More quotes

Bobo and I went out for dinner last night, after a football game in the afternoon. The restaurant is really nice even though it's a bit expensive. Bobo said we haven't had dinner just two of us for quite a while. Hope she enjoyed it, which I certainly did.

Then we met Jack at King's Cross and had some drinks.. He seems to have changed, not as happy as before. It sounded like he's lost something.. Hope he will find it, or discover something else, soon.

Another Chinese quote from 康熙:
《夫人生一世，事功易，成功難；成功易，終功難；善于始者必慎于終…》 施主，切記切記…

Had a relaxing evening in AF's place on Friday. Then this morning I couldn't do what I wanted to.. not so happy.. Then I had a quite good driving lesson, and later went to SL + HY for hot pot.. Mahjong afterwards with BS + her mum. I couldn't concentrate at all because of the TV.. But still won a little.. :-)

Quotes of the day:

English (from BBC, Man Utd 2 - 0 Hong Kong XI):
"Van der Sar was also called into action, diving to his left to tip over an explosive drive by Wai Lun Au."

Chinese (from 康熙):
"明朝永樂皇帝起兵，進攻南京船行無風，有畏難之心。周顛子說，'只管走只管有風，若不走，一世也沒有風！'

My toothbrush's battery is dead.. and the google logo for Man kind on Moon 36 years ago on 20/7....

Sigh

Some more blasts in London. Even though they are dummy bombs, it is very worrying. My team leader was saying he may consider moving outside London, not only living but also working. Who knows where they will attack next. I used to go to Warren Street station everyday before I moved. What if I witness something horrible? Not even talking about being involved........

Had dinner with PF and EF last night in Waterloo. EF said two of her colleagues (both traders in Citigroup) had stopped working because of stress related injuries/illnesses. One of them has chest pain, which his doctor said it could easily result in heart attack. Another one has half of his face cannot move anymore, which his doctor said it could become permenant if he doesn't stop working in stress environment. They are both fresh graduates, and just started working (< 1 year). What the?!??!?!?

On the other hand, we've discussed with PF a lot about what we should do with our future, and how I should start saving money. He's already started saving, not just ordinary bank account, but investing in funds. I really want to start........

Ho enjoying himself with his guitar. We were in the same band 2 years ago.. But then I have rarely touched my guitar, and he has carried on. He showed some recent projects to us and they are really really good. One is the audio of a film of his friend. He is really good at it and he can really fly.

Sui chatting with the others in ho's flat.

Tonight we went to dinner with Ho, Fiona Poon, Sui and Fiona Ip. Great night and ended with drinking in Ho's flat. Sui is having his graduation tomorrow and I need to work tomorrow, so we left at about 12 by taxi. This picture was taken by my mobile. It's crap with night mode. Fiona Ip, Bobo, Fiona Poon.

Bobo....

My bobo has finally booked her flight ticket home today.. beginning of August.. An expected feeling of sadness came to me when she told me on the phone while I was at work.. What can I do without here in here?? I know she will be missing me much, but she doesn't know how much I will miss her..

Life's been good recently... always on our own, doing little things.. I sincerely hope that things can carry on like this, even we are physically separated.. And I can save a lot of money during the coming 2 years, so that I can go home happily..

Received a comment from a friend today (KenC).. He's been travelling around in SE Asia since June, as a backpacker.. I think it's a once-a-lifetime experience and hope he enjoys it, and is save..

the "pockles".. Please tell me the real name if you know..

Me inside the Poole harbour. The water is so shallow that we could literally walk to the middle of the harbour and pick the "pockles"..

Me in the finished hole. It's huge.. We played "choh dai dee (big 2)" in the hole.

Digging the hole with SL... We got the tools (2 x "chaan", sorry don't know the English name for it) from a shop 300m+ away..

Bobo and me in the beach, with our sunglasses. She bought hers on the day before (the 3rd pair in two months!!)

Sand in Bournemouth beach.. So thin..

Weekend in Bournemouth

Spent this weekend in Bournemouth with Bobo, SL and HY. It's a seaside city in Dorset, England, 1hr 50min of train from Waterloo. Lovely sunshine on both days, stayed in a quite special and nice hotel.

Sat:
Went to the beach in Bournemouth. It's a 7mile long beach, packed with people. But the water was still a bit cold and very "wavy". Had lots of fun with the sand (pictures will follow).

Sun:
Went to Poole by bus. It's a nearby city which is 30mins drive away. In fact we could've walked from the beach in Bournemouth to the beach in Poole. 6 miles though.
Again the beach is all packed. Instead we went to the harbour. Water is much shallower and warmer. An Englishman (speaks strange accent) was picking "Pockels" (that's how it sounded anyways) and taught us how to pick them from the shallow sea bed. In the end we got something like 4kg of them. They taste excellent, and fatter than normal.

This blog is boring isn't it?

Sony Ericsson V600i - designed for Vodafone Live!.. 3G compatible, so I can make 3G call with it, just a bit expensive. But that's ok, ring me if you want to see me. (I am not posting my mobile number in here though)

1 week after bombing...

London has returned to normal. Apart from some limits of services in tube, normal people can't see what has changed.

Everybody observed 2 mins silent today noon. I saw people really stopped what they were doing and stopped all conversations. It was quite a special moment.

