4 years....

Wow! cannot believe that I have ignored this blog for more than 4 years.. The job that I mentioned in my previous blog has kept me so busy that I had completely forgotten that I have a blog.. 

The last four years of professional life has been really challenging but on the brighter side, I have gained a wealth of knowledge. I have had the experience of working with top management and the chief executives. I am truly thankful to my ex boss for having the confidence in me and just picking me for the role. I am truly thankful to her.

This morning, I was talking to my friends Archana & Sateesh and that's when I decided that I have to revive my blog and start writing once again. I need to jot down my thoughts as and when they come so that when I grow old, I can come back to them.

Recently, I bought a book where I have started writing my thoughts in that book. That's mainly because I have started to make a lot of mistakes in my spellings and also my handwriting needs improving. I used to have neat and beautiful writing, which is completely deteriorated. Hopefully more writing will improve my writing. 

I was talking to my friend Archana this morning and telling her that how I don't have a flair for writing. My writing is very simple and does not always have good and meaningful words. She encouraged me to practise more writing, another reason for reviving my blog. 

Today, we went Sunglasses shopping for Sateesh. I wanted to buy him sunglasses for his Bday next weekend. This was something I decided when we were walking on the streets of Edinburgh this easter holidays. Sateesh just casually mentioned that everyone is wearing Ray Ban glasses, that's when I decided I will buy him Ray Ban for his birthday. I knew that he did not have a good pair of glasses, so this was a great idea.

Then we went to Costa coffee, did our usual.. get some drinks in the coffee shop and then sit and talk about world affairs.. (our own affairs.. we dont care much about current affairs). Its always fun.. and we always have lots to talk about.

All in all, today was a relaxed Saturday.. look forward to more saturday of these kinds.. 

New role... once again

I have had very little work to do over the last few months. Since the time I have come back from holiday, I have had very less to do and therefore I feel I have become extremely lazy. This is not a nice state to be in..

After I came back from holiday(Bali) in May, a few things had changed in my company. One of my boss(RL) suddenly disappeared from the company, therefore significantly reducing my workload. Since his departure, I had been applying for new jobs and looking to see what is in the market etc...

I think not having anything significant or challenging to do is making my brain rust a little bit. I need something that challenges me and pushes me to learn new things. I hate to sit in the office and twiddle my thumbs. I rather sit at home and read my book or do something that occupies my mind.

While I was busy searching for new roles outside, an interesting situation has come up recently and I have been requested to cover for someones maternity. I grabbed this offer with both hands as I think its really a good team to be in and I have a lot to learn. Its a commercial finance role and hopefully I will do well there.

In a way, I am really happy that I was chosen and given this opportunity. The manager of that team approached me saying that I have received really good reviews and feedback and therefore if I would be interested to take on a new challenge. I was really happy to hear that from her, I only hope now that I can keep up with this new challenge.

If everything works to plan.. I should start on the 10th of Oct.. Fingers crossed..

Sunshine in my garden...

Sunshine in my garden

I love sunflowers, I think they are the happiest flowers

They are big, bright and beautiful and make me smile everytime..

My day

I am year older today.. but I feel younger, wiser, healthier and happier..I hope and pray that I can make this statement every birthday.

Few people I know are worried about getting a year older, but I am not one of them. Ageing is a natural process and therefore the quicker it’s accepted the better it is.

Instead of dwelling on all the bad things that this milestone brings, I look at the positives. I am no more in the twenties. I am entering the new age bracket and I am happy about it.

This year has already been exciting for me. We(college friends & I) were planning for a holiday together for this year and we actually went to Bali, Indonesia. We were thrilled that we finally managed to do somethng about our plans and not just plan

I got to spend some real good quality time with my 2(S&A) college friends who I have known since I was 16. Here is a quick list of the things we did or some of the events that I will remember for a long time are

1) Our 12 hr wait in Malaysia airport –thanks to A for booking the flights :) and keeping S & I entertained in the airport by her sleeping skills
2) Being upgraded to Ocean suite the first day and watching the sunrise from our balcony – beautiful
3) MR Dana – our tour operator and S referring to him as ‘Cow’ every time she forgot his name
4) ‘A’ called the housekeeping one early morning to ask them for a bucket and a tub – then after S corrected her; she asked them for a bucket and a mug. 10 minutes later, the guy turns up with a laundry bad and a coffee mug – we were all in hysterics over this
5) Our all night chatting/brainwashing sessions in bed and in the coffee shop
6) S the poser :)
7) Being millionaires in Bali – effect of devalued currency
8) Scuba diving, water rafting and jet skiing
9) Trying ‘Barong’ – Balinese dance
10)Leaning about, Wayan,Made,Nyoman & Ketut
11)A’s little rice cooker and S’s tasty edibles
12)Our shavige bhaat, puliyogare and chutney pudi experiences
13)SPA & body massage – beautiful – I could do with one now
14)Paintings and the art work around Bali
15)A’s skill of falling asleep just about anywhere
16)Kaapi Luwak experience
17)Lamp shades, glasswork, garden art and furniture in Bali
18)Air Asia staff not allowing me to get on flight back to Bangalore and S & I running around the airport finding internet and printer
19)Hanoman Street shopping - drooling over all the silver jewellery
20)Last day shopping and spending all the money

As we get younger each year, we plan to do more of these trips around the world together.

