bought kundera’s the unbearable lightness of being on friday afternoon prior to the celebratory drinks sesh at the watering hole across the hospital, after reading the thumbs ups given by both mangolisa and idlan. it was selling for a mere three quid at fopps. i remembered many years ago that it was made into a movie. with bonking in it. obviously literature was not in our (late) teen minds at that time.

reading the first two short chapters whilst on the transpennine express to the airport made me feel so illiterate. until the narration about tomas and tereza got going. after a hearty, yet not really sedap (not forgetting overpriced), airport fish and chips, i bought another book. an ‘easier’ tome and this was the first time i bought a penguin classic. no, not anna karenina. i think i have mentioned somewhere before that the tolstoy read made me feel like following anna’s steps onto the railtracks.

i bought the complete fables by aesop. unlike the (very much) abridged two-volume ladybird books i read as a kid at kindergarten, the book is an almost complete collection of his works. i didn’t know he was greek (he was a slave from thrace). his life had been described and his works compiled by the likes of aristotle and his students. a book about animal stories, with a smattering of greek mythology, each tale being one paragraph long. that’s the read for me, all right.

for the first time in my 17 years of travelling to kuala lumpur, i was given a window seat. window seat = not good. i prefer aisle seats for easier access to the bog, if needs be. i remembered my first trip on an SQ flight to paya lebar (changi was still known for its prison then). i loved sitting by the window. seeing taman tun from the sky was real thrill. the awe i had returned briefly on seeing the lights of greater manchester. i swear the view looked like coruscant. way better than what george lucas and his guys at ILM conjured.

it wasn’t until 20 minutes later, reality set in again. i was hoping that i didn’t have to wake up the sleeping couple next to me so as i can go to the restroom.

and the food sucked. again. what was i really expecting?