Clothes For The Feet

Man's best friend is not a dog. It is a pair of spruce shoes.

Every good man has a pair of good shoes.

It is a self-imposed motto, but one which will ring true for all suave gents who pride themselves in looking the part.

I have always had a fetish for footwear. Of all the attire I have purchased, I have never felt so passionate about the clothing for the feet.

At this point I should refer all readers to my sister's blog, www.rachelcphotography.blogspot.com, where you will discover an array of tantalising images of her beloved high-heels. I must say that I drew complete inspiration from her posting, to propose this equally sexy, male version.

I will now showcase two of my favourite pairs of shoes, one for formal occasions, the other for more sporty endeavours.

They are even pretty racy in bed...

And here is the sports shoe collection...

Puma did make good sports shoes back in the day, and I'm extremely proud of these snazzy items!

Wherever you go, Happy Walking, and remember to treat your feet with the best footwear.

The Week In Images

A hole in the sky is formed as the rays of the Sun tear through the feeble clouds en route to the earth's surface.

The fiery ball in the sky emits a distinct orange glow as Malaysia rotates away into the darkness of space.

The Sun's rays strain to reach Kuantan as the earth continues to revolve into darkness.

Malaysia's glaring deficiency in English is once again highlighted rather embarrassingly with this asinine display in East Coast Mall's basement.

Lauren waits patiently as mummy brings the food and drinks for breakfast at East Coast Mall's food court.

Surrounded with toys, Lauren struggles to select an item to amuse herself.

On a display in Carrefour rests a wonderful piece of artwork designed by strategically placing thousands of strands of rice of various colours, in preparation for the Deepavali celebrations.

Assuming it to be her own, Lauren quite readily climbs onto this bed for a lie down and a picture. The Carrefour staff regularly change the quilt; today it was a rainbow design that certainly caught Lauren's eye.

Necessary Tales

"Lauren, brush your teeth." "If you don't brush your teeth, the mosquito will bite them!" "Do you want the mosquito to bite your teeth?" "Well brush your teeth then!"

Yes, this was the slight palaver we had in getting Lauren to brush her teeth last night. The threat of a mosquito bite did the trick though, and we got her teeth looking that little bit whiter.

And so I began to reflect on tales, stories, even LIES, that we tell our children from day to day without even realising it. Many a time I have heard my students telling me all sorts of things beginning with, "My mummy said..." or "My father said..." and my immediate reaction was to dismiss these fables as untrue and damaging to a child's understanding of truth and reality.

Yet our white lie to Lauren last night got me re-considering the relevance of all these myths we form in order to help our children understand a point or to simply get them to do something that is for their own good! Because sometimes, reality is all too boring for a young child; fantasy seems to make more sense in their world. In the case of Lauren, she knows that when mosquitoes bite, it's very itchy. But she doesn't yet understand that it's impossible for a mosquito to bite ones teeth. So us adults take advantage of their limited knowledge...for a good purpose!

Out and About

Our chosen method of transport is our car. There is no other alternative! Still waiting for Kuantan to grow so that a nice LRT service can be constructed, but I think that might be a dream too far. But there's nothing wrong with our car anyway, except the fact that there's no air-cond so we just wind down the windows and go 'natural.'

I did however, appreciate these beautiful trees lining the roadside near the Post Office, which was our first destination. The Kuantan Post Office has undergone a renovation and is now complete. It's a bigger, cleaner, whiter version of the old one, and is cooler too. Here it is in all its glory:

After paying our water bill which came to a ridiculously low total of RM3 (in Sterling Pounds this is around 60 pence), we walked around the corner to pick up my package from my mother.

The package contained ten lemsips so that I can fight the 'flu more effectively should it return at a later date, and, modelled by her, a bib for Lauren...

Next up was a trip to Carrefour to do some shopping. I am particularly pleased that they have Baked Beans here...

...and these donuts, which actually I don't eat very often anymore. Besides, if I did fancy a donut, it would be a "Big Apple" donut. They taste great, but too many of them have a cloying effect..

Hope you enjoyed our lunch hour dash to the Post Office and Carrefour. This afternoon I will be on the internet for a while, reading "The Garden of Evil" and playing badminton around 6pm. Tonight I should be simply relaxing while my wife has a test at school tonight. That's if 'relaxing' is possible when looking after a baby who misses their mummy!

Of Bonsai's and Mooncakes...

This morning we witnessed some of the most striking "baby trees" in East Coast mall in a Bonsai Competition. They were immaculately kept and stunned onlookers with their beauty and unique, ethereal air. Here are some photos of the images I liked best:

This last bonsai is my personal favourite, evoking images of a sculpture of a person leaning fully back in rhythm to a piece of classical music.

Later at night we went to Teluk Chempedak beach to join in the celebrations of the Chinese Mooncake Festival. (Incidentally, we have thus far received no less than 35 mooncakes in the last few weeks and we are just about sick of them!)

As soon as the Sun dipped below the horizon, the party started on the beach.

Scores of families, friends, and visitors thronged the beach to light their lanterns and candles in what provided a beautiful scene. As I chatted with a man from Kuala Lumpur (KL), he remarked how it was his first time to this area of Kuantan and described how different it was to KL. "In KL everyone is separate, but here all the families gather together," he remarked. "It's a very nice atmosphere."

Indeed, it was remarkably serene, with the excited chatter of children just a footnote to the occasion. I dug a hole and mounted some candles deep inside, as Lauren passed them to me one by one.

The camera flash helps to appreciate the depth of the hole, as it was getting a little breezy at times, a zephyr here and there easily blew out the flames which were too close to the surface. My wife began digging a design of her own and as I lighted the candles and placed them, it left a warm impression of our presence at the beach:

DFL representing the first letters of our names, Duncan, Fidelia, Lauren.