what I have been up to on sunday london24.2.08 I had a lovely day today. A friend who I met last year, when he joined in the Naked bike ride, came to visit me to help repair the bike that I found in the recycle bins. He helped unscrew the old saddle on a old bike that I had, (given to me, I have since returned it to the recycle bins after cannibalising the saddle and the bell.) to put onto the good bike i found. He told me the bike I found is a mountain bike with 21gears. I doubt all those gears are necessary for london. Everything works in the bike, he sprayed it with wd40, he brought it with him. It was really very nice of him to bring it and it lubricate everything. I am so happy now that I got this bike working order again. The saddle has a flat top and have springs, so that even though rather rusty, I am thrilled to have it instead of the modern saddles they have these days, with no shock absorbers, and narrow so that it hits the arse instead of the buttocks. Whoever designed the new style saddles is a fool. We went to have lunch at the pub nearby, and had roast lamb and veg, and yorkshire pudding for £7.75. Not a lot of meat, unlike if we had cooked it ourselves. Last night for dinner, simon cooked a roast pork, and roast veg, and it was delicious and so much of it, we still have a big portion left over. It is only very rare occasions, like this, that I would eat out. I think if ever I am exiled in Malaysia, I shall set up a sunday lunch for paying customers of roast meat and 3veg with yorkshire pudding and gravy. I bet there will be a big demand for it. Those of you thinking of setting up a business, why not try this idea of mine? you can have my idea free, provided I get to eat at ur place gratis. haha. After lunch we went to see the 'Andrew Doid exhibition. My friend is a member of the tate, and so am allowed to bring me free as a guest. It was enjoyable, though I would not pay to see it. The normal cost is £8. I have gone off desiring to see art nowadays, unless it is free. Even then , I m not sure i will go if it is far away. He lives in 'South Norwood, which is an inconvenient place for me if i want to visit him. There are no direct bus from central london. However, he said he can give me a lift from crystal palace, so that may make it feasible for me to visit. He lives in a room in a shared house. He has separated from his wife, going gay as it were. haha. (added 25.2.08 I have sincefound out that the bus196 passes vauxhall and ends in south norwood. So I can go there with one bus. Not for the first time I am glad to be living so centrally. It's nice to go out of london, now and then. I asked him if there are any charity shops at his place, though now that I have discovered recycling bins, I prefer recycling bins to charity shops now. It is free to get things from recycling bins. AFter getting my bike from it, I am rather keen of visiting recycling bins.haha. Added 9.39pm Do you remember the chap who invited me to his house in crawley to spend a morning or afternoon with him and do some massage? He was a member of the new meetup group that I joined. Well, I wrote him saying it is too much the train fare, and so I shall not be able to take up his invitation. And I thought that is the end of that. Today, I received another email from him, saying he really would like to host me. I repeated my excuse, and he wrote back saying he would pay for the ticket, if it would entice me to visit. Well, you cannot refuse someone who is so keen, right? I wouldlike to go too, as it is someplace I won't normally visit, and it is always a nice thing to meet others. He obviously feel he has more to lose by not inviting me, than me. After all, there is no shortage of guys for me to meet. So I got online and booked the ticket. It costs £12.10 and £2 booking fee. A cheap day return on 12march 08. Hope the weather is nice, and I am sure the experience will be enjoyable. Hmm, I seem to be getting very popular. haha.

