I cycled to Horsenden Hill today, apparently the highest point in Ealing (my borough of London) at 84 meters high. I have nothing else to say about it.
UK
Look at that!
Look at that! Santa gave me in-screwable bar ends for my bicycle! I find this absolutely brilliant.
Also, this was my end-of-year summary post. Ha!
Posted in
Cycling
,
Daily Life
,
Thoughts
,
UK
Plain Old London
I used to blog but then I took an arrow to the knee...
(c) Xi
Posted in
Daily Life
,
UK
Virgin Media: the story continues
The nice virgin gentleman who serviced me the other day was very nice to me.
Ok, now that that's out of my system, back to business. The guy didn't fix my bloody internet. He told me he'd come back on Monday and fix it. He didn't. He did tell me to call him back if it wasn't fixed, so I did. Suddenly he didn't have time and told me to text him my details. Then I never heard from him again. So I called Virgin again today to ask for clarification. Interestingly I didn't have to be on hold at all and immediately connected with a support person. This person told me that nothing was in fact fixed, and everything the on-site technician told me was bullshit and that the on-site guy should have fixed my problem immediately. Great..
So, Thursday. Last chance for Virgin. If they fuck this up I'm going to cancel my contract.
Posted in
Daily Life
,
UK
iDistraced
I haven't blogged a lot recently. I should blog more.
iDistraced.
Posted in
Daily Life
,
Thoughts
,
UK
A funny encounter
I was walking to work this morning and I spotted an semi-old British lady going the opposite way. As we neared each other she started walking slower and eventually stopped. I thought she was going to ask me something so I slowed down too. For a second she didn't say anything while I gazed at her while waiting for her to speak. Then she smiled and said:
"You have such a satisfied look on your face!"I said "Thank you", and walked on.
Posted in
Daily Life
,
UK
Homeless
I pass by this homeless guy on my way to work. He's been there for about a week now, unmoving. But today a coca cola bottle appeared. I guess he's still alive.
Posted in
Photography
,
UK
Squirrels!
They were about 3 stories up when one of them fell straight down. It fell behind a fence so I couldn't see where it landed, but I heard a loud CLUNK as he hit the ground. His companion rushed quickly after him.
It took a couple of minutes but eventually the poor guy appeared again, seemingly alright.
Posted in
Daily Life
,
UK
Autumn
I walked to the train station this morning from my new apartment. I'm no longer in a dodgy neighborhood. My walk takes me alongside a park, leaves turning yellow and brown already. The station is quite close. It's in an area that can only be described as the Japanese district of London. There was a soft wind blowing, but not cold enough yet to be of any discomfort. Arriving at the train station I waited for my train, staring at the blue sky and the occasional cloud going past. My company doesn't really care when I start work, as long as I make my hours. The district line is never very crowded in the mornings, I can always find a seat. As I boarded the train I thought to myself: Today is a beautiful day.
And it was. Work is becoming more and more hectic as I learn more about the project I am working on. There's action going on, always something to fix, always new demands coming on. The project scale is gigantic and is proving a very good learning experience for me. It's pretty much the opposite of what I did at my previous job: I switched from an over-designed under-utilized project to an under-designed over-utilized project. Now to recreate the right balance and make things better.
I'm making an absolute fool of myself on the homefront. Only a month ago I was loudly proclaiming that I would hereby live a life of travel, living out of my suitcase, hopping from place to place as it suits me. Well, I just did all the things I said I wouldn't. I tied myself down to a job for at least 3 months, then tied myself down to an apartment for at least 6 months, and today I tied myself down to an internet connection for 12 months. Looks like I'm going to be in London for a little while longer. And this time I'm perfectly ok with that.
Getting settled into my apartment was interesting, and very different from my experience in Japan. Back then I just got a bed from the internet and bought some random cheap stuff second-hand. This time (and assisted by some gentle prodding from someone) I just went to Ikea. The apartment came furnitured, but a lot of daily-life things were just not there. I can't even remember all the stuff that we bought, but I'm sure it's all very useful. I remember a carpet, and I remember forgetting about a microwave after the first shopping session, which is peculiar because a microwave is usually my main way of survival. In any case, it ended up costing more than I thought it would. Oh, and I bought a 42 inch TV. How's that for living out of a suitcase?
A 'man from the internet' came by this evening, checked to make sure that my building has fibreoptic internet. He also sold me a 'free' phone line, which I'm sure will cost me a lot of effort to get rid of once it stops being free after a while.
It's not all perfect. My neighbor is noisy sometimes, the smoke detector beeps every minute and the washing machine doesn't really dry at all. But it's better than nothing. Until yesterday I thought that I didn't have a washing machine, but then the estate agent told me that it was hidden behind a small door just outside my apartment (and shared with one other person on this floor). Things look a lot better compared to having to go to a launderette in the rain.
What comes next is the slur of daily life. The days become shorter again, the weather worse. Things that are exciting now will soon become normal. It's very easy (at least for me) to get caught in the trap of daily routine, finding nothing extraordinary in life and not really being awake for days on end. I get out of it by reminding myself that I'm a traveler, only passing through. Living in a place forces you to accept things that you might not be happy about. Traveling through a place makes you look on in amazement and wonder at the things you haven't seen before. It keeps you awake. I'll try to remember that, and I hope that whoever I encounter in London will give me a good kick in the butt if they notice that I'm starting to take things for granted too much. Ta :)
Posted in
Daily Life
,
Thoughts
,
UK