Dining by the Rocks May 2017

I am posting this almost 1 year after the actual event, in part, I felt no need to advertise the fact that I am well travelled and also my disdain for self compliments. The time last year was pretty special and my friend and I enjoyed the brilliant autumn sunshine and weather. There is an airport express train and as I was staying the night in Sydney, I thought I had better show my friend who was there for the first time, the sights around Sydney Harbor Bridge.

The train stop is called Circular Quays and it gets pretty crowded in summer and autumn and this visit was no different. The only difference between this visit and the last one in 2002 - has it been that long ? was that there are lot more shops an restaurants catering to Chinese visitors such as this restaurant, given the fact that in the last 5 years Chinese tourists numbers have probably jumped 10 times !  

I look like a sight assisted person don't I ? 

I have made a pledge that i will run 2 marathons this year (overseas) and I am banking on the Sydney Marathon as one of them. I sincerely hope this will not be a pipe dream for me. 

So I am really in running mode and disciplining myself from eating too oily and / or fatty foods. 

Sydney Opera House May 2017

World Class Goal from World Class Player ; Neves 2nd goal for Wolves against Derby County

5 more Cup Finals to Go

I thought the game against Middlesbrough was the penultimate game, full of lovely goals, drama and 2 red cards.

I was wrong

This game at Cardiff has got fans from all over the world in a tizzy ; a world class goal from a world class player Reuben Neves, and a lot of fine quality saves from both keepers, John Ruddy and the Cardiff keeper.

In the final minutes, 2 penalties were awarded to Cardiff and one produced a stunning save by the best keeper in the Championsip (as per fans votes), John Ruddy and the second, a cracker which hit the crossbar and rebounded into the pitch like a pinball.

My man of the Match ; John Ruddy (Goalkeeper) ; Superb. Not a foot or hand wrong the whole evening.  

Football, the wonderful game, it brings out these range of emotions from everyone watching it, let me count them :

a) Anger
b) Despair
c) Excitement
d) Joy 
e) Sorrow
f) Frustration
g) Fury (sometimes)
h) Happiness
i) Satisfactiion 
j) Anticipation

It surely has earned the tile " the Beautiful  Game " from none other than Pele, and millions of men around the world share the vicarious experiences - even like me an armchair (OK plastic chair) pundit. 

Nuno : "Its all about winning ; competing and getting the maximum out of every match"

The game at Middlesbrough is the turning point for Wolves ; Away to a strong team at Riverside, 2 brilliantly taken goals in the first half, first a superb second strike from Costa, and then a fierce header from Cavaleiro. In the second half, all things turned against them, they had 2 men (internationals Neves and Doherty) sent off in the 55th and 75th minute respectfully and heroically managed to cling on with 9 men, till the 95th minute (4th minute of stoppage time when Brandsden snapped home a late late consolation goal.

What a cliffhanger of a game ! End to end football, skill, pushing, shoving, sliding tackles, goals, kicks and headers gone wrong. Goals of superb quality, cold wintry late afternoon and 2 internationals sent off in a game which will be etched in the fans collective memories.

I am 4000 odd kilometers away and can feel the passion and enthusiasm ; I can imagine the atmosphere there would be charged up and electrifying !    

So, all that is needed is nine points with 7 games to go. They are top at 85 points and I predict them to easily get 100 points to most likely win promotion and likely as champions too.

Nuno Esperito Santos is a man with vision, he instills discipline, and most importantly he has a very strong belief and passion for his team. This is apparent at the end of the game where he went out and hugged each and every player like they had won a Cup final.

Proudly behind the team ; I used to be a fair weather fan ; now call me 'die hard' !

Indeed, it is. Each game is a Cup final. In my almost 40 years of following them, I have never been more proud to say this ; Come On you Wolves !!! Grreat Stuff !!!  

Most wonderful woman in the world to me ; my Mum Anna

    My Mum Anna and Dad Geoffrey aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2003, being invited 
                                          to dine at the Captain's table

There are 2 most wonderful women in the world in my mind. my mother and my wife. My mother Anna (1930- 2011) was and is the most wonderful person in my early years. She was the Personal Assistant to the Permanent Secretary (PS) of Health for almost 40 years having served 4 PS in her time, the last being the honorable Kwa Soon Bee for the last 15 years of her working life.