25.2.08 15:04 Permalink / comment

Paul L's adventures with plumbers london, This is Paul L's account of his experiences with british and Polish plumbers.  My gut instinct told me to hold the first central heating plumber's 300quid+VAT in suspicion. He described a big job, to make the cost appear commensurate. But my own research by asking about the problem at my local plumbing supply shop questioned the need for such a big job. My suspicions around the justification to 'power flush' and drain the whole system off,  were confirmed i.e. it really was not necessary to do all that; just replacing the faulty air-valve alone was all that was necessary. Therefore, I ascertained that although I had requested a simple cheese&tomato pizza that would have a modest price, the kitchen tried to push me an elaborate anchovy, chorizo, spinach and cheese pizza costing a lot more! I didn't need that. The next bit is the lucky part. The Polish guys live in the house on the opposite side of my road i.e. are neighbours. As I had frequently seen their vans parked on the road, with "drainage & sewage maintenance" written on the vans, I thought of asking them (as a neighbour of another) for help with my problem. I didn't get them as central heating plumbers through any conventional means, but purely as a neighbour asking for help. I did not want to waste my time getting another quote from another plumber who could, again, be English; and gather yet another costly, misleading estimate for dubious unnecessary extra work to the central heating with 'power machines'. I figured that these Polish neighbours must be plumbers of sorts, if drains and sewer work were the work they were employed to do (as written on their vans). And even if they were not central heating engineers, with general plumbing skills I suspected that they could help me change the faulty leaking air-valve of my central heating system. And sure enough, they worked through the central heating system in a methodical way, working out how the system was configured from first principles with me, which gave me much confidence that they knew what needed doing! At the same time, I was getting an education. This was such a contrast to the tradesmen who are quick to give an inflated quote, hasty to get you to agree to it and short on time to explain anything at all. I had read about the famous hard working Polish plumbers in the UK, & that their plumbing work was far superior to local English plumbers, and how they were economical to use. I remember Tomas used also to remark that the quality of local UK plumbing work being lamentable. These were some reasons that pointed me to ask the Polish neighbours, though not central heating engineers but doing related plumbing work, for help. And they were very forthcoming with explanations to any questions which I had too, and I like that attitude because I am able to understand the justification for each thing that needed doing. (and hence fully understand the justification for the costs) i.e. everything is transparent. And the Polish were fair – 30quid for half hour work = 60quid per hour, which is the going rate for plumbing I know. And its unlikely they do a botch job since they wouldn’t want a neighbour repeatedly knocking on their door with a persistent problem from a botched job, would they! bye for now,  Paul added via another email25.2.08 The most useful thing is to remember is that the men at plumbing supply shops can be very informative and helpful, if you catch them at a quiet time in the shop. This is because the plumbing supply shop have a vested interest. If they inform the shop customer how to use the part/product, then a sale is much more likely. The plumbing shop is interested in selling plumbing parts and supplies, especially so if its a slow day in the shop. Just by explaining a little to the customer, its more likely the customer will decide to buy the part. And if you are a savvy shop customer, you could ask a few more questions around the subject to get more information from the eager-to-sell shop guy. Many of the guys have done plumbing work or maybe ex-plumbers, and know a thing or 2 about the use of the products in the shop. This is how I confirmed that the suggestion from the first plumber to totally drain my central heating system and the need for 'power flushing' were unjustified. And so I was able, independantly, with my own research and piecing together logical explanations, to confirm my suspicion that he was simply inflating the work in order to inflate the bill! And in so doing he completely lost the work which I had to give him. Instead, it got exactly only what required changing done by the Poles at a tenth of the cost (30quid - changing the leaking air-valve). And I gained some good neighbours whilst doing so too! Nevertheless, even from the first conman plumber, I benefitted from knowing the diagnosis with his cost-free visit i.e. that the offending thing was a leaking air-valve. I then went about my independant research and questioning around what I was advised, to successfully separate out what work was justified and necessary (replacing the air-valve = 30quid) from what else was unnecessary and false (power flushing and draining system = 300quid+VAT).

