Ikea the supermarket

Last week I was leaving the office when I met a friend. He was so surprised when I told him that I was going to the Ikea Coventry store to have lunch with my wife and son. "Are you sure?" he asked.

He is looking forward to visiting the restaurant on his first ever trip soon.


My son fell asleep in the shopping trolley during a recent trip to the Coventry store.


Anyway, most people still see Ikea as a furniture store but strangely we rarely buy furniture though we are regulars at the store. Most of the time, we usually go to eat there but we do end up buying something or the other - a picture frame, candles, rugs or even plants. This may be de to the fact that we don't change furniture that often.

They have also started selling luggage, books, electrical equipment and even soap. In the future we may actually see Ikea transformed into something like Marks and Spencer (another favourite store of ours) selling everything from food and clothes to furniture and electrical equipment.

First Commentator:
Lynne

MCS BBQ 2009

The Malaysian Coventry Society (MCS) recently held their annual barbecue party at Cryfield Pavillion, University of Warwick on the 4th of July. The weather was great and though the clouds looked threatening at times, it didn't pour down until much later in the evening.

There were games for the whole family and of course loads of great food.

Here are some pics:

























The BBQ party was a great success.

Introducing Raja Rahawani and Precious Times

A few Malaysians have settled down here in Coventry and now call it their home. One of them is Raja Rahawani. She has been here in Coventry for nearly 14 years now.

Affectionately known by the younger Malaysians here as Kak Raja, she is a really really talented lady. A fully qualified professional practitioner in holistic therapies, she offers reflexology, aromatherapy, Indian head massage, thermo auricular therapy and holistic living lifestyle.

She also works as a Mobile Therapist and offers 'Home Visits' especially for ' Post Natal clients and vulnerable clients who needed treatment in the comfort & convenience of their own home and familiar surrounding (e.g especially referral cases such as post rehabilitation MS client, post rehab stroke/ bypassed, etc). However, it's for Lady Clients Only .

In 2008, Kak Raja offered Remedial Massage, Reiki & Reflexology to Multiple Sceloris (MS) patients at the Neurology Unit (L:4), University Hospital in Walsgrave, Coventry for more than seven months. It was specially funded by a charitable organisation based in London called 'Life For 4 Living'.

If you are interested you might want to try out the taster sessions / workshops in health and beauty as well as pampering and relaxation sessions. I also learnt recently that she is a qualified perfumer and makes her own perfumes. That's so amazing.



She recently launched her website, Precious Times and I wanted to help create some buzz about her business. The premises are located at 146, Walsgrave Road, Coventry CV2 4AX.

Now for the best part. Kak Raja has agreed to give reader of my blog an Exclusive Offer (June, July and August 2009). You can choose from:

• Up to 5% discount on initial treatments or
• a mini holistic facial or
• a taster back massage or
• a hand massage.

All you have to do is mention my blog to Kak Raja.

Please refer to the Precious Times website for more information.

A day at the park

This was taken a while ago when my father-in-law visited us. It was really windy that day and even though it was sunny, it got a bit chilly.

It is at the Memorial Park on Kenilworth Rd, Coventry, CV3 6PT.




The eagle dance?






not easy jumping carrying a kid who weighs 16Kg.



The pictures came out quite well, especially the jump shots even though they were taken using my compact Kodak C913.

First Commentator
Yazid Idrus

Angels and Demons Coventry

Nothing to do with the new movie starring Tom Hanks based on the novel by Dan Brown.

This is a sculpture on the walls of the Cathedral Church of St Michael’s at Coventry depicting the archangel Michael and Satan.




Close up

BTW, has anyone seen the movie?

First commentator:
MuzEju

Great places for a day out with the family in the Midlands

A lot of people seem to think that the midlands of the UK is a boring place. they couldn't have been more wrong. There are so many amazing places here in Coventry and nearby areas which is great for a day out with the family.

1. Transport Museum - Totally free of charge. Learn how Coventry was once the centre of the British auto industry.
2. Warwick Castle - Going back in time to the medieval ages
3. Coombe Country park - Wide open spaces, ideal for a picnic.
4. Twycross zoo - nearest zoo to us.
5. West Midlands Safari Park - Feed the animals as they come to your car.
6. Alton Towers - the rides said to be better than Disney Land Paris.
7. Cadbury World - Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate
8. National Space Centre
   

Situated just 2 miles away from Leicester City Centre and on the banks of the River Soar, the National Space Centre has got to be one of the best hidden secrets in the midlands. The Hidayah School, which is run by the Malaysian Coventry Society, recently organised a trip to the centre. I accompanied my daughter.

