Last Day of 2005

It's the time of the year where one becomes more introspective and starts thinking about what he or she has done or not done the past year. It is the only acceptable time of the year where one is able to stare into the distance and daydream... and say that they are in fact "reflecting" when they are tapped on the shoulder by the boss.

It's time to close a chapter.

A time for resolutions (if you are in the habit of making them).

A time for a new chapter.

Timely enough, I just finished reading "Still Me" by Christopher Reeve, a touching memoir in which he shares bits of his personal and professional history, how he overcame obstacles and lived a full life despite his spinal cord injury. It's not the best book in the world but it's worth reading if only because at the end of it, I did feel like I went on a personal journey with him, experiencing his happiness at seeminingly small successes and imagining his feelings of sorrow and despair during his hardest moments. Through his simple writing, there was always the implied sense of hope (after he got over his initial sense of hopelessness) and he makes repeated mention of, and giving special attention to, the importance of his supportive family and friends.

And that's what the New Year means to me.

It's a period of renewed hope and a time for family and friends, even if they are only in your thoughts...

Just a Reminder...

Have you watched

WALLACE AND GROMIT

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

yet?

Christmas Stocking!

My very own Christmas stocking!

From Elli's Dad Santa

=) BIG right?

Filled to the brim with goodies…

We'll talk about the orange

(and the nut and the one-pound coin, if you noticed them in the first place)

in a little bit...

Presents unwrapped!

Inventory of stocking:

1. Orange
2. One-pound coin
3. Nut
4. Rose-scented candle
5. Pen
6. Gloves
7. Magnet
8. Ball
9. Puzzle
10. Bubble magic

Now to explain the orange, coin and nut.

I'm told that it's...

TRADITION!

Interesting, ain't it?

Decided to find out a bit more from the Internet...

(ah, the wealth of information - sometimes useful and most times rubbish - at our fingertips)

According to Wikipedia, one tradition is to fill the stocking with 5 gifts that stimulate the 5 senses. They give examples such as:

1. Something to eat like fruit or candy
2. A toy or other item that makes a noise (this can even include nuts to crack)
3. An item that is visually pleasing in any way like jewelry, cuff-links or a coloring book
4. Something that has tactile appeal such as modeling clay, a soft toy, lingerie or even a pair of novelty christmas socks!
5. Any item with a distinctive scent such as bubble-bath, cologne, perfume etc

So although I was told that only the orange (1), nut(2) and coin(3) were tradition, upon a re-analysis of the items I received in the stocking, I realised that I had an item that was (4)tactile - gloves, and (5)scented - candle as well!

Whether it was deliberate or coincidental, I don't know... I'll have to ask again...

Along with information on the tradition of stocking fillers, I also found a story that tells the tradition of the Christmas stocking...

Once there was a father with three beautiful daughters.
Although the daughters were kind and strong,
the father despaired of them making good marriages,
because he didn't have enough money to pay their dowries.

One day, St. Nicholas of Myra was passing through their village
and heard the locals discussing the plight of these poor girls.
St. Nicholas knew the father would be too proud to accept an outright gift.
So, he waited til dark, snuck to the man's house,
and dropped three bags of gold coins down the chimney.

The daughters had spent their evening washing clothes,
and had hung their stockings by the fireplace to dry.
The gold coins dropped into the stockings, one bag for each daughter.
In the morning, they awoke to find enough money to make them each
a generous dowry, and all married well and happily.

As word of St. Nicholas' generosity spread,
others began to hang their stockings by the fireplace,
hoping for a similar gift.

So that's about the Christmas stockings...

I've got very nice Christmas presents too!

Thank you to everyone who gave me presents and cards =) =)

And thanks in advance to those whose presents I have not received...

...because they are still waiting to be posted.

It's a competition to see which of the 2 boxes arrive first.

Yeah, there are 2 boxes.

So if you're one of those sending the boxes, you know you are not alone.

There are other people who are equally bad procrastinators *grinz*

*This entry is super educational...

25th December 2005

MERRY CHRISTMAS

EVERYONE!

Today, We Go To London!

The best tours are not those that have you whizz by in a bus, stopping at the major shopping centres for 2 hours so you can grab the bargains and then continuing on back to the hotel.

The best tours are done on foot.

And that was what I got today: a personal tour of London (oh well, a part of it anyway) on foot.

Highlights

King's Cross Underground Station

St Paul's Cathedral... and erm..yeah, it's taken through the window of the bus

Bum of a London Cab...