What’s been happening then…

I first needed to clean the cobwebs on my blog. It’s been more than four months since I have been here.
We finally managed to go for the holiday I was referring to in my earlier post, but it was such a drama! We decided to go to Tenerife for a 3 night holiday. The idea was to just relax and do nothing else. Our flights were scheduled from Gatwick airport at about 7.00AM and due to really bad weather conditions (snow); our flights were cancelled. We were offered to fly the following day from Manchester City (5hr bus ride). To get to the bus, we had to travel from Gatwick to London City (45mins on train), get in the queue, get tickets, book a night stay at Manchester city etc. Thanks to my iphone and unlimited 3G internet connection! After all this, we managed to get to the hotel at about 11.30 PM and our flights next morning was at some 8AM.

It was the first time that I travelled somewhere from the UK and did not have to change the clocks. Tenerife and UK operate in the same time zone. I was not able to work out the logic of that one. We got there about 2PM and headed straight to the hotel. Both my friend and I fell ill, we were not able to go sight seeing or anything like that, we did not leave our hotel, but all in all, it was a great adventurous holiday with really good friends.

The island itself is really nice; the resort we stayed was good, there was access to the beach through the hotel, beautiful swimming pool. The weather was perfect, about 15-20 degrees Celsius in December.

I have been thoroughly enjoying my Amazon kindle and iphone from the time I bought it, both the gadgets are great and I love it!

We finally managed to get another car earlier this year (FEB), this time we bought a Toyota Rav4 as we wanted to experience a 4 wheel drive. It’s good fun to drive it and we are planning a few road trips this year, lets see how many of them actually end up happening.

Some of the other things I have been up to are
1) Going to gym at least 3 days a week
2) Reading books
3) Knitting a scarf (its going a bit slow now)
4) We got half of our garden paved, so M does not have to lawn mowe during summer
5) M is growing a fruits and veggies in the garden, so I get to eat fresh strawberries every other day :)
6) Been to India & Indonesia recently – was sooper fun..:)

Office is getting a bit boring now.. I think its about time I find another job which will bring some excitement back.

I have not been here for long time now.. :)

Phew.. It’s been ages since I have been to see how my blog has been doing.. I have been really busy lately with work especially and have been going back home late etc.

I have been working on a project recently, which suddenly gained pace making me extremely busy. Now, it’s slightly losing its pace as it’s close to Christmas and everyone is either planning what Christmas tree they should get, where to buy presents, what to do on Christmas day or what to wear to the yearly office Christmas party which I avoid going to! I hate parties that involve lot of drinking and loud music.

It’s been snowing in the UK and the local councils are struggling to cope with it. The snow has arrived early this year and its heavy, which means, no one is prepared for it and it's a dire mess. People stuck in trains, stations, roads etc for hours. The footpaths and roads are frozen and are like ice skating rinks. It has stopped snowing for now, and I hope it does not come back this winter.

Anyways.. I recently bought myself a delayed birthday present (that's my explanation to spend money) which is the Amazon Kindle. It’s amazing; I absolutely love it, the screen looks just like a book. I am really happy with it, it’s got its limitations as it can only be used read books and its not touch screen etc.. But I still like it. It’s really convenient for me to carry on trains while I travel. It’s not heavy and is compact. There are some books that are not available in the kindle version or an e-version, which can be a bit of a problem, but otherwise, it’s great. Love it.

MR got me an iphone yesterday (yay!), a 32GB 3gs black iphone. I have been plotting to get an iphone from a long time, but never got it, because most of the network providers wanted to bind me into a 24 month contract and I hate contracts. You end up with a phone that you can only use on their network and loads of free minutes that you don't want. MR had promised me that he would buy me one, when he finds the right one.. I don't like the iphone 4 so, I had asked him to look out for a iphone 3 preferably 32GB and yesterday, he just got it because he found a good deal. I was pleasantly surprised. He actually went looking for some network switch that he wanted for one of his friend’s office and ended up buying iphone for me.. I am really happy that I have yet another new toy to play with…:).. I am so eager to get it all set up and working..