24.2.08 21:20 Permalink / comment

chinese new year open house at malaysia hall london Paul L and I went to the chinese new year open house at Malaysia Hall this afternoon. I went early, and got there before 1pm, and followed the people downstairs to the basement. Paul came later, and called me saying where am I? He saw a crowd of guys outside. I went out to find him, and Paul says he saw a sign on the window of the basement saying closed for a private party, that was it fooled him. I asked the guys hanging around outside why they don't come in, and one of them said they were there to direct people downstairs. Well, they were too shy to approach strangers and asking them. So they just let Paul join them without saying anything. Some help!! Anyway, the former deputy prime minister ( you can see how bad my memory for names, I have forgotten it already. he is the first of mahathir's deputy prime minister) was the guest of honour, working for sime darby nowadays and that was what brought him to europe. The speeches took only about half hour and we had a yee sang ceremony, and then we queued up to eat. it was a simple meal of fried rice, a piece of chicken, and tidbits.I was sitting next to a chinese guy who was doing a medic course in Barts. He was in Cambridge for 3yrs, doing a basic science degree, and now doing his first clinical year in London. So he is taking 6yrs to do the course instead of 5, because of that extra premed basic degree. I know Cambridge allows medics to do that. He said he is on scholarship fr the govt, and have to serve 6yrs after graduation, and then another 4yrs which every doctor have to serve to be allowed to practise in Malaysia. It seems since 2000 the govt is giving more chinese scholarships to study abroad. That is why we think the govt is now insisting that the scholarship is honoured. It seems before that students have simply stayed on and not return to msia to serve their bond, nor pay back the scholarship money, and the govt turned a blind eye because it was mainly Malays then who got scholarships. Now that the chinese are given it, the govt dont want to condone such actions. Well at least more chinese are getting the scholarships. There were quite a number of chinese in there. Unfortunately, even though malaysia has pioneered the open house concept where all the races join in at each others celebrations, it is not so in reality. Not many malays there. In fact the only malays were involved in the food catering haha. Still, it is a nice thing to do, and I hope what the ex deputy prime minister in his speech says to msians,' remember the open house spirit, and work together', will also apply to the govt to make it fairer for all the races to participate in the riches of the country. However, compare our little do, organised by the MCA(Malaysian Chinese association) british branch and the dept for overseas students in UK and ireland is quite a small scale affair compared to the hari raya feast at the malaysian ambassader's residence near Hampstead. I have been there before, (on Merdeka day 31st aug, something that Paul L and I should make a point of attending this year) and the food is scrumptious. In the past, the riches were plentiful so the other races were getting some benefits, but now the economic storms are coming, things are getting more expensive, and the poorest ... the indians... are feeling the pinch and demonstrating. I wonder whether things will become so dire that the chinese also feels the pinch and then msia will be a very unsettled country. It is significant that there are very few indians amongst the crowd. The govt must give out more scholarships to the other races. Start there provide equal numbers of scholarships to the 3 main races and over time the imbalance may be corrected with the passage of time as more of these people come back and the ordinary joe sees the largesse is more evenly distributed. Of course, the time to distribute the goodies is during the good times, but that is now gone, and the goodies have been squandered. I hope Malaysia turns out ok as I would hate to see the country descend into sectarian warfare and race killings. I suppose the govt will be rather ruthless in getting rid of the ringleaders, unlike in 1969 when the malay riots happened, and the malays were rewarded with the bumiputra special and all malays got special preferences. I can see it was necessary then, because the malays were truly alienated. But somehow things have got to the stage when it is now reversed. It is inevitable of course that it will lead to this situation today. Who would want to volunteerily give up priviledges? Can these racial lines never be erased I wonder? Everyone wants to keep their racial ancestry and yet it is keeping people apart. and when u add religion into the mix, it becomes explosive!!! Malaysia is now trying to reverse the education medium from malay to english, but they are realising it is not as easy as that to change direction. I did notice the chinese guy who was doing medicine had very good english, and I asked him why. he had said he was educated in a malay stream govt school, and yet his english is v good. unlike so many malays whose english is dismal. He said he made an effort to learn english. Paul L suggested that he speaks english outside and at home. He acknowledged it saying his dialect is not very good so english is the main method of communication. Reading all that I am rather sorry that it sounds so gloomy. But the uneven treatment of the races is very apparent now, and things just cannot go on like that. The country is now 50yrs old, it should treat all its citizens equally. Well let me cheer u up if u r malaysian. do u know that if u r a student in UK, u can stay at Malaysia hall for about £6 a night?. £10 if u r not a student. And it is not in dormitory type rooms either. You get a whole room to urself. Great isn't it? the rooms are only for malaysians, and they will want to see proof, ie ur passport.This medical student guy we were chatting to told us about it.

