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After my first, almost full, week at school I thought that it would be just thing to take part in my school’s seemingly traditional way to end the working week: a mass game of football. Sweating, heaving bulks of men who lumber around the extremely large pitch trying to look like they know what they are doing accompanied by a gang of blokes who really can play the beautiful game. I am happy to say, with certainty, that I fit into the former category. It has been many years since I have played on a full size pitch and boy oh boy it is a very large pitch! I always enjoyed the Saturday indoor football at Coseley with a gang of players who ages and skill levels were as broad as each other. And there were two immediate differences I noticed between Coseley and my school’s pitch in Kuala Lumpur: walls and heat. I used to sweat buckets playing in Coseley, but even when it got to eight a side indoors and in the height of Summer there was very little humidity. But the construction that really aided middle of age bracket and lower end of the skills set players like me were the walls. How good was it on the very few occasions I managed to get round an opponent by playing the soft yellow ball off the wall and then accelerating (please be generous to me here) past them. There were no such helpful walls on Friday’s pitch. Still it was good fun and if my dodgy ankle holds up I may well risk another outing next Friday.
Saturday saw Lawrences finding the nearest LRT station, Kepong, and exploring the KL Sentral area. With an added monorail journey we found our way to MATIC, the Malaysian Tourist Information Centre, to pick up hints and ideas about where we really need to visit. MATIC is a very pleasant single story, colonial-type collection of buildings that give a feeling of calm just out of the main centre. Next we walked on towards KLCC and The Petronas Towers. Petronas Towers really are massive and they seem even more massive every time Edwin reminds me of their exact meterage. Walking through the shopping centre and out the other side to KLCC I was impressed by the water fountains. It is a pleasant gathering place, with some shading from trees as well as many vantage points to enjoy the various watery displays. There really is something soothing about water fountains. Wolverhampton was much derided at Full Council meetings and by the local media for the installation of water features in Queen’s Square but it did attract people to the centre and it was calming. Whether it was right to spend public money on those features is another debate but the twenty minutes that we sat down for at KLCC watching the displays were relaxing ones.
We all enjoyed a colleague’s birthday barbecue in Mont Kiara and particularly enjoyed the pork sausages. Yes PORK sausages. Feeling slightly like an outcast I bought our contribution from the “Non Halal” section of JustCo supermarket and then paid for them at the only available checkout, staffed by a muslim lady. She dutifully read to the written price for the sausages but did not scan or touch them. Curious. They tasted great. I discussion with another colleague I was told, in no uncertain terms, “Don’t do guilt.” That advice has served me well in the past and it is advice I intend to follow further.
Following the meat theme after getting home from the barbecue I ventured off to Tesco of Kepong to stock up on the essentials….and what a bargain I found. Best cuts of steak and beef hacked down to 10% of its normal price. Ok it was out of date that day but when faced with GBP 33.52 worth of fresh, best cuts for GBP 4.66 it would be rude not to clear the shelf. It tasted great in a hotpot with jacket potatoes for lunch. Children opted for the ever popular pasta and cheese, cheese priced at GBP 5 for 250 grams. A luxury food.
Back to work again tomorrow and I have a curious feeling. I am actually looking forward to it.