner that evening.

We walked around the park and cut across the wooden bridge across the lake before returning to the car to brave the evening traffic jam. We came home to our residence on the hill to enjoy the beautiful sea breezes wafting in. It was such a wonderful feeling to walk in the garden feeling the strong seabreeze fanning our faces, drinking in the sweet fragrance of a single large pink rose dancing in the wind. There is no place like home, more so when my sisters and younger daughter are there.

Surprise but then again......

What a surprise when the ducktour leader in our amphibious

vehicle Darlene suggested that we might want to visit the

Barrage. She pointed it out to us as we were returning to land

after a short cruise on the Singapore River. I looked in the

direction she indicated and could see only what appeared to be

a huge pipestructure floating in the sea in the far distance.

She said that that area had been earmarked for processing sea water into fresh water! She added that Singapore's water agreement with Malaysia would end in a couple of years' time and as such Singapore had to look for alternative ways to get their own water.

Wow, I thought. Not too long ago Singapore had already come out with a first. Her scientists had recycled and processed waste water into drinking water. At first the reaction was kind of " Gosh, is it really potable? Is it really safe to drink?" I myself was given a bottle when I attended an outdoor event featuring artistes flying through the sky at night and the whole area was flooded with people who had gathered for the evening's musical entertainment by foreign artistes. I looked at the bottle in my hand and I looked at other people who had also been given these bottled water. Some were drinking and I thought "why not?" At worst, it would give me a tummy ache.

So I drank from the bottle as it was a hot and humid evening and I was perspiring a lot. Hmmmm.....it tasted just like any other water. No bad smell, no funny taste. So the scientists did do a good job in converting waste water into drinking water.

This being the case, it will not be a surprise if the sea water is really converted into fresh water to supply the needs of Singaporeans come the day they are not able to buy water from Malaysia or elsewhere. I knew I had to see this Barrage, where it was going to happen.

My son graciously drove us to the Marina Barrage in the evening when the sun would not be so hot. Since he himself had never been there, it took us sometime to find the way as all around that area was a huge development, the building of the integrated resorts and an enormous park by the bay. Lots of construction was going on and heavy vehicles were parked along the roadside. Besides, many foreign workers were cycling back to their quarters and Peter had to negotiate the narrow roads carefully. By the time we reached the Barrage area, large numbers of cars were already parked along the roadside and the small designated parking areas were full. I had no idea that there would be so many people here. But then it was a Sunday evening and Father's Day at that. Many families had come out to enjoy the evening.

We took a walk along the walkways jutting out into the sea.

Peeping over the edge of the long one, I noted that the sea on

one side where all the boats and ships were anchored, had waves

bobbing up and down as usual. However, on the other side, the

water scarcely moved. It was very flat and calm reflecting off the

sun's hot rays. Then my son said that there is a partition going all

the way down into the seabed. Oooh, I guess that must have been

the pipe-like structure which I had seen from afar while onboard

the Darlene.

We then walked back to the circular structure which looks
like a stadium but it isn't, and took the lift up to the top

and surprise!!

There is a large field with grass growing on the third floor!!!

Children were happily flying kites with their dads and other kids were running to and fro. Some women had hats on while others like me had an umbrella to shelter from the hot sun, even though it was already half past five in the evening. In fact it was so hot and the sun's rays did not allow me to take any photos. Wrong direction, you see. Such pity as it was very picturesque and the wind was blowing in from the sea. However, some people were still clicking their cameras. My son tried to take a few but then he had one hand sheltering the lens while he clicked with the other. In fact the sun was blazing hot and my eyes could not take the blinding light. In one picture I have my hand trying to shade my eyes. I wear transition glasses but they were not of any use under such strong light. My eyes are not what you would call normal as they have undergone surgery for glaucoma twice. They are ultra light-sensitive.

From the top we walked down the circular walkway to reach terra firma. Lots of ornamental plants have been planted and there are fountains as well. There is a small shop selling cold canned drinks and souvenirs. A restaurant is on the ground floor but I'm not sure if it is open. Maybe for dinner as there was a banner advertising seafood steamboat.

Even as we were leaving, more and more people were coming in. I guess to enjoy the sea breezes and to walk on the third floor where the green grass is.

I will no longer be surprised by what Singapore can do next. They have such capable people and incomparable expertise at hand.

Such a Relief!

Yesterday was a busy day. There were a few things which had to be done before our flight to Singapore. First of all I had to bring in the clothes that were hanging out on the lines. The weather was already very humid and unbearably hot even in the morning. I usually have the clothes on the lines by six in the morning and by 10:30 a.m. they would be dry as bones! However, I was checking my email when I heard the clock striking many times. OMG, it's already 11:00 and the clothes are still out!

I rushed out to bring them all in and as I was folding them, two pieces were not as dry as bones. Part of the waist bands were a tiddly damp, so I didn't fold them but hung them up indoors to dry. They would, by midday. No way was I going out into the heat just to hang two pieces of almost-dry pants.

