Teamwork

I often buy items that need assembling and will assemble them myself. For bigger items, I seek the help of my spouse. This is one activity that both of us enjoy doing together. As it requires us to work as a team, it brings us closer to each other. So far, we have assembled many items such as cupboards, tables, sofa beds, chairs, kitchen cabinets and trolleys.

Once we had a very difficult time trying to fix two cabinets with doors to a free-standing kitchen console according to the step-by-step instructions given in the guide but we did not give up. In the end, we had to rearrange the steps to get the job done.

So if you have run out of things to do with your spouse, why not try assembling some items together?

A recent small item that I assembled on my own

Done!

Trees

I like the look of the trees below and would like to plant some near my house but I do not know the name of these trees. Any idea what trees they are?

Neat row of short trees

This is how the leaves look like

A call

I was out when I received a phone call from my "empty" house. Something or someone has triggered the alarm system so I rushed home only to find that everything looks to be in order so did the system malfunction?

Before I installed the system, many people told me that there would be many false alarms and that it is not really useful but just because I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night to find an intruder standing over me, I decided to go ahead with the installation. I prefer to be awakened by a false alarm in the wee hours than to wake up groggily staring into a stranger's face but I can't say the same for my neighbours.

While there are many types of home security system out there, it is not easy to design a configuration and settings that will inform the owner of exactly what triggered the system if different types of sensors (contact sensors, shock sensors, motion sensors) are grouped together in one zone. Even a 10-zone system does not provide me with the granularity that I desired but due to a budget constraint, I settled for it. So now there is no way for me to tell what triggered the system.

So is a home alarm/security system a necessity nowadays? Or is it just there to provide home owners with a false sense of security? What do you all think?

Leuven, Belgium 2003

Back in Sept 2003, my spouse went for a business trip to Leuven, Belgium and as usual I tagged along. Leuven is known as a university town for one of the oldest university (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is located there. From the airport, we took a train to Leuven and then walked to The Novotel Leuven Centre hotel to check in.

Hotel room and view of the Stella Artois Brewery from the window of our hotel room

Then we walked to the main market square (Grote Markt) which is about 1.5km away to do some sightseeing. After a while, it was time for dinner. As my spouse prefers to eat "South East Asia style meals", we found a Thai restaurant (Krua Thai) and had our meal there. I don't remember the dishes that we ordered. All I remember is that the food there is delicious.

Krua Thai restaurant where we had our dinner

2nd Day

The next day after my spouse went for work, I was left to explore Leuven on my own. I walked to the main market square again and took photos of the town.

Left: Town Hall     Right:  Saint Peter's Church

Then I walked to visit the Grand Béguinage of Leuven (Groot Begijnhof van Leuven), a restored historical area which originated around the 13th century to house a community of unmarried, semi-religious women (Béguine - definition from the oxforddictionaries.com : "(in the Roman Catholic Church) a member of a Dutch lay sisterhood, formed in the 12th century, and not bound by vows"). The area consists of streets, squares, gardens, parks, with houses and apartments built in traditional brick and sandstone style. Now students and staff of the Catholic University of Leuven live there.

Groot Begijnhof van Leuven

After all the walking, I was hungry. Since my spouse was not around, I was free to eat non "South East Asia style" meals. The previous night, I found great online reviews for this restaurant - Restaurant-Bistro Timory - so I made my way there by foot with the help of a street map. Had an enjoyable meal there - I don't remember all that I ate but I knew I had a waffle with ice-cream for dessert. Back then, I do not take photos of my food. The only downside about eating alone is that I had to carry all my belongings into the washroom with me and there was no one to "guard" my table.

Restaurant Timory

After a satisfying meal, I continued to wander around Leuven and noticed the many statues standing or sitting here and there so I took photos of them. Below are the photos that I took of the statues. The description and name of the statues are copied from this pdf file "A guide to the statues of Leuven" that I found online. This guide even states the location of the statues and has a map marking their locations. The guide contains many more statues than the ones I saw.

De Kotmadam - by Fred Bellefroid built in 1984 in honour of the kotmadam. “Kot” is Flemish slang for a student room, and the “kotmadam” is the landlady of the building, who would prepare meals for the students, tidy their rooms and help them when help was needed.

Renée - Reading a book entitled “Loveniers Armand”, the name of the sculptor. This statue is meant to represent the active female students in Leuven, built near Atrecht College, the first to offer university degrees in teaching to women. It was named after René Depret, head of the Merchants Association of Leuven and the Friends of Leuven Museums, among many other associations.

