Zu’s Ambling Along

You know you’ve really given up riding when you finally decide to let go of your tack and riding stuff.

If the reader is interested in any of the items below, please e-mail me at zuraidahomar@hotmail.com.

Wintec Isabel Werth dressage saddle 17” (with original cloth cover) + stirrups + girth + saddle stand

Akton gel pad + 2 cotton covers

Zilco puffer pad

Numnah (not used)

Numnah (not used)

Lunge whip + rope

Jumping whip (not used)

Euro Wembley velvet riding helmet size 60

Leather riding boots size 6 (excluding boot tree)

Spurs

Sprenger spurs

Eskadron head collar + lead rope (hardly used)

Head collar + lead rope (not used)

Eskadron horse boots (front and hind)

Horse boots (front and hind)

Brushes (not used)

I’m keeping one riding helmet, my gloves and a dressage whip, however - just in case!

One of the rewards of being a teacher is to be remembered by your ex-students, hopefully for the right reasons.

After graduating from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and returning home in 1976 (I actually flew from Wellington on 4 December, my birthday when I turned 22, and arrived in KL on the same day), I entered the University of Malaya for my Diploma in Education the following year. Although I had been in NZ on a Colombo Plan scholarship, my bond was with the Malaysian Ministry of Education. In 1978, I was posted to SMJK Jinjang - a big relief as I was not posted out of KL.

I didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas about the school and entered into my teaching career with eagerness, enthusiasm and a lot of idealism. I taught English and History; in my first year of teaching, I was in charge of a form 3 class while in my second year, in 1979, I was form teacher of 5 Arts.

With my Form 3 class in 1978.

With my Form 5 Arts class in 1979.

Group photo of teachers - I’m on the far right in the back row.

With my students when they visited me at my parents’ house in Damansara Heights.

Another visit by my students.

My stint in teaching only lasted two years, after which I was transferred to the Curriculum Development Centre of the Ministry. After another two years, I left government service for the private sector - Komplek Kewangan Malaysia Berhad, then the Institute of Bankers and, after that, the Southern Bank Group.

Imagine my surprise when, a couple of months ago, I received a message from Farrah Mah, one of my ex-fifth form students, on my Facebook. The 1979 fifth formers of SMJK Jinjang were organising their 30th anniversary reunion and they would like to invite my husband and I. And so, on Saturday 28 November 2009 at the Sri Damansara Clubhouse, I was reunited with fellow teachers and students. It was certainly an evening to remember…

Being greeted by Farrah at the reception.

Catching up on all those years.

Teachers and 5 Arts students (I’m at the back with my boys and girls).

Of course, there had to be a group photo of the teachers (got to sit in the front row this time - third from left).

A special cake for a special occasion.

Thank you, Farrah, for taking the trouble to find me. And to my ex-students, I’m so proud of you and I wish all of you the very best.

"Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man", so says Francis Bacon (1561-1626).

I’ve loved books since I was a very young girl. We were living on a road off Gurney Road then. When my father gave us our weekly allowance, the first thing I’d do was to drop by a bookshop, Kiddies Store, at the corner of Gurney Road and buy as many books as I could afford. I had so many books after a while that I turned one of the back rooms in the house into a little library and lent out books to my primary school friends, complete with library cards and all. I should have been a librarian… or a professional book-buyer!

I haven’t stopped buying books for myself and, of course, reading them. When buying presents for family and friends, books are my first choice. When we were doing up our present house, my request to to the interior designer was - bookshelves, bookshelves and more bookshelves. Downstairs in the AV room are shelves for my big books. Upstairs, the shelves in the family room are for the fiction and non-fiction books that have been read, while those in the home office are for reference books, dictionaries, business-related materials as well as copies of the books and annual reports that I’ve written. In my bedroom, the shelves are for books that have yet to be read.

I went to the recent Big Bad Book Sale on its very first day, i.e. Thursday 26 November, and came home with the following books for about RM200:

There are still books bought at the first sale earlier in the year that I haven’t read:

I’m a multi-book reader. I have my books all over the house so that I needn’t carry one here and there to read. These are on my bedside table:

Just across the room, I have a couple of books on the table by the sofa (if you’re wondering why there’s a kain pelekat draped on the armchair, it’s because our cat Chomel loves to sleep on it):

When I watch TV in the family room and the commercials come on, I’d press the mute button and open up my book:

Downstairs, by the indoor pond in the atrium, I have a stack of books at various stages of reading:

With a book by your side, you will never be bored!