This is will be the first part of my conclusion of this series of Living in London. Rather it's just a simple summary of my first year then followed by the second part which is the latter part of the journey.
As I boarded the SQ flight from Kuala Lumpur to London transiting at Singapore Changi Airport in the early morning, there was not much activity in KLIA except for a few groups of people each waiting to check in to different counters. Families were having breakfasts, chats and some just sitting idly around. While the kids ran loose in whte wide spaces ignoring the fact that the air-conditioning of the airport was too cold as usual. I had breakfast with my mom in of those chinese dim sum restaurants. It was not as good as the shop in jalan ipoh but edible nonetheless. The bill came up to a whopping RM 70. Talk about highway robbery.
Having said my goodbyes, I took some photos for rememberance and then made my way down to the immigration checkpoint.
A few hours later i was doing the same thing again, this time in Changi Airport without the breakfast or the photos.
The flight to London Heathrow took about 13 hours. We had to circle heathrow airport for a few mins because there was some rain or the runway wasn't cleared.
My first step out of the airplane and onto british soil was marred by the weather which was cold and wet. After waiting in line to get my passport checked, I was told to go to the doctor's office for a checkup before i could be released out of the airport.
That took quite a while as there were lots of other people of other nationalities which included some blacks from nigeria, some chineses from china and few more others that i couldn't recognize.
When i finally got out, my bags were still in the baggage collection point. but it has been kept there unattended. ( this was before the London bombings.)
It was getting late about 8-ish in the evening and as
it was my very first time in London, I decided to grab the heathrow express then a black cab to the hostel rather than using the infamous tube because i was going to this hostel in king's cross that i booked for £8 per nite for 2 nights and i didn't know the place very well. I arrived in Paddington station and it was already dark. It felt like i was in one of those harry potty movies where i had huge luggages to carry and on brightly lit train platform there were ppl rushing to their respective destinations, some looking for odds and ends, platforms. the sort of hustle and bustle a train station would have. The weather was cold enough that it felt like i was in an air conditioned room though it was smack right in the middle of june. Maybe it was because of the after effects of the rain.
The bunk in the hostel did not look promising but it did not have bed bugs. I woke up to a bunch of ppl snoring in the dorms with clothes and large backpacks strewn all over the dorm.
Searching for a place to move within 2 days is no easy feat I tell you. It was lucky i managed to open a simple bank account within 2 days i was there using the hostel's address. then I found the place to live somewhere north west of london. a cute little place called willesden green. It was all so new to me. this London thing. Everywhere i looked, it was so many different faces and each speaking different languages but none that i could understand.
The room was big and airy enough. plain furnishings complete with bedsheets and a quilt and some cupboards for clothes. There was a small 14 inch TV in the room which kept me occupied with a few channels like channel 5, five, bbc1 and others when i was not out hunting for jobs in between. reception wasn't all the best as it was using the indoor antenna supplied by the tv.
being the ingenius MacGuyver fan that i am, i search around outside at the balcony of my room and saw a few 75 Ohms white cable. instantly recognizing that as an old tv arial cable plugged it in. voila. worked like a charm. crystal clear tv reception.
Took me about 2 weeks to find a job as it was summer and odd jobs were hard to come by. Using the magazines, the newspapers, loot, tnt, were all scavanged from the free publication kiosks alongside the tube stations, as well as sending out hundreds of emails to prospective employers I applied for almost every single job available.
my first stint in london was working as a computer assembler in a factory not far from where i lived. those were the mindless and tiring days. all i did was breath electronic components and depending on how many computers were assembled by a person a day, we were not reprimanded on how slow we were working.
In the factory I met a few nice guys and that was the first few times i learnt the smell of weed and the different names for it. I lost touch after i moved on to a better environment.
All these happened when the air was hot and humid summer. Sun sets at 10 pm in the nite. BBQs almost everywhere, beers and group gatherings happening almost in every nook and canny around the neighbourhood.
The entire summer was spoiled by those HOT & REALLY HUMID nights. What's worse was that there were NO FANS in the room. Me being a malaysian being used to having fans on these warm nights found it hard to sleep.
Buses were worse, they had this teeny weeny little holes by the side of the bus they call windows. The ventilation in the buses was insufficient because sweaty ppl came in the buses and brought with them some very distinct and funny smells. Thank goodness that did not happen all the time.
Autumn came and then I was glad. the air turned cooler. people dressed a little thicker. colourful scarves were brandished around necks of good looking ladies and not so good looking ones. The leaves of the trees turned brown with a golden hue. some reds. some just started to shed their leaves in preparation for the winter that is to come.
the nites turned longer as the days became shorter. Not many people wanted to anything outside anymore as they tend to have a tendency to stay inside where its warm and comfortable.
Shortly after winter arrived, the trees lost all its leaves leaving only it's skeletal branches. It came like gentle cooling wind that slowly froze my balls off. The punters and the bookies made their usual rounds of betting on whether it was gonna snow on christmas. though there had not been any snow during christmas day in london for donkey's years.
The eye-catching, flashy kaleidoscopic christmas lights at oxford circus beckons the shoppers to their last minute shoppings. people bustling and hustling in and out of H&Ms, Nexts, Gaps, Selfridges, Debenhams, John Lewises, and other departmental stores hunting for gifts,toys, *ahem*toys, all for the spirit of christmas. Most stock up on drinks/mixers as they planned to party the nite away.
The groundhog couldn't be found anywhere but spring came anyways. bright pink blossoms, white blossoms, and many other colorful plants began their life after a cold gloomy winter.