I and my friend have been planning to go away this Christmas to some sort of a holiday place, where all we do is eat, sleep and relax. We are probably going to an island somewhere in Spain for about 3 nights. It’s not confirmed yet, and we have not done any bookings yet, but it looks like we are close to confirming it. It's a pity that we cannot go for more than 3 nights and also that MR cannot join us. Hope everything works as per plan… and may be I will blog again from some island in Spain…

Aerobics

One of my friend S is training to be an aerobics tutor and as a part of her course she is required to learn all exercises and be able to teach her students. She also needs 2 people to accompany her on her assessment day where she is expected to lead an aerobics session for 60 minutes. So, I volunteered as it sounds like super fun.

It was real good fun this weekend, we spent about 2.5 hours on Saturday and Sunday learning exercises and actually doing it to the tune and count. S needs to be able to run a class for 60 minutes, without any mistakes and therefore requires a lot of practise. She is expected to give instructions, watch her students, maintain the count, stick to the beat & change steps correctly ..sigh!. Too many things to do together so we have decided to practice for everyday for at least an hour each weekday and more on a weekend until she is perfect and can get through her assessment with flying colours

Aerobics is such a fun way of exercising, there is a music, a bit of dance, being a part of the team, looking at each other and catching up steps when you miss a beat In a way, it's a good practise for my friend S, but its also a much need exercise for me. I only hope that my knee does not play up and behaves until she finishes her assessment. But I am having a ball of a time doing aerobics. Sooper fun it is..

A visit to Cotswold

Cotswold is a bunch of towns, cities and villages in the central western part of England. It runs across a few counties like Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire & Warwickshire. It’s apparently a range of hills the highest point of it being the Cleeve Hill.

This stretch is made up of a number of villages and towns with beautiful architecture. Most of the structures here are built with a yellow limestone that is found in this area.

Cotswold has some of the prettiest sights of England and is also regarded as a place of ‘outstanding natural beauty’. The Cotswold can be explored in many ways and we chose the easy one of driving. Moreover we only had a weekend (August Bank holiday weekend 2010) to explore the area with some friends who had to leave on Monday.

We headed off on Saturday morning after breakfast towards Oxford which is famous for its universities. Swiftly moved from there and headed towards Burford for the first glimpse of Cotswold villages.

The next village we went to was called ‘Burton on Water’. This is a typical English village is set around River Windrush. Clear water, the small bridges, lush green trees was such a pleasure to see. It’s also called ‘Venice of Cotswold’. Since it was the bank holiday weekend, there were just too many people in the village, so we decided to go back later in the year, in the autumn when there would be fewer tourists.

We headed up towards the north of the Cotswold covering a few more villages on the way. Some of the villages we visited were; The slaughters, Stow on the wold, Moreton-on-marsh, Chipping Camden, Broadway and finally Snowshill. On the way to these villages we saw some amazing cottages. Some cottages had different roofs, looked like thatched roofs, but very stylish ones.

As it was the bank holiday weekend, most places that we wanted to stay were fully booked so; we ended up staying in a town called Cirencester.
English villages have traditional tea rooms that serve Creme teas. This means, they serve scones, jam, fresh clotted creme and black tea. They were delicious.

The second day, we headed off towards a village called Lacock and then headed of towards a Castle Coombe. Castle Coombe was beautiful, it had some nice streets with good looking cottages. I wish I could just sit there and stare at those streets forever. We accidentally managed to bump into an English gentleman who works for a big consultancy and has been to India a number of times. He manages a few teams in Hyderabad and Mumbai from the UK. He was quite friendly and also managed to utter a few Hindi words.

After Castle Coombe, we headed towards the north of the Cotswold again covering Malmesbury, Tetbury, Nailsworth, Stroud, Painswick, Winchcombe, and back to Broadway & Snowshill. After which we headed home. Although, it was just a weekend.. we had a great time and it still reminds us of some really good conversations.

When I grow up...

My dear friend M has tagged me, and this is the first time, I have been tagged..:)

1) Swimming - Learnt it recently.. love it.. try and do it whenever possible
2) Musical Instrument - Learnt a little bit of Veena when I was a child, left it because the teacher used to leave me with her dog while I practiced :( .. Always wanted to learn Guitar.. Lets see...
3) Meditation - Somehow feel that meditation can be done only in a peaceful, green, serene place and not at home.. Just cannot get to terms with meditating at home.. May be its just me.. may be I need some enlightenment on this topic !
4) Foreign language - Wanted to learn French while I was in Bangalore, but classes were too expensive.. and after being in London for a while, meeting a few French people, think that its also difficult to learn.. so.. need to consider the language selection.. May be I will settle for Spanish.. just for fun.. Dont know
(5) Hair styles - I love experimenting with my hair.. and I am glad that my hair grows at super speed.. so I can keep playing with it.. I have wavy hair.. so try various styles with it.. Own a hair straightener.. and use it quite a lot these days.. normally my hair is layered.. and shoulder length.. and sometimes, I get bored and cut them really short.. just for fun..:)
(6) Walk in high heels - No way.. ! I cannot wear more than 2 inches.. This is something that amazes me, about women in London, they were about 4 inches of pointed heels and survive in them all day.. and recently I heard that the ladies here were heels from the age of 12..
(7) Teach - I think I will be a very good tutor, I have done training/ teaching in almost all my jobs after college. Even while I was doing ACCA, I was considering taking up teaching as a profession, but somehow did not pursue it..

