do you know what makes ladies here in nottingham go crazy? they go ga-ga over pinggan mangkuk! it may seem a normal thing, when some girls like handbags, others are fond of shoes, and akak2 serta makcik2 here spend hundreds and thousands of pounds on pinggan mangkuk. every time the pinggan mangkuk are on sale, you can see these akak-akak having pottery party di stoke-on-trent, which according to wikipedia, "is exclusively known for industrial-scale pottery manufacturing". and these akak-akak jugalah to no avail, bring back boxes of pinggan mangkuk on every trip to stoke. one of these akak did admit that her cellar now is full with hasil dari stoke dan saya berani kerat jari lah she may even forget what she had already bought previously.
adapon dikisahkan di stoke ini you can find different outlets of pinggan mangkuk under various brands. antara nama-nama cap pinggan yang terkemuka adalah port meirion, wedgwood. royal doulton, royal albert, royal stafford, etc etc. been there myself 3 times already, i wasn't really keen on buying pinggan port meirion at first. besides its overpriced value (well, for a first timer like me yg bergantung hidup dgn elaun yg cukop2 makan dan juga cukop2 utk berjalan, agak mahal la juga harganya), pinggan mangkuk nye bisa membuat kan saya bisa menderita sakit hernia just by lifting an empty one; that is before you even fill it with lauk pauk untuk dihidang. belom lagi nak membasuh di sink. and also the thought of maybe someday you would hire a bibik and let her wash those heavy overpriced dishes secara kasarnya just to have pinggan mangkuk mahal ku sumbing at the end of the day is so overbearing, which hindered me from buying in the first place.
oh well that's not the case now. saya juga turut terjebak dalam urusan pinggan mangkuk ini. thanks to akak sorang tu yang berjaya mendidik kami hingga menjadi pengumpul pinggan mangkuk amatur. not really collecting, but enough just to have a little bit of every design. just last week, i went to stoke with housemates and akak and bought a few serving dishes of botanic garden design, lilac-botanic roses' pasta bowls and cake plates, as well as pomona's bihun plates. those mentioned are among the designs available. adapon dikhabarkan those dishes are a lot more expensive back home, maka saya turut menyertai korum pembeli pinggan mangkuk. been to port meirion twice, i've spent over 200pnds buying mostly botanic garden design.
pomona - 45pnds!!
that doesn't include something i bought at royal stafford and at this one store which had closing down sale last time. pinggan di royal stafford not as pretty and as expensive as port meirion and worth only 25pnds for set of 18 piece plates together with a vegetable tureen. just to inform to those who are brand-concious, made-in-england stamp can only be found at the back of small cake plates. while at the closing-down-sale i bought some not-even-pretty-craps piling up in 4 or 5 boxes, which i only spent around 55pnds. i even bought 2 second-hand sets of royal albert OCR over the internet and intend to sell them back home. oh well i don't think i really need them. you're not gonna use china everyday and they're quite tedious to take care of. plus i can always get those which my mom had bought last time and keep them as my own in future. chop!! keh keh keh.
hmmm now i know where have all me money gone. dunia oh dunia. tak ada uwang, jangan berangan lah. more piccas below!!
