Go out there and fall in love

Cambridge

In front of my old rented house, no. 25 (brown door)

The college where I studied my A-Levels, Cambridge Seminars

After the visit to Legoland, we decided to go to Cambridge before going back to Liverpool. I took the family to see my old student house and the college where I studied A-Levels back in 1994 for one and a half years. The motorbikes shop next to the college has been replaced by a restaurant and the Londis grocery store on the opposite side of the road has been replaced by another grocery store, SPAR. Other than that, the area still looks the same. I didn't bother to go inside the college and meet the staff there because last time I checked their website, it has entirely new management team and teaching staff.

Afterwards we went to the city centre and had lunch near the old market right in the centre of the town. We had walks around the town, through its many narrow streets and inside some of its buildings. I wanted to show Ilyas my favorite trading cards shop but unfortunately the shop is no longer there. After all, it has been nearly 15 years since the last time I visited Cambridge.

Legoland

Today is our much awaited trip to Legoland, situated near Windsor Castle (which we unable to visit due to time constraint). It was raining a bit in the morning but the sky cleared up by noon. Ilyas and Maisarah were so excited that they want to try every rides and shows on offer. The place itself is quite big and I realised that one day visit is definitely not enough so we decided to choose the one that we feels Ilyas and Maisarah will enjoy most. However some of the rides experiences are not really obvious until when you are on it, and by that time it's already too late!

This is what happened when we chance upon a huge castle with a green dragon theme. We thought it is just a slow ride through the dungeon so four of us just get into the ride without much anticipation. At first the ride went inside a dark dungeon (as we predicted) and suddenly we were out in the sun and started to climb upwards. Only then I realised that we were in a roller-coaster! By then the ride started to going down at a very high speed and turn sideways at every corner. And then it started to climb upwards again and the whole same process continued followed by the trademark screams. I thought Ilyas and Maisarah are going to cry because this is indeed their first roller-coaster experience but they emerged unscathed and quite enjoyed it. We bought the picture of the ride and had it printed on the Lego bricks to show to everyone how brave Ilyas and Maisarah are.

Ilyas has grown up!

Overnight, Ilyas has grown to a full adult size!

Aisyah's Birthday Party

Today we are visited by two families from Lancaster, Jasmin's and Tun's. It was a lovely day so we decided to hold a birthday party for Aisyah, Jasmin's second daughter, at the back garden. She is now seven years old. Some of the neighbours' children were joining us as well. Ilyas and Maisarah are really happy to have so many friends coming over to their house.

Car model

Awa with his new job

Awa dropped by today with his van. He is currently working with PAL Shipping based in Manchester. After 'Raya' he will be getting a proper working contract and is going to earn more than a basic salary of a senior lecturer in Malaysia. Annual 'Raya' trip back to Malaysia then?

Flowers around our house

Maisarah brought this beanstalk home from her nursery few weeks back. Now it's growing tall and has produce its own beans.

A Hello Kitty loving pirate and a sportsboy

Maisarah is having a pirate party at her nursery today and Ilyas will be participating in the sports day in another college with the rest of his classmates. Tomorrow is their last day at school and then they will be enjoying their summer holiday for nearly two months.

Second Badminton Friendly between Kensington Club and Malaysian Students

Today we had a second friendly badminton tournament between Kensington Badminton Club and the Liverpool Malaysian. This time each team will provide four men doubles and three mixed doubles. Due to several last minute withdrawals for the ladies, we managed to bring two mixed doubles only. And to make sure the tournament will finish on time, each double will play only twice, best of three sets with rally point system.

Overall, Kensington Badminton Club won with 14 sets to 12. They also won 485 points to 458 (with an average of 18.65 per set compared to 17.62 per set for us). However, closer analysis reveals that our men doubles won 10 sets to 8. Their mixed doubles were the stronger one, winning 6 sets to 2. Our men doubles also collected 352 points to 324.

Sham and I won both our matches. In our second match, we met their first men double again. Last time we won 17-21, 23-21 and 21-19 so revenge is on the card. In the first set they showed their intention by winning 21-11. In the second set they need only one point to win the match by leading 20-18 but we managed to capitalise on their nerves to win the second set 22-20. In the rubber set, we were leading 20-18 but they equalised to 20-20. However, the pressure was too much for them as we finished the match with two straight points. But it was a close one, just like in the previous meeting. I would definitely looking forward to play them again in the future.

Rongak

Another tooth fell off. Hehehe.

Maisarah in her Nursery Play

School Photo Shoot

We were given options by the Wellesbourne School for an individual or family photo for Ilyas and Maisarah. Since we already have individual photos when they were in Moreside Primary School and University nursery, this time we decided on the family photo instead. Lovely.

A Birthday Party in Liverpool

Tongue Twister

She can do it. Umi can do it too. Neither I nor Ilyas can do it. Why only the girls in the family can do the great stuff? Hummphh.

Smile.. or better not

Ilyas loses his front tooth today. Last time this happens was exactly one year ago. He said there is another wobbly tooth. Luckily he already had his school photo shoot last week.

School Revenue Budget

Among the various documents given to us recently by the Wellesbourne Primary School, being involved in accounting, there is one report that I'm interested in, which is the school revenue budget. I love to see its expenditure section was listing all of its expenses items rather than lumping them together under 'General Expenses'. It could be improved though by putting notes to the account to explain in more details of these expenses.

The school income has been decreasing a bit from last year but so does its expenditures. I don't know whether that's a good sign or not. It could means that the school is conducting itself fairly well in anticipating a predicted fall in the government funding. On the other hand, the level of expected education benefits expected upon its pupils might be compromised (the school is spending much less for ICT and other learning resources this year). I wish I could see its income and expenditure reports for the past 5 years to have a better understanding of the financial affairs of a community primary school in the UK.

Ilyas' report

Ilyas also received his report today. His teacher gave comments on various subjects he learned throughout the semester such as literacy, numeracy, science, information and communication technology, design and technology, history, geography, art and design, music, physical education and religious education. In the general comments section, his teacher heaps praises on him and said that he is a pleasure to teach. She said that Ilyas is a very popular member of the class (hmm.. why that sounds familiar?) and she also wishes him every success next year.

Above is his attendance record and it shows that Ilyas only missed 9 sessions(1 day equals to two sessions); 1 for illness and the other 8 for trips to London to meet and sending off Mama Tok). What impressed me is that the report has 24 different codes to represent various reasons for not attending a session. It even has two codes for being late and really late!