SETTING THE CLOCK FORWARD

The clock was set one hour forward. We are now officially in the summer clock time. So, now the time difference between England and Malaysia is seven hours. The sun is out this morning. But the weather is still cool. Since Hull is on the north-east of London, the weather is about 2 to 3 degrees cooler than London. Sekarang London would be around 14C but in Hull it is around 11 to 12C max.

LIVERPOOL

We went to Liverpool yesterday, the land of famous English football team and the Beatles. It was three hour drive from Hull across the country. From one port to another. As usual, the journey on the motorway always make me very drowsy. Apa taknya straight je. Since kat sini guna Miles instead of Km, its a bit hard to gauge how far was the journey. I didn't like Math. Anyway, Abang Annis pun bawa macam palesit. Looked at the spedometer hmm at least 100miles per hour. Hehehehe pejam mata lagi. Here the motorway is using numbers as a guide. So if you missed a turning, there would be a problem. What you can do is look out for another turning which will connect you with the original route. Hmmm pusing sikit sini pusing sikit sana.. viola! you'll back on the right track.

According to the brochure and the internet, the places of interest is at the Albert Dock. Its a famous tourists one-stop spot (supposed to be). However, when we reached there... erk! kosong tak de mende pun. Albert dock was a former warehouse, designed by Jesse Hartley in 1800. It was opened by Prince Albert in 1846. Albert Dock symbolises Liverpool's 19th century greatness as a world port. It was built to accomodate the biggest sailing ships of the day. Now it was converted into a mall selling (overpriced) souvenirs including Beatles' and cafes. Probably we went on the wrrong day. It may be very crowded during summer season. The weather yesterday, was chilling actually although it was a sunny day. There are other attractions near Albert Dock such as the Maritime Museaum, The Beatle Story or one can just take a stroll along the River Mersey. Otherwise you can take the amfibian ride (a cross between a bus and a boat) - around the city via the road or the river.

Across the Albert Dock lies the famous Yellow Submarine. Well, if you know the Beatle's song then you'll be delighted to see the concrete submarine smacked right in front of you. However, because of the Anti War rallies going all over England, this concrete cartoon looking submarine was also a "victim" of Anti War graffitty.

After a long walk along the river and took some pictures we decided to explore the city and just want to see their famous shopping area. Aik! Macam tak de orang aje. The roads around Albert Dock macam deserted. Its Saturday and yesterday was the pay day. Where is everybody? We asked a few guys and they directed us to the Williamson Square. This is THE PLACE. THE IN AREA. Where all the big shopping complexes are. The Bhs, Marks and Spencer. Cute boutiques such as Monsoon, Kookai are lining the streets. The Lord Street, Church Street, Whitechapel, Elliot Street and Bold Street where the Central Station is located are busy with people. These streets were converted into pedestrian walk and in the middle we can see stalls selling fruits and cheap clothes offering varieties to the people. Urgh! I got a headache just watching the crowd already!

ANTI WAR RALLY

Do I call myself lucky or cursed?

We were walking along the Brunswick Street towards the Fenwick Street when we heard a lound chanting. Whats that? Hehehehe it must be the anti-war gathering. Lets go. Yep! I am correct. There was an anti-war gathering at the Castle Street. I saw about 200 people marching at Castle Street. The protestors are mostly young people. But there are still a few makciks and pakciks in the rally. Ada juga Muslims participated in the rally. I got a few interesting snaps (I hope!!) of people shouting Anti-war slogans. and the cute policemen hehehehe. Like in Manchester. the policemen just watch the protestors. To ensure that they did not go out of line. There were several policemen on horses too.

There was this good article I read in Daily Mail about these rallies. How these teenagers or the young people took the opportunity of the rallies just to show their defiant towards the law and order. Anyway that is another story.

BRADFORD

From Liverpool, we drive to Bradford. There, we stopped at a mosque situated on top of the hill surrounded by houses. It is a big mosque, like the one in KLCC. Here the majority is Pakistani. I asked Abang Annis whether the Mat Salleh don't mind having a mosque very near to the houses. Abang Annis said here when the Pakistani moved in the English moved out, so there is possibility that the row of houses surrounding the mosque are all belong to the Pakistani. That is why in Oldham they have this unspoken rule - the Pakistani (muslim/colured) cannot enter the White area and the White will not enter the muslim/coloured area... hmmm

We had dinner at the Moghal's restaurant. It supposed to be very good. It is. But, last night, the service was very bad. We have to wait more than half-an-hour for our food comprise of briyani, chapatty, fish, chicken wings and minced beef kahree. The jug of mango lassi came first but we drank all of it before the food arrived. Asked for another jug of mango lassi.. lambat lagi. The owner's son said sorry and gave the drink free - on the house. Abang Annis was very disappointed. Nevertheless. Kenyang macam ular sawa. Balik rumah aje, mandi solat jamak and tidur.

