Well it's been an eventful number of months since my last post.
I finally got my ass in gear and went and visited a couple of other towns in the area, Weymouth and Portsmouth. Both of which are very nice.
Weymouth is a beach side resort town. In terms of atmosphere, it's very reminiscent of Bondi. Lots of cafes and pubs and people hanging out. The only difference is that the beach is much narrower but a lot longer. There's also no surfie culture mainly because there's no surf.
Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy, hasn't got a whole lot to offer besides the dockyards and Gunwharf Quay. This place is one huge shopping area full of discount brand name stores. Excellent for picking up slightly out of season gear at a bargain price.
However despite all that, I've had to take a temporary respite from my sojourn in the UK. As a result of the crappy economic climate over there, the government in its infinite wisdom has rejected my company's request for a work permit to be issued for me. As a result I've had to return home for a couple of months to acquire a 3 year highly skilled worker's visa. That went in last week and now I have that interminable wait to get that approved.
At least it hasn't been boring. Lots of catching up with the uni boys and girls, old workmates, extended family etc.
I think leaving this time will be harder than last time, then again who knows?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
And so Korea became a longer than expected vacation
Time to fill in those who actually read this and don't know what's been going on.
The original vacation was meant to be only from January 21 till February 1. It was supposed to be a 3 day snow board trip including the Lunar New Year and then a week hanging out with my brother.
Lo and behold what ended up happening I crashed while snowboarding and opened a wound in my left butt cheek almost 25cm long and 7cm deep, I lost almost a litre of blood, which was quite a spectacular sight when its sprayed all over the snow. The muscle in there was pretty much severed. Despite that, it was one of those freakish lucky wounds. An inch more to one side and I would have cut in to my neurovascular system and even if I didn't bleed to death I probably would have lost the ability to control my leg. Thats according to my doctor, who is one of the senior surgeons in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. That ended up costing me a 2 week stay in hospital. Now that I'm out, I have another 2 and a half months before the muscle is fully knitted up.
This little adventure into the Korean health system has left me in a great deal of debt to a lot of pepole. Big Uncle Gerry for one whose contacts with the doctors over here enabled me to be put in the care of the senior most surgeon of the department. Bev's friend Cho Hee Jin who I owe so much that I doubt I can repay her in this lifetime. Without her to help translate and arrange stuff I'd be hella lost. And of course Bevvy boy who's put up with all the tiresome chores of taking care of his dopey-ass brother.
The original vacation was meant to be only from January 21 till February 1. It was supposed to be a 3 day snow board trip including the Lunar New Year and then a week hanging out with my brother.
Lo and behold what ended up happening I crashed while snowboarding and opened a wound in my left butt cheek almost 25cm long and 7cm deep, I lost almost a litre of blood, which was quite a spectacular sight when its sprayed all over the snow. The muscle in there was pretty much severed. Despite that, it was one of those freakish lucky wounds. An inch more to one side and I would have cut in to my neurovascular system and even if I didn't bleed to death I probably would have lost the ability to control my leg. Thats according to my doctor, who is one of the senior surgeons in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. That ended up costing me a 2 week stay in hospital. Now that I'm out, I have another 2 and a half months before the muscle is fully knitted up.
This little adventure into the Korean health system has left me in a great deal of debt to a lot of pepole. Big Uncle Gerry for one whose contacts with the doctors over here enabled me to be put in the care of the senior most surgeon of the department. Bev's friend Cho Hee Jin who I owe so much that I doubt I can repay her in this lifetime. Without her to help translate and arrange stuff I'd be hella lost. And of course Bevvy boy who's put up with all the tiresome chores of taking care of his dopey-ass brother.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Just a quickie
So, my travels continue. Right now I am sitting at Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong tapping furiously a quick update. My flight to Seoul Incheon Airport should be boarding imminently. The first leg of the journey was a 12 hour flight lengthwise across Europe and into Russia before swinging south through the Xinjiang and Xizang autonomous regions in China.
Being winter time, the sun sets quite early that far north. The night scape across mainland Europe was a sight to behold. Large stretches of darkness extend in all directions broken by patches of golden and white light where the towns and cities lay far below. Of all the times I've flown, and there are a lot of them, this time I saw one of the most amazng sights. A city below, possibly in Ukraine lay beneath us. A small patch of cloud covered the city and the lights from the city illuminated the clouds in a golden halo. Too bad there wasn't enough light for me to get any images of it, but the ethereal beauty of it pretty much ingrained itself into my brain.
The second sight that was breathtaking was the sight of the moon from 33000 feet. From that high up, the air is so still and the clarity of the ghostly moonlight was something to see. It was the first time I had ever seen the moon from that high up. And not to forget the starlight. Although I couldn't see a whole lot of them.
Anyway time to board the plane!!
Being winter time, the sun sets quite early that far north. The night scape across mainland Europe was a sight to behold. Large stretches of darkness extend in all directions broken by patches of golden and white light where the towns and cities lay far below. Of all the times I've flown, and there are a lot of them, this time I saw one of the most amazng sights. A city below, possibly in Ukraine lay beneath us. A small patch of cloud covered the city and the lights from the city illuminated the clouds in a golden halo. Too bad there wasn't enough light for me to get any images of it, but the ethereal beauty of it pretty much ingrained itself into my brain.
