Beach Trip to Bigbury-On-Sea

Last Monday was a public holiday in the UK, so we took this chance to go out to Bigbury-On-Sea. Rombongan ni disertai oleh dua family, yakni family aku dan family Umei. Pada asalnya mmg x pakat2 pon,tiba2 lps berborak2 sehari sblmnya baru dpt tahu diorg pon mmg nak ke Bigbury jgk, so terus la pergi as dua keluarga. Mmg tabik spring pada Umei yg sudah 37 minggu pregnant, tp masih gagah dan nekad berholiday hehehe...




Bigbury ni adalah lebih kurg dlm 20 batu jauhnya drpd Plymouth. Cuaca adalah tidak sehebat minggu lps, tetapi Alhamdulillah x hujan. Bertolak sekitar pkl 11.30 pg, and sampai lebih kurg dlm pkl 12.30 tghari, elok2 utk terus makan tghari.

Bigbury ni pantai nya agak unik, kerana ia ada 'part-time island' yg dinamakan Burgh Island. Apa yg dimaksudkan dgn 'part-time island' itu ialah, pada masa air pasang, maka Burgh Island ni mmg adalah sebuah pulau la kalo dilihat drpd pantai Bigbury. Tp kalo time air surut, Burgh Island tu hanyalah nmpk sbg tanah tinggi aje. In the picture below, we arrived masa air surut, so mmg nmpk seakan air drpd dua laut tu terpisah oleh Burgh Island tu. Kalo masa air laut pasang, harus la dah penuh air kat tgh tu.





Kalo air surut, mmg bole berjalan straight aje ke Burgh Island tu, tp kalo air pasang, kena le meredah air 7 kaki dalam. Tp alternative yg ada ialah menaiki pengangkutan awam yg disediakan, yakni sebuah traktor air. If you squint really hard in the picture above, you can see a tractor tersadai di depan Burgh Island. Itulah tractor yg dimaksudkan.

Ok sbb aku baik hati, ni aku bg shot tractor tu upclose and personal gituh. Heh.




Pantai mmg penuh org. Jauh jgk la berjalan nak cari 'cove' yg sesuai utk picnic. Syarat kitaorg plak agak byk, x nak yg sebelah dgn org yg ada anjing la, x nak sebelah org buat BBQ la (asap). Last2 dpt yg dkt dgn gigi air hehe. Mujur la sempat mkn sekenyang2 nya sblm air psg, kalo x, kecoh lah nak ngangkut brg2 pindah hehe. Menu of the day: Nasi lemak disponsor oleh yours truly and bihun goreng tajaan Umei, plus kerepek2, muffin, popcorn, dan snack2 lainnya.








Ah, damai... (motif tunjuk selipar japang?)




Yg paling suka main pasir ni adalah budak2 la kan. Although in the pictures to follow, you might just witness that the parents yg hovverrrr. Xpe la, masa kecik x puas main pasir kan, kasi chance.
















Maaf kan lah anakanda dan Ibunya yg x sedar butang seluar Aisyah terbukak sudah dek keralitan membina istanan pasir. 'Well Hello, World!', kata si diapers. Sila la fokus kpd pencapaian beliau - 4 sandcastles!




Zoom sket dkt Burgh Island. We actally did walk there at the end. Yes, with a heavily pregnant lady in tow tau. Hebat x hebat?



Konon2 nak amik gmbr yg ada bubble effect la, sbb si Ukyle anak Umei ni ada bwk bubble maker nya yg canggih itu I want one too!. Pastu kaum lelaki pon nak tiru jgk idea ini.






I was expecting ada lifeguards ala2 Baywatch. Not quite that, tp mmg ada Beach Rescue on watch la.




Begitu la how we spent our Monday Bank Holiday. Sekian, saya Oyis Owee melaporkan dari Plymouth, Devon :)

Cite Seeing

Whilst a lot of people are enjoying their Bank Holiday sight seeing, and I am still stuck here in the lab, pfft! But it almost makes it worth it when I suddenly found that one of my older publications (from my MSc research) is cited by others.

Okay la no biggie, you say. I am normally very chuffed pon bila org cite my work to begin with sampai keep a tab on who cited me tuh, pathetic, I know! , but this time I am SUPER PLEASED, bcoz yg cite ni bkn calang2 org, but the Mahaguru dalam area tersebut himself. And no, I did not Google up my own name this time (how vain!, tsk), but surprisingly I found it in a paper that I thought was rather relevant to my field now. So, kiranya mcm extra surprising la to find my name in there.