NOT DISCRIPTIVE ENUFF EH?

A friend email me, said that my journal is not discriptive enuff. Iye ke? Alamak.

Anyway semalam keluar lagi. Marina is looking for a special dress for AIM. The day before when we went to Asda (A hypermarket which opens 24-hrs) we saw this store "Peacock". Nampak sangat nama dia macam binatang yang suka berlawa tuuuu.. She was excited already, coz we saw the same branch at Prince's Quay at the old town. The price? Boleh tahan la because now they are having a sale end of season. We are entering Spring. So now the shortest and skimpy-est tops are on the racks replacing the bulky winter clothes.

So after zohor off we walk to the store. It was about 20 minutes walk from Queensgate Street to Hessle Road. But it was still cool so walking is an enjoyable excercise (Apa taknya asyik makan.. makan... makan.. aje kerjanya). Most of the trees are still botak but birds started surveying for best spot for their nests hehehehe. There are a lot of shops at Hessle Road. Well, besides the normal shopping arcades or row of shops at the Hull town centre, the shops around here are mostly converted from houses (red-ugly brick houses). From infront we saw that the stores are tiny but when you enter, you'll see that most stores are quite spacious.

The £1 signs on the windows are very tempting lor. Everything goes for £1. Just imagine. Suka banget (Ada apa dengan Cinta hehehe). Tapi bila convert balik.. hmmmmm But after that long walk and surveying the stores... hehehehehe I do buy some things. hehehehehe satu plastik beg balik lagi. Ops lupa, before balik kena beli paper so we enter this newsstore. I pushed the door. Opocot! Besarnya anjing! Keluar keluar balik.. ketawa macam org gila. Terus pergi kat kedai satu lagi. hehehehe this time monitor dulu before entering. No anjing. Tolak pintu. Opocot! Ada toddler nak keluar.. ngan mak dia of course. alamak cute nya.. the toddler of course!


CHICAGO

Last night we went to Odeon. Nak tengok Chicago. Yeah! Nak tahu gak camna kisahnya sampai buleh menang six academy awards kan. So off we went around 7.45pm. We thought we may not make it. We drive to Kingston Park. The cinema is next to skating arena.. so Abang Annis kata kalau tak sempat tengok kita pi skating. What? bruising my bums? no way babe! hehehehehe. Kat Odeon ni parking free. Kalau tidak tiap kali parking, mesti kena bayar dlm £4 above. Fuh! Bayangkan lah kalau kena convert duit sendiri.

Ingatkan show start pukul 8pm and we were late already. Bila tiba di sana tengok ok show start pukul 8.10pm. Ada masa lagi. Abang Annis tanya nak beli apa-apa ke buat munching dlm panggung. Tak nak. But still he bought some candies and a box of popcorn. Ish! Tadi baru lepas dinner. Tak buleh masuk lagi laaaa.

Its free seating in the cinema. So sapa mari cepat dia dapat tempat best. It was just a small cinema but there have 10 rooms. Each room can accomodate dlm 60 to 70 people. It has slanted floor. The seats of course are not that comfortable but there are a lot of leg room. The skrin.. uh uh dongak sikit kepala ye.. atas sikit ops! that's it. hehehe So everybody can see meh! Iklan cinema whooowieee hehehehe biasa aje... Ingat masa time tengok wayang kat Odeon dulu dulu. Macam tu lah. Floor menurun ke depan. Orang makan kacang campak kulit merata2. Kengkadang tu buleh nampak tikus berlari larian dlm panggung. Pas tu plak toleh belakang, ada la pulak couple necking. hek eleh. Tak pun ada pulak gadis gadis ayu yang kena raba dengan mamat mamat miang hehehehehe. And then the iklan before the show started - wah ini yang best ni.. alat bantuan membesarkan (apa apa yang patut di besarkan) wakakakaka \ (^ o ^) /

Chicago - musical show.. hmm it was a bit BORING! Anyway the stars are ok I guess. Renee and Catherine gave their best in the movie. I like the performances. OK lah gak.. half way through.. ops! sapa dengkur tu? hahahaha Abang Annis tertidur. Must be very boring to him ekekekekekeke. The film finished around 10pm. Keluar aje brrrrrrrr... lari ke kereta. Dalam kereta, brrrrr lagi.. hish! sojuknya. Tiba rumah, solat isyak. Nak mandi? tak yah la sojuk gila... Call mak.. kul brapa kat sana? 6.30am. Wah! semua orang dah bangun. Abah tunggu mak masak sarapan. Lepas tu nak hantar Afiq gi sekolah. Aisey mamat kecik ni, 6.30am baru nak mandi. Ni mesti susah nak kejut pagi tadi.

