Winter 2013

The only adventurous thing I did this winter was to take this photograph of the first snow fall on January 14 at 3.45 am.  It wasn't much to talk about.

Then it came down with a vengeance on 18 January.

18 January 1413 hours

Wonky knees and chilblains  got the better of me and I opted for indoor activities only.

So I raided the spouse's stamp collection.

This one I found most interesting - the tiger of the Federated Malay States.

Wow!  Was there ever such an entity - The Malay States??   Looking at today's analysis of  Malays , Malaya and Malaysia, one would think that the Malays were immigrants like everybody else, that they had just come down from the trees and possessed no political , economic or social structure worth mentioning.  Furthermore, it took the British and others to show them how.

There was of course the overlord, the English King :

But there also existed the Malay Sultans:

........  and way back in those days Jawi was an acknowledged script.  During my colonial education in Singapore in the 1950s, I was given hardly 3 years of Malay language education in Rumi - much less in Jawi.  However my Chinese and Indian classmates were taught their language in their script.

Still, I musn't grumble too much or I may be branded an ultra-Malay fanatic.

However I did make very - and I must emphasise - very small efforts to brave the snow.  You can find pictures of beautiful snowscapes anywhere in the papers and on the screen.  But you'll never see anything like these.

The littlest snowperson  (very PC)

My wash basin and ex-Marmite bottle crowned with snow

My yellow bin with a white topping

Another artwork  - 'Fluffy Wall'

I  WUZ HERE  (Size 4)

But the most unkind cut of all was this.  I trudged through the snow (on the bus) to get an electric under-blanket for the bed in the bolt-hole.  But after unmaking the bed and fixing the under-blanket and then making the bed again, I was ready to plug it in - only to discover this.

Cheers for a Made-in-China British product - the wonder of Globalisation!   (Note the pin on the left)

Goodnight  and have a lovely weekend.