My Mum was originally from Canton (Guangzhou) and she was the eldest of 4 sisters and 2 brothers (one half brother). She was very driven yet kind hearted person who raised my brother and I up. In the '60s of our infancy, she held a full time job and was a good mother to John and myself ; in those days when the pace of life was not so frenetic, she would be home by 5.30 pm and tend to us. We had a nurse maid, called Kaka (or sister) and she would advise Kaka on what to cook for dinner. It would normally be Chinese food.

My grandmother or Por Por also stayed in the bungalow house with us at Adis Road. I will post some photos of that idyllic time where we spent a lot of time playing in the massive garden - rundown by today's standards and we had neighbourhood kids played, and fought with us. There was much less income inequality or the impact of it in the '60s and '70s as compared to today. Nowadays, the difference in living standards here and (especially) in other parts of the world is very wide.

My criticism of today's youth is that they are soft, spoilt (given practically everything they want) and have a very entitled opinion of life compared to when I was young. We have 2 young men in my family, and I have checked with other friends and the verdict is similar.

Back to my Mum, the values she taught me and I am still trying my hardest to uphold are :

a) frugality
b) wisdom 
c) financially savviness
d) hard working     
e) giving back to society or benevolence

She held the family's finances well and I am profoundly respectful of her financial judgement and acumen. She once famously told me in my face when I was a young sales manager, and was deciding on my first purchase of wheels : "Mark why spend so much on a car ? You are not going to sleep or live in it ? ". The logic in that was startlingly brilliant as many of us today get carried away with chasing the Golden Calf.   

She also gave me fantastic advice on our first property in the early 90s as she advised my wife and I about the 3 basic factors to acquiring property ;  location, location and location.

She was also frugal, not taking many overseas holidays on her own or with her girlfriends rather she was more interested in helping out close friends who were like her extended family.

While she went on numerous holidays with us in SE Asia as part of the swim team (chaperone) to Manila, Jakarta, KL, Penang and Bangkok in the 70s, after we started out tertiary education, she kindly paid for my brother and myself to enjoy months long holidays during our undergraduate term breaks  (1985 (twice) and 87). I had the privilege of taking a Father Mother scholarship paid by my lovely parents to visit USA (5 weeks) in June of 1985, Australia in December 1985 and Europe 1987 April - May. So I had the privilege  of visiting the 3 major continents of the developed world even before I started my first real job.

She stayed mainly in Singapore for the most part of 80s till the mid 2000s, I recall she only took a paid company holiday to Sydney / Gold Coast in 1997 and another on the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2003 for 7 days from Hong Kong to Singapore. Hence the picture above was one of the highlights of her  overseas travels. 

I guess her frugality and humbleness had left us a decent inheritance which I must learn to pass on to the next generation - it is their birthright and entitlement. 


Her financial acumen was great, dabbling in investments like stocks and shares, property and foreign property. Totally awesome for a lady with only HSC (Higher Senior Cambridge) or 'A' Levels certifications ! 

                   My lovely wife, May in Florence (Dec 2017) -the other wonderful woman 

Here's to Anna ; love you and Papa always and will keep the flame burning brightly ever   after for you ! Your warm heartedness and kindness will be etched in my memory forever.

  

June 1991 ; my drive into the Swiss mountain on a train at Simplon Pass

      This is one trip I will never forget, I was 29 years old, a Sales Manager who just finished his sales meeting in Balingen, Germany and then took a drive on his rental Opel Astra 1.4 from Switzerland into Italy via a vehicular train at Simplon tunnel. The early portion of the video shows me stopping by the lakeside at Interlaken District (between the lakes). People drive on the right hand side of the road, and the steering is on the left, so it took some adjustment at the beginning as I was trying to switch gears, I then realised the 'gear' to my left was the window handle ! The gear shift was on the right hand side of the driver and the window handle on the left, a complete lateral inversion of the mind !   It sure took some mental and then muscle memory adjustment before I became quite adept at the whole driving on the RHS and seated on LHS thing ! 

     The mountains you see in this video are the Swiss Alps and the train ride which the car was on took something like 45 minutes. The first portion shows some nice hills and mountains, before we were enveloped into total blackness of the mountain. The engineering genius of the Swiss who have dug tunnels into their mountains all in the name of efficiency of transport and defence. It is not a joke that their mountains are full of holes for vehicles and storage and similar to their Swiss Emmenthal Cheese ! 

    However, I crossed into another country in Europe which for me as a young man  was something of a great adventure !

    This is a VLOG from 27 years ago ; way before VLOGs became popular. I am the first generation Vlogger ! HAHA