Saturday, June 25, 2011

Olympic Ramblings

Olympic Basketball place - pic taken from behind some bars - how apt!

There has been a lot of traffic jams, roadworks, road closures, bridge closure, bus route changes and not to mention dust in my area for the past couple of years. That's because I live in Stratford, London - that's right, where the Olympics will be held next year. I live just a few minutes away from the Olympic Park. Put it this way, I open my front door and look right, I can see the Olympic Village at the end of my road.

I remember when they first started the construction work on the site a few years back - Mr S would have to think many times before washing the car because just 1 day later, the car would be covered in a thick layer of yellow dust. And the dust would creep into our house too. Just a few hours after vacuuming and dusting, the floor would feel dusty, the dark mahogany of the piano would change into a murky lighter shade (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit here ;p) but truly, you could run your finger on the furniture just a few hours after wiping them with a damp cloth and already you would get some dust on your finger! (True Story!). Suffice to say, we had our share of hardships dealing with the huge construction project just a stone's throw away from our place. We suffered but we were also proud and excited to be so close to the action!


The Velodrome - so near yet so far!

The boys were excited about watching the swimming events and diving events live and I wanted to watch a few of the hockey matches (having played hockey at school) and badminton, hoping to catch Malaysia in action. Mr S was more interested to watch the athletic events and we didn't want to miss the opening ceremony, did we? So, when the tickets were opened for 'registration', we registered for around £1k+ worth of tickets - confident that we would at least get 'some' if not all. In case you didn't know, due to the expected high demand for tickets and in a bid to be 'fair' to all, all UK residents who wanted to attend the events needed to 'register' online for the tickets they wanted to buy and a scheduled ballot would then determine which tickets you would get to purchase.

If we were successful in the ballot, we would know by means of our money would be taken out from our account on the 31st May 2011. Mr S checked his account on that date and unfortunately for us, no money was deducted - which means we didn't get any tickets at all, NOT EVEN ONE!! The result was baffling for many people and left many disappointed. For us though, it was doubly so, knowing that we live so near the Olympic Park, (after all we had to go through during its construction!) and reading in the papers that some people got ALL the tickets they registered for (for several events!) when many others like us, got none at all! There's definitely something very unfair about that 'fair' ballot system!

It looks like we'll be watching the Olympic events from a TV screen after all. Maybe we should go back to Malaysia during the Olympics and watch from a TV screen in Seremban or Melaka. After all, a TV screen is a TV screen, no matter where you are it would be the same.

Damn that ballot system...

Or, wait, wait! Maybe I should just boycott the Olympics next year completely and just sulk...no, no, no..I should do my own 'Olympic race' instead! The events would coincide with our holy month, right? So why not I race my grandma/my mom who always khatam the Quran twice during Ramadhan? Come to think of it, what a great idea!

And totally impossible to achieve.

Sigh. Anyway, one more Ramadhan to go before that one. Here's hoping that I'll be getting a medal for that race this coming Ramadhan, huh?

Amin, InshaAllah.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A Little Update

Gawd...it's been ages since I last looked upon this blog of mine.

So many things to write about, don't know where to start! I've been busy, of course. But really, I have to remind myself again and again that this blog is important for myself and family, to record our lives and our children's stories and developments - otherwise all the precious moments would just fade away from our memories and finally simply disappear!

Baby N is already 9 mths old now masyaAllah..her favourite food is rice+ fish+carrots+cauliflower cooked until soft and pressed through a sieve. She also loves yoghurt and cheese and likes some cheesy omelette for breakfast! She has yet to crawl but is slowly moving her body and feet now to move around and to get to where she wants. But there's nothing wrong with her talking abilities - she's a magpie through and through, always noisy, yap-yapping and babbling all the time! MasyaAllah. :)

This week is an important week for the boys. It's their madrasah exam once again. Big H is already in class 5 now and Little H in class 4. Mr S is helping them with the memorising and he's been testing them with their surahs, hadeeths etc. when he comes back from work. Hopefully they will do well again this year inshaAllah..

I have problems feeding Little H nowadays - he's such a picky eater! He's gone really thin now that we jokingly call him 'stick boy' sometimes. It's not funny, I know, he NEEDS to eat!! Mealtimes are stressful indeed!

Big H on the other hand has put on some weight. He eats a lot and requests for all types of cheesy food from his poor mum. He's not fat but he's rounder than before - I love to watch him eat!

Alright, this is all the time I have for now. InshaAllah will update with more stories soon!