I had a semi-productive day today, if I must say. I went out to have breakfast, the classic way any other British people would define breakfast; poached eggs, with smoked salmon and savoury scones and hollandaise sauce on the side. This is one of the things I'd definitely miss when I leave the country to be honest. If in Malaysia, my fancy breakfast would be nasi lemak or roti canai, here it'd be this. I took my time, enjoying my tea after breakfast and finally head out to go wandering around town.

As expected, I find myself slumped in the corner of the fiction section in Waterstones. My favourite place to just laze around browsing books and well, observe people. It's interesting to see the type of books people choose and often I play this little game in my head where I'd try to guess what type of book a person would choose or what section they'd go to first as soon as they set foot in the store. And I often fail at my own game. It's hard actually because well, you can't really judge a book by its cover right and same goes to people.

I spent two whole hours if not more picking up books from shelves but end up putting them back up. I've been a lot more choosy in my readings lately because I felt like every book basically have the same storyline, it's no longer interesting. Plus, the book I'm looking for is not available in store yet, so devastated. So I just went with my guts and pick one, heading to pay before I can change my mind.

I walked around town a bit more, thinking of getting ice-cream but I'm still quite full from my lavish breakfast I had earlier so I decided against it. On my way home, I stopped by the small park in front of the city hall. I had no intention to stay whatsoever but ended up spending three hours under the baby blue sky with my back on the yellowish grass and the sun in my face.

I could say finally I kinda understand why people like sun-bathing or the sun in general. The feeling of the sun, blazing hot and scorching felt nice, in a way. I hated hot weather back in Malaysia. Okay hate is a strong word, but I definitely didn't like spending my days all wet and sticky with sweat. And now, after almost a year deprived of the heat, I have to admit I love it. The things we take for granted when it's always there, this is one prime example. And not to mention, the park was nice and quiet even though benches in the circular area was packed with people playing pokemon go.

I was planning on spending my time reading the book I just bought but I was never one to start reading a book in the open. I can however, if I'm already halfway deep into the book; in my elements, you can literally talk to my face but I won't hear a thing. Trying to start a new book, I need closed space, just me and my new little adventure in hand. So I ended up watching people, watching the leaves ruffle, watching seagulls fly back and forth, watching a little girl playing with her brother, watching an elderly couple having a picnic, watching a homeless man sleep under the shade of a tree, watching the cloudless sky. I felt lighter. For a moment my mind felt empty except for what my eyes projected into the back of my brain.

Everyone looked so happy around me. Their smiles so honest and I felt I'm being handed pieces of everyone when I see them smile. Even for just that short moment, I believe that these people around me truly feel happy. They might hate their job, or were troubled by unfinished summer assignments, some might even just be waiting to get into college after the summer, all nervous and jittery but right at that moment all I can see is pure happiness. For that short moment, they're happy. And it just struck too close to home. This is what I've been looking for, this is what I've been searching in my impromptu adventures and how ironic I found it in my own town, literally 10 minutes away from home. My heart swells and burst at how content everyone looked, and I can't help but feel a surge of bliss washing over me. It's not just happiness, I found love too.

I found love when I saw a group of friends, high school kids probably, playing together and not on their phones. I found love watching a toddler just learning to walk with her parents on either side of her, holding her hands and whispering words of encouragement. I found love when I see a young lady with her head in her boyfriend's lap eyes never leaving the book at hand, but what she didn't see is the way he looked at her, like she puts the sun in his sky. I found love seeing an elderly couple eating homemade sandwich on a checkered piece of cloth, a definition of true love, maybe? I don't really know but I found love all around me. It's always been around, I just never noticed.