SYABAS.....Paip Pecah Lagi!!!!

Kejadian paip pecah atau bocor bukan lagi satu keadaan yang asing bagi kami. Paip besar berukuran 8 inci ukur lilit yang ditanam lebih kurang 10 kaki dalam di tepi rumah kami sudah banyak kali melimpahkan air bergelen-gelen! Semenjak kami menetap di rumah ini sejak 12 tahun yang lalu, paip yang melalui kawasan tepi rumah kami sepanjang 70 kaki tidak kurang dari 7 kali pecah!

Dari Jabatan Bekalan Air (JBA) ke Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor (PUAS) ke Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS), paip di kawasan rumah kami yang sudah berumur lebih dari 40 tahun masih belum dapat ditukar. Alasan yang diberi hanya satu, TIADA PERUNTUKAN. Sudah terlalu banyak aduan yang kami lakukan tetapi masih belum berhasil.

Setiap kali apabila paip bocor, air dan tanah akan melimpah dan memasuki kawasan rumah kami semacam air terjun. Apa saja yang ada dilaluannya akan rosak terutama rumput dan pokok-pokok. Sebelum kami membina longkang dan benteng tinggi di tepi kawasan rumah kami, air dari paip yang pecah akan melimpah hingga masuk ke dalam rumah dan kami terpaksa berhempas pulas menghalang air dari memasuki rumah kami. Setelah paip dikunci, kami bertungkus lumus pula membersihkan kawasan luar dan dalam rumah kami. Begitulah keadaannya setiap kali paip pecah. Rumah di atas bukit pun dapat merasa keadaan banjir walaupun tiada hujan!

Biasanya bila paip pecah, pihak Syabas akan menghantar kontractor yang dilantik untuk datang membaiki. Paip utama akan dikunci bagi membolehkan kerja-kerja pembaikan dijalankan. Yang paling kami tak tahan sekali ialah apabila jentolak dihantar mengorek tanah-tanah untuk mencari bahagian paip yang pecah. Sudah beberapa kali lanskap, tempat pakir kereta berturap, pokok-pokok besar disodok oleh jentolak.

Kejadian terakhir berlaku pada hari Selasa lepas, 5 Januari 2010 lebih kurang pukul 4.30 pagi. Kami terkejut mendengar bunyi jentolak yang agak kuat. Suami bingkas bangun dan dari anjung belakang bilik kami menjerit minta ditangguhkan kerja mengorek agar kami dapat mengalih kenderaan yang kami pakir di situ. Setelah kenderaan kami dialihkan, barulah kerja-kerja mengorek diteruskan. Pihak Syabas mengorek hingga 20 kaki panjang kawasan tepi rumah kami kerana tidak berjumpa paip yang pecah. Semua kerja-kerja menukar paip dan menerap jalan selesai lebih kurang pukul 10 pagi. Selama kerja berjalan, seluruh kawasan perumahan kami tiada bekalan air.

Kami berharap agar pihak Syabas akan menimbangkan permohonan penduduk kawasan kami untuk menukar paip-paip lama kepada yang baru bagi mengelakkan kejadian paip bocor yang terlalu kerap berlaku. Kami adalah salah seorang mangsa kerana kedudukan paip lama ini terletak bersebelahan rumah kami. Walaubagaimana, kami berpuas hati dan berterimakasih kepada pihak Syabas kerana memastikan tempat yang dikorek kembali seperti sedia kala.

Our commitment to planet Earth

Nowadays everybody is an environmental expert....almost everyone knows about pollution, global warming, climate change, carbon footprint, waste minimization etc. which made Al Gore the most popular environmentalist this century....but talking is one thing and doing is another and its the 'doing' part that can make the change happen.

So ever thought what you do at home to reduce your impacts on the fragile environment of this third planet from the Sun??? Or you don't care???

As for us, these are more than a dozen things that we do to contribute to environmental protection and conservation;

1. We reduce waste that goes to the garbage truck (evetually to landfill) by seggregating our wastes which are recycleables (plastic, glass & metal containers, bottles, aluminium cans). We clean them and store them in plastic boxes before sending them to recycle center once the containers are full, probably once in 2 or 3 weeks. We don't normally sell these items.