IS IT FAIR

Salam pagi Rabu. Its a dread to watch tv now. Every channel is about war. Another war and another war segments. Nevertheless, I can tolerate BBC and ITV channel. At least the news is balanced. The reports always carry the pro and the cons. Anti war rallies are everywhere in England. Although some do support war but majority of Brits do not want war. With Mother's Day celebration is coming this weekend, some mum here probably will not receive any cards from their sons who are on the battlefield. In fact they dread receiving news from Iraq, afraid that the news would be the bad ones instead of good.

Im glad there is no CNN channel at Abang Annis place. I dont think I can cope with bias report and propaganda from the US. There was one segment showed in ITV two nights ago. I dont remember the journalist's name but he is a veteran journalist. He was in Baghdad when the first bombing started. The next day he showed the situation in Baghdad. While CNN may be sceptical on pictures of wounded civilian, this journalist went to the hospital and interview the people. Guess what Americans, they are civilians!

They boasted about their "precise bombing". Civilians are advised to get away from the targetted areas. The Government complex. How can they do so? All the residential are surrounding these complex/buildings. Their houses are barely a few metres away from the targetted areas. Tell me, how would they go away from these red zone? For people the safest place is their home? Driving them away from their homes is never safe. Its not an option. I almost cried when I saw this baby suffered 2nd degree burns on her body. Can she lives another day? The journalist don't think so. I don't think so...

Are we really liberating or invading Iraq? I'm not arguing that Saddam is not bad or hasn't done bad things in the past and will do them again. But I have a hard time seeing US troops take down an Iraqi flag as they roll through towns to put up a US one. And also I have a hard time knowing that US companies already have right to Iraqi oil. Having been born in a communist country, I thought propaganda was bad there, it is nothing comparing to what I'm seeing form US Media now.
Jakub C, Seattle, Wa, USA

I read in Hull Mail a few days ago. People in England started stocking their supply. Drinking water, flour and other groceries, because of war. In some store, they've started a quota. Only three bottles of drinking waters can be bought by a single customer. Are they getting paranoid?

A friend in Cairo was on massenger with me yesterday morning. I asked how's the situation over there. He said it was calm and people got the updates on tv or paper. It is similar in Malaysia, he said. Only the Egyptian army are now on standby at the Sinnai peninsular. If Baghdad retaliates, they would bomb Israel and Israel will start war with Egypt. Domino theory.

THE WAR WILL NOT STOP WITH IRAQ, IT WOULD GO ON AND ON

As what printed on the Anti War phamplet I received in Manchester. It will continue. American greed for oil will not stop with Iraq. Then.. who's next? Be prepared.

GETTING WARMER

Salam pagi Selasa. Check the wheather hmm getting warmer today. Hopefully it will continue till next week.

Yesterday, for the first time we all jalan jalan town sendiri. Abang Annis tak temankan. Hmm mulalah lost direction. Iyalah selalu naik kereta, semalam kena naik bas and jalan kaki. Nak balik kena retract balik jalan mula-mula sampai. Kelakar betul. Dahlah kat tangan penuh dengan plastik beg, mana t-shirts la mana barang makanan la, mana coklat lah.. Itu aje yang mampu beli. Tak macam masa pergi car boot sale last weekend. At least banyak juga barang murah, but they are too delicate. Takut nak bawa balik. Alas, I just got seven bells. Senang hati betul. A fruitful morning. Car boot sale dia lebih kurang macam kat Shah Alam. Ramai yang berjual dan ramai yang datang browsing. Macam-macam benda from household to antiques. Tapi tang antiques tu kena hati-hati takut tak buleh guna. The price? from 20pence and above. But mostly are sold at £1 aje. Mainan budak pun banyak. Barang-barang yang dijual tu pun tak de la teruk sangat. Banyak yang molek lagi. Mainan budak pun elok lagi. Nampak satu stall jual miniature dinasours erk! lari!

