Throwback: Shepherd's Bush and Another Suprise

Shepherd's Bush! No shepherds around and totally devoid of bush. 

The area was thought to be a common land for shepherds to rest before continuing their journey to Smithfield Market in City of London. Thats how the story goes, as far as 1600's (wiki).

Fast forward to 2014, December. Here resides my sister (Zuhaira) and her husband (Fikri), at least till January 2015. As of now, both of them are back in Malaysia.

Zuhaira and Fikri with Ben and Fay

Rewind to 1985.....Azmeir and I were happy, two boys doing our own thing and finding ways to make our parents' life miserable (in Azmeir's case, it always involved fire..seriously) when suddenly Zuhaira came and decided to crash our party. 

The first girl in the family! My late grandparents from my mom's side (Tok Yan and Pah Cik Ram) even gave her a nickname which I would not post on the blog (fear it would just use too much memory). But in short, she was a pain in the bum. Would run to my parents when she caused trouble and blamed it on us, and how my Abah (dad) runs the family was simple. You're the eldest, you get it. You got bigger brains, should set example to the rest...that was how I looked at it. I lost count at how much smacking I got from the Incredible Hulk... I mean Abah (hmmmm gives me an idea for a new post). 

Fast forward to 2014, she was in London doing PhD and hubby just completed his Master. Winter was well under way, and Christmas and also Boxing day are just around the corner! Good timing on our part visiting them during this time of the year...before flying off to Lagos.

Good food greeted us at Romney Court. Fikri certainly can cook! 

Yummy!

It was dark around 3.30pm

Still on Malaysian time zone, by 3pm GMT we were asleep. Hopefully the next day we would fare better. After all, we need to go to Westfield which is the biggest store in Europe!

A war memorial dedicated to men and women
who gave their lives during the 2 world wars

The next morning, the children and I had a walk around the area. There was a big field (Shepherds Bush Green) opposite the flat and a war memorial at one corner of the field. After breakfast, we went to Westfield for window shopping or so I thought.

Florist outside Westfield

Two Malay eskimos taking a breather at the entrance

We were early...typical Madam

the skating rink

All ready for Raya...their raya

decorative lights, everywhere..

There was an ice skating rink, all types of shops from the usual brand to the most exotic you can find. Even the car maker Tesla has a showroom on the ground floor. I would say, combine Curve and Ikea shopping complex in KL...you would get a Westfield. After lunch, we continued our sojourn till the children was simply too tired to walk.

Madam and Fay

Strolling around the park
in the morning

By the way, both our hosts were out the whole day. Something to do with car and airport. Maybe lending a hand to another Malaysian family nearby or so we thought. It was until we arrived home and we found out....

'Afifa arrived from Des Moines, Iowa, US

 the little monkey from US arrived! We had no idea she was coming! It was something like Iowa-Chicago-Dublin-London route, I guess. Yeayyyy!!! This is fun. Afifa was and still everyone's little butler. Ifa, can you please....(fill in the blanks) and she will 'happily' do it for you. With Chupa (Afifa) and Cikya (Zuhaira) around, my holiday will be great! Ok children, go to your nannies.