Then I told my spouse that we ought to go for our lunch as there were a couple of errands to run as well. We shut the windows and he drove us to town. Then I looked at my watch. Oh dear! It was just about 10:30!! That meant that I had heard wrongly! The clock had struck nine times instead of ten. No wonder the two pieces of clothing were not absolutely dry! Another sign of age catching up! I believe the young people call this being "blur". I can imagine my niece saying, " Old folks nowadays very blur"! In local dialect the Chinese would say "Moong Char Char". My long-suffering spouse didn't say anything when I exclaimed that it was too early for lunch! I guess he's used to my being "blur".

The bank was the first stop. He had a check to deposit and we were at the cheque deposit machine. It's astounding how most things are done via machines now. He has never deposited a cheque before and was quite "blur" how to go about it. Well, I've done it before so I more or less tapped the first few steps on the screen. Then it came to tapping in the account number, which he did. Oh, horror of horrors! The screen came back with the words " Invalid account number"!

"Hey, you sure you got the right numbers?" I asked him. I thought there were a couple of digits still missing as accounts have a certain number of digits, either ten or twelve, I can't actually remember. Then he keyed in again and this time the machine went on to the next step which was to key in the amount on the cheque. This he did and then a red light flashed on, in the slot where the cheque was to go in.

This was the part where I was also "blur". Which way should I put the cheque, the logo on the right side or left side? The red light was flashing all the time. Ah... there was a picture of a cheque in the slot so quickly I placed the cheque the way it was indicated and the machine greedily sucked it in! Then a printout appeared and my spouse took it. " That's it?" he asked. "Ya, that's it." That was his first experience of depositing a cheque and it was successful. What a relief! Case of the blind leading the blind.

The next stop was the pharmacy. Kelly the pharmacist was there. I asked for face masks and a decongestant as I still had the tail end of a cold. She told me to be careful as her friend was quarantined in Singapore for 7 days the previous week. She asked if I had a fever and I replied in the negative.

Purchases complete, we went to a nearby coffee shop for chicken rice lunch. This particular small corner shop serves good chicken rice. The rice is fragrant and the portion of chicken is generous. We chose the steamed chicken rather than the fried one. I normally eat very little rice but when it comes to chicken rice, I usually polish off the plate! That's the greedy me! I love fragrant rice, whether it is chicken rice or nasi lemak, the latter being rice cooked in coconut milk. Both these rice are fattening and not good for one's cholesterol levels. But what the heck? Eat while we still can is the usual line you hear among seniors these days.

Come 3:15 p.m. it was time to head to the airport to check in first so that we could bring the car back home. Then when our daughter returned from work she would then send us to the airport to be in time to catch the flight. The traffic was horrendous! From four lanes, the traffic had to squeeze into two lanes as we approached the area where a flyover was being constructed. It didn't help that impatient motorists were trying to cut in from left and right! I hated these queue cutters! If I was in a good mood I would let someone cut in but more often than not, I would move my car very close to the one in front so that the errant motorist would not have a chance to squeeze through. If others can queue, why can't he or she? Yep, there are women drivers who cut queue too. However I wasn't in the driver's seat and my sedate spouse just let people cut in. No wonder his blood pressure is very normal, whereas mine tends to spike whenever I drive.

At last we managed to get to the airport and I went to do the necessary while he went to find parking. This is a recurring nightmare as the terminal does not have a designated parking area for cars and you can see cars parked everywhere, ignoring the double or single yellow lines. The carpark there is only for staff parking. This might be because the terminal has been deemed to be a temporary one until the expansion at the main terminal is completed. Might be another couple of years by the looks of how things are progressing at a snail's pace. Anyway he left the car along a spot with yellow lines just like the other drivers. You know, there's company, so you don't feel so bad. Nevertheless he was closeby, ready to drive off should the traffic cop come along.

Finally the counter opened, our bags were checked in and we drove home, no cops around. I had enough time for a drink and a bun before the children came running in through the door. "Hello, Poh-poh, Kong-kong," they chimed. My daughter told her father, " Let's go" and he said "So soon?" and her reply " Ya, the traffic is heavy and it will take some time to get across the road (at the bottom of the hill)". So off we went. By the time we crossed the road, I realised that I had forgotten my eye drops. Sigh! Blur again! I didn't tell my daughter or she would find it very stressful to have to turn the car around and go through the hassle of the heavy traffic. I can picture her saying " Mummy, why don't you ever make a list? That way you won't forget." Ah, my dear daughter, I always forget the list that I'm supposed to do. I usually count off my fingers. Anyway, it's just for a few days. The eye will just have to behave.

"Did you take your panadol?" came the reminder from our daughter. "Yes, I did and I made daddy take too", although he didn't see why he had to since he didn't have any fever. This was a precaution she insisted upon so that we wouldn't be quarantined on arrival at Changi. I had been having a cold for the last couple of weeks and although it was tailing off, she said I had better err on the side of caution. Surely I don't want to spend a week in quarantine over there. We agreed and dutifully took the panadol.