There are some moving thoughts published by people around the world in a BBC page (go to "Have your say" and find "London one week on: Your thoughts" or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4679289.stm). Spend a minute or two to read some please.

SL, HY + Bobo and I are going to Bournemouth tomorrow evening for a weekend trip. One of my best friend Jay used to go there for half terms. Also, I've met him on MSN two days ago!!! So happy to talk to him. We haven't seen each other for more than a year, and will probably have little change to physically meet again. He is a very smart and nice guy, from Taiwan, and has taught me a lot when we were at college together.

Three more great news:
1. I ordered a new phone last Saturday, and got it yesterday (photos will come soon). It's not the best, but I am very happy with it.
2. I entered a prize draw by a relative's website. Something like 450 people entered, and I've won a PSP!!! I didn't sound real, but then I receive this relative's phone call, message and emails, as well as emails from his company. Hopefully I will get it next week. Btw, bobo was much happier than me about this, and I will need to take a photo with this prize, for advertising sake I suppose.
3. I managed to change my driving test from 2/9 to 3/8. So, everyone please wish me luck.

All these three are fantastic news for me personally and I deeply appreciate them. I understand that good things don't come so often, so I will make sure I enjoy them.

P.S: for those who hasn't given me any comment before, please do so, so that I know who are reading my blog.

救星 - saviour in English. It's been really hot inside our flat. Then bobo bought this from John Lewis. It's really "cool", but doesn't turn. It helps a lot when we have dinner.

Drinking evening with Jason. The orange clear one in the middle is called Chilli. God!! It IS chilli!!! We couldn't taste any alcohol, it was just like chilli oil. The dish in the middle picture is my breakfast, made by Bobo of course.

Bobo enjoying wine while I had coke; bus suspension notice after bomb; reporters dealing with photos at King's Cross station; flowers for the victims at King's Cross; fire fighters and rescuers still trying to remove bodies from tunnel at King's Cross.

Walking along the Thames after dinner on the day when London was bombed. Background is Tower Bridge.

London

Terrorist attacks: 3 trains and a double-decker bus exploded. At least 35 people were killed and 700 injured.. As a result:
1. I was sitting in the office, did almost nothing..
2. Went down to pub with those who can afford a cab to go home..
3. Day-off tomorrow as the bank only want skeleton IT people to go to work..

BBC reporter's log at 1325 GMT:

"Workers in the city of London are still trying to take in what has happened. And almost every pub around Liverpool Street is packed with people wanting to watch the One o' clock news.

At the East India Arms, a small pub on Fenchurch Street, bankers quietly sipped their pints of Young's bitter while listening to the news and watching the pictures of how their city has been changed... When the prime minister's statement came up on the news the pub almost immediately fell silent.

However, the strange thing is that despite this terrible attack, there really is an air of people just trying to get on with things. As soon as the prime minister stopped talking, the pub erupted in conversation with all the usual talking points - contracts, deadlines and projects."

Londoners are strange. They've been through big London fire, WWII, series of bombing by IRA in 1980s, 1990s.. Then now this.. They look like idiot, drinking beer every day after work, or even in lunch times.. But they handle these extremely well, as experts.. For another city, the financial market might have torn apart..

Anyway, it's good to have a day off, just don't think about why I have it.. Then I can do something I can never do in weekdays e.g. open a saving account in HSBC..

For Chinese readers, who like Leo Koo:

若 這一生多出這一天
願這天興致不變
製造可堪珍惜的畫面 來日夢見
隨便於家中躺一天
纏綿是今天的特權
完整的將溫馨一天 奉獻

Let's hope so.....

PS: for those who are not sick of my Greece photos, I have just developed the photos taken from the waterproof disposable camera.. Will scan them when I have time..

My new home (from top left): my phone, kitchen, toilet, room (seen from door), room (seen from desk). It's "huge", isn't it? Just like the kitchen of my last flat.

"Five Stars Fighters" in Paradise (not super), Mygonos.. People from the beach bars were looking at us while we took this photo.. So proud of ourselves..

Super Paradise in Mygonos.. That's me by the way..

Ornos beach in Mygonos, near our hotel. Crystal clear water, fine sand and fish swimming with us.

Three idiots under the sun in Santorini, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...

Another photo of the sunset, from left Clement, Bobo, Michael, Martin, Colin. I am the orange. Taken with Colin's manual Canon, by Manman.

Bobo and me watching the famous sun set in Santorini, with the cliff and white houses behind us.

Santorini apartment's roof - an idiot wearing a jacket and a happy chap, with Aegean Sea in background

My broadband has finally come to live!!

It's been sooooo long.. BT didn't get my phone line activated until two weeks after I moved in.. Then I transferred our old broadband account to this new flat and fortunately it took less than they said to work.. So, here is my blog, after x days.. I guess many of my viewers have already given up.. But who cares?!

Life's been ok. London has become cold again, moving office again (from 1 room to another), landlord doesn't answer my phone again (I really want a better bed) and so on..

Congratulations to London, for winning the 2012 Olympics bid. I hope it means a better transport system in the near future.. But this also means rent will go up soon.. Just imagine I can afford to buy a flat in here.. Sigh....

Let's see some of our photos from Greece..