Gini la, utk mudahkan cerita, masa aku wat MSc dulu (2005), I was following closely the work of GT nih. There's this particular journal article by him (written by GT in 2002) tu sampai jadi budu la aku study dpn blkg. Lunyai abes paper. Mmg dahsyat la kerja dia, and aku pernah gak email dia skali dua (to which he replied) sbb x berapa paham psl technique dia tuh.

So could you blame me for being uber excited now bila tgk a more recent paper (2007), dia telah meng-cite balik hasil result aku setelah aku guna alter sket technique dia to suit my niche?! Biar benor! Ni buktinya.

Evidence of him citing my work (my paper is where my finger is showing). Abaikan jari kuku yg dah kekuningan itu. Ini la nama postgrad mommy sejati, di samping bertungkus lumus study la sgt, tgn tetap ada kesan gaul garam kunyit bukti masak utk anak dan suami <--- poyo nya ayat x hengat nih, padahal nak cover manky nails dia jek!


Kalo nak tahu, perasaan nya adalah lebih hebat drpd masa aku terserempak ngan Mawi kat airport masa zaman kegemilangan dia dulu (2006). Masa tu mmg sampai I was fanning myself la. X caya tanya Hubs. Berapi je kawan tu kat sebelah tgk I hyperventilating nmpk Mawi hehehe.



PS: Ini bkn super-imposed.

Lg kan org follow blog aku lps aku follow blog dia pon aku dah tersengih2 kegirangan, apatah lg something yg ada more substantial value mcm ni... Almost makes it up for not being able to go sight seeing myself (almost la tp!) ;P

Aisyah's Corner

Shhh! Aisyah ada tempat persembunyian rahsia tau. Bila2 dia rasa nak berkeseorgan kejap (x semestinya masa poo poo, ada je masa dia nak tgk buku sorg2, or makan snack saja2), dia akan pergi ke tempat ni.

Tgk la gelagat dia. Ni semua diambil pada masa berlainan tau, tp tetap la dia pergi jua ke secret hiding place dia tu.

[1] Jadi tempat membaca bole...


[2] Jadi tempat main bole...


[3] Jadi tempat makan pon bole...


[4] Pastu bkn senang nak amik gmbr candid dia in hiding tau. Kena ala2 surprise gitu. Sila rujuk muka tergezuts beliau! Jgn fokus pada kain baju sebakul x berlipat tu plak!


[5] Tp kalo dah byk kali jadi mamarazzi tu, mmg harus la kena bamboo dgn anak sendiri kan. 'It's called a little privacy la Ibu, please!', kata Aisyah


Tee hee..

Can't say it's been a productive week, so I am glad it is over. Hopefully lebih barakahnya next week. I can't believe I'm saying this again for it feels like yesterday je baru ckp like this last week kan, but enjoy your weekend folks. In the UK this will be a 3-day weekend, coz Monday is a Bank Holiday (yes!). Many people I know are going away to make full use of the sunshine in Britain, but we don't have anything specific planned just as yet. But watch this space, if ada gmbr2 jenjalan tu, maknanya ada la tu we went somewhere ad-hoc around Devon and Cornwall hehehehe...

How to Tell If It's Summer Yet?

Bila gaya tido anak pon semakin melasak, maka blanket (bkn duvet ye, duvet adalah sgt tebal utk skang!) dan juga Ibu! pon disepak2 ke tepi akibat rimas dan berpeluh2 dalam tido.



Oh and another telltale that it's summer is that when you have to pray for Subuh at 3 am. Aisyah terjaga sama sbb batuk2 masa ni, so bila dah terjaga tu, nak mengekor je la. Solution nya, suruh dia tido tepi sejadah atas karpet, tggu Ibu habis solat. Nasib Subuh 2 rakaat aje.




And as they say, enjoy the Sun whilst it's here. Tu yg berjalan2 dlm garden dpn pon sakan la amik gmbr. Btw, these pics were taken this morning, on the way and back from the GP. Aisyah ada appointment Dr pg td, coz her fever, cold and coughs are just not going away for 3 weeks now, but the Dr didn't seemed concerned at all. As usual, 'Give her Calpol, Calpol, Calpol' je la yg dia ckp, naik muak aku dgr. But at least we know that it's nothing serious. Aku ada gak merayu suh bg antibiotik ke, tp dia kata antibiotik utk treatment bacterial infection aje, yg budak2 mcm Aisyah slalu kena ni adalah viral, it's of no use.