17.2.08 18:34 Permalink / comment

in praise of the librarian in charing cross library   london I had a nice surprise. I borrowed a book, 'the uncommon reader' by allan bennett, and I have been renewing it till now. I was hoping we would find it. Simon borrowed it to read at work, and lost it. About 3wks ago, I finally confessed to my local library that I lost it. However, the librarian kindly extended it saying it might turn up. Today is the day when I have to pay up. I was expecting to pay the full price of the book, which was £9.99. I went to the charing cross library instead of my branch, and the librarian brought it up onscreen, and it was listed as £8.99 and she said 'would £5 be ok?' I thanked her profusely for the reduction. So that was great. She even gave me a receipt and said if the book turned up, I can get a refund. How nice!!! And it seems if I had bought it second hand and if it is in good condition, I could replace it instead of pay for it. I know it can be done, because I did it with another book that simon took to Thailand and lost. But for some reason, I forgot to look out for it in the charity shops. But it turned out well, since I only had to pay £5. Three cheers for the british library system and the people who work in it.

14.2.08 18:37 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

Treating ian to his birthday. london I met Ian at Nahar cafe. It has a name change to Bonda cafe. It was taken over about a month ago. We had mutton rendang. I have to say it was not authentic rendang, but nice enough especially as it was ages since I have mutton. Ian said he remembered long ago when I took him to Malaysia Hall canteen when it was at Bryanston Square. He said he still remembered it. In those days, before the Asian crash, the food there was very authentic, and very cheap. I remember the rendang, and the malaysian kopi, 30p. When I told Ian that the new Malaysian Hall canteen is nearby, he suggested we walk there to have a look.It was only when we got out and started the walk I saw how near this cafe was to Lancaster Gate tube. I had arrived by bus, number 36 a fast ride from my place and so I arrived it from the paddington station end. No wonder the cafe website mentioned lancaster gate as the nearest tube. I thought it was nearer to Paddington station, but maybe the paddington tube station is further away. From the map it looked very far away from lancaster gate. It was a longer walk to the Malaysia Hall canteen. There was a sign on the window of the malaysian hall cafe saying it is only for Malaysians, and foreigners can only eat there if accompanied by a malaysian. We went in to see the menu, and I was absolutely delighted to find that the set meal of 1meat dish+rice was only £2.50. The other cafe costs £4.20. What a difference. Ian says he definitely would like to come back to eat. I wished I had took him here instead. You would think that it is a better bargain to pay £4.60 for 2meat+rice dish compared to £4.20 for 1meat+rice. But you get much more meat in the 1meat dish than when you have more combinations. Mawar was better, when u order the 1meat option they actually give u the meat in a separate bowl, rather than all on the plate with the rice with the combination option. Unfortunately, Mawar is no more. Actually now that I see Malaysia Hall is so cheap, I am surprised any of us malaysians want to frequent any other place. Unless we go for the a la carte dishes. We did not sample the a la carte dishes in Bonda cafe, because the a la carte menu is  only available before 3pm and after 6pm.  I shall be going to the malaysia hall canteen on 17th feb, sunday for the chinese new year do for all malaysians. I discovered it was on by accident, while reading an article in the star newspaper online. http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/2/7/lifefocus/20080206203400&sec=lifefocus

