Goodbye Blighty

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The tales and musings of a British man who worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but is now in England. All photos are mine unless otherwise stated.Email Me
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January 23, 2012

I’m a terrible son

I go weeks and months without talking to my parents. Today the timer reset to zero. I woke up from a nap and my first thought was to call my mum.

I can’t remember the last time I called my parents. I think it’s been a few weeks.

It always breaks my heart when I talk to them. They’re both getting older. Mum was in an accident a few weeks ago and she’s still not 100%. My dad was complaining about his health too.

They were both so happy when I told them I’d be home in five weeks and three days. My mother asked me to bring a jai namaz (prayer mat) back from Mecca for her and some zam-zam water. My dad didn’t ask for anything. They both wanted me to just come home. I think they miss me a lot. The house is so empty with just the two of them living there now.

They’re going to go to Pakistan on the 22nd of March for two months. My cousin is getting married out there. My mum doesn’t have much family left there now and doesn’t think she’s going to be visiting all that many times again in the future. She’s not sure what to expect. I told her I was going to move out to my brother’s house when they leave. I didn’t tell her that I might not come back home after that.

Time to be less of a bad brother now and call my sisters.

11:22pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyFFwocV

(Notes: 13)

January 23, 2012

Anonymous asked: I wish I was born in the 80s, so I could meet my grandparents. I've always wanted to know how it feels to have grandparents.

I love how different these answers are. Some are so personal, like yours Anon, whilst others are about something or someone great and big in the past.

I’m blessed that I got to spend time will all my grandparents. I wish I was able to appreciate my mother’s parents a little bit more when they were alive but I’ve knows my father’s parents my whole life. I guess I didn’t really realise how blessed I was until I read your message. It’s amazing to be able to tap in to that history. Someone I knew once told me she wanted to interview her grandparents and write down their stories. That would be way too awesome. I don’t think she ever got around to it, though.

Also, I was born in the 80s… I feel so old right now.

8:35pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyFFJeIp

(Notes: 3)

Filed under: Anonymous ask me anything 80s grandparents mother father old

October 24, 2011

I want a baby

Ha! I know this is a really strange thing to write about but I really want a baby. I don’t want to get married or have a wife or any of that stuff but I want a baby boy or girl of my own.

I’ve been thinking about what kind of father I’d be a whole lot and I seriously think I’m ready to have a baby but not to be a husband, not right this moment.

I look at my nieces and nephews and I wonder what it would be like to keep one of them for myself. I think if I had a girl I would want her to be just like Ayesha and if I had a boy I would want him to be just like Ibby (you can find pictures of both of them on this blog). I have no idea if I’d be a strict father or a friend to my kids. I have no idea if I’d push them to do all these extra-curricular activities or let them choose their own path. I have no idea if I’d sculpt and mould them to be everything I ever wanted to be or not.

All I know is that I have a lot of love to give and I feel I’m in a position where I could have children and not have them want for anything in their lives.

I think it’s going to be a while before I have my own kids though because I really do need to get married first - obviously… until then I’ll just spoil my nieces and nephews whenever I can.

Then, I think about the state of the world and it fills me with sadness and it makes me feel like this world is no place to bring life in to. Allah knows best.

8:23pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyB3gjZ1

(Notes: 12)

Filed under: baby child children boy girl broody brooding father marry marriage love niece nephew world allah islam muslim

May 24, 2011

I’ve had an amazing evening.

I love my family. I really do. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to a few of the people in my family so I thought I’d make the rounds on the phone calls today… well, it was slightly different from that but I’ll explain after the ‘read more’. It’s kind of bitter-sweet but I’ll explain the reason for that too.

January 14, 2011

Fighting with your parents… an update

About seven months ago I wrote a post on this blog about my relationship with my mother and fighting with my parents. I was angry, bitter, and spiteful in the comments I made. I said some things that were nasty and I got a lot of criticism for my comments, as well as some support. Well, I’ve been thinking about that post a lot for the last few days and I think it’s time to follow up on it.

10:28am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy2ZVAO2

Filed under: fighting fighting with parents parents mother father siblings brother sister run away saudi arabia indonesia muslim islam mecca pray

October 28, 2010

9. A photo of your family

I wasn’t sure what picture to pick. There’s one of me and my siblings that is one of my favourite pictures in the world but I had that as my facebook display picture for a while so I want to pick something slightly different. This picture is of my dad (on the right) and 6 out of 8 of my nieces and nephews. Two of the younger ones were wandering around or something. I’m not sure where.

I really love this picture because it gives me hope for the next generation of my family and I guess I can see how far things have come from my father’s father arriving in England. It’s really cool that the eight of those children see each other as often as they do (at least once, sometimes twice a month). I think it’s so important for cousins to have strong bonds and it’s really cool how they’re forming so early in life. I really miss all of those little twerps but my eldest niece is 10 now (in the middle of the group of kids) and I talk to her on Skype from Saudi Arabia. It’s pretty awesome because she thinks I’m her cool uncle. The rest of them aren’t too far behind.

10:41am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy1Ko7Pa

Filed under: my story in pictures 9. A photo of your family family love niece nephew father saudi arabia riyadh

June 24, 2010

Fighting with your parents…

Living at home is torture at times. My relationship with my mother is strained at best. It’s no secret in my extended family that my mother hates me. She bad mouths me to other relatives, she has no sense of humour, and she is a little bit evil. Because I don’t do any of those things towards her… we clash a lot. I also do something most other Asian people don’t do and that’s talk back to my mother.

June 6, 2010

Being broody…

It’s a curse I suffer from. I think it’s because my biological clock is ticking or something. It really doesn’t help that I have 8 nieces and nephews who have been arriving steadily over the last 10 years. My eldest niece is going to turn 10 in August and my youngest nephew is 3 months old. My family line is well and truly set for the next generation - unless something drastic happens. Saying that, I still want one of my own. These feelings seem to come in waves where they hit me pretty hard and then subside for a while. At the moment they’re pretty full on.

4:23pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONydxY7l

Filed under: children babies parenthood parent mother father birth curiosity Man Utd Manchester United

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