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January February March April May June July August September October November December

02/04/10 - Went to Palmers Green on Sunday for Palm Sunday Service, but we didn't do a walk through the town waving palm leaves, as neither did Taman Wahyu, for some reason, which shows quite a passive message to the occasion. The Palm Sunday Service was quite short, and as I had my professional camera with me, I decided to do a photo shoot round central London to pass the time, and like all the latest folders I've been adding lately, I was pleased with the results.

Had my training for VRH (Volunteer Reading Help) this past week in Dover, and was suprised about how much of the training involved policies to avoid 'arousing suspicion', and noticing signs of abuse and neglect. I can see why there are so many social problems in this country with these policies; if you're neglected by your parents, there's nobody else a child can turn to as nobody is allowed to try and support or comfort them. I've broken most of these policies in Malaysia anyway, though I was more a social service worker for my church than just a tuition teacher...

09/04/10 - Had a family weekend for Easter, with some of the family from my mother's side visiting our house. Lately we've had a fox roam our back garden, which we think is living under the large garden decking under the currently empty house next door, and it decided to make an appearance on Sunday, playing around with a rubber ball and piece of rope in front of everyone (who viewed safely behind the glass doors of the conservatory), and made itself good for a nice photo opportunity (see Photography).

Called Victoria during the week, and decided with her that I won't go to India in June, and instead will use the whole three and a half weeks to focus on sorting out my life and future in Malaysia. I need to be focused during my time there, and make sure I start applying for jobs, and if things appear to go well, hopefully I can finally settle in Malaysia in some way in November. Fingers crossed...

16/04/10 - My worst fears have finally come true; though my trip is still several weeks away, Northern Europe being under a strict no-fly zone because of the ash cloud from Iceland is one of the worst feelings I could have, living in the UK. Though it's only a temporary engagement (though the airlines say shouldn't be one at all), just that feeling of being trapped, unable to leave the UK by air, is not a nice feeling. Once I'm settled in Malaysia, all the volcanos (even in Indonesia) can go off as much as they like, just not now!

23/04/10 - Had another mock driving test this past week, and this time I passed, with only seven minors! Hope I can keep up the smooth, confident driving up until May 10th. Victoria's birthday was on Monday, and I gave her a quick call, but only two weeks after deciding to cancel my trip to India, I was suprised to find she was there already. I will reserve my next India trip to shortly after whenever I'm settled in Malaysia, no rush to go to India at the moment.

Also, today is St George's Day, the National Day of England. I had noticed a number of companies were labelling their products with the St George's Cross, which I thought was World Cup merchandise being released extremely early, but it was actually to celebrate St George's Day, but I expect this was done out of convienience that the World Cup is only several weeks away, so they can retain the promotional packaging until after July...

30/04/10 - Had an amazing extended weekend this past week with Charlotte and Isaac; had a barbeque at their house on Saturday evening, saw a Robot Wars show, went round Brighton and attended church on Sunday, then spent Monday with Isaac, chatting and taking a bike ride. After the photography work I did for them in February, I'm arranging my return from them to be a donation to Pastor Paul and Victoria's PETE Hostel in Malaysia.

It was great to see Robot Wars live again, and I enjoyed introducing Isaac to it; the show was well produced, with good interval segments and contests. It's a shame Robot Wars has been off television seven years now, a lot of the kids at the show wouldn't have seen it during its prime, and the show can be a lot more inspring than a lot of modern TV nowadays. It was dissapointing the lighting at the show was so poor, which hindered a fair bit of my photography (I didn't bring my flash), but I guess they're trying their best to reduce their carbon footprint.

It was nice spending the weekend with Isaac, and I'm sure he appreciated my company too, as being unemployed and living with his in-laws is putting a little strain on him, though his work visa is expected to come soon. We both seem to miss Malaysia as much as each other, and have similar dislikes to the 'humanoid' British culture, and how much red tape there is over things here, which ironically was preached about during the sermon at the Brighton church. How can anything in this country realistically prosper when everything has to go through rigorous paper work, and any help or intervention as to be through an official body? All this legal nonsense puts paperwork before performance, which is probably what's holding up this volunteer work I'm supposed to be doing.

Went on a little shopping spree at the Ashford Designer Outlet with my father today; I bought two t-shirts, one shirt, one shorts, two trousers, a necklace and a decent backpack, all for just £50; I expect that'll be all my major clothes shopping done again for the next year... And also, after accidentally buckling the rear wheel of my ten-plus year old bicycle earlier in the week, my father bought a new bicycle, mainly for his own use in the future, but also for me to use occasionally, in the time I have left in this country...