Still Clearing

It took a lot longer than initially planned, and the heavy rain outside made the decision if whether to stop or carry on a bit more straight forward. We carried on until the rain subsided, just in time for some food.

It looked that the maids would have to return next weekend, and Anita had to stock up on more boxes and bubble wrappings.

Bundles of clothes tucked awayAll in good shapeStacks of old giftsThis was from our wedding in 1997Counting the cost I was sure ....Now that most of the items had been nearly stacked into boxes, we had to plan the logistics of getting them either next door to my brother-in-kaw place for storage, to apartment or to be disposed of to charity or sold off. Car boot sale? Nah! Don't really fancy that ......

Cleaning Cemerlang House

Puan Anita and the maid - I was on call being my excuse - spent the weekend clearing up our Taman Cemerlang stuff before the planned sale. And oh boy, did we have a lot of junk. I was there on Sunday lunch as some of the stuff may need selling, while some would be transfered later to our apartment.

It looked like we would be making a small fortune if we were to sell the old stuff. We even had plenty of our wedding present - from 1997 - which were still wrapped up in their original package. Then came the children stuffs, my old photography equipment - projectors, developing equipment and my old stack of slides which needed to be dispose of. So much junk!

There were three floors to clearFound Idlan's old walkerWe would be giving away the boys' old stuff to charity, but not before getting a proper lorry to transport them. Some of them we would pass to family members while some may be kept for momento.

The fridge, washing machine, TV and beds would be transported to the apartment in the coming weeks. We would need a lorry for that, and removal help.

Found stacks of old slidesThis was the mid to late 90s I thinkFound Irfan's old pramAnd our beloved 10-year-old DysonThen would come time to clean the house. Both inside and the surrounding landscape. The maid would have to work overtime .....

A Bit Rusty

I managed to escape from the hospital after seeing a few admissions and was able to join Anita and Idlan during his swimming lesson. It had been a couple of months since his last class and even the coach was saying that Idlan needed a bit more practice.

In fact, at one point, he was giving up and ran off the pool. Poor boy. Took a bit of persuasion and since he was the only student on the empty pool, the lesson finished early. We ended up having afternoon tea by the pool instead.

He would need to be ready for mote next weekend ...... He certainly was a bit rusty.

Searching for Sugar Man

I learned about this documentary just before this year's Oscars. It was about a musician who despite such a profound music, did not hit the big time and folded into the unknown.

But such was the power of his music, he gained fame in the repressed Apartheid era of South Africa. The youth of the day picked the music up without knowing much about the musician behind it, and it took the effort of a couple of music writers to trace him up using the powers of early internet.

So, Sixto Rodriquez was rediscovered from the unknown and he became an overnight sensation, at least in South Africa. And this sweet journey was documented with such passion into this wonderful short movie by a couple of Swedish documentary maker, Searching for Sugar Man.

An insight into this fascinating man, who even today remained through and humble, undeterred by this overdue-found fame. I caught this movie last night on the Sundance Channel. It was an independent documentary movie at its best, and fully deserved its Oscar and Bafta awards which they won. Highly recommended. And I've surely found my Sugar Man.

Crash at Genting

It happened that the next few entries were from my trip to Genting last week. It had nothing to do with the catastrophic accident yesterday afternoon. We actually passed that stretch of the Genting road, and it was true that vehicles tended to ignore the speed warning around there. It was a one way stretch, three lanes wide, allowing the speed demons amongst us to open the throttle. Not exactly a good idea when you have a bus-load of people with you.

The irony was, the bus went off the cliff not far from a designated run-off area - a small mount with soft track and sand which allow vehicles with brake problems to veer off safely. We were talking about 20 meters away here. So, brake failure might not be the problem here, but I do not want to speculate.

I have therefore decided to delay those entries for a week or so until the the stories about the crash went below the radar a bit. Alfatihah and condolences to those who perish ......