I found that I didn't have to wear the face mask after all. No one did and I wasn't about to draw attention to myself by wearing one! The interior of the airplane was very cold. You could see the cold air streaming down from the vents. I guess they upped the coldness probably because of concerns that someone might have the virus and ...... well, I honestly don't know but this is definitely the first time that I can actually see the cold air streaming down.

We landed twenty minutes earlier than scheduled but by the time we completed all formalities half an hour had elapsed. We had walked past the thermal scanner without a hitch and I looked around to see if anyone had been called aside. Thankfully I didn't detect any. What a relief that we are now in Singapore. No quarantine so we can look forward to a pleasant Father's Day weekend with our son, who is working here.

Lovely surprise

On Tuesday afternoon, I was cleaning the fish which I had just bought when the telephone rang. It rang for a while before I picked it up as I had to wash my fishy hands first.

A melodic young voice asked, " Is that Auntie Peggy ?"
"I'm Gillian and my sister Grace is with me. Are you free? May we come and visit you?"

My heart gave a leap of delight. " Of course you may! Where are you?"

"We're at the Tg Aru Beach Hotel. We'll be there in fifteen minutes!"

What a lovely surprise to hear from Gillian. She and Grace had come to me for English Language tuition when they were in primary school and I taught them through to Form Five. They were lovely young girls, very intelligent and vivacious. Grace is the older sibling and went on to train as a doctor in Cambridge University in the UK while Gillian graduated as a vet. She loves animals. I hadn't seen them since they left Malaysia so it was a huge surprise to hear from them although I did contact Gillian recently through Facebook and saw how she has grown into a lovely lanky lass.

I quickly cleaned up the fish and put them away into the refrigerator; then opened the sliding door in the living room to let in the lovely seabreeze. Staying on our own, we rarely are downstairs, hence our sliding doors are not left open. I could hardly contain my excitement at the thought of seeing the two sisters.

Soon a horn tooted and I buzzed the electronic gates open to let them in. A smart looking white four-wheel drive came in and out popped Gillian. She is as pretty as she looked in Facebook, very fair, with a lovely smile and a beautiful complexion that would be the envy of many.

"Where's Grace?"

"She's feeding the baby in the car. He hasn't finished his bottle yet."

"A baby? Oh.... I must see him!" and I rushed out to the car and there they were, Grace with a baby in her arms, feeding the adorable little tyke in the back of the car. Not long after, Grace and her baby came into the house.

"Everything looks the same, Auntie Peggy. You look the same too!"

I could feel myself grinning like a cat that got the cream, so happy was I to see these two lovely sisters. We caught up on where everyone is. Gillian is located in Hong Kong while Grace is still in the UK. She said she had given up practising as a doctor and retrained as an accountant. Wow! She is really good, isn't she? Both are very demanding disciplines and she has excelled in both. They gave me updates on the other girls who had also come to me for tuition. They have all done very well but none of them are currently residing in Sabah. A pair of siblings are in the UK and another pair in Hong Kong while another is in Australia.

This is the sad part. Many of our brilliant young Malaysians who study abroad and train as highly qualified professionals opt to make their homes overseas and come back only for holidays and to visit parents and relatives.

Grace's 5 month old baby is called Conrad and she said that it is a small world indeed as her husband also knows my son and they had met up in London in a mutual friend's place. Incidentally, Grace and my son Peter went to the same university. Then Gillian mentioned that she also knows my niece's husband who is also a vet working in Ocean Park, Hong Kong. It is indeed a small world.

Gillian took some photos and pretty soon it was time for Conrad to go back to his dad who was waiting to take him for a swim back at the hotel. In my excitement at seeing them I forgot completely about taking photos with my camera... sigh.!.... senior's lapse...... so I dont have any pictures to upload. Baby Conrad looks like his uncle, Gerald, whom his sisters lovingly call Ler Ler. Ler Ler also came to me for some tuition and he's a very bright young man. He's obtained his Masters degree and is currently working in the UK too. So their mum spends her time between the UK and Hong Kong and Gillian said, " Guess where she is most of the time?"

Well, grandmas are grandmas. We dote on our grandchildren and the little ones exert great pull over us. My two grandchildren are now in Singapore with their dad as it is the school vacation. He lives and works in Singapore so they usually spend their holidays with him. I have them during term time and I'm so blessed that they live with me for the greater part of the year.

I'm very happy that Gillian and Grace dropped by to visit and I'm thrilled to see Conrad. It's such a pleasure to see that they still remember me and have enough regard for me to come by. I guess this is one of the "perks" of being a teacher, being remembered and acknowledged. Indeed I'm very proud that my former students have all done very well in life, whether at home or abroad. Through the thirty years of being in the field of education, thousands of students have gone through my hands and I'm happy to have been part of their formative years.