Practice makes Perfect

This Saturday would be the Sri Utama Musical for the year. Both Irfan and Idlan would be involved and again Irfan would be getting a prominent role right in the middle of the stage. From the looks of things, he was really looking forward for the big day, and have been practicing hard, including in the car. As of yesterday, he had lost his voice from shouting too much. Let's just hope that he would be OK on the day.

Similar to last year, the musical would be held in a hall in Sentul. They have had full rehearsal and I suspect the dress rehearsal would be tomorrow. Yup, my camera would be traveling with me on the day. So, come on boys! Let's have some!

National Geography Store

On the last afternoon I was in London, while walking past Regent Street, this store caught my eye. I was glad that I ventured in as they actually sell outdoor gears and gadget, from GPS, clothing to camera bags. Unfortunately, as I was not planning to do much shopping that day, I had to exist the nice T shirt the sold there.

The store was bigger than I thought with a themed cafe right at one end. The basement floor basically housed the outdoor gears, while the main floor, the cafe, the main clothing as well as area for exhibits, where should you be interested, you can buy some stunning photographs there. Unfortunately, they do not come cheap! The First Floor housed more clothing as well as books and guides. The bags they had there ranged small small pouch, to full on knapsack. They were rugged enough for the desert, and the pouches were all water-proved. The material was really light but sturdy and looking at it, I understood why it cost so much.

I had some hot chocolate at the cafe, while waiting for the rain to stop. It was pouring all afternoon, and I was not talking about gentle drizzle I was used to. After a while, I decided to walk the 200 yards to the Piccadilly Circus station, which took me back to Canary Wharf. It was straight to the airport after that.

Super 8

After work today, I decided to kidnap Anita and we went to watch a movie. This was the first time in nearly 2 years that we were able to watch a movie together. It was a spontaneous thing. None of the boys - who were with their Ustazah at the house - knew what we were up to. Not even the in-laws. We timed it just right, so we did not have to wait too long for the movie to start despite a nearly full theatre.

It was as good as it promised, and it went to show that it was possible to deliver a sic-fi blockbuster without needing to resort to an over the top special effects or goriness. I wouldn't spoil the storyline, but suffice to say that if you were into JJ Abram's movies, you would not be disappointed. The train crash scene at the beginning of the movie was nothing short of spectacular, although the movie did take a more subdued tone after that. The twists were predictable, but was subtle enough to be enjoyable. I thought the acting by the children were really good. It was RM16 well spent.

Cath Kidston

Not all of you might be familiar with the name. And so was I until Anita stumbled across some of their products while shopping at The Curve. It was from one of the stalls on the Sunday Market and it was a fake. Surfing the Net, Anita later found out that it was really a real brand, and she quickly fallen in love with it. I have to confess that it was not my cup of tea, but knowing Anita, she really liked the flowery stuff, so she insisted on me giving the main store a visit when I was in London. We later found out that the main branch was in Covent Garden, and courtesy of Google Map, I found the place. Damn you Google!

The shop was not very big, but oh my God, it was crowded. It was pretty clear that the brand had built up a big following especially amongst the Asian crowd. More than half the crowd in the shop that day were from Asia as far I could tell. Cath Kidston does many things and the shop has dresses - flowery ones of course - to bags, notepads, cups and mugs, books, and wallpapers even. After a 30 minute squeeze and a couple of phone calls to Malaysia, I managed to get what she wanted. And yes, Anita was happy with what I got for her.

There was also another Cath Kidston boutique at Heathrow Terminal 4 - where I got a bag for my Mum, but since I wanted to pack everything into the main luggage bag and travel light in the cabin, I decided to buy everything before I reached the airport. We have yet to find one of their outlets in Malaysia. I pray that one would be coming soon as I couldn't really afford regular trips abroad just to get their products for Anita!

Covent Garden

For the first couple of days in London, I had been trying to convince the others in my group to give Covent Garden a visit. Yes, some of them did ask if there was a garden there. Resisting to laugh, I explained to them that it was an old market, smack in the middle of town, right next to Chinatown. But on the first day, we were too tired to venture out, and on the third day, we went towards Bayswater instead. Finally, on the sunny Saturday afternoon, I got my wish.

I set out from Oxford Circus, taking on the crowd, walked through Carnaby Street and Soho towards Chinatown. I then took one of the back alley to the Cath Kidston Store - more on that later. Another turn, and I was right into the market. The bright sunny afternoon really lifted my mood - unfortunately the mood included shopping, after which I was broke. I spend a good couple of hours sat at the cafe, enjoying the scene as well as mingling with the crowd. There were many open cafes and beer gardens round there, and also street performers aplenty. On one side of the market, they had rows of stalls selling high quality artwork, which unfortunately did not come cheap. But if you actually have some extra cash, it was definitely worth spending there. I bought a few shirts for my boys at David and Goliath.

I topped off the afternoon by having some halal ramen at Chinatown. At the time, the West End crowd were building up for the evening show at the theaters. It was getting dark when I finally left. A nice day out indeed.