Dear Diary,
It has been a good Hari Raya even though I couldn’t visit any friends due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
My belly has been full – as usual – and I still have enough rendang tok to last me another day or so. Even had it between two slices of toasted bread for brunch today.
While I couldn’t visit friends, I did meet up briefly with former colleague Allan Netto who had a special delivery – a wonderful pair of custom-made shoes which is the feature image of today’s diary.
I worked with Netto at a sports website nearly a decade ago and he is now with the nation’s oldest sports wholesale retailer Kuckreja & Co.
The shoe art is his hobby. The next pair is a Liverpool-themed one (hopefully, with the English Premier League trophy)! Oh, by the way, today’s the 15th anniversary of the Miracle of Istanbul.
Do hit Netto up if you want to place your order.
I also had the chance to watch another good local show called Quarantine Raya. Directed by Gavin Yap and written by Honey Ahmad, Quarantine Raya stars Tony Eussof, Nadia Aqilah, Siti Farrah Abdullah, Nabil Zakaria and Tina Issacs. It is edited by Khai Bahar.
The bad news is Malaysia registered 172 new Covid-19 cases.
Anyhow, here’s how Day 69 of the Movement Control Order unfolded.
8.28am: COOL CUSTOMER – A moderate 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand as Prime Minister Jacinda Adams was in the middle of a live televised interview. Unshaken, she carried on with the interview.
8.35am: STAY AWAY – US President Donald Trump suspends travel from Brazil to the US as the pandemic worsens in Latin America’s largest nation and economy. The president’s order also denies entry to “all aliens” who were in Brazil two weeks before their attempted entry into the United States. The order takes effect on May 28.
9am: SIGN OF THE TIMES
10.28am: BRING IT ON – Tiger Woods says he’ll be healthy and ready to go when golf returns after teaming up with Peyton Manning to beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a charity golf match which raised US$20 million (RM87.3 million) for Covid-19 relief efforts.
11.25am: BESTSELLER – A Twentytwo13 reader from Kajang visited her favourite mamak restaurant for the first time since March to “kena” roti canai. Although it wasn’t crowded, the restaurant ran out of roti canai very quickly.
12.01pm: DIFFERENT KIND OF SPORT – Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who raced for McLaren in yesterday’s virtual Monaco Formula One Grand Prix, is considering setting up his own E-sports team.
1.57pm: COVIDIOT OF THE DAY – Launderettes don’t allow customers to sit or even fold clothes for the time being but this person decided to plonk himself on a table.
2pm: NO REST – It may be the Hari Raya season but Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob promises the authorities will not take a break as 14 compound notices were issued to those found in their hometowns without permission.
This is on top of 470 people who were arrested by the police for disobeying the SOPs yesterday. The police also conducted 60,528 inspections nationwide and are investigating a wedding ceremony held at a temple in Serdang allegedly attended by hundreds of guests.
3.52pm: FEELING THE SQUEEZE – A pair of premium Japanese melons has sold for a snip at 120,000 yen (RM4,862) – just a slice of the five million yen (RM202,597) reached at an auction last year.
4.05pm: ICONIC
VIDEO: Forty years ago, a new video game featuring a bright yellow, dot-chomping, pill-popping, ghost-dodging character called Pac-Man appeared in Tokyo. It would become the most successful arcade game of all time pic.twitter.com/1eNCNlefYm
— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 25, 2020
5.20pm: BAD NEWS – Malaysia records an alarming 172 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total cases to 7,417. There were 34 recoveries, meaning 5,979 patients have been cured. The good news is there are no new deaths, so fatalities remain at 115. This is the fourth time in five days there have been no deaths and the first time it has happened on three consecutive days. The last time Malaysia reported over 100 cases was on May 3 (122 cases).
6pm: FAREWELL – Triple Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Dosanjh of India, one of the greatest-ever hockey players, passes away after a prolonged illness.
7pm: SYAWAL YANG BIRU – A great effort from the Royal Malaysian Police Band.
