Book of the Week: Shadowlands by Peter Straub (yup, still there)
Yesterday, Number Two and I went out to the scuzziest street in town (it’s always been in the news at some point or other – but more often of late, no thanks to all the problems with asbestos). Nothing sleazy – it was work. There have been calls from a couple of local councillors to just knock the whole street down and we had to talk to people there about what life was like in the armpit of Fife.
It was a most interesting – and surprisingly, not at all intimidating – experience. I got my first whiff of pot / grass / weed (whatever it was, it was absolutely stinking) when one very stoned out resident came to the door – when he opened the door, I swear you could see the flies in the stairwell drop like… well, flies. The cloud of whatever he had been getting high on came out like a backdraft. I’m surprised he managed to answer as coherently as he did (which isn’t really saying much – and they were mostly yes / no questions anyway, not like I wanted to prolong the interview). After he shut the door, I turned around to Number Two who was at the other door and made a “smoking” gesture just to double-check if I had smelled what I thought I did.
Met people who were just desperate to get out – called the street Fife Council’s “dustbin” – and I could see why. One guy on the top floor had mushrooms growing out of the loft. Another woman related how her partner had broken into the homeless flat across from theirs at least twice, once to stop a woman from being strangled. And apparently, there are needles out back. There’s nothing wrong with the flats – it’s the street that’s the problem. Basically, the hardware’s OK, but the software’s shite. There are a lot of decent people living there who, if they could, would transport their flats somewhere else. Nobody wants to live next to druggies, serial offenders, ex-cons (whose exact crimes are unknown), teenage thugs, or deadbeat parents popping out the next generation of ASBO kids faster than a hen can lay eggs.
I came back almost three hours later feeling in need of a mental and physical soaking in Dettol. I felt dirty, but also incredibly thankful and blessed that I’m living in a clean, warm, cozy flat with decent neighbours – and in a warped kind of way, wishing we could do exercises like this more often, not sit in the office and squeeze an article out of someone who was there (as opposed to our actually being there). Really, some of the stories we heard yesterday!
Post-lunch, Gareth, Wilson (our new Couchsurfing friend from Brazil) and I went for a drive and had a lovely, slow afternoon out exploring Culross. It was quite the barrel of laughs – we made jokes about Wilson not hearing anything through his beanie, played on the teeter-totters, took photos of Gareth on his mobile phone while on an elephant (“It’s a trunk call!”) and Gareth fell off the swing and overstretched his tummy muscles. Stopped to say hi to a doggie and his little old lady owner and met Dougie Vipond. We also went to Koi for a scrummy Japanese dinner afterwards. I’ve especially enjoyed hosting Wilson – I do love spending time with Gareth, but it gives a whole new dynamic to the weekend when someone is staying over. After we got home, I got a secret and kinda special card from Gareth, which contained clues to my very own personalised Easter egg hunt. It was so great!
Today, I went for Easter service. My first church service since I moved over last May. Was never really sure which church the united congregation had chosen to worship in – thought it was St John’s, but of course, as things are wont to turn out when I think something, it was in St Peter’s. It’s really quite a beautiful church. Airy, bright, high ceilings, stained glass windows. Half the time I wasn’t paying attention to the service for gazing at the red and blue lattice pattern behind the altar. The children’s performance (two songs – and repeated!) was a bit toe-curlingly cringeworthy, in that it was obvious they hadn’t rehearsed, didn’t know the words and were obviously not interested in being there. I tuned out and flipped to “Be Thou My Vision”, just to see if I could still remember the words (I can, but just). The purple hymnal was a bit pants, I thought – only treble clef notes, and all single ones at that. It was an Easter service, but it certainly didn’t feel like the Easter services I am familiar with, and fond of. Didn’t have that joyful exuberance that is so evident back home when celebrating the risen Christ.
So, overall, a bit of a mixed bag weekend, but an extremely eye-opening and very fun one. We have a new friend. I got to do something new for work. Went to church. Looking forward to more such weekends in the spring and summer.
Factoids of the Week:
The philtrum is the two wavy lines connecting the bottom of your nose to your top lip.
Posh word for someone who constantly picks boogers: rhinotillexomaniac.
I always thought it was hypochondriac, but there’s another word for people who are extremely concerned about their health: valetudinarian.
Hypocorism is the act or use of giving a pet a name.
The adjective for something which is of or to do with the alphabet is abecedarian.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Winds Of Change?
Book of the Week: Shadowland by Peter Straub
Turned on the laptop during the Scotland-England Six Nations match yesterday, and got an even bigger shock than Scotland leading 9-3 at half-time. It was Election Day back home in Malaysia and I reckoned the eight-hour difference would mean it would be about time the results would have started coming in. It was the first time I would not be voting since I became eligible to do so, and what I saw made me wish all the more that I could have been back home to have been a part of it.
For not only had the first winners been announced, the Opposition was actually keeping pace with Barisan for the first time since 1969. It was nail-biting, and, at the same time, a little too heady to the point of disbelief. All the talk and dissatisfaction that has been brewing in Malaysia, particularly in the last 10 years, has usually amounted to naught when it comes to the ballots. But this time, it really did seem that people were going to do something about racial tensions, rising crime and illegal immigration, corruption, nepotism and Barisan arrogance.
