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Third week of lockdown, or is it the 25th? Can’t remember – but I have to say that every day is full. The cat starts yelling outside the bedroom door (and I mean yelling) for food at 6am. My husband gets up about then so he does the necessary and she shuts up while she is eating. Luckily this takes a while – she was a rescue kitten so she relishes her food and chews it properly. Then the yelling starts again outside the door. I am still in bed, possibly reading the news or my messages, possibly not. I let her in then she tries to bite my toes. I shout at her, she stops briefly, looks up at me and carries on. I push her out and fold the duvet under my feet which dissuades her and she leaves in a huff, bouncing about like Tigger. Not for long. Back she comes, purring like a steam engine, and nestles on my chest, under my chin, in the crook of my arm. That’s the nice bit, only disturbed when I decide it’s time to get up. Every other day I have 30 – 45 minutes on Skype with my trainer Emily, who is patient with my grumbles and imaginative with the exercises. It hurts but I hope it counteracts all the biscuits I get through. Why? I don’t scoff like this normally, and I am often working from home. I go out maybe twice a day and the rest of the time I’m here, and largely ignore the chocolate temptations. But this has changed. Yesterday I hoovered up everything I could find, and This Must Stop. I have been having a glass of wine each evening but last night the number went up. I must be more stringent and keep the number down, although I can see why people turn to drink in times like these.

I have set up other diversions though. I write at least 500 words of my novel each day, I have taken up portrait painting again and have been watching tutorials on You Tube which I hope will help me get better at it. About twice a week, a friend in London and I do a cryptic crossword together, and there is the Borneo quiz group who send out a couple of quizzes each week, to be done in 40 mins. Our results are recorded after we are sent the answers, and we send them in to Nicholas Pang who has set up a league table. I am proud to tell you that I am second on it.

Creative writing and discussion on line

I am planning six initial sessions of creative writing on line if people are interested. I would like six at most to take part, on Skype or Zoom, once a week, and so far three people have expressed interest. Is there anyone else out there who would like to bring a poem or a para they like or hate and present it? With a valid argument supporting their opinion. And then we can see what we can learn from this. I will also have sessions on plotting, self-editing, character, description, getting down to work and so on. It is free in that I don’t make anything from it, but I would ask for a donation to WordPower Sabah – RM50 for the lot seems reasonable to me. Interested? Email Sylvia.howe@me.com.

Fake news

Is disgusting. This week I was asked by a journalist whether I could put her in touch with someone from the UK Foreign Office who might be able to corroborate a little film she had found on Facebook. It was not pleasant to watch – a Malaysian young man, studying in England, coughing, gasping for breath and saying that the NHS has told him to stay at home and were taking hours to come. This was horrible on all sorts of levels. It was worrying to listen to his pale voice talking about what was happening, and also to hear about the failings of an overstretched health service, staffed by exhausted workers many of whom are denied protective clothing and spend hours and hours on their job without breaks in a country that apparently was warned some years ago that a Covid-19 event was on the cards. Nobody listened, and frankly, don’t shoot the pianists, they are doing their best. If you have an issue with the NHS, free at the point of delivery for anyone who needs it, direct it at the government who have underfunded it for many many years. Worse was to come about the student. We learnt, on social media again of course, that he had died. Well, dear reader, he hadn’t, and put up a message saying he was alive, thank you very much. I can’t help thinking of his parents, his family and his friends, before they got they all clear. WHY would anyone do this? WHAT fun do they get from upsetting lies like this one? HOW does news get twisted like this? All I can say is, please check your facts and don’t spread anything unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN it is true. Unless you are part of that sick group who seems to enjoy spreading fear and undermining resilience. If you are, STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

In and out of the kitchen

This is a very funny series – I hope it is still available – on BBC Radio 4, with Miles Jupp as Damian Trench who is a fussy, self obsessed food writer who dots recipes among the subtle comedy. I love it, and have a crush on Mr Maloney – listen and you’ll see what I mean.

Possible improvements to help a busy cook

Anyhow, I have been in and out of the kitchen myself. Having done this more than usual, as we are unable to pop out for a snack when the urge for creative cuisine deserts me, I ask myself a few questions. This is, I am told by management, ‘an international standard apartment’ after all, so…

1. Why is there an outside kitchen at all, when there is a sink and a fridge in another room?

2. Could there not be an aircon here – surely a small one could do the job of smell extraction and cooling down? Not sure how they work, but even without smell extraction, coolth would be welcome.

3. Can’t fish etc be cut up when it is bought, and does all cooking have to involve fatty conflagration?

4. Why is the fridge in one room and the oven and stove in another? To give the cook some extra exercise?

5. Why are there only two gas rings? Electric is cleaner, needs no enormous gas bottle taking up a cupboard, and four rings would be terrific. Malaysia is so up with technology, this would not be difficult to install.

6. And finally, why is there no hot tap in either sink, or in any of the basins in the bathrooms? My husband – who prefers a hot wet shave - has to attack his beard using hot water from the shower head from the bath, pulled over the basin. (Oh, another thought – why is there no shaver plug in the bathroom either?).

Make parking perfection

There is building going on all the time, but parking remains just as inconvenient. Could parking apps not be considered? I know there is Boost, but not in this state…? At the moment, payment machines are not on every floor, there is often a queue, and sometimes the ticket doesn’t let you out at the gate. As so often, it is the customer who has to do the work. If not parking apps, can’t we pay a real person at the gate? It can’t be that expensive to pay someone to sit in a little cupboard and smile when they give you your change…Some remain, but they are being replaced by unsmiling machinery, alas. The lady at Centrepoint (the most complicated and confusing car park in KK) was very nice, and she was also able to point you in the right direction when you got yourself lost – again! Good news: I got a ticket the other day, and went to pay it immediately, expecting a fine. But no. Because I had paid within a certain period (not sure how long – days, anyhow) it was the same price as parking. Did you know?