Haworth & Si Kucing Thomas

Pekan Haworth, Bradford, UK. Di sinilah tempat saya selalu berkunjung untuk menenangkan fikiran sewaktu belajar di Bradford dahulu. Pekan ini terkenal dengan Bronte's Parsonage, kediaman adik-beradik Bronte yang menulis karya-karya agung seperti Wuthering's Heights dan Jane Eyre.

Untuk melawat Bronte's Parsonage, saya akan mendaki Main Street (di atas).Kunjungan saya selalu ditemani kucing hitam bernama Thomas yang gerak lakunya seolah-olah dialah datuk bandar pekan Haworth ini. Malah di Pejabat Pos Haworth yang terletak di puncak Main Street, ada satu kerusi khas untuk Thomas berlengkar. Kadang-kadang dia akan berehat di hadapan Bronte's Parsonage, mengawasi pelancong-pelancong yang lalu-lalang di situ.

Yang pastinya, Thomas punyai karakternya tersendiri. Jangan cuba untuk mendekatinya - anda akan dicakar! (Saya sendiri pernah kena!). Biarlah dia datang sendiri kepada anda. Seolah-olah ia memberitahu - hormati saya- kucing kehormat Haworth! Sepanjang lawatan saya ke Haworth, hanya sekali si Thomas berlengkar disebelah saya dihadapan Bronte's Parsonage dan membiarkan sahaja saya mengusap-usap bulunya yang hitam itu.

Kalau anda ke Bradford, Haworth hanya 4 batu jauhnya. Saya cadangkan anda naiklah bas dua tingkat dari Bradford melalui Thornton Road dan tempuhi pekan Keighley kalau tidak silap saya. Jangan lupa juga untuk ambil peluang menaiki keretapi wap Keighley Railways di kaki bukit pekan Haworth.

Hingga kini, Pilgrimage saya ke Haworth dan gelagat si kucing Thomas itu masih segar dalam ingatan saya!

Gambar 1: Main Street, Haworth ehsan Micheal Norris's Photography

Gambar 2: Bronte's Parsonage ehsan http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/

Found it!

Ah.Finally found a book on CSR! One thing for sure - Kinokinuya KLCC needs to look into their book search system.

Growing Up in Terengganu received warm welcome from readers in Terengganu during book launch in KT, I was told by kakteh today.And good news for KL readers - Awang Goneng will be reading his book on the 29th December in Bangsar. Details here.

Road to Nottingham (1)

I have started to find out more about CSR. Luckily, I know a friend who does CSR work for GLCs and will meet her soon over lunch to get the whole picture on CSR initiatives in Malaysia.

So far, I found out that the university does offer scholarship for students from developing countries. So it was quite a good news.

Surprisingly, reading materials on CSR are quite limited as the subject is quite new.I have checked Kinokinuya KLCC and can't even find one book on CSR. Anyway, I have ordered the books from Kino's book service and will get the books in few weeks time.

My 2008 aspiration

An editor of a weekly magazine called me yesterday. She asked me this,

"What's your aspiration for year 2008?"

I just blurted it out,

"I am going to do my M.A in Corporate Social Responsibility at Nottingham University, UK by September 2008!".

Till today, I have can't answer on how to get it be funded,with no scholarship prospects yet in mind.I have no idea whether they will accept me for the placement especially with my mediocre performance during my first degree (in chemical engineering) almost 10 years ago.

But one thing for sure, I'll find a way.

Cerita Buku Hujung Minggu

Saya membeli 4 buah buku secondhand Junk Bookshop, Jalan Tun HS Lee, Kuala Lumpur pagi tadi.

• A Walk Across America oleh Peter Jenkins
• Spain oleh Jan Morris
• Jim Thompson: The Legendary American of Thailand oleh William Warren
• Berry's Book of Cunning Contraption oleh Roland Berry

Buku tulisan William Warren mengenai misteri kehilangan saudagar sutera Thailand itu sudah lama saya cari dan akhirnya ketemu di kedai buku tersebut. Tinggalsatu naskhah lagi di kedai itu dan ianya berhargaRM36.

Jan Morris, penulis dari England saya kenali melalui penulisannya mengenai Oxford dan Yorkshire di dalam naskhah-naskhah Reader's Digest.

Peter Jenkins pula banyak menulis tentang pengembaraan backpackingnya merentasi Amerika. Dia mengingatkan saya kepada Charles Kuralt yang banyak menulis tentang kehidupan seharian rakyat Amerika (sehingga kini saya masih mencari peluang untuk melihat Aurora borealis di Alaska seperti mana yang diceritakannya di dalam buku beliau).

GUIT Book Signing at Kino KLCC: Photo Essay

Drbubbles sedang menegotiate nilai hantaran untuk kucing kakteh Snowbella sambil diarbitrate oleh Elviza.Nilai hantaran yang dipertikaikan ialah 2 buah buku GUIT iaitu RM79.80 (sebelum diskaun!)








Kakteh pula memberi hujahnya kenapa nilai hantaran untuk Snowbella mestilah tinggi daripada offer Drbubbles itu.










Akhirnya mengikut pengadilan oleh Elviza, keputusan berpihak kepada Drbubbles menyebabkan kakteh tak mau pandang langsung drbubbles yang senyum lebar itu!










People at GUIT booksigning session at Kinokinuya KLCC, Sunday, 9th Dec 2007.


For more commentaries from the attendees:

Elviza
Pak Ancient Mariner
Pak Zawi
Pak JaffPoint
Pak Zabs

1000th thanks to Abe MatSalo for the photos!

Growing Up in Terengganu

I met the author of Growing Up in Terengganu (GUIT), Awang Goneng aka W.A.Hulaimi yesterday at Kinokinuya KLCC.Ah, finally, I met the witty man himself and managed to get my two copies of GUIT signed by him.

I read GUIT with envy. How I wish he could write Growing Up in Pahang (GUIP) instead. By all means, every Terengganu citizen must have this wonderfully written piece.

He and his GUIT reminded me very much of Yorkshire's famous son, James Herriot aka country vet Mr. Alf Wight who wrote such classics, All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Wise and Wonderful.

Syazwan again

Syazwan's father informed my colleague, Mama, that his retinoblastoma is recurring aggresively and he might lose the remaining eye this time.

I guess the time we bought, has come to its end. To go back into that world of pain and anguish, I don't think I have the courage to do it (again).

I am thinking of you

I came across this few days ago in Reader's Digest (January 1995) and I leave it here tonight for you reading pleasure. Good night.

When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs.

I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles.

Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down.

Pierce Vincent Eckhart
Tenor

A blog by a boy

His name is Luqman b. Ariffin, a 7 years old boy who is now living in Dubai with his family. I find it very refreshing to read his day-to-day happenings in his life. His blog namqul.blogspot.com is place you might want to visit; to remind ourselves again how glorious the childhood years can be.

membaca

Memetik sebahagian daripada respon Andrew Solomon, penulis The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression mengenai fakta daripada kajian National Endowment of Arts (NEA) di dalam New York Times, 10 Julai 2004.

(The study) indicates that people who reads for pleasure are many times more likely than those who don't to visit museums and attend musical performances,almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and charity work, and almost twice as likely to attend sporting events.