Jack’s Frost Week

It was a freezing cold start last week.   And it was back to de-icing  and scraping the windshields again. Our cul-de-sac was engulfed in fog. Time to switch on the fog lights. The number of times we saw cars without their lights on was too many to count.

As usual, we opened and closed the roof of the car to blow away any remnants of the ice. We were at a traffic light when Babe wanted to open the roof and it refused to open. Oh no…Babe decided to pop over at Citroen on the way home.

Babe dropped me outside the library and I went to the boot get my stuff. And I can’t open the boot. Holy s—t!!!Definitely something wrong with the electronics. I went to work without my handbag which has my office card and my tote which had my lunch and diary. What a mess!!! I’d to get in via the main entrance and asked reception to unlock the gate for me. I hated to do that.

About an hour later, Babe knocked on my window. I went out to meet him. Citroen wanted him to leave the car with them. Babe planned to do it after work and we’ll take the bus home. On the way to meet me, he tried opening the roof and it o-p-e-n-e-d!!! When he parked outside the library, he tried the boot and it o-p-e-n-e-d too. We guessed that  when we opened the roof this morning, some iced had flown in and jammed the electronics. Phew!!! He’d to drive back to Citroen to inform them what had happened and cancel the appointment. We must remember next time to clear all the ice off the roof before opening it.

After all the morning excitement, I need to stretch my legs during my lunch break. The campus grounds too were engulfed in thick fog patches here and there. The fog lifted to low cloud keeping it misty and grey all day in some places. This was the scene outside the Digital Lab. The fog makes this place quite atmospheric and very Dickensian :-).

"How cold it is! Even the lights are cold;
They have put shawls of fog around them, see!
What if the air should grow so dimly white
That we would lose our way along the paths
Made new by walls of moving mist receding
The more we follow. . . . What a silver night!
That was our bench the time you said to me
The long new poem -- but how different now,
How eerie with the curtain of the fog
Making it strange to all the friendly trees!"
~Sara Teasdale, A November Night~

I thought Hajj was supposed to be on Wednesday until I saw a girl wearing a beautiful baju kurung, the traditional Malay costume walking past my window. Huh…I checked the Islamic Society website and found out that indeed it was Hajj…

Eid Al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, is a time for Muslims to reflect on their lives as well as the greater of humanity. It was a time for giving and showing support for those less fortunate.

It was also a reminder of the story of the Prophet Abraham, when he was ordered by Allah to sacrifice his son, and is thus marked by the sacrifice of an animal in submission to the will of Allah.

The Prophet (SAW) said of it

“There is nothing dearer to Allah during the days of Kurban than the sacrificing of animals…therefore sacrifice with an open and happy heart.”

To all Muslims, have a lovely Eid and may Allah accept our sacrifices. Amin.

At about 3pm, the library tannoy came alive. We were told to say indoors and not to open the windows. Huh!!! We quickly checked the intranet. There was a gas leak at the Gibbet Hill campus, about half a mile away. Transco workmen had struck a gas main on the Gibbet Hill Road. Traffic was diverted away from the area and roads closed.

The Intranet and e-mails were alive with updates. Up to 500 students and 40 nearby residents had been moved. The Clinical Trials Unit, the Medical Teaching Building and the Farmhouse had been evacuated as a precaution whilst Transco attend to identify and repair the leak.

I called Babe to tell him that I’ll meet him at Cannon Park. I knew traffic will be horrendous cos Gibbet Hill will be closed and everyone and his dogs will be leaving via one exit. And I was right. Although we were informed as we were leaving that the roads had been reopened, the news hasn’t trickled out yet. I’m just glad that no one’s hurt.

Congratulations to “Big Willie” and “Babykins”. Clarence House has announced that the happy couple are to marry on the 29th April 2011. I wish them all the best and soo looking forward to another public holiday next year.

Although happy for them, I agree with the Anti-monarchy group, Republic, and the lobby group, the Taxpayers' Alliance, that the Royal Family should pay the full cost of Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton.

"If people are being told to tighten their belts, if the government is making thousands unemployed, if welfare payments are being slashed, it would be sickening for the government to allow a single penny more to be spent on the Royals at this time.”

On Friday, I took another day off. We drove down to Slimbridge WWT to check out what the natives are up to and to complete our tour of the reserve that we have not seen. My version of the trip will have its own special entry. But do check what Babe had blogged about it.

Then I settled for the night watching the Children in Need Appeal. Pudsey Bear has had his spotty bandage cleaned and his yellow fur brushed just in time to take his place alongside Wogan and Tess Daly. I wanted to purchase Pudsey Bear ears but they have all sold out :-(.

It was the usual stuff with a line-up of lots of celebs performing to raise money to help improve the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. Watching these brave kids going through life at such a young age brought tears to my eyes. They were my highlights for the night.

Coventry’s Planet Ice Arena was one of the hotspots for the BBC’s live coverage, the chosen venue for the entire West Midlands. Millions of TV viewers across the country watched live link-ups from here, where hundreds of revellers had fun on the ice rink in aid of the annual children’s charity. Well done Coventry.

My colleagues and I did planned to attend but somehow it just sizzled away. What a shame cos it would be great to participate and contribute to a very worthy cause. Next year perhaps…But we did some fund-raising by having the ever popular paper aeroplane competition and a naughty but nice cake day.

So far, The GREAT British public had risen to the occasion once again and raised an astonishing £18,098,199 for Children in Need. It was much less than last year but understandable in this economic climate. Well done again.

Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.

~Kahlil Gibran~

I love the above photograph. The pigeon waiting patiently for her turn at the bird-feeder. Even animals can be generous…