Jeannie, you fill my heart with gladness…
Looking forward to the next 30 years.
30 YEARS AGO, THIS HAPPENED
#jEANNIE
CALAMANSI COOLER
The weekend came and went in all fury. It was so fast, that we did not even feel it. Feel may not be the right word. I think a better word is “experience” it.
So, if the word “experience” is a better choice, “Why don’t you edit (is a better word for “making a correction”(?)) it?” you may ask.
Too much work to do so. If I change that word, I would possibly be swayed (by myself) into editing the sentences or paragraphs or even changing the whole meaning in this paragraph, which may in turn cause a mood swing. Haha.
It was one of those (now) infamous sweltering afternoons that we are (I dare say) getting used to. Or are we? The sun is blazing hot. A while (long while) later, the rain and thunderstorms come pouring down on us to the extent that certain parts of the Federal Highway begin to flood with a few inches of water.
On this afternoon, however; it was dry. Jeannie, my wife and I; did a few errands in the morning, had brunch and thought we’d go to our common (more like my) hangout: Good Ground Bakery (GGB).
We were greeted as usual, by Joanne and Monique. I told Jeannie that we had to try their fantastically refreshing drink: Calamansi Cooler. And Joanne makes it super nice. We both ordered a calamansi cooler. I opted for this drink instead of my usual coffee order (It is usually an americano though of late, I go for the flat white, too – both great drinks from here, at the GGB).
I don’t know how they get this drink to this level, but it is an awesome thirst quencher. It was a good drink to keep Jeannie and I company as we chillax, something that we enjoy and is quite rare to us because of our hectic daily schedules.
GGB is famous for it’s…you’ve guessed it: bakery. It makes great breads and pastries, never fails to delight. It’s testimony is by its constant flow of customers, both dine in and takeaway.
People come to establishments like this for the experience. They have the space to do their own thing. You will see many people of all ages come and read books, real books i.e. at a leisurely, calm pace. Or, work on their computer with whatever they are doing and you will notice that they are not stressed out as otherwise would be a common sight. Or they meet with family or friends over a mugga (as in “cuppa” for tea) coffee.
It is mainly an experience each time I visit a cafe or an establishment like Good Ground. I like observing people mainly because everyone is different. And I could be looking for that unique characteristic someone might display that I can use for my book that I am writing (work-in-progress). I find it absolutely intriguing that everyone seems different.
We ordered a slice of Pecan Chocolate cake to go with our drinks. We shared this cake as it was too much for either of us to finish a whole slice each, by ourselves. It was delicious. Sarah, the owner of GGB, is a fantastic pastry chef. You will see that she, together with all her staff; are dedicated to providing the very best in all they offer, to their customers.
It was a nice hour and a half or so that Jeannie and I had. We left, somewhat refreshed, to continue the rest of the day. As we left GGB, we felt some rain drops falling. Dark rain clouds were forming, readying for a thunderstorm. A cool evening, perhaps?
NOTES:
1. Meaning of “swagger” : walk or behave in a very confident or self-important way.
If you see me write, “I will take you somewhere swagger”, it means I will take you or show you
somewhere smart or fashionable in my writing, like here, at Good Ground Bakery.
2. There is an attempt here, sometimes as usual, to challenge subtly, the written English language to past
its boundaries to add “colour”.
THE ROAD TO P.D
For as long as I can remember, the Batik Influencer kept turning on her charm to influence me to take her to the beach. And always, there was something that always seemed to clash with the dates we wanted to go; which weren’t many.
Then, Laura went to Port Dickson (P. D.) (1) with her friend for a wedding. And stayed for the night. And went to the beach the next morning. And spent some time there.
That set Jeannie’s sights to go the very next weekend, which is this weekend, the Chinese New Year hols. Laura booked us in last Tuesday….or was it Wednesday? Anyway, we were set.
Our Sunday itenary was to go for the 8.30am mass at St. Thomas More Church, then go for breakfast somewhere nearby and start our journey to P. D. at 11.00am.
Sunday (that is today), came. We went for the 8.30am. mass at St. Thomas More church. Check☑️I found mass quite entertaining… the Music Ministry…let’s just leave it at that.
We passed by a couple of Indian restaurants with the hope of having roti canai for breakfast. They were closed. On the second day of Chinese New Year! Can you beat that? One would think that they would capitalislze on all the Chinese coffee shops, kopitiams and restaurants that are closed because of the lunar holidays.
Then, we heard bagpipes being played in the distant background…no, our car is Japanese, not Scots. And the bagpipes…imaginary, as we decided on McD’s – reliable for being open everyday.
We had a quick breakfast… The Batik Influencer ordered a “hash brown wrap” and iced coffee and I; a sausage with egg McMuffin and iced coffee. It was a quick breakfast. I wanted to go back home for a short rest before going on the fairly long drive. We anticipated that we were going to have more than our fair share of the blazing sun. To give some perspective, P. D. is closer to the earth’s equator than Subang Jaya (2). Hence, it definitely was going to be much hotter in weather temperature.
We started our journey at noon. As we got on the Seremban (3) highway intersection from the highway route that we got on from the Toll plaza, we got (3 “got” [s] ) smack into the usual jam at Nilai. It seems perpetual as any time of the day is a crawl. Got past that jam about half hour later and it was a breeze drive all the way for about 5 minutes.
Now, it was the Seremban traffic crawl heading down South, for as far as we could see. For those heading to Johore (4) and Singapore, you have my sympathy.
As we turned off to the P. D. highway, there were pockets of jams, all a few minutes each. Jeannie insisted we used Google maps and I said I knew the way. However, Google Maps showed the way that was shorter, at least on Google Maps itself. I decided to follow the electronic guide. We didn’t know what was in store for us next.
We followed the directions shown by Google Maps. It took us into one of the small Malay kampungs (villages in English). We went through some very narrow roads (more like dirt tracks) and very tight and bumpy turns. The map showed the sea was so close by.
I kept turning to look at the back seat to see if we picked up some chickens and goats. The movie, “SHADOWS IN THE SUN” was still very fresh on my mind where Welson Parrish drove and crashed the publisher’s car into a chicken coup.
We managed to get out of there without picking up any chickens or goats. If we had gone the way I knew, we could have avoided this “scenic” route.
The Batik Influencer said, at least now, I had a story to tell. Possible title, “HATTED WRITER’ S FEATHER IN THE HAT”.
We’ve checked into our room. I chose to pen this down, while Jeannie does some office work. We’re waiting for the sun to go to the other side of the equator, at least a little bit, when the temperature outdoors will be cooler before venturing to the outdoors, itself; feeling the white sand and the wet sands of the beach, soaking in (that should be from the wetness of the seas of the Straits of Malacca) the many colours and hues of the sky, the sun and the many sounds of humans, enjoying the simple pleasures of life – playing on the beach and in the seas.
In the meantime, let’s make light and easy plans for galavnating around P. D..
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This article would have been published earlier on in the evening, if not for it getting lost somewhere in the back office. I was going to launch it at the same time as the one just before this that was published. I had to seek my daughter, Laura’s help; to try and recover the article.
There must have been a clash of two articles because this which I wanted to publish as I had already seen the final draft, was launched at the same time as the previous article which meant both articles would have been published.
Long story short; I managed to retrieve it from another sector, had to modify it slightly and re-add the pictures in
NOTES:
1. P. D. (Port Dickson) /is a seaside town, located in the state of Negeri Sembilan.
2. Subang Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
3. Seremban is a city in the southern state of Negri Sembilan, Malaysia.
4. Johore is the southern most state of Malaysia.