Asian Tiger

If you do not know already, tomorrow, Malaysia is making all passengers in the rear seat buckle themselves up in a bid to increase road safety. Compared to Germany, we are 24 years behind. Yup, if my math has not failed me, Germany introduced the rear seat belt ruling in 1984. In England, that rule was enforced in 1991.  It’s about time that Malaysia has this rule.

When I was in England, I had to get a car seat because you can’t possibly buckle up a baby using standard seat belts.  I was in for a rude shock when I shopped around for it.  The price for a single infant car seat is in the region of RM700-RM1000.  Discounts are given but at 10% – 20% at best.  Thankfully, in England, there are weekend flea markets called car boot sales.  I love these car boot sales where you find 2nd hand items at an obscene bargain.  Leather gloves goes at 50p, Peter the Rabbit jackets at 2 pounds and car seats at 20 pounds.

With the deadline to rear seat belts buckling starting tomorrow, shops with infant car seats and booster seats will probably find themselves running out of stock.  So, folks at the back, buckle up beginning tomorrow. It’s for your own good

The title of this post reminds me of “Mind Your Own Language” when Ali Nadim of Pakistan favourite phrase is “Oh! Blimey!”.

That aside, today I wanted to write about the condition of my office blinds.  Currently, I have venetian blinds installed on 3 of my office windows but everytime when there is a breeze, the blinds start to flutter and make horrible, irritating noises.  These kind of noise does disrupt my train of thoughts.

I am thinking of replacing them with wood blinds that are more strudy, classy and looks more homely (not that office should be homely). Using wood is not a straightforward process as it needs to blend in with the rest of the office furniture.  Nevertheless, I am seriously considering this but of course, money would be the main consideration.

I love traveling.  My wife loves traveling.  My kids bug me to go for vacations. All of us want to go to exotic destinations but the price tag is something that I can ill afford or not willing to pay for.  It has been my greatest aspiration to take a long family vacation at least once a month and I think the timeshare concept may actually work out for me.

If you do not know what timeshare is, it is actually a group of people buying a piece of property and all joint owners have access to the property at different times of the year.  Though timeshare does alleviate the traveling cost associated to accomodation, there are other considerations to think about; e.g. air tickets, travel insurance, ground transportation, etc.

If you are a traveler who prefers the “tour company” way, timeshare is probably not for you.  I’ve long ago given up on tours because they are “hurry burries” and they take me places where I really don’t like.  Most of the time, they will make unscheduled stops at shopping areas so that they can earn commissions from your purchases.

Note that timeshares are long term commitment and if you are not up to travel periodically, you should consider other alternatives.