Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE
I feel a bit like George Peppard from The A Team and, if I was a smoker, would probably want to smoke a cigar at this juncture. But only part of that imaginary cigar because I am moderately pleased to announce that a plan has partly come together. Today saw the delivery and acceptance of our vehicle from the much-mentioned Mr Desmond. Lawrences are now the owners of a 2002 Hyundai Trajet, petrol automatic. I know that this does not sound particularly glamorous and sounds even less glamorous when you add in the RM 30000, around 6000 pounds, price tag but it is a smooth machine and will, hopefully transport the Lawrence Clan on many adventures.
One of the first places that it might need to transport me to is a doctor to prescribe a cure for that very Malaysian affliction: signer’s cramp. As we approached the end game of the purchasing saga I was visited, yesterday, by a fine bloke from The Public Bank who brought with him the loan agreement: a tome of documents that required my signature or initials in fifteen different places. Duly dispatched Mr D collected a cheque for around RM 10000 from me that evening and we were another step closer to ownership.
Today Mr Desmond phoned me again in a slightly agitated state, to announce that my bank, HSBC, were refusing to cash my cheque without me being present. Rushing out of school I met the great man at the bank and, after the customary photocopying of my passport, probably to add to the several thousand copies that HSBC already have the cheque was cashed, Desmond paid and the car was almost ours. Desmond, true to his word, delivered the fine vehicle to Chateau Lawrence, KL Branch, in the company of two other Chinese Malaysian guys who appeared to work for him.
However ownership of vehicles in Malaysia is not a straightforward business. Within touching distance of the two sets of keys Desmond pulled out a fresh mound of documents for me to sign. Page after page I signed, including yet another copy of my passport, until I reached the last one and, of course, signed. Done. Cigars at the ready. But one last matter to be attend to. One of Desmond’s chaps pulled out an ink pad and pointed to a special box on the last document…the place for my thumb print. What ever next? I need to remind myself that I have only bought a car. I have not adopted a small child, purchased a house or become leader of a democratic state, I have bought a car. Thank goodness fellow Brits laughed the whole ID cards issue out while certain very daft politicians were championing them. And so, with the added bonus of a full tank of fuel, the vehicle became a Lawrence vehicle. I have the ink stain to prove it. The only thing that both HSBC and Public Bank appear to have missed in their efforts to try to gain as many copies of my passport as possible is that no-one has mentioned how we are to pay back the 24 month loan. Such a trifling matter does not appear to be of any great importance to such splendid institutions as banks.
The second plan that came together this week was the arrival of THE INTERNET to Chateau L. Three excellent guys from Telecom Malaysia installed lots of boxes and cables and the internet, along with a collection of TV channels, appears to be working. Again more copies of my visage as approved by Her Majesty’s Government have found their way to an institution and again no mention has been made of the need or process by which we should pay TM for their services.
Unfortunately part three of the uber-plan for this week did not come about. Our shipping. According to Vanguard Logistics of KL our stuff has arrived and we now need to make arrangements for it to be delivered. Naturally it is not straightforward. A forwarding agent needs to be appointed, conveniently Vanguard Logistics are not a forwarding agency. Certain monies need to be paid, “No sorry Mr Robin we can not take paymentwith your credit card. NO sorry we can not accept cash-on-delivery.” How the hell do we pay? Loads more documents are required, including, you’ve guessed it, a copy of my passport along with copies of a shipping document that the company must already have. The race is on between Santa and our shipping. Who will arrive first?
Thankfully the teaching has gone well this week. Lots of interesting lessons and lots of interesting and interested students. Good on them. Today saw me collecting in essays written by my year eleven class, a splendid group of young people. I had this rather quaint notion of paper with word-processed responses on, and some students did not disappoint. One student went hi-tech and emailed me her work as an attachment. Great. Others went the whole hog and sent their work to me as a google doc that I can then comment on, share back with them. My IT usage has taken a great leap forward despite my IT knowledge struggling to keep up. Thanks loads to those marvelous people who have helped me get things right, technology-wise, this week. And thanks to those great students who have enrolled and auditioned for Peter Pan. Currently the cast is 64, in number not in age.
I turned 23 again this week.