Bum of a London Bus - the old-fashioned ones you see on the postcards

Standing on (new) London Bridge with the Tower Bridge in the background...

The "old" London Bridge was sold to an American for $2,460,000 =)

The bridge...erm, how do I say this.. reminds me of Benjamin Sheares Bridge.

Tower Bridge close up...

Gates to Downing Street...

Other places we saw:

St Katherine's Dock (ooohhhh...)

Clarence House

St James' Palace

Buckingham Palace

Grounds of Kensington Palace

Hyde Park

Park Lane

Oxford Street

Oxford Street is shopaholics heaven.

A long long loooong street (5-6 bus-stops on the whole street?)

On the street alone:

GAP x 2, Marks & Spencers x 2, Topshop x 2, H&M x 2, HMV x 2

Vodaphone, Selfridges, Virgin Megastore, PC World

and these are all HUGE shops...

Large doors, high ceilings, 2-3times the size of the usual shop.

Summary: I saw loads... not inch by inch obviously but I had a very knowledgeable guide that was able to tell me the history of the places so it was a very good tour...

Following that full day tour, we had a yum-yum-yummy Chinese dinner and to end off the evening, we went for a concert in the Royal Albert Hall...

...to hear Christmas Carols by the King's College Choir.

Elli liked the King's College Choir

Elli's dad, Hugh and I liked the orchestra better.

Something funny happened during the concert...

The handphone of the lady in the row in front of us went off during the concert and amazingly, the people who were sitting in the same row as her (some as near as 3 seats away from her) turned to look behind to find the source of the offending noise.

At this point, I almost burst out laughing.

Eh, hello?

Tell me how you enjoy the orchestra and the choir if you cannot even identify the "general direction" of where a loud sound comes from? *shakes head*

Anyway, that concludes my full and exciting day! =)

3 days to Christmas!!!!

Christmas Holiday...

I'm away this Christmas!

Haha...

Like you didn't know.

Ok, but still, I'm away-away (2nd degree away-ness)

I'm staying with Elli's family during this holiday season.

In Welwyn Garden City.

20miles north of London.

E-mail or sms if you need me.

Because if you holler, I won't be able to hear you...

Obviously.

Will be back in Aberdeen on 2nd Jan 2006.

Beautiful Photos Galore!

All photos in this entry are the works of Stephanie.

Within Campus

In Town

And lastly, a classic photo showing the "Stephanie-sense-of-humour"

Great pics, Steph! =)

Thanks for sharing them...

Snow... Loads of It!!!

Julia (my flatmate from Germany, if you remember) had her birthday party when I was away on attachment.

But she was nice enough to make sure I didn't miss out on her signature cocktail so she made it specially again last night.

Yes, we are well aware that cocktails are not meant to be served in mugs.

Oh nevermind.

Mug = More volume than those tiny martini/margarita glasses

Stephanie and I very happy with our cocktail-in-a-mug. =)

------------------------------

It was snowing heavily yesterday...

I walked through the door after a trip to town and Julia said: Wait! Stop there! I want to take a photo of a snowman!

Later that evening, Julia's friend had to alight from the bus he was on and walk the rest of the way home because the bus services just stopped running due to safety reasons.

So it is a wonder that I woke up this morning and didn't even bother looking out of the window. It cannot be that I am not fascinated with snow. Impossible! This is my first experience with snow! Haha... It's only because all the blinds in the flat were down that I FORGOT about the snow the previous evening. Ya noe... out of sight, out of mind.

I was kindly reminded though and promptly looked out of the window in my room...

Absolutely beautiful.

Can you feel the serenity of such a view?

Alas, it scene is not to be preserved!

Soon after...

Like I mentioned above, I am fascinated by snow...

I'm eager to explore this unfamiliar (to me, at least) aspect of Nature.

Stephanie's got evidence of that.

She captured me on camera...

*Photo courtesy of Stephanie

And she says: see the Singaporean? She goes out in the snow in flip-flops!

Back in Aberdeen!

I honestly don't know how I managed to accumulate so much stuff during my 6 weeks away. I got some gifts, some food, some new clothes, a pair of boots and some journal articles so why is it that my luggage is so much heavier than when I went there? It was between 25-30kg! Plus I couldn't fit everything in this time! I had an extra box (that came with the boots) that I stuffed things into AND 2 other smaller shopping bags IN ADDITION to my huge luggage!

Shockin'!

