New Kid On The Blog

18-JUL-2009:

Every year, Sky organizes a company-wide event. For the past 2 years, it was a Christmas party. On my 1st year there, it was called the "Winter Party" because if I'm not mistaken it was not to offend people who don't celebrate Christmas. I didn't attend it that year. On my 2nd year there, it was called "Christmas Party". This time, I went but I didn't enjoy it at all. I thought it was really pointless - only suitable for party animals. It started really late (like around 9pm). It was like a large crowded disco. There were drinks (alcoholic). People were just standing around holding their drinks. Some were dancing (I think) but it looked really silly especially when everyone was still sober because there wasn't a dance floor. There was finger food too but because it was 9pm (after dinner), I wasn't hungry. I don't like alchohol at all and it was too noisy to even carry on a conversation, therefore there was nothing to do except to stand around. I left as soon as it was polite to say goodbye to my colleagues.

This year, there wasn't a Christmas Party (I mean, last year). There was one actually but a departmental one and I didn't bother to attend. Instead, we had a summer festival (called Sky Fest) over two days - Friday night for single people and Saturday for family. I had been looking forward to it because "family" sounds exactly the kind of thing that will suit me. Finally, the day has come but Saimun has flown off to Malaysia last night. At first, I didn't want to go at all since Saimun won't be around. But when I checked out the programme guide and I saw the words "Train Ride", I made up my mind to go even if it was just Dom and I. Dom will never miss a train ride.

As it turned out, it was more than just a train ride. There were some other rides but Dom was rather selective. He only went for the train ride (for like 10 times), the merry-go-round and the ferris wheel. All rides were free of charge.

This is the coach that took us to the site (at my office).

It was close to 12 noon when we arrived so we had something to eat. I was given �7 worth of food token. There were a number of food stalls to choose from - burgers, sandwiches, jacket potatoes, fried chicken, fish & chips, etc, but my Chinese son chose Thai noodles in green curry chicken. And ice-cream, of course. Before we left (at around 3:30pm), we Thai noodles again (this time with sweet and sour pork) and apple juice. The �7 token was of course insufficient. I had to top up �9 by cash.

It wasn't very busy when we got there, so Dom has the opportunity to go on any rides he wanted. He enjoyed the train ride the most (needless to say). After a while, he insisted to go onto the 2nd carriage only and I wondered why. Later I found out that it was because the 2nd carriage had a button that makes sounds when you push it.

We went on the ferris wheel. It was rather scary actually, especially when we were at the top. Dominic was a bit scared too but he didn't cry. He just yelled, ""Woahh ... mummy!" everytime we reached the peak and descended again. We were going round and round a few times and I was silently asking "When are we going to stop?".

There were some adult rides that we didn't go on.

There were stage performances too and indoor games. Dominic likes the bowling game but by the time we got to the indoor activities, it was almost 3pm and the place was full of people. The queue to the bowling game was quite long too, so he only had one go.

By the time we got home, it was almost 4:30pm. We called daddy on the way home and he had just reached his parents' home. Dominic refused to take off his wrist band and he insisted to put it back on using cello-tape after his bath. He thinks that as long as he still has the wrist band on, he can go to this fun magical place again!

There was nothing there for me at all but seeing my little boy enjoy himself was all that mattered. It would have been perfect if daddy was there too.

# posted by Skye @ 2:39 pm