life - THE DAYS AFTER THE HOLIDAY BEFORE

Firstly many apologies to anyone who may have visited this site and not seen any recent updates. I actually didn't realise anyone came here of their own accord or without being coerced so I say a big sorry to everyone but probably only Bert! (Sorry for ringing you up in the middle of your anniversary dinner!!) The updates will be more regular (cough) and I will include some insights on specially chosen moments of our UK tour with a brief stop over in Holland. Onto the subject title:

Of course, we got our usual 8 hour jet lag kick which meant when we arrived in Penang, it was only an hour until we got hungry so Grace (who as our greatest friend picked us up from the airport) and the Yeung family went out to taste good old fashioned Malaysian hawker food (deep fried tofu and wan tan mee topped with soya bean milk and jelly) but ended up going to bed at 2am. However due to a combination of being squeezed between 2 unsufferably warm people and a very confused body clock, I woke up at six o clock in the morning. Although this was not without trying to sleep on the sofa first and then Ben's very short bed second.

With the sunlight streaming over the distant hills, I pulled my eyes open to puruse my options and did a combination of the following: segregating fantasy league players, washing a lot of bedsheet material, restocking our fridge with tropical fruit, buying a typical Malaysian breakfast (wan tan mee, nasi lemak and roti canai - all destined to stoke up those chloestrol levels) - and despite my incredibly early wake up, we still managed to be half an hour late for the 11am service at our church!

Managed to stay awake through lunch and the early afternoon with only the spur of football practise to keep me from falling asleep (it's a belief of mine that exercise helps regulate the body clock) although driving Ai Hua halfway across island along very winding roads also helped! However when I drove to our training ground, it appeared that we had a friendly match against another team. And they were organised enough to have the same orange shirts. Uh oh.

So there I was, arrived from Manchester the previous night, with a black sock and a white boot on my left foot and a blue sock on a black boot on my right peg, probably a little rusty judging by my pre-match ball juggling but still the captain slots me right into the most demanding role - center midfield. By the end of the match, my hamstrings were tight but we were all happy enough as we panned them 7-1 and I managed to open the scoring for us. It was also satisfying not to be on the field when we conceded a horrific consolation. (It could have been for Team MK, Kaz mate!)

Immediately afterwards, I drove to meet up with the wife & kid for friends' birthday celebration dinner at my favourite restuarant, Pintail. Made it through my salad but when I got home, I just lay down on the cold, hard, marble floor and fell asleep immediately! However it dawned on me after a few minutes of swaying between consciousness and unconsciousness, it was a bit bright with the flourscent light on the ceiling so I moved onto the bed. Without a shower. Despite an hour of football. On a muddy pitch. I honestly didn't give a stuff. Yin Ping and Ben were far more normal because they got up at normal times!

Monday was the day Ben went back to school. Everything was going so swimmingly as Yin Ping woke him up, wiped his sweaty body, he took his morning leak UNTIL the first arm had to go into the hole of his uniform which resulted in a "I don't want to go to school" (in a fairly half hearted manner - he knows his mother means business unlike his soft father).

The wife and I enjoyed a rare day together in Penang, as she had the day off, which we started by spending two hours...queuing for the right to have her photo and details taken for her new Malaysian identity card. As romantic as sharing a room with 100 other impatient people was, we had to leave the office eventually to go for our next tete a tete - the banking corporation.

Eventually we did catch sometime away from other people as we wandered into a fully empty cinema to catch the latest in the Harry Potter installment. Whilst we did not take maximum advantage of the couples seat we were in (i.e. none of that cuddling, kissing thing), it did allow me to feel the full force of Yin Ping's legs when something dramatic happened. Which turned out to be quite a few times but at least she liked the film eh?

On the way down from the film in Island Plaza SHOPPING CENTRE, we came across a large selection of rugs being sold in a erm sale. I left her alone whilst perusing the synopsis of several novels and when I was asked to come back, she asked for my opinion – which when she is in the mood, doesn’t really matter. However it was difficult to read her mood this time, probably was probably genuinely indecisiveness, but the end result is the same. We know have a comfortable, blue (stands up to measure) 2 pace by 3 ½ pace rug in front of our sofa for us to sit on instead of a cold stone floor (which was also my excuse for not doing any sit-ups – so there is no good reason for us not to have rock hard abs!). Yin Ping's justification was that it was her celebration present...

Another usual Monday evening:
- of Football, first on the polo field (an amazing score of 11-3 to our team – usually they are 2-1 or something such),
- of Food, walked round the corner to the Chinese dinners that my in-laws enjoy,
- of Fun, well for Ben, as we utilized the stolen wheels of my brother’s F1 lego set to create yet another car wash (the spinning wheels you see!) fused with his lego pieces bought from Hamleys, London (that place is toy heaven!).

I did hope that the early 8am start would give my body clock accurate training for a good night’s sleep but it appears that as I write this at 5.17am, I have the dilemma of going to bed and doing nothing productive in the day (ring for job interviews, change engine oil) or staying awake for 36 hours solid...  ¶ 3:51 am