GOING AROUND HULL

Ingat nak keluar pagi tapi bermalas-malas depan heater and tengok tv. Pagi-pagi tak de siaran menarik selain cerita budak-budak under the Ceebeebees programme. So tengok muppet je la. Pukul 11am dah mula berkira-kira nak masak tengahari. Marina ingat Abang Annis balik pukul 1pm so we all lambat sikit, last-last pukul 12.15 dah assalamualaikum.. aik dah balik? Nasib baik dah masak nasi, tinggal nak panaskan lauk and goreng sayur. I had the honour to goreng sayur.. errr hentam sajala. Since this morning I dah tibai nasi sejuk, malas nak join they all makan tengahari. So just solat zohor and get ready to go out.

Abang Annis dropped us kat simpang to go send film to be developed. Lepas tu dia hantar ke bus station, coz nak buy ticket for day-trip to Bury market. From there we walk. Ingat nak pi ke Prince's Quay but along the way banyak sangat diversionnya. Mula tu salah ambil turning, so tanya pada satu pakcik ni, dia kata "Oh! you walk straight until you reached the end, theres no more road, then thats Princess Quay." eh! pak cik ni buat lawak pulak. The operation began. Masuk kedai tu lah kedai ni lah.. From boots to sports soccer to topshop to almost every kedai yang ada kat tepi jalan. Ingat nak cari sandal untuk mak, dok tenung tenung satu kasut tu. Harga £9.99. Tanya sales lady apa jenis leather? Dia tak tahu.. hmmm tenung tenung dan tenung lagi... hish macam tak yakin je. Iyake? kulit lembu ke kulit apa ni? Angkat belek sana sini. letak balik. I tenung lagi.. errr ada dot dot dot.. but is it? tu ke? tak pe lah, tak jadi beli. I dont feel confident.

Kat tangan dah ada 2 3 plastic bags. Banyak gak belanja hari ni. Seret credit card je la. Hehehe balik nanti mesti terjegil lagi nak bayar. Sayang nak guna cash coz nak guna kat Bury market. Nak cari kasut mak kat sana and talipinggang abah and abang Lan. Along dah dapat jacket and the boys and girls dah dapat sports tshirt. I did some brainwashing. Bagi depa tshirt england hahahahahaha.

Jalan-jalan lagi sampai tourist information centre. Check the souvenirs inside. As usual, Marina jumpa fridge magnetnya. Me? I got meself another 66p key change. Then we collect the brochure kat shop tu. After that retract our way back to the station. Tengah jalan, ish! Marina kata kena cari Chinese supermarket, kena beli meehoon. Abang Annis suka meehoon, laaa mana pulak chinese supermarket ni? She called him and ask.. Oh ada satu kat belakang car park sana. Well, jalan pula kat Chong Hwa Supermarket. Beli 2 packet meehoon and daun sup. Jalan kaki balik ke bus stop. Where is it? Ops seberang jalan. Tanya mak cik pulak bas mana nak ke boulevard? "You can take this bus. It goes there." Berbondong bondong la naik bas. Alamak seat macam bas mini, kecik. Dengan we all yang besar ni and beg plastiknya we can hardly sit! Bayar tambang 60p each. Ticket tak ambik tiket tak ambik! lantak lah asal jangan ada inspector check. Kalau inspector naik we all turun hahahaha. OK thats our stop. Nasib baik ada pak cik nak turun sama. Jom turun. Now a long walk balik. Lega juga jalan dalam weather macam ni, kalau tak mau berpoloh poloh dibuatnya.

Malam, dah masak dinner. Meehoon goreng. Set the table in the living room hahahaha. Sambil makan sambil tengok TV. Nothing interesting except berita. But I like BBC news. Definitely not like CNN. We should subscribe BBC la. Not that bias. Nantilah cerita pasal BBC plak. After makan, the three of us dah layu. Ingat nak tengok ulangan award tapi malas lah ngantuk sangat, tak larat nak tunggu sampai 10.45pm... pukul 10.15pm dah naik atas and tidur.

MURDER SPREE

There is a murder spree going on in London. And the murderer doesn't care who was or the next victim. He has no preference. I was a bit shake up when I read the news. The first news I read about the murder was the third victim 17-year-old Hannah Foster.

All these murders took place in London and South of England. Alhamdulillah (?) we are on the north of the country. Police are still baffled on the reason for these killings. None of the victims have similarities in terms of backgrounds, age or race.

The fifth victim was 23-year-old finnish student Suvi Aronen. She spoke good english. Her body was found near the A12 in Wanstead East London on Friday. The others were jogger Margaret Muller, 27, student Marsha Mc Donnell 19 and schoolgirls Hannah Foster17 and Milly Dowler 13.

