Quadruple Celebrations

After nearly 2 months of gloom and doom, the time had come for me to know whether I still have my job. After working here for nearly 3 years, I’d to prove why I’m better than my colleagues. Why I’m worth it!!! I gave them the best performance of my life, literally.

The next day, as soon as I arrived for work, my supervisor told me that the Manager wants to see me. This is it!!! Breathe in and out, I ran up 4 floors.

I was breathless by the time I knock on the door. As soon as I entered, the words “You got it” never sound sweeter. Syukur alhamdulillah. I’m very thankful although I know 2 of my colleagues didn’t make it. But, it’s either me or them. Now I can start living again. My life have been on pause mode for the past months.

Since it was Ramadan, I went to the mosque to join the other Muslims for the zuhr (afternoon) prayers. And I’m hoping to continue for the whole month, insyaallah. At work, I put on my earphones and listened to the Koran recitals on-line. This has been my practice every Ramadan ever since I was living here in the UK.

When I was in Malaysia, we would take turns to recite the Koran a few chapters daily. We try to complete the whole Koran by the end of Ramadan. At night, after breaking fast, we will go to the mosque for the Tarawikh prayers. A very spiritual but festive mood.

It was also our 12th wedding anniversary. How time flies… Apart from cuddles and kisses … (ahem…), Babe gave me a bottle of DKNY Summer and I gave him a ‘Oh, brother where art thou’ CD. May Allah gave us more wonderful years together.

I love you, Babe.

You mean everything to me.

You’re the reason, I get up in the morning, and the reason I come to bed at night.

Then we went to Ipswich for Fran’s and David’s wedding. We left the casa at 9am and reached Fran’s at 11.30am. The traffic was surprisingly light as it was Bank holiday Sunday. We’d a great time listening and singing to the CD I got for babe.

We made 2 stops. One at Kettering cos I wanted to get photographs of the wind turbines. The other was at Huntington for an expensive coffee break.

We wanted to use the toilets but there was no public ones. So we’d to buy expensive but awful coffee from Little Chef to justify using their facilities. It costs us nearly £5. What a rip-off. We could get a few packs of roasted coffee for that.

At Fran’s, she was busy getting ready. The Abbotts and my mother-in-law were already there. It was nice seeing them again. We’d a lot of catching up to do. The children too have all grown up and it was only 2 years since I’ve seen them.

At 2pm, we drove to the venue at Isaacs by the Waterfront. A very lovely place. I was impressed by the setting especially it was in front of the famous Ipswich waterfront. Couldn’t help admiring the very impressive boats parked outside :-)

By 2.30pm, we were ushered into the venue. A beautiful setting for a very beautiful wedding. The couple looked adoringly into each other’s eyes when they said their vows. It was very poignant cos exactly at the same time, 12 years ago, Babe and I made our vows at the Aberystwyth Registry Office.

Then it was time to welcome the new Mr. and Mrs Randall. We went to the courtyard to toast a drink for the happy couple. We took a lot of photographs and mingled with the guests. The Abbotts, my mother-in-law and I huddled in one corner and continued our conversations.

Since it was Ramadan, we couldn’t join them for their reception meal. We said goodbye to the tribe and the very happy and very tipsy couple. :-). Congratulations and many happy returns.

We drove back to Coventry on the same day. Babe doesn’t want to fall ill and couldn’t drive back. We’d another lovely drive and stopped to take some photographs of pigs rolling about in a pig farm by the roadside. How ironic is that!!! A Muslim couple taking photographs of pigs during Ramadan…Some fanatics gonna put a fatwa on us :-)

On the 31st of August, Malaysia celebrated its 51st independence from British colonial rule. Another big celebration at home. Merdeka!!!

We celebrated the bank holiday by having a relaxing break. We went to Dobbies in Nuneaton cos I wanted to get some leek seedlings and winter pansies. Surprisingly, they don’t have any. I settled for a couple of ornamental cabbages instead. At the food court, we bought a delicious homemade cherry pie for our breaking fast dessert. Delish…

It’s already the 16th day of Ramadan. Still not too late to wish all Muslims Happy Ramadan Al-Kareem and may Allah bless us all.