Thankfully, Jennifer offered to take my shopping bags so I just had to struggle with my luggage and the box.

The travel from Crosshouse Hospital to Aberdeen is an experience itself! It involved getting to the bus stop in Irvine (some 10km away), to catch a bus to Glasgow (1 hour bus journey), to catch another bus to Aberdeen (3.5 hours bus journey) and then to get to my hostel.

I called for a taxi from Crosshouse Hospital to get to the bus stop to catch the bus to Glasgow. I specifically said: Can I please have a taxi driver that can help with my luggage? I've got a very heavy luggage.

And who did they send?

A man.

Head full of white hair.

Who looked at least 60.

So what happened?

He huffed and puffed and coughed all the way down (not joking here), carrying my heavy luggage from the 3rd floor to the first. At one point, he started sputtering and all I was thinking was: Oh God, he can roll my luggage down the stairs but please don't let him have a heart attack right now.

My next hurdle after getting to the bus stop without the taxi driver having a heart attack (errm, yeah, I left a tip for him), was to actually board the bus that would bring me to Glasgow. The bus arrived and my heart sank.

3 huge steps UP to the bus.

Luckily, I met a kind soul who helped me. While the young bus driver sat comfortably in his seat looking impatient, an old lady who looked about 70 bent all the way down to lift my luggage from the bottom while I pulled it up from the top. Very embarrasing for me. But I think the driver should really be ashamed of himself.

Getting off the bus was next.

Fortunately, I met another kind soul (I must say I'm very lucky in this aspect). The kind soul this time was a middle-aged man. Who walked with a limp. And used a walking stick.

Is this not ridiculous?

Surely, I can't be the only one who sees the irony here.

But it also illustrates beautifully the concept of karma. What you give, you eventually get back. In this case, it was kindness.

Going the extra mile, this man said: You better go to the loo before you get on the bus to Aberdeen. It's a long journey.

With that, he (limping, walking stick and all) approached the staff of the bus station to get the key to the disabled toilet so that:
1) I didn't have to pay 20p to get into the regular toilet
2) I could lug all my luggage in with me to keep it safe because it was such a large toilet

As a goodbye, he said to me: Oh you wee slight thing. You must be only 17 or 18? What an independent monkey!

But how could I possibly be offended by such a kind man?

I'm really a very very lucky girl to have met so many kind people.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually ended safely back at my hostel last night where my sweet sweet flatmates welcome me "home" with a big rhubarb cake!

Awww...

*warm fuzzy feeling*

Sad, Tearful Goodbye…

It was the last day of my attachment yesterday.

It’s unexpected how quickly one can develop a friendship.

It’s surprising how fast one can feel a bond with another.

It’s shocking how time flies.

And it’s overwhelming the sadness one feels when it’s time to say goodbye.

We shared countless conversations in the office, in the car and in the house, over numerous cups of teas and coffees, sandwiches and chocolate biscuits.

We worked together, laughed together, shopped together, had lunch (plus the occasional dinner) together and at the very end, cried together.

Thank you again, Carol (and Alex and Ross too!) for the last 5 wonderful weeks.

Weekend in Durham, England - Part III

Final day in Durham!

Original plan: shopping in Newcastle, lunch in newcastle, catch the train back to Irvine.

Eventually, we skipped the shopping and went to visit the Angel of the North instead.

It's HUGE!

Can't really tell the size right?

Ok, here's to help you develop an idea of its relative size.

And it's time for lunch!

Went back to Durham for lunch at a Thai restaurant.

According to CJ, it's the best Asian restaurant in Durham.

I'm the guest so I wouldn't know if it's true or not.

Plus, CJ is a lawyer - wannabe gonnabe so who really knows if it's true!

Ok, but the food was good.

Thick rich coconut milk in the curry.

Spicy food with some semblence of authencity.

I liked it! =)

The restaurant sits on the side of a "river".

(CJ says it's a part of the sewage system)

But the view is great!

Right at the peak is the Durham Cathedral

Where prayer has been offered at the site for more than 1000 years

and the present building dates back to 1093.

I am told (no prizes for guessing who told me) that parts of Harry Potter was filmed inside this Cathedral.

Funny that.

When I went in, a priest promptly greeted me with:

No cameras in here, please.

------------------------------

After lunch, it was a mad dash back to the hostel where I picked up my bags and flew (we tried to, anyway) to the train station.

Arriving barely 5 minutes before the train came.

Close, very close.

