A Japanese Couple in Town

HJ and buddy were golfing at Meru when they met up with Taka San who was golfing alone. So they invited him to join them and the rest is history.

Taka San is a retired journalist who had worked in London for 4 years and therefore spoke pretty good english. His wife Iche San, also retired, worked as an Administrative staff in a English language school. Taka San spends the summer and winter months out of Japan.

They were in Penang when they found out about Meru Valley Golf Resort and booked 2 months stay.

HJ invited them both for another round of golf at Clearwater - he found that they were a very friendly and nice couple and wanted to extend the Malaysian hospitality to them.

It then lead to dinner with a group of friends, one of whom had a Japanese wife. We felt it would be nice for them to meet up with a Japanese who had lived in Malaysia for 7 years.

As it turned out they enjoyed the company and food tremendously and kept saying thank you to HJ. We even had sake courtesy of Jeremy. After dinner we took them for a short tour of the town (the only place they had been was to Jusco via the resort shuttle) and they liked the colonial buildings in old town.

I like Iche San very much, she is very warm, friendly and approachable. When we dropped them off at their apartment we hugged each other and they promised that they will definitely come back to Ipoh again. They also invited us to stay with them in Tokyo.....

What a funk - Rubbish Dumps

People indiscriminately dump all kinds of rubbish in an area near my house. Its an eye sore, a pong, a funk.

The council had cleared this area twice and put up a sign that says "No Dumping. Fine - RM500".

Guess what? A couple of days later that sign gets knocked down, rubbish continues to pile till that sign is buried. "There! I can dump rubbish here now there's no sign that says I can't."

It isn't as if the rubbish truck doesn't ply this housing area, people are "house proud" and don't want a rubbish bin decorating their back porch. People think a rubbish bin is too expensive, why buy one when there is a "free" area for throwing their rubbish?

People clear their beautiful gardens and throw the branches and leaves in that area - they drag those branches through the street and leave them there. Its too much work to cut up the branches and bag them for the rubbish man. So long as my garden is well kept, I don't care what happens around me.

The caterer throws the styrofoam plates, plastic forks and spoons and they spill all over - they don't even bother to bag them. What for? After all the dogs will scavenge, break the bags and scather them all over. Might as well save a plastic bag and do my bit for environment.

The tenants of a nearby house bag their household rubbish, walk to the dump area, leave it there and walk away trying to look angelic.

Some car passes by, slows down and a bag is thrown out. Quick! Check it out! Someone might have committed a murder!

Someone bought a new sofa and left the old one there. Or, rather it could be the furniture guy who agreed to get rid of the old sofa for you! Someone comes along and guts that old sofa taking whatever can be recycled to make some money. Hei, why don't you just take the whole sofa with you?

Someone else comes along, pokes in the rubbish and carts off some scrap metal. We should thank these people for getting rid of some of the rubbish...

Durian shells and seeds in some bags - the remnants of someone's delicious, finger licking good, 'Taste like heaven, smells like hell' heavenly meal.

Once I called the enforcement council and was told how they nabbed some people who threw things out of their apartment to land either on someone's head or car or laundry....

Enforcement said; "we will post someone there to fine these people and teach them a lesson". Several days later, the rubbish was cleared but far as I could tell no one was fined or caught.

Instead people started merrily decorating that rubbish area again with the unwanted trappings of their lifestyle...

I am in a funk.

What a Funk - Abandoned

The New York TImes - "On Language, Funkmanship"
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Published: October 22, 1995
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E2D81139F931A15753C1A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1)

Extract:
"A funk, noun, has a couple of other senses not connected to the smell of tobacco. One is "fear, panic": Grose noted in 1785, "I was in a cursed funk." In his 1856 novel, "Tom Brown's School Days," Thomas Hughes gave the word its color: "If I was going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk." Another, related meaning is "black mood, depression." ... Other meanings abound -- the Historical Dictionary of American Slang notes "to flinch," "to back down" and "to fizzle" -- but "to be in a funk" usually means to be very gloomy, kicking the cat and muttering oaths."


Abandoned.
Puppies, kittens....

In one of my regular walk routes with Bernie, I came across 3 white and black spotted female puppies. They were huddled together behind a lamp post among some bushes. Two of them were brave enough to bark when we passed by; otherwise they looked as lost as they were.

The ex-owner of these puppies should be shot, quartered and dumped for what they did:

1. for not spaying the mother of the puppies in the first place
2. for not finding a home for the puppies
3. for dumping the puppies
4. for not being responsible pet owners
   

I only know for sure the familiar scenario of abandoned puppies in this neighbourhood or any neighbourhood for that matter. The puppies grow up on scraps provided by some kind person or scavenge in the rubbish dumps. They somehow survive. They get old enough to be in heat, the male dogs gather around and the nights get noisy with their howls and fights.

The puppies get pregnant; if they are 'lucky' their puppies get born; if not, someone calls the dog shooter and they are cruelly destroyed.

What a funk indeed.

Once many years ago, an animal lover tried to lobby for animal laws/rights in this country. There has been no news since then. And with the rising costs of living....you get my drift.

Once I rescued an abandoned puppy and took it to the vet who eventually found a home for him. I was happy with what I did. I would love to do it again with these 3 puppies.

But what did I do instead? I avoided this familiar route.......I couldn't bear to see those puppies because I can't do anything for them this time...

But I am in a funk...