It's Snowing!!!!

The car doesn't need a wash... BTW, I wrote this in the snow with my hands....

It has snowed again. We were expecting heavy snowfall in the wee hours of the morning but it turned out that the snowfall began late at our area. The expected snowfall is to be as thick as 10cm. This prompted some schools to close.

The car is covered with snow!! Can you see the little snowflakes flying around? (Click image to zoom)

Anyway, I woke up at about 6am and found that there wasn't any snow yet but looked like there was frost. Frost on the windscreen is not good because it is a layer of ice and you'll have to de-ice the windscreen first before you can work the wipers. (-_-)

The neighbourhood covered in white stuff.. Very powderful-le...

My colleague agreed that we should get to work earlier or else we'll be stuck on the roads due to the snow. Our route to work now has changed ever since we moved house and so, we use part of the A52 roadway to get to the office. On the way there, there is a queue as cars head towards the city centre and so, since it is a snow day, it can be quite congested.

Driving in snow is like driving in the rain, it can get slippery as the roads are slick with ice. The council will get people to de-ice the road by putting salt and that melts the ice. So, what you're left with is a wet road with puddles. Some smaller roads may still have snow and so, that can get slippery too. So, have to be careful-la.. :sweat:

Anyway, the snow is melting away liao. It might snow again on Saturday and if it does, I'll take more photos with my better camera. ;)

Note: These photos were taken using my SE K750i. Not bad-le.. (^_^)

Snow!!!

Another day at work. "Nothing" much to do. (Work is work, you can't escape it unless you don't work)

Well, one "highlight" of my day was seeing snow in Derby - FINALLY!!!

I'm OK with snow, not absolutely fanatical about it. I won't go out and lie in the snow to make snow angels and etc... Aiyo.. People so big liao, want to make angel-meh?

I'm not a big fan of snow because I have to go to work. That means, if snow covers the car, I have to scrape the snow off the car before I can drive to work. Not only that, icey roads means I cannot do my "Fast & Furious" style of driving - no drifting.. (>.<) Anyway, the following pictures I took this morning from my room window of the backyard and car.

Backyard with some snow - looks like some people throw simen on the grass...

BTW, the photos I took is with my Sony Ericsson K750i. I'm lazy to use my digicam, ok?

See the snow-covered rooftops?? The car is completely covered with snow!!

Anyway, seems that we will have snow and sleet for the next few weeks as winter closes in. I'm glad to go back in mid-Feb and I hope that by that time, the weather would be clear for me to go back!

** OIII!! VIP mau balik!! Make sure no major snowstorm on Feb 14th 2007 **

[ Offer chicken, duck, orange, apple, wine..... ] ** kowtow ** ** kowtow **

我的家在英国。。。

It has been a very busy week for me. I'll try to keep up by posting once a week. I'll probably have to make my site feel a little "Christmasy" but then, I know I can't do it due to work constraints. ^_^

As some of you may know, I've moved out of my lovely apartment near the city centre to another house. Anyway, I was put up at a new house but it had some problems with the heating and so, I moved out after spending a very cold night there.

The following picture is the outside of the house where I'm currently staying in Alvaston. It is about 5-15mins away from the office by car. It's more of a townhouse than a house standing on its own.

10 Downing Street got black door, we got green door...

The interior of the house is modern and very homey. The following picture is one of the couches, we have 1 3-seater and another two-seater on the right-hand side of the picture which I didn't take. The TV is at the front, and it's a small one, about 21-inches. No, it's not a plasma or LCD... It's not even digital.. -_-

Comfy couch...

I'm sure you're wondering how the kitchen and dining looks like, right? Hehehe.. Am sure that some of my colleagues who lived in the house would be surprised to find that it looks clean now because the landlord was very fussy about it.

All food is eaten here...

This is where we have our big makan.... Ok-la, it's not like a great hall or anything, but at least we have a table and chairs to sit on to makan-la.

Jamie Oliver/Nigella Lawson wanna-bes cook here...

Yes, we have a functioning oven/gas-stove and that little machine on the right is a dish-washing machine. We don't use it as it doesn't clean very well. My last apartment was equiped with an electric stove and so, that was quite ok to cook with it except that it took a while to heat up the element.

So, the next picture you're curious about is where I spend about 6-8hrs of my day... alone... Oii!!! No deerttty thots.. So, here it is...

Take 40-winks here...

It's a nice room and I have the view of the garden from that window. The rooms get a bit warm at night and so, it is nice to sleep in on cold winter nights these days.

All in all, I'm pretty comfy here. The house comes with 3-rooms, & 2-bathrooms. Anyway, we met up with the landlord recently, who came to inspect the house. After some complaints, we cleaned up the place and waited for the landlord to come. After two false alarms, we finally met up with them.

