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.