A post about nothing in particular

An old friend suggested I update this place more often. I felt compelled to oblige…

I think I’m still operating on autopilot this morning. Everything seems so vague and unfocused, something akin to a rainbow wash of water colour splattered on a white tile. I think.

Hmm… hot chocolate is nice though…

I’m now fairly immune to the failings of London’s finest in public transport. The Tube announced their decision to strike beginning 1900hrs yesterday evening and as a direct result of that, the streets and buses this morning were crowded with commuters who are usually found 100m or so underground.

Both my inbound and outbound trains were cancelled with little to no notice yesterday and the bus I was on today decided to abandon its route to Kings Cross, dumping all passengers at Euston, roughly 10 minutes walk away. Difficult to fathom their way of thinking, really. I still feel a little cheated that I lost a pound for that unfinished ride.

Looking on the bright side, Chee-kun has managed to land himself a part-time job with a Michelin-starred restaurant and we’re all happy for him. Good pay, so I hear. He’s perked up from his self-induced glum and has started discussing his wishlist again. ‘Yay’ for him. I haven’t heard from the Penguin in a while now. I wonder if she’s okay, as the last I heard from her was that she was coughing pretty badly. Shall pinch her cheeks if I see her this Saturday.

Tre-sama is coming in to Heathrow in a couple of day’s time. Another big ‘yay’. Temporary long distance relationships aren’t much fun. Can’t wait.

Many of my colleagues at work are of the opinion that I’m counting down the days until my placement is over. I suppose they’re right in some ways that I’m keeping track of the time left but I’m not obsessive enough to count them down to the days and hours. Or am I? I’m just thinking “Another ‘yay’ for finishing a year’s worth of proper work”… That’s all.

I think its time I start doing shopping for people back home. Mostly chocolates, a shirt here, a book there, some lingerie for her, a bikini for another her and a merino wool baselayer…

As an ending note, my boss just came up to me said “Ah, now I remember the word that you used in your interview 12 months ago which left a lasting impression on us which subsequently led to our decision to take you on”.

“Imbued”

Currently listening to: The whirr of the electric fan set on the lowest speed

Cuntwaffles (credit to Tobias for teaching me such bad words)

I turned 23 yesterday.

The Taliban has issued threats to bomb Pakistani towns yesterday. North Korea has recently detonated two nuclear devices and has shown intentions to wipe South Korea off the globe. Swine flu swept through the world and is now leaving, as news reports would imply. We are apparently still in recession. Susan Boyle was reported to have been cussing at journalists due to extreme pressure.

Life's good eh?

Something of a more personal note: another complaint to the cuntwaffles who are in charge of the trains I take to work on a daily basis. Two of my trains were cancelled and the third one delayed with no previous information and due to 'electrical supply problems'. Keeping my cool as well as being late for work, I methodically filled in the delay repay compensation form (even this is a mouthful that fails spectacularly to roll of the tongue nicely) and dutifully handed it in to the ticket office. The fuckers better refund my money back.

London's finest red buses made me miss my train to Birmingham earlier yesterday evening. A full 25 minutes of waiting and the only one that went to Euston told me he wouldn't be going to Euston. The bastard. I hope he won't get laid for the rest of this year and next. I wasted another 26 pounds for a ticket to replace the one that expired by one minute. Then, when I got to Birmingham, I missed the last train home by a minute again! So there goes another 5 pounds for the taxi ride.

Little wonder then that Londoners rank tops in a survey of angry city folks.

I seem to have digressed. Quite a tangent away as well =.=

It's my birthday. I'm supposed to be happy. And happy I feel, everytime I look at my facebook page. Rather surprised that so many dropped by to wish me well. I thank you all sincerely. Oh and Auntie bought me cakes and gave me ang pau. That makes me happy too. Oh and I got a letter from the To-Ken Society notifying me of another meeting in about a week and a half. Is happy again.

Wish the other half was around to celebrate birthday with. Oh well. Another fortnight to go.

I shall sleep in preparation of the dim sum feast that is to come later.

An ode to the worst place in the world; London, Fuck you.

Currently listening to: Maria, by Rage Against The Machine

Traffic weaving is still awesumz!

I managed to bring the road bike down to London despite failing to make a reservation on Virgin Trains (wahey wasn't my fault... their damn system was down).

The trip to St Pancras this morning consisted of 10 minutes of weaving in and out of rush hour traffic along Euston Road. Definitely brings back lovely memories of doing 40km/h on a bicycle with skinny rubber on the NKVE with Saiful~ 'Cept that over here, you do actually have to contend with red buses pulling out of stops with all intents to maul you and kill you =D

But it's still awesumz!

Yoshu~ is sleeps nao~

Currently listening to: No Tomorrow by Orson

Reset this

Every morning on the train, it’s always either murder or radical religious militants blowing themselves up (or more recently, the economic crash that sent everyone a tumbling) splashed on newspaper covers. Little wonder why everyone looks as glum-faced as the homeless chap sitting outside the British Library.

If ever there is a hung up computer or the dreaded blue/black screen of death (Heaven forbid =.= ), there is always always always always the reset button. Well, not quite for the BSOD but hey it works occasionally.

A single effortless click is all that’s needed for a fresh start. A clean slate. A white canvas. One that we’d hope to paint right this time round.

Too bad we don’t get a reset button for life and the world.

All in a day's walk

You know its not a good start to the day when you see your bus speeding past while you're still about 70 odd metres away from the bus stop...

... ending up having to stand in the Arctic cold for about 10 minutes before another came... but didn't stop. Because bus No. 29 to Wood Green blocked its way in the stop. So came another freezing 5 minutes...

... at least the bus I got on was warm. I arrived at St Pancras at 0716 hrs. My train was due at 0716 but was delayed by a minute. It pulled out of the station as I was halfway towards the platform. The next one was at 0732 hrs, but that was delayed at first to 0736, then to 0743. Typical.

I picked up a London Metro from the floor of the train and flipped it open, straight to an article entitled "Network Rail to reduce delays".

Yup, when cows fly they will...

The biting wind and bitter cold embraced me as soon as the train doors open. You'd never find a more clingy lover. Its sunny and the blue skies are cloudless.

Its also 0 degrees C.

Winter's here.

The long awaited aftermath...

... and the third day...

The weather here is fickle...

It be snowing

United Kingdom Plc's public transport is amazing

It was sheer fluke that I managed to drag myself out of bed early enough to make it to St Pancras to catch the train that was scheduled before the one I usually take to work. It wasn't much fuss as I boarded one of the carriages when an announcement was made that this train would stop at Kentish Town, the next station. Busily engrossed with the morning's depressing newspaper in hand, I absent-mindedly assumed that the train would just make a stop, since the announcement made no mention of 'termination'.

The bitch ended up terminating at Kentish Town, much to my dismay. To add insult to rapidly souring mood, the train that I usually use on my commute passed by on the next platform as it was the fast train. An announcement soon followed, to the tune of "replacement train will come to pick you up to your destination".

Being very fed up, I crossed over and took the opposite train back to St Pancras and waited half an hour for the next train to work.

It was delayed at Kentish Town again for about 10 minutes...

I have already given up at this point and texted my boss to tell him I was going to be 45 minutes late. He rang back and to tell me he wasn't coming in due to illness...

Fairly eventful first 3 hours of the day, I must say. You would have thought a first world country would have had public transport operations sussed out by now. Typical that any reforms, changes, improvements and what nots have to be debated left right and centre till everyone's blue in the face, shelved on the backburner for years and finally put into place with tonnes of unnecessary faff.