Monday, October 05, 2009

Crazy Weekend

The traffic jam was especially bad over the weekend. Roads were clogged in my part of the city and I spent so long on Saturday waiting for a blinking bus to come. Why call the buses Rapid KL when they are hardly that, I wonder for the umpteenth time. Fed-up with the wait, I hopped onto a Metro bus but since it was content to linger, I jumped back down and ran to a Rapid bus that just arrived... only to discover a few minutes into the journey that it was not bound for Ampang. I didn’t know there were buses heading to Keramat that passed Ampang Park and I felt a bit embarrassed that I got onto a wrong bus.

I got down at a stop near Jelatek LRT station and was about to contemplate walking the considerable distance in that hot scorching sun to that main city artery, i.e. Jalan Ampang, when a feeder bus pulled up. I checked before boarding, yes, it would go to Ampang Point! Thank God for that.

I suspect it must be the open-house craze or the mid-autumn festival that was the cause of the jam.

The situation was not any better yesterday. We had to endure a four-km stretch of traffic jam back from Akak’s place.

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It was a crazy first 35 minutes of last night’s match between Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers with five goals scored in total! It has been 13 years since a bespectacled Frenchman few people had ever heard of walked into Highbury and played his part in revolutionising the British game and in fact, Wenger’s first match in charge was against Blackburn in October 1996, with Ian Wright bagging a brace in a 2-0 win at Ewood Park. Titi Henry was in attendance and he was greeted warmly by the fans. For more pictures of Titi, go here.






Blackburn didn’t sit down for once and to the boys’ credit, they bounced back. Classy Cesc also managed to get himself on the score-sheet with Arsenal’s fourth goal – after trying to pass it around, the ball still came to him and he decided he’d just thump a left-foot half-volley of his own right into the top left corner from 19 yards. Sweet! Cesc ran over to the corner of the ground where former captain Titi was sitting, made a big show of grabbing his shirt and kissing the club badge before pointing to every part of the ground. It was a gesture not just designed for Henry but for the home fans, to signal that he was dedicating his sensational performance to the supporters, to send a clear message about his love to Arsenal and to underline his commitment to the club despite Barca’s public declaration that they wanted to sign him. He has Arsenal DNA, you hear?








Man of the match: With four (or five?) attempts saved by Robinson, four assists and one goal for himself and countless other stunning passes, it was definitely Captain Marvel aka Captain Fantastic Cesc Fàbregas.

As for Titi, hey, he may very well return to Arsenal and even manage the club!

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Cesc has been speaking of his manager in the wake of his becoming the longest-serving manager at Arsenal. Check it out here, here and here. Go here and here for galleries on Wenger, his thirteen years of transfer, top five signings, the Wenger years and Froggie’s comments on Wenger.