12.2.08 21:04 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

train fares and going outside london london After looking at the train fares for a daytrip return out of london I begin to appreciate more that I live in Central London and also realise why I chose to live in Central London. I have a feeling that even as long ago as the time I decided to buy the flat, I realise that living far from central london and have to rely on trains, means I shall be at the mercy of the companies that runs the trains to put up the price of fares whenever they wish. It is very expensive to travel by train now. Especially more so when you consider that in recent years, buses and tubes within london has come down so much, thanks to Ken Livingstones policy. The difference is stark. I would hate to be a commuter, forced to pay those fares, as there is no alternative, no choice. I mean I even dislike living in the suburbs of London, nevermind in the country outside zone 6. You may well ask how come it is only now that I dont know about train fares? It is because whenever I visit John in Poole, or David in Brighton, I use the megabus. haha. And so I am so spoilt by £1 fares. And last year, I only occasionally go on the naked walks and even then, they were quite close to London. I think it must be recently that the train fares have shot up. Here in London, I can take many modes of transport, walking, cycling, buses, tubes, or a combination of all of them. And there is a cap to the maximum fare incurred on any day. I think unless you stay and work in the same area, dont move there. If you have to commute to London to work, forget about moving to the country. You dont realise how awful it can be till you have to make the daily commute. However, if you are commuting from london, it does not apply, because the trains are not crowded at all. But it is just as costly and so only commute if ur boss pays ur train fare. (Which is what happened when I used to commute from london to Milton Keynes to work daily many years ago) And if you are gay, it will be very difficult to entice a londoner to come out to you unless you get to know him as a friend before hand. And that means you will have to go to him, and make the journey to london. Otherwise you will have to make do with the limited choice in the local area. Of course the good thing is that choice is so limited locally that anyone u meet will be glad to get together regularly. I suppose after reading the above, you can guess what my answer is on whether to visit the chap in Crawley. Well, it looks like I need something like this to remind me of how wonderful my life is. Not that I need reminding, but it is nice to know I made the right decision. All those people who are disastisfied with their lives now, remember, it could be worst. haha.

