Dear thief....

I am afraid I have outwitted you on this occasion.

The quoted price to fix the damage that you cost on my bicycle was unrealistic. So I had two options to solve the problem. First, I could wait till some realistic offers come around including the option of buying a new bike or two, I could resort to stealing, like you. I decided the latter is for scums of the earth, so the former was the only option left for me.

Recently I went to Cambridge and found many rear wheels lying around in my College. In fact I was spoilt for choice! I had to choose one in the end. So, I took the one in the best condition. It didn't cost me anything and best of all, I didn't have to resort to stealing. You should make a trip to Cambridge too. Who knows, you may want to help yourself with the punts too!

Anyway, I have fixed the rear wheel into my Old Faithful two days ago. It fitted like a second skin! The gears didn't need any adjustment and so were the brakes. The tyre thread is even better than the original!

I just found out that you have also helped yourself with the rear mudflap. You never fail to surprise me with the stuff you're after. But that's okay because the flap has never worked properly anyway. So you can have it. Please recycle if you can't use it.

At first the wheel was making some noise. It was coming from the bearings.That's probably the reason why its previous owner has gotten rid of it. Guess what, WD-40 has solved the problem. Now, the noise is gone.

If WD-40 could also solve social problems, I would have aimed the noozle at you.

Cheers!

Japanese for Reckless People

Or should I say “People who speak Japanese recklessly”.

At the escalator in Holborn station yesterday, a lady who was standing in front turned around and asked if I was Japanese.

“Ex-er kill-su me, are you Jar-par-nee-su?” she said with a thick Japanese accent.

Before I could decipher what she was saying, she continued in Japanese, “Nihon-jin desu ka?”

I paused for a while to think if I should answer her in Japanese or English since she asked me in both languages.

Then I replied, “Sorry, I am not.”

She apologised and repeated it in Japanese, “I yam sorry..Gomen nasai…gomen nasai” and bowed a few times.

"Ah! You look-ku like a Jar-par-nee-su. I yam sorry." she bowed once more.

I smiled and said, "That's fine."

The tiny size lady looked like she needed some help. Before the escalator peaked, I spoke to her in my dysfunctional Japanese to offer help. “Ano, Nihon-jin janakute, nihongo ga hanasemasu yo! (Err…I am not Japanese but I can speak Japanese!)

Her face brightened, “Ah! Honto?!” (Oh! Really?!)

She then explained her situation to me- at length! It reminded me when I was in Japan. The moment you speak a little Japanese, they will assume that you’ll be able to understand everything in the language – so you end up communicating and signing (or hanko-ing; Japanese seal) agreements away at the bank, post office, immigration office etc based on the little stuff that you could understand and leave the bigger ones to chance and pray that you’re not signing your life away! Thank God, Japanese are the most honest people in the world, or at least that’s how they come across to me!

I could understand pockets of the conversation. Two dots connect a line, so I made up she was trying to tell me she lost her husband two hours ago somewhere in the station after their visit to the British Museum. And her husband has a back pain! She needed help to locate him.

I may have missed other points but I thought that was sufficient to know what she was after.

The problem came. How the heck should I respond to her? That was the time I thought, “Shucks….why did I respond to her in the first place!!”

I mustered whatever Japanese words I could remember and just shove it up the conversation.

It was an emergency after all, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about even if I had accidentally said that she looked like a whore or something. I am sure she would understand.

I found the use of “shimasu” extremely helpful at a time when you need to speak Japanese desperately!

From experience, an English verb and “shimasu” work wonders. The lady could almost understand me completely! Magic!

I was struggling with simple verbs like “check”, “take”, “help” and even “walk”! These were basic words but even that, they have slipped my mind! This shows how important practising is to learning a language.

The words ended up as “check-ku shimasu”, “take-ku shimasu, “help-pu shimasu” and “walk-ku shimasu”. They sounded funny but hey, the important thing is she got the message!

We had a good chat in between; about her trip, her family and her worries if she really had to lose her husband in London!

We finally found her husband in the room when we went to check it at the hotel. An outburst of a familiar word came out unconsciously when I saw them together; "Yokatta ne!!" (That's good!)

I realised we have spent 2 hours in the hunt for her husband when I needed to catch up on the next appointment. I have never spoken in Japanese for a long time since coming to the UK.

Two hours are an ordeal if you don’t know what the other person or you are talking about. I could remember I nearly boarded the next flight back to Malaysia when I first stepped into Japan and felt paralysed by the language. So I am glad I survived with my reckless Japanese.

Needless to say, I need to “practise shimasu” instead of practice “shimasu”.

