A Homemaker’s Diary

For those hard core fans anywhere in the vicinity of Manchester Evening News Arena next year on 23rd and 24th January, be informed that the group Spice Girls will return with their 10 hits including ‘Wannabe’, ‘Goodbye’, ‘Viva Forever’, ‘Too Much’ & Spice Up Your Life. Do check out the available tickets ready on sale starting from 26th October this year. And while you are planning to go for the show, make sure you have think ahead about accommodation for the night. There are a number of Manchester hotels nearby the MEN Arena.

I read from the Internet that the MEN Arena is on the edge of the city centre, next to Victoria Station. So with trams running to Victoria Station (Bury line), you can virtually stay anywhere on the tram route.

Or if you are in London after Christmas and plan to stay longer for holiday, check out the best deal for accommodation in London. Whether you are young travelers, on luxurious spending budget or on holiday with family, London has a lot to offer. Get the London Pass as it offers free entry to over 55 attractions in and around London. The attractions include The Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, London Aquarium, London Zoo and Windsor Castle.

While getting comfortable with London accommodation proves to be no problem, restraining your kids from the largest toyshop in the world could be a nuisance. Hamleys of London stocks over 30,000 different products on its seven funpacked floors. I wouldn’t miss the chance to make my own teddy at their soft-toy workshop..hehe!

Auckland has been known among New Zealand’s indigenous people, the Maori, as “Tamaki Makau Rau”, a maiden with 100 lovers. Located in the North Island of New Zealand, it is the largest urban area of the country with over 1.3 million people.

If you are into sporting events, don’t miss the chance to join the Harbour Crossing event, the largest ocean swim in the country, to be held this 25 November where over 1000 swimmers take part in the 2.8 km swim across the harbour. Book yourself affordable Auckland accommodation in the area of Stanley Bay Beach, Devonport as you will be swimming across Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.

Or if you are into horticultural splendor, get the best rate for Auckland hotels in the area of Manukau City as there will be a 5 day event this November for The Ellerslie International Flower Show at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

And as of now from 25 October – 4 November, there is Waitakere World Junior Badminton Championships 2007 held in The Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, where teams from twenty-six countries will compete for titles in the 2007 world junior badminton championships. Get the best rate for hotels in Auckland to support your favourite badminton team.

But if you ask me, if I ever go to Auckland, I will not miss the chance to try the world’s first harbour bridge bungy jump where anybody aged over 10 years old can leap over the Waitemata Harbour…bet Hubby will kill me first before I can jump under the bridge at the pier..heh!

Although I said earlier that I wanted to do the shopping etc on Tuesday, I was so tired to wake up early so in the end I went out to KL on Wednesday.

But before I took the ERL ride, I stopped by at ePerolehan counter in Putrajaya to renew the smart card. It took almost 40 minutes to settle everything ( I was the only person at the counter) and when I was about to stand up and move, the lady said I have to wait 24 hours for the card to be activated, huh! I thought your so called smart eP enabled system has enabled everything, now why the 24 hours wait? Damn the system, whatever the Government is trying to make money out of this online service.

Despite the unhappy feeling, I was just glad that everything could be settled on the same day. I really hate when I have to go to any government service counter, they make me feel like I am the one who hard up for their not so efficient service while the reality is their salary were paid using income tax money from people like us, people who work hard days and nights to earn, not have the liberty of having 40 days paid leave every year..heh! For that kind of slow service, you should work in private sectors and see whether you will still get good appraisal and increments from your boss.

Enough said, I went to KL with ERL and 2 LRT and stopped for brunch in Delifrance, Sogo. Met my friend for our ribbons shopping and arrived at Putrajaya with the ERL around 4:30pm. I was planning to buy some clothes in Sogo but by that time the plastics bags I carried seem too heavy to stop by anywhere else. It was still too early to fetch Hubby (plus it started to rain) so I went for facial in Bangi instead. I thought the facial should finish in 1 hour time but then the session ended up around 7:10pm..huhu! Another case of inefficient salon helper, duh!

It makes me wonder how come most of the people in this world go about their tasks leisurely with no regards of the value of time for other people. Don’t they know that time is money or maybe they just don’t have any clue of what else can be done with their time everyday.

I don’t really like the idea of going out alone, but then again my outing tomorrow is more to run an errand rather than window shopping. First I need to go to ePerolehan counter in Putrajaya to renew the MyKad enabled eP for my IT company. Then I will take ERL to KL and then LRT to shop for additional materials for my new creations at Jalan TAR.

The thing is I have to come out with few designs for a Datin’s daughter’s wedding in March. Courtesy of my friend the songket business owner, she managed to make the Datin fell in love with my bunga songket creations. So I will try to do something that can make the Datin decides to place 1000pcs of orders for the guests to the wedding reception which might been held in a hotel next year. So my mission tomorrow is to find ribbons that could match the off white songket pieces she chose.

Oh, the freelance writer for The Star newspaper has came to my place on Monday afternoon as per her appointment for the interview and the photo session. So the next thing I will be looking forward is the exact date the article will be featured in the newspaper..hehe!

And come to think of the outing, I think I need to buy a new umbrella when I walk by Sogo tomorrow. I don’t want to be caught in a heavy, pouring rain alone with plastic bags full of craft stuffs..huhu! I miss my old, grey Giordano umbrella which I accidentally left at Delifrance many months ago.. 🙁

Since next week I don’t have any plan to go anywhere, I’m thinking of going to KL major attractions such as Taman Orkid and Butterfly Park or take some pictures at the Eye of Malaysia. I doubt Hubby would agree to take a ride on the Eye of Malaysia, so taking pictures of it as a background will be enough. Of course you can’t compare the Eye of Malaysia to the famous London Eye.

The London Eye is the world’s highest observation wheel giving a view of over 55 of London’s famous landmarks from any of its 32 sealed passenger capsules in a 30-minute Ferris wheel ride. Since opening in March 2000 the British Airways London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain.

Anyway, if I ever get the chance to visit London (which I don’t know when), I hope I would be able to afford a stay in any of the hotels in London. You see, I have checked the accommodation rates and the cheapest would be around GBP40-50 per night which is quite pricey when converting to my currency (the conversion will be around x 7 )..huhu!

With London ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world, alongside Tokyo and Moscow, its cheap hotels are not always cheap by our standard. Furthermore, it is also ranked 4th in the world in number of billionaires (United States Dollars) residing in the city. Thanks to info on Wikipedia, I’m getting more acquainted with the demographics of London, heh!

But then again, who knows if somehow I strike a fortune, I would be able to stay in 5-star London hotels for weeks..who wants to come along? wink!!