Grammar talk

American english or british? Can be confusing at times. In one dept. , a supervisor told his student once that people don't fail their thesis because of grammar. Well, that is not comforting enough to me. I believe it depends on your individual supervisor. After all, they are all human. I am trying to improve my grammar even at this age.

This is an interesting excerpt with regards to collective noun from http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/collective_nouns.html ,
that shows something different between the two.

" A collective noun is a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit.
Usage Note: In American usage, a collective noun takes a singular verb when it refers to the collection considered as a whole, as in:

• The family was united on this question.
• The enemy is suing for peace.

It takes a plural verb when it refers to the members of the group considered as individuals, as in:

• My family are always fighting among themselves.
• The enemy were showing up in groups of three or four to turn in their weapons.
• In British usage, however, collective nouns are more often treated as plurals:
• The government have not announced a new policy.
• The team are playing in the test matches next week.

A collective noun should not be treated as both singular and plural in the same construction; thus:

• The family is determined to press its (not their) claim.

Among the common collective nouns are:

• committee
• clergy
• company
• enemy
• group
• family
• flock
• public ....."

A day trip to Cheshire Oaks

This year boxing day has seen me & my family travel what must be the furthest day trip we ever did since coming back to UK, from loughborough to chester in cheshire. The trip to cheshire was actually a family retreat and to celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary, in a way, in which my wife had planned to go to cheshire oaks for boxing day sale for quite sometime. The exact place is known as Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet. My dearest wife had prepared nasi lemak ikan bilis in the morning with telur rebus; If we were back home in Malaysia, I would love to have kerang but here, nowhere to be found and my youngest daughter had made Gimbap, a korean snack of seaweed-rice, something like California roll.

It took me around 2 hours to drive & reach there. The journey of 200 miles, according to google map. I enjoyed the driving part very much and the journey there really is spectacular. Our route was, among others, driving along the M42 motorway from Leicestershire down to Tamworth, Staffordshire, and then along the M6 motorway driving up north past Warwickshire, Staffordshire & Cheshire. I enjoyed the view & scenery through out the journey. There’s a Toll Plaza on M6 near Birmingham where I paid 4 quid en route and 3 quid on the way home. M6 is actually Britain’s first toll motorway (the longest too), recently tolled only in 2003 after much refurbishment.

Nowadays, travelling in UK, you won’t get lost when driving and this includes Europe too. As long as you have satellite navigation system (SatNav) in your car with UK & Europe maps installed, you will always get to your destination. In the past, when i was in Salford & Cardiff back in 1994 & 1985 respectively, I had to rely on those maps, one map for motorway and the other is the city map of the destination. So, if you drive into many cities, you need to have a map for each. Another problem with this was, traveling is time-consuming when missing a turn or reading the map wrongly & you need somebody on your side to hold the map & guide. With SatNav, you just need to key-in the post-code of your home and destination, the system will calculate and find route for you based on either shortest path or fastest route (usually involve motorways in a long distance journey). If you miss a turn especially at roundabouts, it will recalculate for you and display a slightly different route. This is done on-the-fly while you are driving. Needless to say, driving becomes enjoyable.

When we reached Chester Oaks at around 10 am, the place was already crowded with people shopping for low prices goods. We bought clothes and shoes, the usual items and I got myself two books at Borders for my work. Calendars & diaries were all half price. There was one large nike factory store where shoes were all half price. There were many Malaysians as well doing their boxing day shopping and they must had come from all over UK .We had our lunch & prayers at the service centre nearby and then spent an hour or two again before heading home. By relating this in my blog, I hope that one day in the future, I would be able to look back, recall and reminiscence the good old days travelling together as family.

The First Tag

I've been tagged twice of the same tag. Here goes nothing.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night.
My wife telling me hilariously what happened when a bunch of briton joined in a reality programme show on telly called ‘Make me a moslem’;They led a life of being a moslem for 3 weeks. A beautician eventually embraced islam for real after the programme was over.