Almost didn't make it because of the heavy traffic.

------------------------------

Fantastic weekend!

Thanx CJ!

Now it's my turn to prepare so that I can be a good host when CJ comes to Aberdeen in January (or so he says anyway). With lawyers, you never know...

Weekend in Durham, England – Part II

We woke up bright and early and hit the roads at 8:30am…

YEAH RIGHT

Haha...

We CJ got up at 9:30am (I woke up at 7am! *smirk*) and we finally hit the road at 10:30am, starting our 2-hour drive to Lake District – the highlight of my trip.

CJ’s role was to drive.

My role was to read maps, read the pre-printed road directions, read the road signs (speed reading at its most advanced level when the car is whizzing by at 60-80mph), pass him food when he’s hungry, make conversation so he doesn’t fall asleep (which wasn’t hard because I can talk all day long), answer his phone when it rings, make phone calls on his behalf and of course, read and reply sms-es that come through. Can I remind you at this point that I’m the guest?!! One heck of a busy guest, I tell ya…

BUT it was all worth it!

The drive was scenic…

And after 2 hours, we arrived at Keswick, the town that is in the heart of Lake District.

Where I saw a restaurant that serves R-E-I-N-D-E-E-R!

Haha..ok, actually I don’t know if they serve reindeer. It just looked like they do!

Chanced upon a beautiful little shop that sold the most unusual teapots!

Cute eh?

And my favourite?

CJ planned for us to climb the mountain (a 3-4hour climb on a good day) but it was too cold and misty that day so we didn’t climb the mountain in the end…

See how the top of the mountain is hidden by the mist? The heavens have descended!

We decided to go for a drive around one of the beautiful lakes instead.

This is, after all, Lake District.

Saw some little feathered friends up close...

Nature is indeed magnificent!

After spending half a day there (it got dark before 4pm), we made our 2-hour drive back to Durham to have dinner with CJ’s friends (the Monopoly bunch from yesterday).

The day ended at 3am. It could have ended at 1am but I was "abducted" and made to do something errm...not quite legal, ya see... Tsk tsk... So now I HAVE driven a manual car. 30 minutes and the engine must have died on me about 8 times? I can now safely say that the decision to learn to drive (yes, I'm at the learning stage still!) an auto-car was the right decision.

Final day tomorrow...

Weekend in Durham, England – Part I

Friday afternoon:
Finished work at 12:30pm because I took half-day "study leave". Went back to hostel for a shower, did some last-minute packing, grabbed lunch and left to catch the 5pm train.

3.5hours and 1 train transfer later, I’m no longer in Scotland!

I went away from home to Aberdeen for studies. (By the way, thanx for the reminder that it's my 3rd month anniversary. Haha..)

Then I went away from Aberdeen to Irvine for a placement.

And now, I have gone away from Irvine to Durham, England for a "weekend getaway". This is my attempt at a nomadic lifestyle.

Meeting me at the train station was CJ, who is the host of my "weekend getaway".

A brief history of CJ and I: We met in college when we were classmates for the first year, during which we developed an extremely antagonistic friendship. Our friendship was based on mutual education (him trying to "educate" me on his perspective and vice versa) and constant debates. In fact, for some reason, lots of people in our class liked to debate with CJ because he would eventually run out of things to say (Imagine our surprise when he decided to read law!). Anyway, in 2nd year, CJ transferred to another class and our original class became much quieter and more peaceful. After college, we were only exchanging occasional MSN messages – I was caught up with my studies and he was caught by NS – and only met once (We had a "class reunion" before CJ left for UK) in the last 4 years.

Ever since I’ve been to the UK, however, he has been making a very commendable effort in keeping in contact with me and invited me to Durham for the weekend.

After we had dinner (KFC! Haha…ok, to be fair, it was not his suggestion. It was me! I had a food craving…), we went to his friends’ house to "socialize" (very fortunately, I was feeling rather sociable that night, so I was all friendly and smiley).

There were 8 of us, all Singaporeans except for one, all law students except for me. We ended up playing Monopoly and it was hilarious! Have you played Monopoly with a group of law students/lawyers before? Absolute madness!!

• Play halfway can start talking about property law.
• Banker can refuse to sell an unsold property because of some law made-up rule.
• Trying to cheat others of their money (collecting rent for property which is not even theirs)!
• Collaborating with another player so they can acquire assets more quickly and charge everybody else more rent!

In summary, they are going to make great lawyers.

