Holiday in sleepy hollow

Writer and sasterawan Salleh Ben Joned who was born in rural Malacca pretty much sums it all up about Malacca when he wrote about his "poor beloved Melaka", "sad Old Melaka", "Sleepy Hollow" - all fitting epithets to describe old Malacca in much the same way that it is known today as it has been known since years of yore and lore. Property prices in Malacca uncommonly gain/appreciate in value and when they do it is usually at sleepy hollow pace, businesses here typically move at a very "as i please" pace and its people are kind but generally frown upon outside attempts to hurry and punctualise Malaccans. I'm writing this on a hot and bright afternoon in sleepy hollow, the air so thick and humid, the heat so radiant from outside that i bask in its baking glow even from within a construct of bricks concrete and mortar. Malacca Malacca what can i say about you that hasn't already been said and written? Today the 7th anniversary of our "historical city day" will no doubt pass with little fanfare outside of officialdom. People going about their business as they please, as they like. And i actually like it. This grows on you. I don't mean that if you stay in malacca you will be condemned to a culture of laziness and complacency (some undoubtedly believe that) but the pace of life here is slow enough to render a certain healthful contentment to me. I'm a rusher alright, don't get me wrong but sometimes i admire folks of the more relaxed type. They're unhurried, they do what they do as and when they like and they finish it when they jolly well feel like it. Before you roll over belly-up laughing and fat ass all over the floor, consider this - in a state with a total population of about three-quarters of a million, a mere town over 7 years ago and inducted into cityhood by grace of political patronage, people generally agree that Malacca is a nice place to bring up your kids, it is a safe place. So if i can take safety as a plus and not get totally sucked into the lazy-and-complacent mindset, life here can be good.
I don't expect to make megabucks in old sleepy hollow, i don't expect corporate types to make a big imprint on anything in poor old melaka. i expect life to go on here as it always has with me right smack in the middle of it. And happily too, i hope. i pray even ;-)