Country Cottage Arts

Yesterday was the Sunday for which I had prepared so assiduously , painting away till the wee hours of the morning fortifying myelf with lots of my favourite Nescafe 3 in 1 and waiting to make a grand sale on the appointed day. The organizers had, after all, called it the' Inspirasi Wanita Programme' and I was certainly feeling very inspirational ....

It started straightaway with the wrong foot. First, the inner road leading to the Melawati Stadium was barred for all motorists. Not knowing this, the Inspired One ( Shikin was following me from her car ) drove smack into it, then reversed back frantically . Three cars behind me were all doing the same. I sped off to find the other access road, which, I'm sure you've guessed, were also similarly blocked. It being also a 'pasar tani' day and a full three day sale going in full swing, we went round in circles, large large circles. Those uniformed looking guys perched on the metal barricades were as clueless as they looked. They had no idea as to the directions I should take when I approached them for assistance. It was a case of me speaking in French and they talking in Swahili . Each imbecil of an officer ( serve them right!) directed us in different directions to the stadium entrance road. This, inspite of me explaining to them that we had special stickers and tags to be allowed in) Fat lot of good it did!. We got stuck in long car queues, broke several traffic rules,( like crossing double lines and making U turns when you shouldn't!) , got honked by other motorists and drove over the limit. We made 3 circles all round the stadium and it was beginning to look like the 'so near yet so far ' kind of a serial drama episode. Shikin was all this while following me as fast she could keep up. Quite surprising indeed, that she didn't holler at me to stop with all the mad driving antics going on. She was in a pretty good frame of mind, I thought and I wasn't complaining!. To cut a long drama short, we finally ended up at the back entrance of the stadium..... Aiyo.. what a feeling (sing Irene Cara)


Looking at each other despairingly and muttering even more, we realised that we had to lug all our stuff ourselves about 100 feet to the stadium door and down 3 flights of steps before reaching our booth. We both had several large bags each and seeing Shikin floundering with hers, I helped her carry hers too. I made two trips up and down the confounded stairs and long corridors and ended up looking like a hunched Olive Oyl wilting with oversized bags on each hand....

And that was just the start of my Sorry Sunday Outing..... Got to end now and will hopefully resume later in the day. It's tea time and I simply must energise myself with a cup of you know what. A tip... try it with a slice or 2 of ginger and you will feel the oomph like I do...