Sunday morning, 10.27am (I think).

That was the time we sauntered (1) in. We carried the two biggest bags out of our car. Looking at us, one would think that we were running away from home; or was it “ran away from home” since we had already done it; i.e. the action was already put into motion.

Just before arriving here, we stopped by at New Apollos restaurant near our house; to get my “fix”. Jeannie, the Batik Influencer, also known to be known as my wife; brought along our Goji and Rain 532ml Hydraflasks. For those wanting to go out and get themselves a Hydraflask Goji or Rain 532ml flask; it may be a bit difficult as it does not show up on their website. “Goji” and “Rain” are Hydraflask’s version of Red (Goji) and Grey (Rain). I know, I know, my thoughts exactly! Why can’t they just call a red a red and a grey a grey.

We hand over our Hydraflasks to the drinks guy who promptly fills these containers with Nescafe Ice Kaw Kaw, including adding several ice cubes to make sure the drinks stay chilled throughout the day. The Hydraflasks do an outstanding job in keeping my Nescafe ice Kaw Kaw super ice cold, right up till the evening, when we pack to head home.

So, we lugged, tugged, dragged (not really) our two biggest bags from our car to the booth, first. We laid out all the main things like the batik, Hotwheels cars, watches, and some tech stuff. We made a couple more trips back to our car, which was 3 levels below us, in the carpark.

It did not take us very long to set the booth up the way we wanted. People were in a “Relak lah, brudder” (2) “Sunday mood”, which was good. A change from the usual “hard at work week”, for most of us, at least.

While I watched people go by, I recognised a gentleman walking by in his Sunday’s best at relaxing. “Mervin”, I called out. The gentleman turned round, “Hey! Alan”. With him, was a young lady who was heavily tattooed. She also happened to be the younger of his two daughters. Mervin, his siblings and parents, their cousins, uncles and aunties, have been close friends of the Atkinsons of Klang; going back over 50 years. It was good catching up on things since we last met, here, at Amcorp Shopping Mall; a few months ago, when he passed our booth.

I came to the mall today, unhatted. (3) I already had my sights for the “tweed” and was waiting for the right moment to visit Mahmud.

Mahmud was a floor above us, on the west side. I put the flat cap (also knowns as the “newboy” cap) on, and it was perfect. Mahmud said it matched the sling bag I had today.

Throughout the day, there were people coming by, purchasing many of the Hotwheels vehicles that were on display, A guy bought my Thronmax full professional mike set. I used it only once thinking I was going into podcasting. However, I realised that I was not ready for podcasts now. The planning, script writing, perfect environment, editing – this was not my thing. At least for now. I may pick it up again sometime in the near future. Another person also bought my Cross fountain pen, which I first purchased 40 years ago. That guy is going to get many years of good writing experience from it.

I was also the D.J. for the afternoon; playing a wide variety of English and Malay songs. I played Liyana Fizi’s “Nona Nona Zaman Sekarang”, “Stay”, “Jatuh”; CCR, Michael Buble, Meghan Trainor, Ushera, Sheila Majid with her hit, “Sinaran”; just to name a few. I saw lots of people moving to the rhythm of the songs,. enjoying what they heard. Probably a good 3 hours of music. I think the speaker must have popped as there is a bit of a rattling sound when the volume is turned up.

A Singaporean couple came by just as were about to pack up for the day. They purchased the last of “Jeannie’s Own” batik capes that the Batik Influencer had for the day.

The “CARS” display, keychain, and the diecast cars of Mater and Flo, were also sold just before we closed. Everything CARS is sold.

By the time, we got everything packed in the car (we did not saunter. We moved at a much faster pace as we wanted to get home), it was past 6.00pm.. It had been quite a long day.

I, during the day, through observations as it (the day) went passed; have got several more ideas for my book. Right now, it seems disjointed. I need to thread the ideas together. While it looks like a trillion (4) piece jigsaw puzzle at the moment, the excitement is building up working at putting these pieces together.

NOTES:
1. “Sauntered” means to walk in a slow, relaxed manner.
2. “Relax lah, brudder” (spelt according to how it sounds) means take it easy. It is very common to hear this in everyday life in Malaysia.
Though the little speck down south of the peninsula claims (like every other thing that becomes catchy and famous); that this popular phrase originated from them; there are doubts to this claim.
3. “Unhatted” means not wearing a hat.
4. Trillion a million million (1,000,000,000,000 or 10¹²).