2. We sell our used newspapers (we have lots of newspapers since we normally read more than 2 newspapers, just to get a more balance picture of a report / story).

3. We turned our kitchen waste into compost as fertilizers for our potted plants.

4. We plant lots of trees to act as dust and noise barriers, reduce impacts of rain on top soil as well as supply oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.

5. We used high efficiency light bulbs in all our main lights (the ones that we use everyday) and we use dual flush system in our toilets.

6. We stick reminders to conserve power at switches and plugs.

7. We monitor our water and power consumption in order to identify abnormal trends which we can then address.

8. We bring our own shopping bags whenever we shop for our ration and groceries.

9. We donate used clothings, shoes and books for needy people in local community or back in kampung.

10. We try as much as possible to spend holidays locally as air travel affects the environment even worse. Furthermore, local tourism helps local economy.

11. We maintain our cars as per constructors specification. This certainly helps ensure efficiency of our travel and fuel consumption.

12. We make a point to clean our picnic area and its immedaite surrounding whenever we go for a picnic. Plastic really irritates me when they are lying useless.

13. We donate / contribute to or take part in environmental conservation programs including sponsoring/conducting awareness programs for schools.

14. We educate our children about recycling, climate change and environment through sources from internet, national geography magazines and books. We watched the "Inconvenient Truth" documentary by Al Gore and read his book "Our Choice".



Those are our contributions to help mother Earth and I'm sure many other people do more than what we've done, nevertheless it is important that each one of us contribute.

If you don't care, think again....being kind to mother Earth is certainly good Islamic practice.

New Year Fever Attack!!!!

Yes, we welcome 2010 with a bang!!!

After settling all that we had to do with regards to the schools, we were all so eager to start a year but we were very tired, very exhausted...our past postings reflected the amount of activities that we've been doing in December including travelling more then 1,000km every week!!!

On Sunday 3.1.2010, we were in Bangi and Thaqif had a game of soccer in the evening with his cousins in drizzling rain and he ran and ran beyond his normal standard....so you guess, that night he caught fever. Nevertheless, we sent him to school for the first day but had to take him back after the assembly. He continued to have fever peaking on Wednesday after which it slowly subsided. He was back to school only on Friday.

We were busy running around settling matters before we started work on Tuesday. But IQ got early morning pressure on Monday 4.1.2010 after traffic around the school was congested because Badan Kebajikan has not implemented the one way street system....so had to do some answering early Monday morning. Later on Monday, IQ also had 2 meetings which made his brain almost touching the insane threshold!

Then came Tuesday 5.1.2010, we were looking forward to go to work when suddenly we heard diesel engines rumbling beside our house at 4:30 AM ....there was a main pipe burst!!! So we had to deal with that too and IQ was already showing signs of fatigue and illnesses....pain in the joints and on the back. Went to see a doctor and was given an MC.

Came Wednesday 6.1.2010, IQ was down and out...fever peaked for him. I was starting to feel the effects too....same symptoms. That night we went to fetch Faiz as he also had fever (but not due to infection from us). Thaqif was recovering but still very weak.

Came Thursday 7.1.2010, I was the only one suffering from the fever....really bad, sweating, headache, nausea etc and luckily I had my maid to give me good body massage. IQ went to work on Thursday for a half day but still not strong enough. Faiz and Thaqif took the opportunity to rest to regain their strength.

Friday 8.1.2010...I was down and out and all I could do was lie in bed!! IQ had to do the running around since he felt a bit okay and took leave that day....which later in the evening, he ended up curled in bed too...demam lagi!! Thaqif was already back to school.

Saturday 9.1.2010, I was okay, IQ was the only one still sick. We sent Faiz back to school and went to visit doctor. We told the doctor the medication that we want and she had no complaint.

By Sunday 10.1.2010 ....everyone was almost back to normal, except for IQ lagi...no more fever but had uncomfortable digestion and lack of apetite.

Come Monday 11.1.2010, everyone was back on their usual routine....IQ had also recovered significantly.

Glad all of us finally recovered after one whole week of FEVER ATTACK!!!!.