The first thing we noticed was this building that looked like a balloon. It actually is - the outer walls of the semi-transparent tower is clad with inflated ETFE layers.

Filled with interactive exhibits, the place is really educational and entertaining at the same time.

I guess the highlight of the show was the animated movie projected into the circular dome of the theatre which short of enveloped you and made you feel like you were travelling in space.

We really enjoyed the trip and I recommend the place to anyone with school going kids.




Close up


Lunar Jim


Some rockets


from below


Loading up the rocket


Weight on the moon


Booth to call mars


Soyuz spacecraft


A final shot of the semi-transparent building.

First Commentator
Emila Yusof

Travelodge tells me to bring a tent

My sister is coming over from Australia to visit us in May along with her husband and my sweet niece. She wanted to rent an apartment but I convinced her to save money and stay in the Travelodge Hotel here in Coventry.

As students we are always on a budget and discovered Travelodge after talking to other Malaysians who have been here in the UK for a while. The first thing that comes to mind when we say "budget hotel" are dirty sheets, bare and tiny rooms and we were really surprised the first time we stayed in a Travelodge because their service quality was quite high. The rooms were neat and tidy, well maintained with clean sheets. They even provide TV and kettle with tea and coffee. You can even get extra pillows, sheets and baby cot if travelling with a baby. Like Air Asia, the budget Malaysian airline, you can get some great deals if you book early with them.

Anyway, we never knew that there was a Travelodge in Coventry until we ran a search and quickly booked the rooms. Later on we found out that the hotel was still under construction.


Screenshot of their website

Naturally we were quite worried and I called up their customer service. The guy I talked to, convinced me that the hotel would be up by the time my sister's family arrived. He also added "You better bring along a tent mate!"

It was quite funny and I laughed - an example of a typical English joke where you don't know whether the guy is being sarcastic or actually trying to be funny with a lame joke. I was narrating this incident to my friend who's in the hotel industry (he prefers to call it "the hospitality industry") and he was shocked. "They actually said that".

According to him, if any of his customer service staff made a remark like that, they would be fired immediately.

I was not offended but they better get the hotel ready in time.

Naomi Klein wins the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing

Attended the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing ceremony yesterday evening. It was a small affair compared to other award ceremonies I have attended but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the panellists.

The setting for the ceremony was Mead hall in the Warwick Arts Centre surrounded by some wacky art.





Naomi Klien won the £50,000 award for her controversial book 'The Shock Doctrine'.


The Shock Doctrine


Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick's Professor Nigel Thrift addressing the audience

In this book, Naomi argues against the well accepted free market policies as given by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics. She also talks about a group of people who profit when disasters occurs around the World, whom she refers to as "the shock doctors".


Naomi accepting the prize


Naomi posing for the cameras

I am really proud to have been involved in the initial judging panels. It was really a tough process considering the theme this year was "complexity" and the fact that it was cross-disciplinary open to substantial pieces of writing in the English language and in any genre or form. This includes translations from other languages.

Selecting the winner for this year went through several rounds and the longlist of 20 titles came out in December last year. The list was finally whittled down to a short-list of six international titles.

Was slightly surprised because both the cover design and the title on the Amazon.com site is slightly different from the one I have. It costs £9.99 at the University book store but I got it at a special price of only £7.99 and I had it autographed by the author as well.

You can now get this International bestseller from Amazon.com

Snowfall in Coventry 09 - more pics

Some more pics of snow in Coventry. This winter is said to be the worst in 18 years. Fortunately, it seems to be getting better as we had good sunshine the whole day.


Building a snowman. Now that we have enough snow, I finally mastered the art of rolling a big snow ball.


With my two darlings. The snow clothing we bought for a ski trip that didn't happen finally came in handy


Snow on my car


Our front door


The street in front of our house


Foot steps on the snow

Snowfall in Coventry Feb 09

Went to London yesterday to see my nephew Noah who just arrived on Saturday. A really cute fellow and it was amazing he was willing to let me hold him. He got on fabulously with my daughter as well. However, he became cranky later in the after noon - jet lag I guess.



While we were there it started snowing - a bit at first and then later in the evening, became a blizzard. I was quite worried and decided to drive back before it got worse. I was so worried, I didn't even get chance to say bye to Noah. It was terrible in London but as soon as we hit the M40, the weather suddenly cleared and it was Ok the rest of the way home.



Woke up this morning to find everything white. It was not that bad and I sent the kids to school. I think I made a good decision to come back instead of staying back in London yesterday because we would have been stuck there today. Apparently they had nearly a feet of snow there yesterday.