There was a sense of injustice felt in Chateau Lawrence last Wednesday as Rupert managed to have a lie in until 6.45am. Some people might not consider that to be a lie in, but by our standards here (daily alarm at 5.30am) that is positively luxurious. As previously mentioned it was a Wednesday so that meant that, in the run up to Trixie taking part in the FOBISIA Primary games, she needed to be at school for a 6.15am for a swimming practice and so Edwin tagged along too and took part in an early morning fitness session. I sat quietly in the Drama office munching cereal and considered how ridiculously early it was to be in school.
After breakfast, reading the paper and then doing loads of emails I taught three lessons, did a bit of marking, helped at a show rehearsal, ran a few kilometres in the gym and then met up with small, tired Lawrences to come home. Edwin had done a full day while Trixie had done a day a half following her early morning plunge, a day that included loads of classroom stuff along with PE and after school football and gymnastics sessions.
Set against that, Rupert’s lie in until 6.45am, while other toiled and dashed around, seemed wonderful. Lexi made him toast for breakfast while he dozed on, the two them then drove to school and later to scouts at my school. A pleasant day indeed.
And things got even better for the lad today as Rupert was summoned to a very agreeable scouting activity this afternoon. While Trixie dashed around doing more sporty things at the FOBISIA Games Rupert and five other scouts went for a ride in a helicopter. Yes, that’s right, a helicopter. Thanks to a very fortunate connection the scouts were offered a 15 minute ride over Kuala Lumpur and its environs and got to see the view of views from the inside of Robinson A66 (I think). Priced at a mere US$240,000 such a craft is a mere runaround in the world of helicopters, but the leaders and scouts emerged from their flight really chuffed and wowed.
The flight took off from a location just off Jalan Kuantan in Kuala Lumpur. I had never had the occasion to go there before and so didn’t know what to expect, apart from hoping that we would spy a helicopter and that would give us an idea that we were in the right place. Duly spotted we parked up and headed towards it. What we also spotted was a marvellous lake, range of cafes and several hundred bicycles, tandems, bizarre looking Goodies-mobiles and quadracycles. Storing up an after-helicopter-ride plan Rupert and I splashed out a RM14 for two plated of excellent fried rice plus two drinks, chatted to a bloke at the cafe, and learned that hiring a quadracycle was really cheap.
Soon after Lawrence the Second touched down and soon after many photos taken next to the helicopter we set off to find the perfect pedal-vehicle for us to try out. Our chosen beast was a two seater quadracycle that he and I soon got to grips with. All around the lake were well maintained paths and cycle ways that tested out the peddlers knee power as well as their concentration levels, making sure that they did not bump into each other. We spent a fine Malaysian hour (60 minutes plus 10% service time and 6% GST time) exploring around, waving and grinning at other cyclists. When we next have a spot of free time I will happily take the entire Lawrence Clan back to Jalan Kuantan and select a five person quadracycle and see if we can generate enough power to dash around the place as a family.