Note: i don't really know what to describe anymore. i think i'll just leave it as one part. and i'll end it tomorrow.
As I boarded the SQ flight from Kuala Lumpur to London transiting at Singapore Changi Airport in the early morning, there was not much activity in KLIA except for a few groups of people each waiting to check in to different counters. Families were having breakfasts, chats and some just sitting idly around. While the kids ran loose in whte wide spaces ignoring the fact that the air-conditioning of the airport was too cold as usual. I had breakfast with my mom in of those chinese dim sum restaurants. It was not as good as the shop in jalan ipoh but edible nonetheless. The bill came up to a whopping RM 70. Talk about highway robbery.
Having said my goodbyes, I took some photos for rememberance and then made my way down to the immigration checkpoint.
A few hours later i was doing the same thing again, this time in Changi Airport without the breakfast or the photos.
The flight to London Heathrow took about 13 hours. We had to circle heathrow airport for a few mins because there was some rain or the runway wasn't cleared.
My first step out of the airplane and onto british soil was marred by the weather which was cold and wet. After waiting in line to get my passport checked, I was told to go to the doctor's office for a checkup before i could be released out of the airport.
That took quite a while as there were lots of other people of other nationalities which included some blacks from nigeria, some chineses from china and few more others that i couldn't recognize.
When i finally got out, my bags were still in the baggage collection point. but it has been kept there unattended. ( this was before the London bombings.)
It was getting late about 8-ish in the evening and as
it was my very first time in London, I decided to grab the heathrow express then a black cab to the hostel rather than using the infamous tube because i was going to this hostel in king's cross that i booked for £8 per nite for 2 nights and i didn't know the place very well. I arrived in Paddington station and it was already dark. It felt like i was in one of those harry potty movies where i had huge luggages to carry and on brightly lit train platform there were ppl rushing to their respective destinations, some looking for odds and ends, platforms. the sort of hustle and bustle a train station would have. The weather was cold enough that it felt like i was in an air conditioned room though it was smack right in the middle of june. Maybe it was because of the after effects of the rain.
The bunk in the hostel did not look promising but it did not have bed bugs. I woke up to a bunch of ppl snoring in the dorms with clothes and large backpacks strewn all over the dorm.
Searching for a place to move within 2 days is no easy feat I tell you. It was lucky i managed to open a simple bank account within 2 days i was there using the hostel's address. then I found the place to live somewhere north west of london. a cute little place called willesden green. It was all so new to me. this London thing. Everywhere i looked, it was so many different faces and each speaking different languages but none that i could understand.
The room was big and airy enough. plain furnishings complete with bedsheets and a quilt and some cupboards for clothes. There was a small 14 inch TV in the room which kept me occupied with a few channels like channel 5, five, bbc1 and others when i was not out hunting for jobs in between. reception wasn't all the best as it was using the indoor antenna supplied by the tv.
being the ingenius MacGuyver fan that i am, i search around outside at the balcony of my room and saw a few 75 Ohms white cable. instantly recognizing that as an old tv arial cable plugged it in. voila. worked like a charm. crystal clear tv reception.
Took me about 2 weeks to find a job as it was summer and odd jobs were hard to come by. Using the magazines, the newspapers, loot, tnt, were all scavanged from the free publication kiosks alongside the tube stations, as well as sending out hundreds of emails to prospective employers I applied for almost every single job available.
my first stint in london was working as a computer assembler in a factory not far from where i lived. those were the mindless and tiring days. all i did was breath electronic components and depending on how many computers were assembled by a person a day, we were not reprimanded on how slow we were working.
In the factory I met a few nice guys and that was the first few times i learnt the smell of weed and the different names for it. I lost touch after i moved on to a better environment.
All these happened when the air was hot and humid summer. Sun sets at 10 pm in the nite. BBQs almost everywhere, beers and group gatherings happening almost in every nook and canny around the neighbourhood.
The entire summer was spoiled by those HOT & REALLY HUMID nights. What's worse was that there were NO FANS in the room. Me being a malaysian being used to having fans on these warm nights found it hard to sleep.
Buses were worse, they had this teeny weeny little holes by the side of the bus they call windows. The ventilation in the buses was insufficient because sweaty ppl came in the buses and brought with them some very distinct and funny smells. Thank goodness that did not happen all the time.
Autumn came and then I was glad. the air turned cooler. people dressed a little thicker. colourful scarves were brandished around necks of good looking ladies and not so good looking ones. The leaves of the trees turned brown with a golden hue. some reds. some just started to shed their leaves in preparation for the winter that is to come.
the nites turned longer as the days became shorter. Not many people wanted to anything outside anymore as they tend to have a tendency to stay inside where its warm and comfortable.
Shortly after winter arrived, the trees lost all its leaves leaving only it's skeletal branches. It came like gentle cooling wind that slowly froze my balls off. The punters and the bookies made their usual rounds of betting on whether it was gonna snow on christmas. though there had not been any snow during christmas day in london for donkey's years.
The eye-catching, flashy kaleidoscopic christmas lights at oxford circus beckons the shoppers to their last minute shoppings. people bustling and hustling in and out of H&Ms, Nexts, Gaps, Selfridges, Debenhams, John Lewises, and other departmental stores hunting for gifts,toys, *ahem*toys, all for the spirit of christmas. Most stock up on drinks/mixers as they planned to party the nite away.
The groundhog couldn't be found anywhere but spring came anyways. bright pink blossoms, white blossoms, and many other colorful plants began their life after a cold gloomy winter.
Note: i don't really know what to describe anymore. i think i'll just leave it as one part. and i'll end it tomorrow.
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