Tinkle bells....

It's good to be back. We had a week of carefree holiday visiting my cousin in Sydney, Australia. It's still winter there, so the weather is brrr....brrr... cold. We were all bundled up in warm jackets, socks, shoes, gloves and scarves. My cousin booked us into old-fashioned hotel without any heating and you can imagine the layers of blanket that we had to cover ourselves to keep warm!

We planned to enrol Ruth in Year 10 in 2010, so we went around looking at the schools. Visited one catholic and two private schools. Ruth was very much impressed by the schools and expressed her keen desire to continue her studies in Australia. We got the application forms and will submit them in due course. Hopefully, she will be accepted.

We had the opportunity to view the Airbus A380 at Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport. Mate! It is huge.

We came back to clear some backlog at work and life's back to the normal routine. But the downside is, Ruth fell sick with sore throat, cough and flu. Visited the doctor twice and she's still on medication. Hopefully, she will recover soon.

Just news.......

Finally, the countdown. Last night, millions of viewers throughout the world were glued to the screen to watch the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympiad at Bejing's iconic "bird's nest" stadium. It was really a spectacular and sensational event combining the traditional, comtemporary and the modern. A dazzling sight to behold! Surely an auspicious occasion for China and the world. Hopefully, the Olympic slogan of "One World, One Dream" continues to remain a reality. For the next two weeks the world will watch in anticipation and expectation as the events unfolds as to which country will capture the most medals in the spirit of true sportsmanship and friendship.

Olympics aside, the whole of next week will be busy and stressful one for Ruth as she will facing the first round her second semester examinations. She had been faithfully doing her revision during the past three weeks and hopefully she will do well this round.

I finally delivered my talk on "Formation of a valid contract" yesterday. For the past month, I had been busy preparing the materials and I am glad that it's finally over. Thank God!

Farewell, Tipsy......

Last Thursay was indeed a very sad day. Our pet cat, Tipsy was knocked by a car, sustained serious injuries and died. When Ruth discovered him lying at the grass verge beside the road leading to our housing estate, he was already dead for several hours. The flies were buzzing around his body. We put Tipsy in a box and bid him farewell.

For two days, Ruth mourned for her favourite pet. She hardly had any appetite and was really depressed. Tipsy came into our lives about a year ago, as a stray kitten. We took him in, fed him and he really got on well with us. He would sneak into the house when the doors are open, climbed onto our sofa, waiting for a cuddle. Sometimes, he would wait at our main door step, waiting for us to open the door so that he could sneak in "invited".

Now he's gone. Just like that. Life's indeed fragile. The reality hit Ruth hard. I guess it's her first experience of facing the death of something she was really fond of. An experience that everyone has to face, sometimes, sooner or later.