London Mali: Aja Vanessa Mayleen Peter

"Babe can you meet me at the Northfields station?"

"Huh?Where?"

"North as in north babe, like south,"

"Okay as in North-South-East-West, the field as in
P-H-I-L issit?"

"Your head la babe! Field as in Padang!Its not
all about men dammit!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(after a sad goodbye with MTP and an even sadder one with
BBB the day before, hurried packing and sending off of clothing
books and etc to M'sia, last minute dropping off stuff at my aunt's
and then going home and realising I forgot my watch and having to go
back to hers again..)

And so, I arrive in London
staring in dismay at a flight of stairs and my
2 leaden suitcases, they don't push nor pull
properly and I am surviving on 4 hrs sleep

Suddenly a tall, lanky lad appears
"Would you like a hand with that?"
I fall to the floor and kiss his feet.

Somehow I manage to get into the Tube unassisted
and out, at Northfields
I step out, lug, look around
No Vanessa.

"Oh my god babes!" I turn, and there she is
"Oh my god babes!" I shriek in return
We look at my bags
"Oh. My. God." we say together

and together we lug, up stairs, on street
up bus, off bus, and the last
200 metres of pushing, pulling, carrying and kicking (in 15 mins)
finally up the stairs to Mayleen's apartment
We sit.

"Babe, kau liao, wa ai tui chu."

It is 10am, we haven't seen each other in 1 and a half mths
I am catching my breath, exhausted
"Babe, when are you going to make coffee?"
she asks
I widen my eyes, speechless at the audacity
"I carried your bags for you worrr..
and besides yours always tastes better"

Flattery gets people everywhere apparently
I make the coffee, then off we go
out and about in London-town.

I always insist, Covent Garden first
a pub, some grub
beer for her, wine for me
close your eyes and just don't think about
the price

I also insist on Ben & Jerrys at Leceister Square
my 2 favourite flavours
Cherry Garcia and Oh My Apple Pie

We, or rather I, lie in the park
my head in her lap
observing disease laden pigeons
and talking about strange things
while other people eavesdrop

(This one is for uncle Rod)

Later we make our way to White City
Meet my wonderful cousin, a bottle of rose at the BBC bar
then off to Farringdon for Karim Fanous's gig

But not before a cocktail at another bar
champagne and strawberries I believe


The night ends with us singing
'Rundon Blidge is Farring Down'
all the way back in the Tube (20 mins)
at the tops of our voices

We hop into a cab
where I apologise profusely to the driver for their
drunken singing, then join in
I vaguely remember asking him about
The Knowledge
"Yes, how is your Knowledge kind sir?"

We stumble in
"Shhhh Mayleen whispers, Andy is asleep"
Then we all start to giggle.

"Babe, don't pretend to be drunk all and
then not cook my Maggi Mee ah!"
Vanessa warns

"What?Instant noodles?" says Mayleen, nose wrinkling

"You haven't tried your cousin's" says Vanessa

and this is how I find myself in the kitchen
2am, chopping garlic and onions
slicing cabbage and frying up sausages,
cracking eggs into boiling soup

while the girls flutter about bringing this and that
and Mayleen shakes her head
repeating 'I can't believe she's here, cooking in my kitchen'

Later we sit and eat
Mayleen tells me it's mighty tasty
and Vanessa is not talking, just walloping
we pile empty bowls into the sink
and creep into bed

Later, Andy will tell me that
Mayleen came to bed whispering
"I can't believe how good it was!"