Horrible Week

Let me complete the trilogy; Lousy Week by Puteri Kamaliah, Crazy Week by Kay_Leeda and now Horrible Week by Kak Teh.

It has indeed been a horrible week for me; one that saw me almost holed up in my room, most of the time cutting myself off from the outside world. Summer has come back with a vengeance to London and perhaps to the whole of UK. And with summer comes the dreaded pollen. While people are out there enjoying the sunshine, I try to keep away in the shade and as far as possible from flowers and plants.


Even when I go out, these sweet smelling flowers peer out of hedges and bushes to sneer at me; they taunt me and tease me until I sneeze my lungs out. I try to avoid them, but at every turn, at every corner, they are there waiting to ambush my nostrils with thousands if not trillions of these invisible enemies of mine.

I have been such a wretched soul; going around bleary eyed and nose as red as Rudolf’s. I try to stifle a sneeze especially in crowded tubes and lifts in case I cause a panic rush, considering that swine flu is making the headlines these days. I am considering wearing a mask, with “hayfever not swine flu” written across it. My cheap fake sunglasses from the marketplace in Seamreap has been most useful.


A few days ago, just when I thought the air was clear, I made my way to the Royal Albert Hall to see Kakak and adik – talented and beautiful children of blogger Atok and his wife, Hezel, who are in the musical The King and I at The Royal Albert Hall. Throughout the show, I prayed hard not to sneeze right onto the head of the person sitting right in front of me. There were some very tense moments when all was quiet and my throat started tickling so badly and the more I tried not to cough, the worse t became till tears started rolling down my cheeks. It was that bad!

It was such a wonderful musical, especially as it was adik’s debut. Adik or Sofea had always been in the sideline waiting for kakak’s auditions and rehearsals. But her patience paid off when she too was offered a part to be one of the King’s youngest daughters. And she is such a natural!

Sarah and Sofea with Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim who plays the King of Siam at RAH

My hayfever became so bad that evening, so much so I had to give away my invite to the reception at the end of the show that evening. Thus I missed my chance to meet up with Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim, but kakak and adik took pictures with him.

Kakak and adik and another talented Malaysian actor Samantha Tan are following the footsteps of other Malaysian actors such as Sean Ghazi and Ungku Jalil who took part in The King and I when it was playing in the West End some years ago.



I did an interview with kakak, her mum and also Samantha for the community radio, nusoundradio. Click below if you want to listen to my oh so nasal voice.


The next day, we were invited to a friend’s house and while everyone was enjoying her beautiful garden, I kept myself indoors. Feeling self pity setting in, I stuffed my face with lots and lots of strawberries and double cream. So, while the sun is out, I will try to stay in. Yes, it has been such a horrible week, apart from that wonderful evening at the Royal Albert Hall and the strawberries at Annabel’s.