The landlord's wife came to inspect the house to ensure that all the work she asked the builders to come and fix had been done and that the house was neat and tidy. She got the house 2 years back and so, she wants to maintain the house to near-mint condition.

Okie, that's it for now. I'll blog about Edinburgh Part 2 soon...

Company Car

On the request of EV, I've decided to blog a little about the company car which I got while in UK.

At first, I was given a Peugeot but it was a manual transmission. :( I can't drive a manual car now after so many years of being spoilt by driving around an automatic car. *Sigh*.. Sometimes, I miss my little Satria... ^_^

Anyway, here's the front view of the car.

As you can tell, its a Renault. To be exact, its a Renault Scenic. The car handles very well. The size is about the size of the Perodua MyVi. So, this car isn't too big for me and since I've been driving my parents' MyVi around, I'm pretty used to this car's size. I still have a slight problem with parking a car of this size, so still got to get used to it.

This is the back of the car. Noticed that cars in UK don't have to put up the third brake-light as it is in other parts of the world, i.e. M'sia, S'pore and even Australia. So, at night, you've got to watch out when cars in front of you brake.

The drivers here are courteous but they drive really fast, even on winding roads! The road conditions here are marvelous and it is no wonder that the best drivers for F1 and etc. come from Europe. That is why Alex Yoong may have problems winning even the A1 because firstly, our cars here are poorly maintained, -- kereta potong and our roads are not roads at all, it is just a road, lined with a bit of tar, very prone to potholes.

I currently drive to and from work only. I haven't had the chance to go exploring by myself as I'm not familiar with the roads and I don't have a proper map. One thing I did notice that in Europe, the GPS navigation system is a must! Just last night, the gadget tv show spoke about GPS systems.

Anyway, for my next post, I'll put up some pictures of my trip to Edinburgh. So, expect that! :)

My Temporary Apartment at Derby

I’ve finally arrived in the UK on Friday, 11pm (UK-time) and I got into my apartment (SACO), which is located at Brook Street in Derby. Anyway, I’m living alone for a while, until I get to move into a “permanent” location, which will be my base in Derby.

I took a direct flight from S’pore to London Heathrow, so I took a shuttle from KLIA to Changi. Anyway, the following picture is of the plane at the KLIA.

I reached Changi airport just about 20minutes before the London flight was to start boarding. There was quite a bit of tight security at the gate. I had to remove my laptop to be scanned before being allowed to get to the gate.

On the flight, it was pretty empty but certainly, there were a lot of Europeans, not many Asian faces and immediately, I started to feel a bit out of place. There were a few Asian faces but then, not many. *sigh*… I started to feel very homesick at that time, thinking about my parents, sister and Snoopy.

I arrived at London in the evening, 6:30pm (UK-time) but then, because I was coming on my work permit, I had to be submitted for a medical check-up, i.e. a chest x-ray. There were a number of Indians who were there for work/study. I met another M’sian who came from Penang, who is working in London. Her friends would pick her up at the airport. At least she’s got a support network there. I was looking forward to seeing the guys.

After a 3hr drive from London to Derby, I arrived at the apartment and waited for the Project Manager to arrive to see if I’m ok, I had a good chat with the driver, who is of Pakistani descent.

Anyway, the following pictures show the apartment… J The apartment is located on the ground floor.

This is the hallway from the door to the living room. On the left, there is a bathroom and on the right, there are two rooms, one is the bedroom and the other is a study.

This apartment is big and kind of drafty because of its size. However, I find it to be kind of warm. J I like the place just that I don’t like to live alone here in a foreign country for now.

This is the kitchen area where, it comes with a dishwasher, microwave, oven and washing machine. The fridge is on the left of the picture (not shown).

This is the couch, where there is a TV, Sky (limited channels) and a DVD Player. I turned on my notebook to write my journal. I wasn’t connected to a broadband as it wasn’t available and it is rather expensive, about 15GBP per week. L I use the DVD Player to watch some shows and also do my daily exercise.

This is the double bed. Sorry that it’s a little messy. The room came with and ensuite bathroom. :)

A shower with a toilet… Quite nice. There is a towel rack which warms up the towel. Very useful especially during the cold weather now.

This is the study room where there is another phone as well as a broadband outlet. There is a network cable made available but since broadband is expensive; I didn’t request to get connected. :(

So, this is it! I would take more photos around Derby whenever I can. So far, my colleagues are not very keen to take me around, so, I’ve got to move around on my own. I hope to drag my colleague to bring me around town again. Hope that would cheer him up. He seems to be a little down lately.

Oh well, this is it for now. I’ve got to do my exercise now. I’m still kind of homesick but hope that the feeling will pass. I’ll be away for about 84 days, and hope to come back before CNY. After that, I may have to consider my options about travelling away from family so much.