Haha… Monopoly aside, they were great fun and company. The evening at the house ended about 1am and 4 of us proceeded to the supermarket to do some shopping (I’ve now officially joined the minority group of bizarre people who shop in the wee hours of the morning)!

Finally got back to the hostel and slept at 4am. Day 1 in Durham went very well! Yeah, I know it’s not actually A DAY. But when you go on tour, even if you arrive at 6:00pm in the country, that’s counted as Day 1 already right?

Day 2 is supposed to start at 8:30am. Haha… Very optimistic.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

I AM EXTREMELY ANGRY!

I am NOT her and she is NOT me.

I will NOT be her, because short as I am, I am unable to stoop as low as she did.

She will NOT be me, because even if she climbed all the ladders in the world, she will not raise above the depths of moral hell.

So whoever saw her but thought it was me, I will provide you with some helpful hints so that you do not ever make such a mistake again.

1) I have a heart and a brain AND I make use of them.

2) I am morally-endowed. She is morally-challenged.

3) The lady who sells beansprouts in the market is not my fashion role-model.

4) I am not afraid to be seen.

5) I am not at risk of being slapped and called god-awful names in the street by some woman whose only familiar thing I find about her is her wedding ring.

6) I do not have a secret life, secret schemes or whatever. I do not even have a secret son!!! Haha...

7) I am an independent young lady. She is not independent (rather helpless in a hopeless way, actually). She is not young and she is definitely not a lady.

8) I do not fish. She, on the other hand, hooks...

OK, 8 is an auspicious number so I will end here.

That concludes today's "Effective Anger Management".

Sundays are Laundry Days...

Why Dogs are Better Than Laundry

1) You do not have to separate light dogs or dark dogs. All dogs can bathe together.

2) You do not have to read the dog collar to know if it needs to be bathed in cold water, 40degrees, or 60degrees.

3) Dogs do not have lint after bathing.

4) Dogs do not need to be ironed. Yes, that applies to the dogs with “crumpled” looking faces.

5) Dogs can walk out of the bathroom on their own. You do not have to remember to take them out.

Photos of Glasgow...

Here are some of the photos I took when I went (alone... so adventurous, hoh?) to Glasgow last weekend. The Met Station said there would be "snow over the weekend" so I was expecting the worst. But it didn't happen! Ok, so the weather was not great but I still got to see Glasgow.

But perhaps it was the weather, or maybe because Christmas is round the corner and there were so many people in the crowded street, that I didn't quite enjoy myself. That's shocking because I always thought of myself as a city girl (oh come on, where did I grow up?) so when I feel more comfortable in Aberdeen (even more so than in Edinburgh) and when I feel very very comfortable in quiet Irvine (with all the cows), it is a bit worrying...

Hopefully, I will find another opportunity to go back to Glasgow sometime and give it a 2nd chance before I say for sure whether I like it or not...

On the train to Glasgow...

Rather nice weather yes?

Glasgow Train Station

Glasgow's Main Street - Buchanan Street

Weather does not look so good anymore...

At the middle of the Buchanan Street

Look right...

Now, look left...

Is it crowded or what?!!!

Decided not to sqeeze with everyone else in the shops.

Even if I see something I like and want to buy it, I'll probably queue at the cashier's till tomorrow.

Shall go to a place that has very few people.

Museum

Culture vs Shopping

Shopping wins.

There was hardly anybody in the Museum.

"Media Bucchanalia" - 1995

The artist, Masami Teraoka feels that "media hype has replaced wise in this riotous frenzy"

"Kerb Study with Metal Edge" - 1985

By the Boyle Family who are famous for their 3D art.

Beautiful Architecture in Glasgow

Then I saw something interesting...

FAMILIAR LEH!!!

Trying to find out what building this is, I looked around.

Instead, I saw policemen standing around.

Yes, around the world, policemen stand around to ensure security.

Do you feel safer?

You should.

I think that's the point of them standing around.

*smile*

The event?

Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees.

Yes! It is a demonstration!

The guy in the middle was talking about "Pakistanis", "Iraq", "war", "refugees", "human rights" etc etc...

I didn't stay long to hear the whole speech.

I was distracted by children's music in the background and went to explore.

Less than 200m away...

Outdoor Ice-Skating Rink!

Part of a carnival that had loads of children's rides.

Ok, having seen enough for the day, it's time to go home...

Weather's not great anyway...

Last interesting sight of the day?

Illegal DVD stalls are not unique to Singapore!