Category: Lifestyle Activities

What do I do while driving on the jam-packed streets of KL?

1. Read a book – I’ve finished reading several novels this way. I pick it up in front of every traffic light and even in seriously bad traffic jams. It’s a good idea to carry a book around.
2. Eat lunch – I’ve done this several times. Of course, it depends on the type of lunch to be had. I’ve had ‘economy rice’ this way and also McDonalds burgers and KFC meals. Fries are easy to consume this way. Care must be taken to keep the car clean though.
3. Check my email – While I don’t have a smart-phone, my phone is smart enough to check my email. I don’t do this unless I am expecting something important as I do not have a data-plan with my telco so I pay per kb.
4. Change clothes – Okay, not actually changing the entire suit but I sometimes take off or put on jackets at red-lights.
5. Shave – I keep an electric shaver in the glove compartment for just this reason. Sometime, I get a quick shave in on my way to work in the morning.
6. Swap CDs – I have yet to get an MP3 player for the car and so, I swap CDs when the car ain’t moving.
7. Check the Map – I preview the driving route on my GPS to see if there’s a way to circumvent the jam.

Found some stuff on-line and thought I’d share. Amazing voices from 16-year olds. Better than Bieber/Black.

After reading this article in MT about someone else’s experience of being ‘robbed’ by the local police, I recalled an incident that once happened to me at the junction of the LDP leading into the Federal Highway in PJ.

I was stopped by a traffic policeman on a motorbike and the usual thing happened when you get stopped the traffic police – i.e. asked for IC etc. I do not try to bribe the police but normally, try to talk my way out of it instead. Failing which, I would usually ask to be fined. It usually works if you speak nicely to the policeman and they’d rather not have the hassle of filing the paper-work.

At that time, I only had RM5 in my wallet. I showed him that I had very little money in my pocket (i.e. I couldn’t even bribe him if I wanted to) and that was when his hand flew in through the window, into my wallet and snatched the RM5 out of my wallet.

I was quite shocked – it was blatant day-light robbery – but what was I to do.

In the end, he told me that this was an ‘on-the-spot’ compound and returned my IC to me. Since that day, I no longer trust the police and use the term ‘on-the-spot’ compound quite a lot when talking about traffic police. I’ll recount the story whenever we share stories on how bad things are in the police force.

While I understand that these may be isolated cases, there are too many cases in isolation.

Wow, I just became a ‘grand-uncle’ last week! That makes me feel really old. :p