It was hot and sunny for three days, praise the Lord. The wet weather we have had lately was getting me down and I could feel the chill in my bones. It would not be so bad if it just rained but these days, it is like water from a pressure pump – to say that it comes down in buckets would be an understatement. It certainly comes as no surprise that there would be flash floods here, there and everywhere and those low-lying areas, for instance, some parts where my girl’s school is, were submerged.
Unfortunately, the good weather did not last. There was a heavy downpour all the way on Sunday when I was sending my girl and her friend/colleague back to their school. It wasn’t really a big deal – I just had to go slowly and carefully, that was all…but I do wish others would do the same. They would go on their way in their usual breakneck speed, splashing the murky water over everybody’s cars like they do not value their lives at all. No, nobody’s thinking you’re so great, such a good driver – everyone thinks you’re darn stupid, quite brainless to do a senseless thing like that. I see reports on accidents in the newspapers or the social media all the time and it is pretty obvious what the main cause, the factor behind all of them, is and the sad thing is some “innocent bystander” may have the misfortune of being made the victim by these foolish nincompoops.
The weather was good that day all the way back to Sibu though…but it rained again soon after we got home. Thankfully, it did not last very long and by evening, we were blessed with very good weather…
…and I was able to go and attend my ex-students’ wedding reception without any of the hassle that one would need to go through going out on wet days.
I taught Tham English in Form 5 before he left for his further studies and became a full-fledged English teacher himself and I taught Daisy MUET in Form 6 and she too has graduated and is now a teacher as well. I got to know that they were going together sometime back in 2013 when Tham got me some exotic meat from Song where he was teaching at the time and when I went to meet him, Daisy was with him. Now, their big day had come…
…and they had their banquet at one of the grand ballrooms at a hotel here…
The venue was much dimmer than usual, bathed in some kind of red light so after some attempts at taking some not-very-nice snapshots without using the flash…
…I gave up eventually…
…and took a couple more…
…before giving up…
…to spend the rest of the evening enjoying the food and the company. The food was very good that night probably because it was not all that busy that day – if I am not mistaken, only two of the six or so function rooms were used. Of course, I enjoyed my favourite the most, the duck stuffed with glutinous rice – once or twice on their busy nights, I had had the same dish but it was less than satisfactory…and service would be poor and very very slow on such nights.
Thank you, Richard, for your very kind offer and for giving me a lift that evening – it was so thoughtful of you. We had the honour of sharing the table with Tham’s current principal and he asked, “They had so many teachers and they only invited you two?” Hmmm…that, of course, is most flattering, don’t you think?
And thank you so very much, Tham & Daisy, for your invitation – it certainly was a pleasure to be able to share the joy with the two of you and your families. Don’t worry about the rain – I remember that it poured also that afternoon on the day I got married…and the old folks said that was a good sign – an indication of the showers of blessings in the years ahead. Congratulations and all the best!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 