Photo taken at 2:35pm today.

Photo taken on July 10, 2005.

After many days of enjoying clear skies and clean air, the haze is finally here. There were strong winds and some rain early this morning. When I spoke to Wuan around 11am just now, it was already getting hazy. Visibility was still good. I could still see the hills in the distance which is about 10km or more from here.

At around 2.30pm, as Minishorts and I were chatting, the air was beginning to smell foul. I looked out and visibility has been reduced to 5km or less. As I am typing this visibility is getting poorer and poorer. There is a gentle breeze but it smells.

Related entries:
From Heat to Haze
Hazy Days

Photo by Wuan.

Someone I met for barely two hours many months ago, someone whom I consider a friend, lost someone she loved dearly recently. We have not communicated since except for the comments we left in each other’s blog. When Chet pointed me to this blog some weeks back regarding a specific entry, I really wanted to say something. For the longest time, I thought about what I should say, anything, but those words of comfort that I was searching for escaped me.

What do you tell someone who has just lost her significant half? I really do not know. Each time I read the heartrending cries in her blog, tears would invariably roll down my cheeks. That is a familiar road I have been taking for the past two years. I have grieved deeply and mourned intensely. Nonetheless I cannot claim to understand what she is going through now. Different people go through similar situations in different ways but all paths point to the same direction – one that will ultimately strengthen the spirit and revive the inherent faith in the Almighty.

Jocelyn, this will be a journey you have to walk alone but not by yourself. God will always be there to spur you on. Remember that when you need a friend, we will always be there for you too. If there is anything I can possibly do for you, please do not hesitate to ask. For now, I have no comforting words for you except that I will pray for you, for your little ones and for Bo’s soul. Let go and let God. Be strong. Keep the faith. Everything will work out in the end. They always do. He makes sure of that.

We can incorporate accessibility for the disabled community into all walkways and other public places but without proper education on why these are needed, they are just useless white elephants, their purpose ursurped by the selfish who abuse it for their own convenience. Not only do the disabled have to fight an uphill battle against non-responsive authorities in our quest for equal accessibility in public places, we have to struggle with obstinate non-physically disabled people who insist on the right to use the only few toilets designed to suit our requirements.

There are trishaw riders and motorcyclists who leave their vehicles on the walkways designed for wheelchairs and the visually impaired, causing obstructions and hazards. Of course there is the perennial problem of physically healthy drivers who park their cars on spaces allocated to vehicles of disabled drivers. That is not all. Look what I caught with my digicam outside Cititel Penang! These four shots were captured during the wheelabout around Upper Penang Road on July 21.

The white Wira partially blocked the access. The other half was obstructed by the “No Entry” sign that was weighed down by bricks. A Toyota Prado was parked by the curbside visibly bordered with a yellow line. These may seem like a small matter to most but these walkways were specifically built for our convenience and it should be kept that way.

To the visually and mobility impaired these obstructions are not only hazards but potentially dangerous. The visually impaired could have walked into the car or get tripped over by the sign. I had to wheel out to the road at the peril of being sideswiped by the passing traffic to pass the 4WD. Think of the risks that the disabled community have to take the next time any of you park your vehicles in a similar haphazard manner. One inconsiderate act may cost us our lives. A thoughtful one could save us. Think about it.

It totally slipped my mind that David would be coming to Penang today. When the phone rang at 8.54am and a chirpy voice at the other greeted me with a “Hello” I thought it was a phone call that I have been expecting. It was David instead and he said he wanted to come over in thirty minutes. He was here on a day trip for a friend’s convocation at USM. We have met twice before at both the bloggers meet in Kuala Lumpur.

He was punctual, something about that being drummed into him by his mother when he was in school many years ago. David is a linguist. I do not know exactly what that is but from what he described, it sounded like a pretty interesting vocation. He came with Annette who is a blogger too. Surprise, surprise! And the most interesting thing was that he came by train and had lugged his guitar and SLR camera all the way from Kuala Lumpur.

As soon as both of them settled down, David took out his guitar and started playing. I gawked in awe as his fingers glided across the struts as if they were part of him. Having played guitar for period of fours years a long time ago, that was the first time I saw up close how tunes were coaxed out the wooden box and steel wires in ways I never thought possible.

It was a privilege to watch him play at such close distance. I was sure Annette was mighty impressed too, although I believe she has witnessed such impressive guitar play by David many times before. When David took a breather from all that plucking, we chatted a while about blogging, life and things of interest. Before they left, David played a few more songs, among others, Bring On The Good Times, the name he has adopted for his blog. It was good meeting him again. I hope to be able to watch him play like that again soon.

Koay kak.
Photo by Wuan.

Penang is famous for its hawker food. The dishes do not taste the same everywhere and the ingredients used may differ too. Therefore it takes a little hunting to get ones that are nice and relatively inexpensive. I usually do not patronise the more popular spots like Swatow Lane, Lorong Selamat or Gurney Drive because they are over-rated and more expensive than other places in the island.

Popiah.
Photo by Wuan.

The food court at the Batu Lanchang incidentally is wheelchair friendly and parking spaces are in abundance. Whenever I am around the vicinity and looking for food, I would invariably stop there. Among my favourites there are the koay kak, popiah, che huh and ais kacang.

Ais kacang.
Photo by Wuan.

With this brief introduction of some of my favourite Penang hawker food, I am passing the baton to Minishorts. Thank you all for spending time here accompanying us throughout the Blogathon. For those who have not pledged, please do so now. This is all for a good cause. May God bless you all for your kindness.

* The entry was posted at Bloggers are Morons for Blogathon 2005.