Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The dinner, the coffee and Me...

I am not a member of any exclusive clubs such as the golf or recreation clubs...The first reason is that it is too expensive to be a member of one and the second reason is that I do not play golf...But I do get to venture inside the clubs from time to time when friend's club members invite us for dinner or lunch....One such club is the Lake club at the lake garden, a club that was set up by the British colonial government for its kind of people and now after independence Malaysian have taken to the management of the clubs and its members are mostly Malaysian now...Well a few days ago a couple invited us to dinner there...So we accepted the invitation and went and hoping to have more of a good time rather than having the actual dinner....Because the invitation was to the club we dress accordingly for the occasion...So out we went to the club...At the club our host say that we should proceed to Sri Hartamas, another township for that dinner... Well we were in a sorts of dilemma actually...First the dress, if it is for the food court at Sri Hartamas, I would just put on a jean and a t_shirt, for that is how I would dress to such places...Anyhow, by some unseen intervention, perhaps from our guidance angels... The host got the message that we all were not really happy and ready to go to Sri Hartamas...They then decided to have the dinner at the Club....With that we sat to finding a restaurant to have dinner...At one restaurant, we had no luck of getting a table despite the numerous requests from our host to the waiter...To me they look rather busy and just could not help to get us a table..Very busy indeed.!!!, I just do not know!!....Anyway it does not matter to me...Our host I sense were not that happy with the situation and then suggest that we have dinner at the Chinese Restaurant there...So we proceed to the Chinese Restaurant and since the place were almost empty we got ourselves a table without fuss...And had the usual dinner of Chinese foods...The service here were OK but I felt it need improvement, anyway I had no complain and set to enjoy the dinner and chat along while we all enjoy the dinner....And then at just past nine thirty, the spouse of the host decided that we should have coffee at the coffee corner of the club...Knowing this charming lady well, I truly believe that she wanted to have coffee and enjoy the evening at a better surrounding...So what better place then the coffee corner of the club!.....I was delighted and happy with her suggestion...And We, the three couples move out of the Restaurant and went to the coffee Conner and ordered coffee and some other drinks....And guess what!!!, we were told that the place is closed for the night and the waiter could only served us plain water, She did just that and then left us in a lurch... What an evening!!!... Actually I was desperate for a cup of coffee, for it has been my ritual to have a cup of steamy hot coffee after lunch or dinner and now I just could not have one... Well what could I do for I am just the guest....I believe all guests behave themselves when such things happen, lest we embarrassed the host... Anyway we sat there. Both the host and us are of the same age group, the other couple are of our children's generation...He is by profession an Accountant but now has gone into farming for reason He only knew and could understand..Personally I am wondering why he chose farming rather then getting a fat pay as an accountant...Well!!..Our species are a peculiar one indeed!.... We always have reasons for doing things and I believe He has his reasons and we all have to respect that...His spouse I found out later works with an IT company and enjoying been a career women..They came with their young daughter, a sweet little girl, cheerful and well behaved throughout the dinner...Well finding the area comfortable to sit and chat...We just took the time to chat and yarns along on subjects that just came to our minds...And while in the midst of yarning, a couple came over and we were introduced...A gentlemen of my age and his charming spouse, the gentlemen, whom I later on found out to be one of my classmate of the class of 1957...Wan Othman is his name and an Engineer by profession and now like me retired...Hey!! What a way of meeting someone who were in the same class, after more than fifty years!!..So the issue of the plain water and coffeeless evening soon became irrelevant now and forgotten.......At this juncture the young couple decided to call the night off. And with that we all continue to yarn along with stories of old times intercept with some recent developments that we both seem to be involved without us as yet rediscover our long lost past....In our chat I found that these couple, a member of the club as well, already got their fair share of disappointment at the club this evening...I guess that in a club that have hundreds of members, things happened from time to time...In a way it is to be expected...Anyway with the dinner settling down and the 'coffee' issue has died down as well...We continue to yarn of old times and exchange notes and as the night goes I began to recollect ..Slowly my memories of him and the past events in our former school[Abdullah School, Kuantan] became clearer. Despite without that coffee and just served with one glass of plain cold water, with the chats became more interesting and colorful we soon forgot about the drink.....With so many interesting stories to tell we soon lost track of times and went on to chat until late night and eventually left the place at after one in the early morning... Had it not for the good chat that I had had with my new found old friend, the evening would have been a dull one....,instead it turn out to be a very enjoyable evening indeed.... Well friends that is life...Some times things happen when you least expect!... And it is these small happening that makes life so colorful....Nothing is perfect in this world and we have to makes 'hays while the sun shines' and enjoy the minutes passes by..For to me living is to be enjoyed...As for clubbing I guess that I am right of not been a club member after all....Have a nice day.

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