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!!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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!!
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