The Most Shameful Londoner

Last Friday when my colleagues and I were returning to the office after lunch, we witnessed a bicycle theft in front of us. It took a while before we knew it. After all, London is a world-class city. So you would not expect petty thefts like this to happen here, right?

Wrong!

It was not until when one of the youths ran across the road with a bike on the shoulder that we realised he was stealing a bicycle in broad daylight and in central London! There were two other accomplices.

It's petty thefts like this that people could get away easily because the law seems to have placed too much emphasis on "popular" crimes like stabbing and terrorism. So, thefts like this will only be swept under the carpet. Thieves just get away with it. Isn't it frustrating?!

You see, I started cycling to the office three weeks ago in my old faithful. I inherited it from a friend in Cambridge and it went to Reading and now here.

After the bike theft incident, Yong, my colleague asked if I had my bike locked away properly. I told him, "Trust me, only a fool will take my bike! It will cost him more to repair it! The rear tyre is almost going to explode! Good riddance! Then I could buy a new one."

I told him about my bike conditions. It's a squeaky female bike. In fact, some friends in Cambridge used to laugh at me using it. And a housemate once said, "It must have taken someone with lots of confidence to ride on it!"

Even though all these comments appeared to be amusing rather than advisory, I was thinking of getting a proper bike as it would be much easier to make a decision when there is a triathlon race to sign up for.

Today, I cycled to Elephant and Castle to join a walking tour of Charlie Chaplin. The tour lasted one and a half hours. I was knackered after the walk because I had also spent an additional one and half hours on a Charles Dicken tour earlier. But I was very happy to know so much more about this place. So I headed for my bike.

The rear wheel was stolen.

I was neither amused nor shocked. I just stood in front of my old faithful and looked at it for a while just to make sure I've got the right bike. I'm probably the only cyclist in London with a basket in front so when I spotted it, it became clear it was my bike! It looked like someone has lost a limb and chained to a rail.

There was a bike shop nearby. So I went and asked. They quoted 35quid for a second-hand wheel replacement. It costs more than the bike! No way! It sounded like a scam. So I walked out and took the bus home.

In the bus, the conversation last Friday came flashing back. I became very angry because I was made "immobile" for at least until I get it fixed or I get a new bike. Either way, I have to be more careful next time. I'd probably invest in another D-Lock soon.

When I returned and told Chane, my housemate about it, her look of disgust showed immediately. She took it worse than I should be!

She said, "These people are just f*cking pathetic aren't they?! You just can't leave anything outside nowadays!"

The incident was just unbelievable. If the person had wanted a severely worn rear wheel from me, I would have so willingly handed it over along with the bike! But no, what happened was a crime in its lowest form by the most shameful Londoner.

Old Faithful. Take care for now. I'll be back soon to bring you home.

Work

I was asked if I could write something about my work or put photos of my office.

"At least we know how people in the UK work."

While I am adamant not to discuss about work in my blog, I wouldn't mind talking about life at work so far.

I also find it necessary to debunk several myths of what people thought I'm currently going through. But it's okay since I haven't spoken about it before.

1. I don't handle the entire project, you must be joking!

2. I don't deal with the Olympics events. Stop asking me for track event tickets for 2012!

3. If there's a comparison to what I was doing in Malaysia, I would give the engineering in Olympics -"Engineering - the Extended version". There are great emphasis placed on sustainability and legacy planning; two words which are still unheard of in Malaysia.

4. I haven't had to deal with anyone from Beijing.

5. I haven't met any famous Olympians in doing my work.

And finally, I don't use sophisticated softwares in my work. My tools of trade are a scale-ruler, technical compass set, mechanical pencil, few sheets of blank paper and a cup of coffee.

Proof that I was neither joking nor trying to be sarcastic to Japanese engineers

Malaysia's talent flight looms

The discomfort towards the high cost of living and weariness towards the unceasing political bickering are making a lot of Malaysians fed up with the country.

The Financial Times recently reported that there will be visa curbs to 11 countries because of continuous overstaying problems in the UK. Malaysia is listed as one of them.

For those who couldn’t work in the UK with the proper document, this is their only way in. If all fails, then Singapore that is.

For those who could, they have either gone or already preparing the documents. At least seven of whom I know have applied. Three are already here.

For those who are already here but were planning to return, they are now holding back their plans for the obvious reasons.

Taking the numbers of those who are here illegally out of the equation, those who are now considering a move out of the country are top talents and brightest people in the country. Some of them are people I had the honour to meet, work and study with and became the industries’ top-flights upon returning. They are now throwing in the towel.

While the political situation is in gradual crescendo, Malaysia’s talent flight looms. Whether it is long or short haul, KLIA will be hit. The beneficiary? Heathrow. If not, Changi.