Tate Modern

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year - 31°C (88°F), and it certainly felt like it! Christine and I met up for lunch at that Japanese restaurant she likes... I'll have to remember the name of the place the next time I go! Anyway, since it was Sunday, most places were closed so we decided to walk along the Thames River Path and visit the London Tate Modern Museum. Among the more interesting displays were an original Water Lilies painting by Monet and an abstract bronze, metal and wood sculpture of a fish by Constantin Brancusi called... Fish.

19th May 2008

So much has happened in the last month. I moved down to London on the evening of the 30 April 2008 (two weeks after coming back from Barcelona) and started work on the 19th May in London's West End. I've been to London a couple of times in the past but only for holidays. Everyone up north tells me they would not like to work or live here (one of my previous managers moved down here to work and moved back north within the first month) so it should be interesting to see how things go. The 19th May was also the day I became an uncle! Yep, although he’s half a world away, I now have a nephew named Zach! He's the first of my family's next generation. How cool is that?

Chinese New Year in London

Thursday the 7th February was the first day of the Chinese New Year and I went down that weekend to London once again to see my friends Vinod, Annalise and Christine. It was nice to see what the Chinese New Year is like in London but Chinatown was waaaaay too crowded (no big surprise there). At one point, Christine and I literally couldn’t move as we were squashed in from all sides by the crowd.

In the evening, there was a traditional Chinese fireworks display – which basically meant it was really, REALLY loud! So loud, in fact, that a warning had to be given before the show. Chinese music was also heard playing on loudspeakers; songs that used to be played during the Chinese New Year when I was a kid. It was interesting to hear these same songs again, many years later in a country far away from where I spent my childhood.

December trip - London

New Year's Eve was spent in London staying at my friends' place. This is my second trip to London and I still like this place but London is not the place to be on New Year's Eve if you don't like crowds! The city was packed, and a lot of the people walking around weren't even speaking English, which I thought was kinda cool actually :) I decided to give the fireworks display at the London Eye a miss, instead I opted for dinner and champagne at home with four friends. New Year's Day morning was spent with my friend Christine at the National Science Museum (yes, a museum on New Year's Day) and although I normally find museums boring, I have to admit the National Science Museum is quite amazing. I wish I had a place like this to go to when I was a kid.

And on New Year's Day evening, Christine and I went to watch the West End musical Buddy, the story of Buddy Holly. A nice, quiet way to usher in the New Year with some good friends :)