~{nilheadimage~=142141~}
The "new" of the title has nothing to do with covid announcements, which are feeling older by the week.

I guess you could say the national  numbers are levelling off. Which is good, although of course we would prefer to see them clearly trending down, and there are still an awful lot of deaths (the total had yesterday reached 17,191). But many states are still stuck in the woods, including Sarawak. And Kuching's numbers, as you can see from the weekly graph (that ominous top line), are not doing anything encouraging: 

~{nilimage~=142142~;dir~=H~;alt~=rates~;caption~=Covid numbers till yesterday~}
What was new was our Sunday walk, and as it's not often we get to do anything new these days (unless you count the consumption of new noodle dishes), the novelty value was much appreciated.

Our destination was the ~{purplepost~=1247~;text~=Satok pedestrian bridge~;target~=satok~}, which has finally had its construction problems solved, and been ~{link~= https://dayakdaily.com/satok-suspension-bridge-restored-to-its-former-glory-now-open-to-the-public/ ~;text~=reopened to the public~;target~=opened~}.

We went at dawn, and the views, both of it and off it, were really pretty good.

~{nilimage~=142139~;dir~=V~;alt~=dark~}
~{nilimage~=142129~;dir~=V~;alt~=moon~}
~{nilimage~=142130~;dir~=H~;alt~=nigel~}
~{nilimage~=142131~;dir~=H~;alt~=river~}
~{nilimage~=142140~;dir~=H~;alt~=stairs~}
~{nilimage~=142132~;dir~=H~;alt~=underside~}
Tuesday was Merdeka Day, as noted in the monthly review ~{purplepost~=1289~;text~=here~;target~=merdekaday~}.

~{nilimage~=142137~;dir~=H~;alt~=cats~;caption~=Cats lined up for Merdeka Day, just down the road from our flat~}
And the rest of the week is here:

~{nilimage~=142133~;dir~=H~;alt~=noodles~;caption~=Ultra-flavoursome fried rice cakes and ~{link~= http://kongkay1.blogspot.com/2006/12/kampua-mee-foochow-dry-noodle.html ~;text~=fried kampua mee~;target~=fkm~} from the Choon Thian Food Centre, which I'm happy to say is now doing deliveries~}
~{nilimage~=142138~;dir~=H~;alt~=lanterns~;caption~=No-one can be uncheered with a lantern~}
~{nilimage~=142135~;dir~=H~;alt~=indiamosque~;caption~=The Old India Mosque in the pre-dawn rain~}
~{nilimage~=142136~;dir~=V~;alt~=tables~;caption~=Rainy tables~}
~{nilimage~=142134~;dir~=H~;alt~=soba~;caption~=Chilled soba noodles. Another nice bit of fusion food from Indah~}