And boy, did they do it with a vengeance. They voted the Opposition into power in five states, including the two richest and most industrialised, in Malaysia: Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan. There are more Opposition MPs and state assemblymen in power than there ever have been in the near 40 years. Best of all, Lim Guan Eng is the new Penang chief minister, a moral and political vindication if there ever was one. If you are going to stick two fingers up to the Barisan Government for incarcerating you just because you did the right and proper thing of condemning a former chief minister, and a Barisan crony to boot, for statutory rape, this is exactly how to do it in style!
Post-results, Barisan continues to stick its head in the sand. Oh, the people still love us, they just wanted to teach us a lesson. They voted according to sentiment, not according to the merits of the candidates. Yeah, right! Obviously the people forgot just how qualified Barisan candidates are for the job: remind me again, exactly how did Khairy get appointed national football manager... or get loans from ECM Libra (so where did that RM9.2million go, eh?)... or just about get his own constituency by default... oh yeah, because of his qualifications as the First Son-In-Law. And of course, Bung Mokhtar, that sexist, misogynist low-life from Sarawak is only qualified to make depreciating insinuations between leaks in the Parliament House and female anatomy. What merits? BN candidates leave a lot to be desired.
So today, Malaysia wakes up to a new political dawn. No more 91% majority for BN, despite all their dirty tactics, vote-rigging, phantom voters and character assassination. I would have loved to have seen BN just scrape through, but in the meantime a 63% majority will do very, very well. I seriously hope this is not a one-off. For all my bitching about Malaysia, it does have a special place in my heart and I want to see things right. I came here to get away from the shite, but my loved ones still live there. My hope is that there will be greater transparency and accountability in Malaysia, and above all, that we become an inclusive nation, where we are defined by who we are, not who we know or what race or religion we belong to. The people have voted for change, and I am so very proud to be Malaysian today.
Factoids of the Week:
The collecting of postcard is called deltiology.
A thimble collector is known as a digitabulist.
The fear of needles is known as belonephobia.
A gigantic frog that lived 70 million years ago in Madagascar was the size of a squashed beach ball and weighed up to 4kg. Beezelbufo (a.k.a. Frog From Hell) might even have snacked on baby dinosaurs.
Another frog factoid: the Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs using semaphore. It waves to signal rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.
Turned on the laptop during the Scotland-England Six Nations match yesterday, and got an even bigger shock than Scotland leading 9-3 at half-time. It was Election Day back home in Malaysia and I reckoned the eight-hour difference would mean it would be about time the results would have started coming in. It was the first time I would not be voting since I became eligible to do so, and what I saw made me wish all the more that I could have been back home to have been a part of it.
For not only had the first winners been announced, the Opposition was actually keeping pace with Barisan for the first time since 1969. It was nail-biting, and, at the same time, a little too heady to the point of disbelief. All the talk and dissatisfaction that has been brewing in Malaysia, particularly in the last 10 years, has usually amounted to naught when it comes to the ballots. But this time, it really did seem that people were going to do something about racial tensions, rising crime and illegal immigration, corruption, nepotism and Barisan arrogance.
And boy, did they do it with a vengeance. They voted the Opposition into power in five states, including the two richest and most industrialised, in Malaysia: Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan. There are more Opposition MPs and state assemblymen in power than there ever have been in the near 40 years. Best of all, Lim Guan Eng is the new Penang chief minister, a moral and political vindication if there ever was one. If you are going to stick two fingers up to the Barisan Government for incarcerating you just because you did the right and proper thing of condemning a former chief minister, and a Barisan crony to boot, for statutory rape, this is exactly how to do it in style!
Post-results, Barisan continues to stick its head in the sand. Oh, the people still love us, they just wanted to teach us a lesson. They voted according to sentiment, not according to the merits of the candidates. Yeah, right! Obviously the people forgot just how qualified Barisan candidates are for the job: remind me again, exactly how did Khairy get appointed national football manager... or get loans from ECM Libra (so where did that RM9.2million go, eh?)... or just about get his own constituency by default... oh yeah, because of his qualifications as the First Son-In-Law. And of course, Bung Mokhtar, that sexist, misogynist low-life from Sarawak is only qualified to make depreciating insinuations between leaks in the Parliament House and female anatomy. What merits? BN candidates leave a lot to be desired.
So today, Malaysia wakes up to a new political dawn. No more 91% majority for BN, despite all their dirty tactics, vote-rigging, phantom voters and character assassination. I would have loved to have seen BN just scrape through, but in the meantime a 63% majority will do very, very well. I seriously hope this is not a one-off. For all my bitching about Malaysia, it does have a special place in my heart and I want to see things right. I came here to get away from the shite, but my loved ones still live there. My hope is that there will be greater transparency and accountability in Malaysia, and above all, that we become an inclusive nation, where we are defined by who we are, not who we know or what race or religion we belong to. The people have voted for change, and I am so very proud to be Malaysian today.
Factoids of the Week:
The collecting of postcard is called deltiology.
A thimble collector is known as a digitabulist.
The fear of needles is known as belonephobia.
A gigantic frog that lived 70 million years ago in Madagascar was the size of a squashed beach ball and weighed up to 4kg. Beezelbufo (a.k.a. Frog From Hell) might even have snacked on baby dinosaurs.
Another frog factoid: the Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs using semaphore. It waves to signal rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.
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