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January 29, 2007
Oz Day Party
We've decided to avoid the Walkabout and host an Australian Day Party at our place. We had 24 people all up, but the place still look damn empty (yeah we're kinda living in a rather large 4 bedrooms + 4 bathrooms flat). Thanks for coming everyone! It was really good to finally have a party at our place. The pub crawl plan didn't materialise but no matter it was good to finally have a party in our pad. Next party will be cocktail party!
Posted by vhadiant at 06:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 24, 2007
White London
It finally snowed in London overnight (and possibly more tonight). I have to admit, the snow is pretty, although most of it has turned into slush. A little park that I walk pass on the way to Limehouse DLR was completely covered in snow, it was pretty if rather dangerous walking through the thin sheet of ice on the footpath.
Public transport on the other hand, was a complete chaos this morning. All but two lines (surprisingly the delay prone Hammersmith & Waterloo lines), have problems. The announcer on the tannoy didn't even bother to say which lines had problems this morning, he simply said "multiple signal failures in multiple lines, your tickets will be valid in London Busses". A colleague said that this country grinds to a halt on the first sign of ice on the road.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
Cold London
Winter has finally arrived. 22nd January was voted as the "Blue Monday" since this is the middle of winter, weather supposedly cold, you're in debt after Christmas & New Year spending spree, your New Year resolutions are probably broken by now, and you have to get back to work. And it's bloody cold.
Temperature has dropped considerably in the past 2 days, and this morning the frost are back. The only other times I saw frost in London was the few days before Christmas and one or two days in November and that's about it. It'll be maximum 4 or 5 degree in the next 5 days with mercury dropping to 0 at night.
I used to think that it doesn't snow in London, I don't know where I got that information from. I was wrong, it can snow in London, but very rarely and often the snow melt as soon as it touches the ground. On average London receives just over 210 cm of snow in winter.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2007
Warm London
I know this sounds really weird, but we've had amazingly hot summer, non-existent Autumn and inredibly warm winter (so far). Last month the weather people predicted a warm December but then a bone chillingly cold Jan and Feb. As far as I'm concern we're still waiting for a "proper" winter to come in London. I've bought all the gears, but apart from the few odd November/December days (and they're not that cold either) have never really need the fully kitted "Winter gears".
Oh ... it's still wet but (doh')
Posted by vhadiant at 07:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2007
Isn't it Ironic?
Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
Ironic - Alanis Morissette
Never has before I feel the irony of life sneaking up on me when I least expected. What if I travelled half way around the world, only to find what I'm really looking for is back in Sydney?
Posted by vhadiant at 11:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 08, 2007
Leonardo's mind and Volume
The V & A museum ran an immensely popular Leonardo da Vinci exhibition exploring the inner working of Leonardo's mind. Yesterday was the last day of the exhibition, not only tickets were sold out, they had to implement a timed entry to the exhibition. And still, we had to queue for 1.5 hours before we can enter the room, it was that popular.
However, the wait was worth it, especially if you get the audio guide. Inside the small exhibition room, I was impressed on how much material they covered, including three of the most precious Leonardo's codex in Britain, his three little notebooks in the Foster's Codex series. I doubt that anyone who went to this exhibition can deny Leonardo's brilliant mind.
In the courtyard, just outside the entry to Leonardo's exhibition was the Volume temporary exhibition. Similar to a permanent exhibition in Bilbao's Guggenheim but much better. This pillar of lights are delight to see and walk through. A friend mentioned it feels like in a sci-fi movie waiting to board a space ship and another noted that the blend of high tech and the classic surrounding of V & A courtyard added the beauty of the exhibition. Although perhaps a bit commercially motivated (part of the PlayStation promotion, sponsored by Sony) it was still a beautiful artwork. Best to visit after sun down.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 03, 2007
Today's Tube Alerts
CIRCLE LINE: Severe delays are occurring clockwise and minor delays are occurring anti clockwise due to non-availability of staff.
HAMMERSMITH & CITY LINE: Minor delays are occurring due to non-availability of staff.
Posted by vhadiant at 05:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 02, 2007
Good Bye 2006 - Hello 2007
What can I say about 2006? A lot I’d say and one blog post can hardly do 2006 justice. It has been quite a spectacular year. It feels like reliving 1996 – 1997, the year I arrived in Australia, again but in a different point of view and a lot more fun :)
The first half of 2006 I was busy getting my MCSD and preparing to leave the sunny shore of Sydney to London. In this first half of 2006 I had my eyes lasered which my colleagues immediately gave me the “Laser Eye” nickname.
MCSD turned out to be harder than I thought; packing and leaving ended up more complicated than I expected; and the laser eye surgery not as smooth as I wanted. However in the end, they all turned out just all right.
The prelude to the travel was the trip to Melbourne with the crew to watch Australia – Greece friendly. It was good, but also a bit sad in the same time because I think that it will never happen again as everyone is starting to get married and have children on their own (one already did!). The next four months I went travelling to Cambodia, Vietnam, France, Spain, Morocco and Portugal
It was fun, it was crazy, it was hectic, it chaotic, it was educating, it was fulfilling, it was a crash course on art, history, architecture, culture, and it was unexpected. It was an absolute blast.
Arriving in London in early October, I went job hunting mode. It was a little bit of a hard period as I witnessed my Aussie dollar being depleted in a staggeringly terrifying rate. Thankfully I secured a job in exactly 2 weeks time. I was lucky in a way; some of the banks here can take ages from the beginning of contract to start date, but CIBC needed someone fast and here I am.
This is a really good job, I love the work and the people are cool. The working environment is very comfy and the technology architecture is good. Not to mention they are nicely located in London Bridge, from where we sit we have a beautiful sweeping view of the Thames overlooking the City of London.
To close the year, I went to see Chemical Brothers at the Turnmills on NYE. Amazingly with pretty damn similar crew from last year’s NYE.
It has been an amazing year. I hope that 2007 will better 2006. Bring it on!
Posted by vhadiant at 03:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