11.2.08 10:00 Permalink / comment

eating cheap chicken london thursday 7.2.08 I have lived here in my flat for a long time, and yet, it is only today that I found out about the tesco superstore in vauxhall/kennnington. I was looking for one to buy the £1.99 chicken that has been getting so much publicity lately. It goes to show how effective this action of tesco's. It has even got me looking for it. NOrmally i would not bother to hunt for a tesco near me, once the local one in Pimlico closes for renovation. But now, I got my 2 chickens and I know where that store is. The prices in the superstore are about the same as the pimlico store, but there are more choices. I am pleased that it is still within an easy walking distance to the store from my place. About the same distance in the opposite direction to the pimlico store.As for the chickens, I roasted one and cooked a curry with the other. I have tasted the roast chicken and it is very nice. I have yet to taste the curry chicken, but simon did, and said it was v nice. I went to the library today and saw a book, 'The Low-Carb baking and dessert cookbook' by Ursula Solom. It is just what i m looking for. I thought I have to give up cakes and bread, since I am taking up this low-carb, mainly meat diet. So this recipe book giving the low carbohydrate recipes for bread and cakes is very welcomed. I shall have to look out for almond meal, wheat gluten, soy protein powder now. Never heard of them before. And I shall have to use artificial sweeteners. Hmm, this is quite an about turn for me. Before I used to abhore sweeteners. Maybe I shall use less than the suggested portions. Cakes especially do need to be a bit sweet or they wont taste very nice. There is even a recipe for low carb cheese cake. I shall like that. Maybe I can whean myself away from the sweetness and enjoy all these low carb cakes and things with less sweetness. I am convinced now that carbohydrates are the causes of heart disease and strokes. I have heard of this in the past but did not believe them. I asked them how can carbohdrates and fructose be bad? fructose is in fruit, and fruit is good isn't it?( I found out suger is composed of half sucrose and half fructose, so in that situation, fructose is bad). They were not able to answer me, but this book by gary taubes, 'the diet delusion' answered it very well.I am making an experiment with myself using the new knowledge i have gained about meat, to change my diet and see if it works for me. I know many people will think I am going over the top. Simon says so. But this is a way to try it out for myself and see if it works for me. If it does, I shall stick to it, if not, I shall modify it. So this is a work in progress. Simon says why am i so interested in it, i dont need to lose weight. It is true, i dont need to lose weight, but i do want to reduce the chances of heart disease, diabetes and strokes. It is not because I am afraid of dying of them, but more the desire to avoid the long suffering that leads up to the death from heart disease or diabetes. The quality of life is not nice when afflicted with the symptoms of highblood pressure and poor heart function, and diabetes. The whole host of things that goes wrong in the body long before dying, makes it a very unpleasant  life and that is why I want to change my diet to avoid that. haha. Ideally I want to die of a disease that dont have such a long debilitating run up to the death. To die of a fatal accident is the best way to go,especially if it comes late in life, just before the body breaks down from old age. Anyway hopefully that is far in the future. I daresay having a mainly meat diet will be rather enjoyable. After all just look at the inuits, and natives in the far north subsisting on all meat diets, and no vegetable. 'They dont die of heart disease or strokes. Though their life span is short, it is an active one before they conk out. That is the way to go. What do they die of, you may well ask. The following provides the answer... that the level of accidental deaths in the north (28%) is dramatically higher than in the rest of Canada (6%). http://www.itk.ca/health/cancer-registry-graph02.php Not all my friends like the cheap chickens. And that is fine too, as I dont expect my friends to agree with everything I do or think. For eg, john in poole said 'Hope you enjoy your bird poor thing. It didn't have much of a life . .. . So I don't think much of Tesco policy - but is their chicken tastless?' My reply for what it is worth 'as for the chickens they are so delicious, simon has nearly finished it off.hahah. he was having seconds and eating it throughout the day. The secret is not overcooking it. when it is overcooked even expensive free range chicken is soft and horrid. But these ones I made sure it is not too long in the oven. only 40mins from cold and that seems the right time. It is cooked but still firm in texture. i have all praise to tesco for these chickens. I can afford expensive chicken, but I dont want to buy them because i m not convinced they are better. And for poor people these cheap chickens may be the only way the kids can get their meat. i dont think flavor is affected by the way the chicken is bred. i have a feeling the way it is cooked is more important. As you may know, I am coming round to thinking that meat is a good diet, and so if the kids can get full eating as much meat as possible and not have to supplement it with potatoes, it is all to the good. A chef once said given the choice of a well cooked cheap battery chicken to a badly cooked expensive free range chicken, he will prefer the battery chicken. The way it is cooked is the important factor. I would say for those of us who still think it is cruel, the only way is to be vegetarian. i dont think it is possible to appease the conscious by saying breed them free range so they have a good life before being killed. It might satisfy their conscience and let them continue to think they are good people while still eating meat, and hence condoning rearing animals for food. i can afford the free range, but the thing is i dont believe the hype about giving the chickens a good life. When i see the free range chicks in hugh whatisname's farm, i noticed the free range chicks dont like to go out when it is cold. they still hung around inside the shed. so to us humans, we wouldlove to roam about in the outdoors we think it will be good for the chickens too, it may not be so. Seeing the behaviour of the free range chicks, they were given the choice to go out or not, and most of them stayed indoors. its a bit like people complaining about fat people always staying at home and not exercising, or not reading a book instead of seeing tv, it is all people wanting to dictate to others how to live their lives, when there are many of us, fat or not, who enjoy watching tv, and being lazy about the house. haha. we are imbueing chickens with our own feelings. Either dont eat meat or acknowledge that animal farming is by its very nature unfair on the animal, no matter how much u want to make their life comfy. haha. anyway, it is an offer that has a limited time, so it wont always be that cheap. I am sure it is not an answer that will satisfy those against the whole idea of battery farmed chickens. But luckily we live in a world where we an chose to eat them or not. And all praise to tesco for giving us the choice.

7.2.08 21:22 Permalink / comment

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