De Bakkers (The Bakers)

Dit Beeld Werd Geschonken boor - In memory of those drafted into the crossbow corpse (always 60 men strong) who trained along this pathway, outside the inner wall

Paep Thoon - an organist/jester at the Holy Sacrament of St Peter’s church in the 15th century, who used to tell the truth through dark humour;

Fons Sapientiae (Fountain of Wisdom): a university student who pours wisdom into his head by reading a book.

3rd Day (also the last day)

On the 3rd day, we checked out from the hotel early in the morning and my spouse left for work with all our baggage. I then took a train to the Brussels-Central railway station to do some sightseeing around Brussels. I've been to Brussels before in 1999 during a 2-week Europe package group tour but that was a short stopover so this time I bought a ticket at the Central station and got on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour around Brussels. I sat on the upper deck of the open-top bus.

Hop on hop off sightseeing bus

I did not get off at most of the stops (got down at only two stops), just sat there and enjoy the city sights. At Stop 9 - Heysel, I alighted from the bus and bought tickets for myself and my camera to enter the Atomium (built in 1958). Since my camera has a ticket, I took many photos inside the Atomium.

Atomium - ticket counter and close up

Exhibition hall inside one of the steel spheres

Escalators or stairs inside the tubes connecting the center sphere to the other spheres

More escalators and stairs in the connecting tubes

Observation deck and view from the deck

After boarding the bus again at Stop 9, I alighted at Stop 12 - Bourse-Grand Place (Grand Place square) where I walked around looking at the various buildings around the square, searched for the famous Manneken-Pis and had my late lunch there - a bowl of mussels broth.

I think this was where I ate my late lunch - the sign says "Poisson Viandes Fruit de Mer" (Fish, meat, seafood)

After lunch, I took my own sweet time walking around window shopping looking at the chocolate displays until I lost track of the time. When I realised it, I quickly walked to a bus stop and waited very long for a hop-on-hop-off bus to appear. I was so afraid that I missed the last bus and had to take a cab back to the train station. Fortunately a bus appeared after more than half an hour and I hopped on, only to find it crawling as the traffic was congested.

Traffic congestion

When I reached the train station in Brussels, I quickly bought a ticket and boarded a train to the airport. Met up with my spouse at the airport and took a flight back to UK.

Lesson learned: when sightseeing alone, must remember the time at all times.

40 years ago...

...you were born.

Now it's time to wish you a very happy 40th birthday!

Goats vs car

One day, on my way home, I saw this peculiar sight - the goats were running in the middle of the road and the goatherd was nowhere to be seen. Instead of the tortoise and the hare, it is "the goats and the car" - who do you think will win the race?

Being old

Recently I have been thinking of old age due to seeing the many elderly people who live on the same street as my in-laws - who takes care of them and how they live their lives.

1. One old lady (around 80 years old) lives in her marital home with two young Cambodian maids (20-25 years old). Her son and daughter (mid 60s) visit her during the weekends. I have never seen the old lady outside her house - only the maids.

2. Another old lady (75ish) lives in her younger brother's house as the caretaker with rooms let out to tenants. She is sweet and polite and very independent. She dares to walk alone to the nearby shops to get her grocery.

3. My parents-in-law (early 70s) live on their own in their marital home and we visit them regularly.

4. An old lady (70ish) lives with her son and his family with a maid.

5. An elderly couple (late 70s) lives on their own and occasionally the wife will shout very loudly at her husband and her shouts can be heard down the whole street even though she is shouting from within her own house. *Update (29 June 2011): I was told that the wife shouts at the husband because the husband is hard of hearing and she has to ask him to do things around the house because her legs are weak and she can't walk and move about*

6. There is one widow (mid 60s) who lives with a maid and babysit 4 grandchildren (2 from her daughter and 2 from her son). Her son lives in his own house with his family a few doors away and will send his children over to her house everyday. Her daughter lives further away but still send her children over to her house everyday.

So it sets me thinking, will I be like the old woman who shouts at her spouse when I am old and grey? Or will I live alone by myself should my spouse passed away before me? Can I be independent when old?

What about you? Have you thought about being old? Do you expect to live with your children and their respective families or do you expect to live with your children who are still single? Or do you plan to treasure your independence and live on your own for as long as you can as long as you are able to care for yourself? What's your plan should you need a carer - hire a maid or check into a nursing home or expect your children to be your carer? I told my spouse, if he needs a carer when he is old, I am checking both of us into a nursing home because I do not have the confidence that I will be able to take good care of him when I am old myself.

Speaking of the elderly, my maternal grandmother is going to celebrate her 95th birthday soon. She lives alone and still cooks her own meals. Can I be as independent as her? Once again, only time can tell.

A recent photo of my grandmother