2. What were you doing at 0800? Tinkering with my Apple MacBook.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Just finished eating ready-made pizza that was microwave-cooked by my daughter.

4. What happened to you in 2006? Got transferred from Taboh Naning to Gombak & subsequently offered a scholarship.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Siap cepat! Sembahyang Raya 8:45 pagi !! Chop-chop!!

6. How many beverages did you have today? Twice. Coffee & Horlicks.

7. What color is your hairbrush? A guy needs a hairbrush? Give me a break will ya :-)

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Petrol, 20 quid.

9. Where were you last night? At home.

10. What color is your front door? Dark chocolate on the outside & alpine meadow white on the inside.

11. Where do you keep your change? By the window & in the car coin compartment.

12. What’s the weather like today? Foggy, frosty & bitterly cold with temp at 2 degree celsius.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Vanilla.

14. What excites you? Gym & british accents..they're like music to my ears.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Only once a month.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Reaching middle-age.

17. Do you talk a lot? Only when dwelling in conversation with someone interesting or with brits accents.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No idea what it means.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? No.

20. Do you make up your own words? Not really.

21. Are you a jealous person? Not that much, in what way do you mean? I’m possessive though.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Azhar.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kamil.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? My other half.

25. What does the last text message you received say? A long sms from my cousin in Malaysia wishing me & my family Selamat Hari Raya Haji.

26. Do you chew on your straw? No. What gives you such idea?

27. Do you have curly hair? No.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Thought of going to the open access lab in uni ,I'm nocturnal at times.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Someone i met briefly, a long time ago at work who was having an anger management problem.

30. What was the last thing you ate? Ready-made pizza.

31. Will you get married in the future? I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future do I ? But I am a happily married man.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Die Hard 2 on telly.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? Yes.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? Yesterday.

35. Are you currently depressed? Partially but lonesome is more like it when it comes to doing research, study & stuff.

36. Did you cry today? No. Not that I am aware of.

37. Why did you answer and post this? To be such a sport.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey: anaiis, syana, myfisol, hanna j. potter & kc.

A university town called loughborough

I had to uproot the whole family when coming here, which include bringing over my son instead of him attending a matriculation college in perak and thus doing his 1st year A-levels here. My wife was here in Loughborough (Lufbra ,as what people here say or write for short) 24 years ago as an undergrad and i was in cardiff at the time. When we reached here in August 2007, It is the third time we set foot on the british soil. We both had first set foot, in newark nottinghamshire back in 1983 for our A-levels. I think it doesn’t do justice if i don’t write a short entry about the town i am currently living in, a town in east midlands called loughborough in a county called leicestershire, the heart of rural England (lestershire if u wanna say it correctly, with silent ‘c’).

Loughborough is a university town. Though it is a small town and does not have a premiership football team it is located within the vicinity of major cities in Midlands such as Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham. (I’m a big fan of Arsenal FC anyway, through thick and thin). The town is about an hour and a half train ride from London St. Pancras Railway station; The home of Eurostar service to Paris and the rest of Europe. The university is one of the highly ranked universities in UK. That is partly the reason why i am here today (sponsor insisted a 5-star ranking) and the rest as they say, is history.

The market street in Lufbra is at the centre of the town. There are shops and department stores along both sides of the street. I suppose it is known as market street because Loughborough Market is held on the street every Thursday and Saturday and is one of the finest street markets in the country with an excellent range of goods and produce. There are also four main supermarkets in Loughborough: Tesco, Safeway, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. My wife and I do grocery shopping at Marrisons since it's closest to home and at times, we frequent Tesco since it's open 24-hr on weekdays. We get our halal foods & meat from either British Islamic Stores on Clarence Street or Al-Mizan Cash & Carry on King Street,Loughborough. For clothing, Primark store is always frequented because clothes there are not that pricey. Besides, it’s a high street department store where clothes are of variety size,color,fashion & season. If you want to buy some gifts for people back home, this is the place to be.

