summer sunshine

Hello everyone!

It's Ramadhan as you know it. And of course, I tend to make myself busy in this blessed month hence the reason why being me hasn't been updated for sooo long.

This post is actually about my trip to London last month. I haven't met Aiman Ismail for so long and it was time for me to meet up with some of my friends whom I haven't met during my falling period of Jan-May 2013. Yeap, it's a pretty long period for a self-administered social lockdown. As you've probably read, I was punishing myself for my failures in Nov 2012. 

That's that. Let's talk about the trip :D

Jaulah pre-Ramadhan 1434H

Adlan Wafi - Muhsin - Faiz Sahri - Izzat Fahimuddin - Munir Naqiuddin - Aiman Ismail - Syukri Choki2

(susunan mengikut kedudukan dalam Estima :P)

6-7th July 2013

I arrived in London on Friday, 5th of July. It also marked the first time I arrived in Finsbury Park. I don't know why..but despite the fact that I have so many friends in London (and a lot of them have gone back to Malaysia), I've never actually been there..which is sad in a way because I could have spent time with them during the previous years & we could've done so many things together. Oh well, it is all part of Allah's master plans.

The original plan was for me to hang out in their house for a day and go back to Notts on Saturday. But noooo, instead of that, I became the driver for our Jaulah which also marked the first time I drive in the UK with my full driving licence. 

Us :)

On Sat, 6th of July 2013, here are the things that we did..

Yeap, driving for the first time with a full licence

I went strawberry-picking for the first time. It's something which I've always wanted to do but never got the chance to, until last month

The picnic before the strawberry-picking

Along the way

Them :)

Then, we went punting in Oxford

Violence against a child

Whilst waiting in the queue

Sunshine

I just have to say that I like this photo

Post-punting

And I have to say that Abang Faiz really do have some crazy fun ideas

And on Sun, 7th of July, we went to Ashford because they wanted to go shopping. I wanted to go there just so I can spend time with them, huhu. Later in the afternoon, we went to the demonstration in solidarity with Morsi and Egypt..

We had lunch at Tuk Tuk with ikhwah from Soton

And it was time to return the Estima back to the owner, Pak Cik Azman who happily lent it to us

It should be mentioned though that before we sat at the table, everyone except me was worried that I might miss the train back to Nottingham at 9.30pm. I wasn't worried at all since I can simply catch the next train, heh. They on the other hand were checking their phones for the next possible train and thinking of the best way to get me to London St Pancras Station in the quickest way. So yeah, none of those faces in the photo above were smiling if it was taken a few minutes earlier.

When we arrived at the nearest tube station from Pak Cik Azman's house, I told Syuk that, "Kelakar la, semua orang risau kecuali aku". 

And he replied, "Adlan, inilah yang dinamakan ukhuwah" with a matter-of-fact tone.

I commented, "I know.. and I like it :D".

Long story short, we made it to St Pancras for me to catch the train at 10.30pm and since the ticket that I have wasn't valid for this train, I had to buy a new one. And ikhwah being ikhwah, they just have to buy the ticket for me. So sweet, haha.

And Akmal Hayat was too kind for being the person who picked me up from the station when I arrived on Friday and to send me off on Sunday (alongside Aiman that is).

By the way, our jaulah was showcased in a local newspaper in Malaysia :P

Let me share with you something that I heard from Imam Adam Jamal of Iqra Centre during I'tikaf Perdana IKRAM UKE 1434H last weekend:

"A believer always wants to be with good company"

Well, guess what? You guys are good company. Hopefully, wherever you guys are, you would provide the ambiance and illustrate qudwah hasanah naturally to those around you. So the people around you would experience the good company which I felt when I spent time with you guys.

I've always been jealous with Londoners and their epic jaulah. Cause I don't get to experience that at all. But going on a jaulah with you guys, at least dapat la tempias sikit-sikit, heh. 

And don't you think it's unique how the members of our jaulah are made of? It's made up of people who are BFG (back for good), people who I haven't known that much and people who I've known all along. I'm thankful that I've gotten to know you guys better and thanks for letting me be part of it :)

Alhamdulillah ala kulli haal. Thank you Allah for giving me a great weekend.

And the summer sunshine would bear witness of the times that we spent together during the days leading up to Ramadhan...