When Suvi was attacked, she was on the phone with her mother. Her mother told the police that she heard Suvi screamed and told man to get off her and not to hurt her. I felt my hair raise when I read that. Imagine, you can here somebody being attacked by this mad man.

Police had their suspect, a white man with short, ginger hair who had attacked an 80-year-old woman but the spunk lady bit his hand and she escaped.

Is it time to learn self defense now? Or do we need to carry pepper spray? Do we need to go to an extend to carry a gun in our purse just to protect ourselves? May Allah save us from all this.

MARCH 20

Went to Manchester. It was already past noon when we reached there. The weather, chilling. Still wearing my slim sweater. Thought that I can brace the weather. what a joke! First destination. The town hall. There was a massive gathering at the town hall square. There was a banner hung at the building and people were holding placards. They came for the anti war gathering. They were surrounded by policemen. They were just watching the crowd. Very professional indeed.

One lady told me that the gathering started at noon and marched at several streets around the city. How is this war affecting them? Those B&B (Bush and Blair) are launching the first world war of the 21st Century and we are going to have to answer to our children what we did about it. It's a brazen war of imperialist conquestm aimed at tightening a rich,. gas-guzzling megapower's control over the oil fields of the middle east. AND IT WONT STOP WITH IRAQ. THE WAR IS GOING TO GO ON AND ON.

The lady told me that they have come up with a protest - If Blair is going to act illegally, they we will also - get involve with the strikes occupations, blockades across Manchester. They will do this on April 1 - the April Blair fools day.

The idea is that people do their own action throughout the day. They will meet up at 6pm in All Saints Park Oxford Road for a demonstration together.

what really interesting is how the police handle the crowd. They were calm. Never interfere except occassionally when some people went out the line. Overall they were very professional. A policeman told me "Its their right to have an opinion. We are just here to monitor that no one go out of hand and no public property was damaged". It was really an experience. Furthermore, these police are experience lot. They handled big crowd, riots and demonstration regularly. Especially during football games.

Ops! while we were at Manchester, we met NTV7 team doing coverage on the football games. Of all the places, yea?

MARCH 17

Pukul 5.30am dah bangun sebab nak kejar pukul 6.30am. Packed everything last night. Hope semuanya dah cukup. Especially snokin hehehehehe. Check weather kat Hull, mak ai max is 10C. Bila dah keluar rumah baru sedar cincin tak de. Lari balik masuk, tak jumpa. Ntah mana campaknya semalam bila mandi. Well, tak pe la kot. Check jam alamak dah lambat.. 35 mins past 6. Tarik beg. Mak ai beratnya. Ini mesti sebab jacket kulit Juli.

Tiba kat Masjid Jamek, rush hour time. Orang semua pergi kerja, aku tarik beg besar sengsorang. Had to let go one train sebab memang dah padat. Check jam alamak dah 7am. Marina dah text dia dah tiba kat Sentral. Alamak mana tren ni?

Finally reached Sentral at 7.10am. Marina dah tunggu. We all dah beli ticket ERL kat Matta so dapat half price pergi balik. OK la tu.

Tiba di KLIA dah dekat pukul lapan. Check in. ingat kan cepat la tu rupanya pun dah dapat seat kat belakang 60E and D ish! macam cup bra la plak hahahahahahahaha. Well sebab apa plane penuh? laa sebab budak2 brazilian team balik. The Youth Cup dah abis. Cheh! And Im wearing the Real Madrid jersey.. tutup tutup

Tiba kat Heathrow dah pukul 3.50pm local time. The weather kira ok juga. Tengok dari tingkap, nampak cerah. Rasanya suhu pun tak de la sejuk sangat. Hopefully. Turun dari flight je, it was a long journey to the immigration counters. Pusing-pusing baru tiba ke immigration line. Punya la ramai umat manusia.

After clearing with the immigration, terus proceed ke carousel, tunggu beg. Alamak dah lepas! Kena pusing satu lagi.. tunggu lagi. Beg bukannya berat sangat. Aaaa tu dia! Satu lagi beg nak tunggu. This one penuh berisi dengan makanan untuk orang kat England hehehehe.

Once the bags were on the cart, we all terus cari Abang Annis. He was the one who supposed to meet us here. Sedang elok aje we all keluar, dia tiba.. He was so nervous tengok we all. Sampai juga akhirnya hehehehehe

From the airport, we go straight to Surrey. Tido kat sana satu hari.. Aduh! penatnya badan. Jet lag lagi.