Our Adventures

As you can probably tell, there’s been a major decline in the number of blog posts detailing our adventures outside the confines of our tiny home; and that’s probably because our main adventure lately takes form of a little guy who goes by the name of Hakeem. =)

But we thought that since it is Sunday and we have no prior commitments today, we’d go visit a car boot sale in Leicester! So I googled “car boot sale Leicester” and the first hit was Croft Car Boot Sale which was quoted to be “the largest car boot sale in Leicestershire and probably in the Midlands”.

If you don’t already know, a car boot sale is a place (usually a big field) where people can park their cars and sell their unwanted goods from the boot of their car at a highly discounted price. And who doesn’t love a bargain, right? So off we went in search of the place.

The weather was horrible to go out in – it was freezing, foggy and dark even after we left at 10.30am! But with the excitement of bargain hunting in mind, we persevered and went on in search of this car boot sale.

At first we ended up on this huge muddy field where there were a few cars seemingly packing away tents so we thought we were too late and people had already packed up and went; I was so disappointed! But then, after further driving around the area, we found signs saying that the car boot sale had been moved indoors because of the wet weather. Elation!

So we followed the arrows which eventually led us to this nondescript building. My first thought was about how dingy and stuffy the place was. I was quite sceptical that we were in the right place, to be honest. But again, bargain in mind – so we carried on!

We had to pay 50p per person to enter. After paying the non-intimidating man at the door, I looked into the hall expecting a massive area housing wild treasures – boy, was I in for a shocker. To start off with, the hall was small and stuffy – probably only the size of a typical living room in Brunei.

Also, the people selling the goods were looking pretty unkempt and some of them rather ancient themselves. And they were all standing completely still and just staring at us wretched foreigners who dare to make such a ruckus entering the hall!

We could hear war sounds on the speaker, you know – guns blazing, kids screaming, bombs blasting. No wonder Hakeem started crying the moment we entered the place; it was downright creepy and he must’ve sensed the negative environment!

Turns out it was Remembrance Sunday today so they were paying their respects by having a one-minute silence. Haha but that scene as we entered the hall properly reminded me of a clip from Thriller, the famous Michael Jackson song video! Haha and that’s not a good thing!

And the stuff they had on sale was absolute pants! There was absolutely nothing in there that I could get even if I wanted to. There were a few baby clothes that were pretty cheap, but I did not feel comfortable purchasing them for Hakeem because we just have no idea where they’ve been! And the sellers didn't exactly look pristine themselves. =/

So we were in and out of the place in probably less than ten minutes flat. Hahaha car boot quest was a complete fail then! I’d never been to a car boot sale prior to this and this experience has not set the standard too highly in my books! Needless to say, I wouldn’t be in such a rush to visit another one too soon, I don’t think.

After that major flop, we went on in search of a tapas restaurant! =) I had seen on our friend Adam’s facebook, pictures of some halal tapas food that they’d discovered in Leicester and I had been craving for it ever since. So off we went in search of this place.

With the help of Adam, we managed to locate the restaurant effortlessly. When we arrived, the place was completely empty and judging from our luck earlier this morning, I thought two things – either the place was closed, or the food was rubbish. Luckily, I was wrong on both guesses! =) I thought the food was quite nice. I had chicken paella which was yum! Now I can’t wait to go to Spain just to get a taste of the real deal. Heehee.

Throughout the whole day, Hakeem behaved like a very good boy. He was all smiles and only protested when he was hungry - which is still every two hours on the dot, the little guzzler! We also brought him to town yesterday and he was all smiles then too! Heehee. I apologise in advance for the picture overload, but here are some pictures from yesterday and today:

So happy to be out and about yesterday! Thumbs up from Daddy for being a good boy =)
Wearing the baju Che Yan bought me! It fits now! =) I am my daddy's son =) Hafidz in the tapas restaurant this afternoon writing our order on a small blackboard My mumsy and I with lickle Hakeem =) Our little hero