The second sight that was breathtaking was the sight of the moon from 33000 feet. From that high up, the air is so still and the clarity of the ghostly moonlight was something to see. It was the first time I had ever seen the moon from that high up. And not to forget the starlight. Although I couldn't see a whole lot of them.
Anyway time to board the plane!!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Updaaaaate
Okaaay, I've been lax in my writing duties. I put this down to moving house.
Just before xmas I managed to rent a lovely little 1 bedroom apartment. Course it's costing me a bit of a bomb every month not to mention bills bills bills and more effing bills, but at least I don't have to put up with one little indian girl with a big arse (if I said "with a big ass" it would sound like she owned a donkey or something) stomping up stairs louder than a chimney collapsing, nor a fat couple who had a habit of blocking the hallways whenever they left their room. That's how fat they were. Nor a chubby indian girl (another one) who lisped and had a tendency to repeat her sentences. "Oh yah Australia is so sunny with all that sun" and rubbish like that, despite that she was ok to chat to.
Now I live in a nice quiet street with little traffic (the old place was next to a train yard and on a direct approach line for all the planes landing at Southampton Airport) and the only neighbours are a family of three who are fairly quiet, or that might just be the insulation. I won't post pics yet cos it's still barely furnished.
It took me about 2 weeks to get internet connected mainly because British Telecom or BT decided that everything was ok at their end but didn't check the exchange just up the road, idiots, so they had to get someone to work on boxing day, poor bastard. Still at least I am now reconnected to the information superhighway.
These days I feel more settled in. I guess it's having a place to call home, well sort of since home is really 15000km away on the other side of the planet. Having my own stuff, my own space. Funny how material possessions can give you the impression of a home. It's not entirely home yet since it is still not properly furnished. I only bought a bed, a futon mattress, this thing is awesome, doubles as a couch and lounging...thing. I haven't got anything else besides this. The bedroom is still empty since I do everything in the living room which is directly connected to the kitchen it's more convenient, especially as all the doors autoshut. It helps manage the central heating better so you're wasting heat, heating other parts of the apartment when noone's around. The bathroom is kickarse, I have a bathtub long enough to stretch out in so it's a bit of an indulgence to lounge around in one every now and then, especially as coming from a drought ridden state baths were too costly to really bother with.
Workwise, I feel more part of the team now. Helen, and her fiance Andy who has since left, being my mentors, which feels odd sometimes since they're the same age as me, helped me a lot. It's odd looking at the two of them, she towers over even me and I'm not short, and Andy is shorter than me. Sometimes reminds me of Rob Schneider and the "omg it's Bigfoot!" lady from Deuce Bigolo. Not to forget the other Andy who returned to the company having left a year or so ago to go home to Singapore. Since I work with them closely we hang out together as often as not and being the same age helps too.
The highlights that are coming up are an impending visit to that odd little asian nation, Korea, to go snowboarding with my lil bro, damn I miss that boy and in a few months a return home!!
Just before xmas I managed to rent a lovely little 1 bedroom apartment. Course it's costing me a bit of a bomb every month not to mention bills bills bills and more effing bills, but at least I don't have to put up with one little indian girl with a big arse (if I said "with a big ass" it would sound like she owned a donkey or something) stomping up stairs louder than a chimney collapsing, nor a fat couple who had a habit of blocking the hallways whenever they left their room. That's how fat they were. Nor a chubby indian girl (another one) who lisped and had a tendency to repeat her sentences. "Oh yah Australia is so sunny with all that sun" and rubbish like that, despite that she was ok to chat to.
Now I live in a nice quiet street with little traffic (the old place was next to a train yard and on a direct approach line for all the planes landing at Southampton Airport) and the only neighbours are a family of three who are fairly quiet, or that might just be the insulation. I won't post pics yet cos it's still barely furnished.
It took me about 2 weeks to get internet connected mainly because British Telecom or BT decided that everything was ok at their end but didn't check the exchange just up the road, idiots, so they had to get someone to work on boxing day, poor bastard. Still at least I am now reconnected to the information superhighway.
These days I feel more settled in. I guess it's having a place to call home, well sort of since home is really 15000km away on the other side of the planet. Having my own stuff, my own space. Funny how material possessions can give you the impression of a home. It's not entirely home yet since it is still not properly furnished. I only bought a bed, a futon mattress, this thing is awesome, doubles as a couch and lounging...thing. I haven't got anything else besides this. The bedroom is still empty since I do everything in the living room which is directly connected to the kitchen it's more convenient, especially as all the doors autoshut. It helps manage the central heating better so you're wasting heat, heating other parts of the apartment when noone's around. The bathroom is kickarse, I have a bathtub long enough to stretch out in so it's a bit of an indulgence to lounge around in one every now and then, especially as coming from a drought ridden state baths were too costly to really bother with.
Workwise, I feel more part of the team now. Helen, and her fiance Andy who has since left, being my mentors, which feels odd sometimes since they're the same age as me, helped me a lot. It's odd looking at the two of them, she towers over even me and I'm not short, and Andy is shorter than me. Sometimes reminds me of Rob Schneider and the "omg it's Bigfoot!" lady from Deuce Bigolo. Not to forget the other Andy who returned to the company having left a year or so ago to go home to Singapore. Since I work with them closely we hang out together as often as not and being the same age helps too.
The highlights that are coming up are an impending visit to that odd little asian nation, Korea, to go snowboarding with my lil bro, damn I miss that boy and in a few months a return home!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
