It is extraordinary in this day and age, that some schools insist on parents lining up for hours to buy school books.
I experienced this yesterday when I had to buy my daughter’s books.
It took us about two hours, from signing in at the guardhouse, to get into the bookshop. That did not include the 20 minutes spent looking for a parking spot.
Once inside the bookshop, we only needed about five minutes to complete the transaction. Sadly, three books were out of stock.
Some parents who had already bought the books shared the covers, so that others could look for them online, or at selected bookstores.
We needed the pictures to ensure that we got the right version and the correct publishers, or the books would be useless.
After leaving school, we spent another hour trying to find the books at several outlets, but to no avail.
The same thing happened to other parents three weeks earlier, when the school started selling the books before running out of stock.
I was not alone in grumbling about the long wait. Many other parents were upset, but some got off easy – they only had to wait an hour.
Some questioned why the bookshop only opened on Fridays and Saturdays. Others felt the school should have allocated different days for collection for Forms 1-5, but a parent said that was inconvenient for those who had more than one child.
It is not just my daughter’s school. My friend, Christina Lim, said her husband took more than two hours to buy books for her three children.
Another friend, Elle Shamsudin, said she took 90 minutes to get the books.
“I anticipated the long wait, so I took the day off work. Last year, I went on a Saturday, and it was madness. If I remember correctly, it was easily two-and-a-half hours.”
Here is the thing. While lining up, a parent revealed in the group chat that a school less than 3km away provided online sales.
I checked with a friend, whose daughter is in that school. She said the bookshop provided a QR code for parents to place their order. It took a couple of days for her to get the books.
Hopefully, more schools can be as innovative to limit the number of people lining up and waiting there. The parents in my group chat said they would pressure the school to start online sales next year.
While there was adequate social distancing, the crowd was rather large. It only needed one positive Covid-19 case to start a cluster.
MCO, TWO YEARS ON
Yesterday marked two years since Malaysia’s initial Movement Control Order (MCO).
It has been a tumultuous 24 months, with two prime ministers, a change in government that did not seem much different with many familiar faces running the show, and horrifying Covid-19 numbers.
As of yesterday, there were 3,951,678 cases after 176,892 new infections in the past seven days. That was a significant drop from a week ago when we had a record-breaking 213,020 new patients.
Sadly, we will exceed 4 million cases by tomorrow, or Monday.
The sadder news is that we had 601 deaths in the last seven days, the highest number of fatalities within a week for the year.
That brought the total to 34,244 deaths.
The good news is that we had a record 204,625 patients who beat the coronavirus in the past week. That brought the total recoveries to 3,623,068.
Worldwide, there are 468,439,266 cases, and 6,093,916 million fatalities.
SAD REALITY
I received this picture via WhatsApp. It is funny, yet sad at the same time.
TALE OF TWO TEAMS
Less than four months after winning the Malaysia Cup, there is a power struggle within Kuala Lumpur City FC. (https://twentytwo13.my/sports/kl-city-fc-saga-shows-how-politics-can-ruin-the-beautiful-game/).
Meanwhile, the team it beat in the final, Johor Darul Ta’zim, continues to grow its brand. On Thursday, it announced a collaboration with rap superstar Snoop Dogg and Joe Flizzow with the release of the song Pioneers.
THE IRONY
I received this picture with the message: Before too long, this will be a reality!
FANCY CYCLING AT SIC?
If you’ve ever dreamt of cycling on a Formula One track, here is your chance to do so.
Tickets for Sepang International Circuit’s Cycling Open Track Day are now on sale. You have eight days to choose from April to December.
CINNAMON COOKIES
I just found out that Cinnamon Cookie is a character in a game. While searching for images – my daughter plans to cosplay tomorrow – I stumbled upon this recipe.
GLORIA
St Patrick’s Day was on Thursday, so here is Northern Irishman Sir George Ivan Morrison, better known as Van Morrison, with one of his earliest hits, Gloria.
Van Morrison wrote the song when he was only 18, and originally recorded, and performed it with the band, Them. It is one of the songs on repeat whenever it comes up on my playlist.
Until next week, stay safe.