In fact, she says not to worry, coz kalo dah start gi nursery tu, mmg hidung x akan pernah kering la. But keep sending them to nursery, coz it will build her immunity. Bcoz dioeg bkn sakit apa pon, x payah tggu baik baru nak hntr nursery. And when we asked friends yg ada anak2 gi nursery pon, mmg semua ckp, sampai umur 3-4 tahun baru ok sok sek idung tu. Kalo kecik2 mmg berair je la spjg2. Sorg lg siap ckp kat aku, 'You name, he's had it' (anak dia) - cold, fever, cough, chicken pox, tonsilitis, blah blah <--- sejak gi nursery (nauzubillah!)

Huhu... hiba aku mendgr nya. Baru bercita2 bole tido nyenyak lps ni kalo Aisyah dah 100% stop menyusu badan (belom lg stop, tp berangan2 la kan), then dpt tahu bkn semudah itu nak get a good night sleep. Aku rasa kalo kat Msia tu ok la lagi, coz ubat dia dose tinggi and ada ingredient yg kat sini x lulus utk budak2 under 6, tu yg cpt baik (honestly kitaorg dah search internet, mmg ada bbrp yg x lulus di Uk tp ok je kat Msia, and even more honestly, I don't give sh*t la ingredient tu sesuai ke x untuk budak2 under 2 asal aje diorg cpt baik, sbb kat Msia x de pon kes2 pelik kan, ok je budak2 amik).It wears you out tau kalo tiap2 mlm kena bgn byk kali tepuk2 blkg, bg ubat, dukung2, tido menegak atas sofa, etc, but then again, maybe this is part of my PhD training la kot. Hey, what doesn't kill you, will only make you stronger but let's just hope that your sanity is still intact at the end of the day la kan tapi...

Apa pon, aside from that, things have been looking brighter and brighter. Aku ada tanya gak Dr kalo condition Aisyah mcm ni, bole ke nak gi holiday ke jalan2, and she said, yes, it's fine. Kalo nak tggu budak2 sihat betul2 baru nak jalan, mmg x berjalan la, kata beliau (aku paraphrase). Yg ni aku sokong, hahaha. Ok la, kitaorg x gi jalan, tp posing dalam garden is a first step to summer holiday la kan?

Another reason to love summer is finally dresses Aisyah yg berlambak2 itu bole diperagakan. Biarlah hanya aku dan Aisyah je pon yg nmpk, tp sukeeeee.... So far dia asyik membesar in jeans, sekali pakai gown.... oooo... my heart melts!And when it's summer there's an excuse to get the sunglasses out (Aisyah loves hers!), and the summer hat (yg beli kat Mothercare itu hari hilang ditiup angin dah, terpaksa beli baru). For some reason, even Aisyah si kecil molek itu seakan memahami it's summer, she chose to play with the sand bucket instead, of all the toys yg dia bole pilih utk main. Sungguh kena dgn tema betul, unlike her mom yg x kisah la pakai baju tangkap muat, tudung mismatched most of the time.

Ok I'll leave you guys with these pics then. This is one of the very Aisyah-oriented entry, jgn marah ye. I would have liked to borak2 some more, tp got heaps to do still!

Plymouth's Lord Mayor's Day

Aisyah masih lg x sihat, tp malas nk komen psl tu, nnt bisa mendtg kn amarah dan fed up dlm diri dgn NHS dan farmasi sini. As I'm typing pon, it's 5 am, been up from 4 am, bg dia mkn ubat sbb batuk kong3 sampai terjaga2, then tidokn dia sambil pangku. Memandangkn menaip sebelah tgn aje ni, short2 entry je la ye.

So nk share gmbr2 fun before she got sick. These were taken last Saturday, during sambutan Lord Mayor's Day di Plymouth. There was a parade, expo, booths, concert, children play area, lumba keta control, the usual, y'know, things you would expect at a festival.


























Selepas itu kitaorg gi the Hoe lak. Masa ni omputih byk duk sunbathing. Suka bebeno diorg berjemur... Kitaorg je cari tempat teduh hehe













PS: My camera dah kuar workshop, woot woot!~ Tu yg sakan memetik tu ye