The nearest Car Boot Sale to Lufbra is in a village farm called Quorn. Car boot sale (CBS) is a british thing and here in Quorn is no exception. It’s about 2 km away from Lufbra. Typically held on Sunday morning every weekend. The goods there are really a bargain where you get to buy them way much cheaper than in stores. I still remember I had bought a pair of nike football boots for 50 pence during my first visit to Quorn; A value for money in the true sense of the word. Recently i got a pair of brand new nike running shoes for 24 quid from EbaY, which I am happy about because they were brand new and relatively cheap. CBS has become a regular leisure activity for the family on weekends after a long week at work (or study :-) . The weather these days are freezing cold with temperature reaching just 3 to 5 degree celsius and as such the activity has to be put on hold, for the time being at least. With the not-much-money-left situation i am always in, CBS definitely is and has always been, the place to be.

Ok guys, I think i have written long enough for this second entry; Longer than this might bore people to death (or have you got bored already?) An entry that doesn’t involve scrolling would be terrific as sometimes people like to say ‘KISS’ - Keep it short & simple. Okie dokie, I better stop blogging now otherwise i will keep on rambling in my own bloggy blog that sounds more like an inflight MAS magazine, pretty much summed up what i have written here.

Parents Evening

Yesterday (6th Dec 2007) was the day I got to see and meet up with teachers at the schools my children have been attending here in UK. This is the first Parents Evening that my wife and I have attended since we set foot in Leicestershire in August 2007. My youngest daughter S is in the Garendon High School, a secondary school for boys and girls aged between 11 and 14. My teen son,U and the middle daughter, N attending school in Burleigh College, meant for boys & girls aged between 15 and 18.

What surprises me is the fact that S was complimented by all her teachers not just for her good manner in class but also her meticulous and good work. At first I thought they were just being nice to us parents and then I realised that they just couldn't be nice when all of them said the same thing about S, so she must be doing pretty well. (Teachers here would say "Well Good" to praise kids, nothing like the choice of words when complimenting pupils back home). Three of the teachers mentioned about moving her to an upper set. She's in year 8 taking maths, english, science, geography, french, ICT and art & technology. At home she's a bit cheeky though, stroppy with dad (me :-) and playful when asked to do her homework. Always spend time on the internet/youtube watching Korean movies - a habit she developed while watching Korean love stories on TV in Malaysia. She wishes to study in Korea one day. Why does she want to study Korean when she needs to grasp french at school beats me. Seems like she's a big fan of everything Korean and that worries me a bit (pelik pelik). I guess girls apt to foreign language very well especially the ones that they are keen on learning. According to Mrs Bradley (Art teacher) S is an angel; S is letting her hair down at home since she concentrates hard on her lessons at school. Feels good when hearing that & listening to such lovely reports from all of her teachers.

In the case of my slightly older children, U and N, they were not getting that much compliments from their teachers except for their school work neatness and for their efforts. Got praised for behavior in class and also for their excellent art work (Nothing in my background & that of my wife would have suggested that my kids are good artists). N was commented though that she needs to be more participative in class like asking teachers when she doesn't understand them. This is perceivable since she's a bit timid. Hopefully in 3 months' time after they have taken some school tests, I'll get to see their true performance sometime in spring next year. A lot of coaching on my part too. As for the teachers in both of the schools, there's only one way to describe them; They personify British politeness, reserve and warmth.

On my way back home in drizzling rain (you get this often in UK, how romantic!), I told my better half that this parents evening event reminds me of the kids' report card day in Malaysia where parents are invited to attend, and I was kind of wondering as to how parents evening was first mooted. As I could remember correctly my parents never had any meetings with teachers during my school days in the 70s and early 80s. So much improvement nowadays and Parents Evening is a good thing. I gather teachers around the world nowadays share the same thought as how best to convey to parents about their kids performance and thus, Parents Evening...or something similar.