April, 2010

I came late into politics. Or rather, politics came late into my life. For the most part, I chose blissful ignorance about the state of affairs when it came to governance for most of my teenage years. It wasn’t hard to be complacent, then. BN were in power, had always been in power and will always be in power, or so said me as a 16 year-old.

I remember Abah trying to persuade me to flick through the political stories in the dailies we had at home. I brushed him off by saying, of politicians, “They’re all like kids in kindergarten, fighting over the pettiest of things but doing nothing for the people.” He retorted by saying perhaps one of the most important phrases I uphold in my life today: “It’s not about what you like or what you don’t like. It’s about knowledge, and knowing is better than not.”

I blame his statement for my collection of books on subjects as diverse as postcolonialism to the history of football; on authors ranging from Ibn Batutta to Plato. I hate some of the stuff, but I still think I should have a working knowledge of them. Know thy enemy, I suppose.

In a matter of days it will be election week in the UK, and as a citizen of a Commonwealth country I am eligible to vote. I intend to make mine count when polling booths open on 6 May. But despite that, I did not watch much of the leaders’ debate live tonight. I may watch it later, via iPlayer or some other source. Because live on two other channels were live telecasts of something I fell into much, much earlier than politics.

I quite think it was worth it to see Fulham fight back from being 1-0 down to beat Hamburg 2-1 at Craven Cottage tonight rather than listen to spin and empty promises. I know that in the bigger picture, eleven men on a pitch makes no dent in the armour of importance that is politics. But I needed to feel hope, and I needed to feel a bit more alive tonight. Thank you, Fulham, for letting me know underdogs still make it (because Clegg sure as hell won’t).

Now, if only Liverpool were to lose…. tee hee. (Jangan marah Mimi, Ahad ni make sure kalahkan Chelsea ya…)

The architects behind the Colchester campus of Essex University were inspired by a small Italian town in Siena, where its main features are squares, terraces and tall towers. I hope that is where the similarities stop, because if the room numbering system in place on campus is anything like the home addresses there, then San Gimignano is every postman’s nightmare.

Despite the madcap room numbering system – which really does turn into an endearing feature after a while, and an interesting conversation starter in lifts, paternoster or otherwise – thanks to friends I have now found a route that takes me from my office near Square 4 to the prayer room in the Chaplaincy Center off Square 2 without my ever leaving the building. Very, very handy in atrocious winter weather not unlike what most of the country have been privy to over the past few months.

Anyway, en-route to the Chaplaincy Center via tunneling mode, as I call this 100% indoor maneuver, I pass this door. The wit, I believe, speaks for itself.

*if you can’t clearly read what’s on it, why not click on the image, get to Flickr and view the large version…