M thanks to you for tagging me, I actually enjoyed doing this..

Another summer weekend..

Kent popularly known as 'Garden of England' is the home for the beautiful Leeds Castle. Its not only famous for its beautiful structure but also its natural flora and fauna..

The English castles are well known for their massive gardens. These are some of the views of the gardens on the way to the castle. These pictures were taken on a gloomy summer day, but on a nice summer day, with bluer skies.. they look even better..

Every season, the flora of this places changes.. These lovely white bush of flowers is British summer speciality.. It can be found all over England through out Summer

The Castle is surrounded by River Len, and the views are absolutely stunning.
The castle with its lush green gardens and River Len...

As you walk through the gardens you find Peacocks and peahens fearlessly walking around and wondering as to what humans(intruders) are doing in their land.

I was really happy to see this lovely bird with beautiful feathers march in front of us with pride.

Some lucky little kids found feathers of peacocks in the bushes. They seemed extremely proud of their possessions

Another beauty.. White peacock in the green gardens was a beautiful sight.

There are few castles that are really beautiful and worth going to in England and Leeds castle is one of them.. We had a lovely day out this Saturday at Leeds castle.

Random weekend update..

I think I spoke too early about the World cup.. Brazil lost the match against Holland.. so I decided that i will not support any team, just watch the final and support the winning team :) This way I will not be disappointed when all the teams I support go out of the world cup.

This weekend we went to a farm where we could pick our own cherries. We have been to a lot of places where they let us pick our own Strawberries and we normally tend to go atleast once a year, but this time, wanted to pick cherries as we have heard a lot about it. It was quite nice to see massive trees full of cherries of all different colours. It was a great experience and super fun.

Watched the Wimbledon Men's Final on Sunday, which was a bit boring, I love watching tennis, but slept through the last set, it was that boring. The mixes doubles was good fun, Leander Paes was playing on one team and was really nice to see someone from India win the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title.

World cup

After all the excitement of supporting England, it all came to a disastrous end yesterday. The England team lost quite badly yesterday against Germany at a score of 4-1.

So, I now have to choose another team to supportJ. It does not take long for me to change sides. Some of the favourite teams are Argentina, Brazil, Holland (who have not lost even one match so far) and Germany.

I was deciding between Brazil and Argentina, but I made up my mind to support Brazil.

Footy

I normally tend to avoid going to pubs with office colleagues, firstly because they have loud music, therefore it’s impossible to have a conversation, without screaming down one’s ear and secondly I don't drink (like) alcohol!

But yesterday, everyone in my new project office were going to the pub to watch an important England football world cup match, I had to go with them as this meant we left office at 3.00 and went home early too.. :) How could I miss that? I am making all attempt to follow the world cup at least until such time that England are out. It was a new experience for me, watching football game in the pub.

There were a lot of people shouting and screaming and enjoying the game. Luckily, England won the game, which meant that they are not out of the world cup (yet)! The weather was very good, which meant the celebration continued for a lot of people even after the game, a lot of people moved out of the pubs to continue drinking and I headed home to catch up on some Wimbledon action.
I have never been this interested in football, but I always loved watching tennis. Football is new to me and I am slowly starting to learn the rules of the game. I am looking forward to the game this Sunday between Germany and England. Go England!

First Contact with Contacts...

This time while I was in Bangalore, I got my eyes tested. I wanted to get it tested here, but always kept pushing it. Finally, when I was walking around in Commercial Street, trying to find a pair of sunglasses for my husband whose luggage was misplaced– courtesy British Airways, I spotted a vision express and decided to get my eyes tested. I was 100 % sure that I will come out of there with a prescription for a pair of glasses and that’s exactly what happened. A week later, just a couple of days before I was to come back to London, I got my new glasses and actually, I could see much better. Initially, I though I did not have a problem with my eyes, but the glasses made realise that I did have a problem (clearly- I was being stupid). I was prescribed a distance vision of -1.75 for left eye and -1.5 for the right eye.

After coming back to London, I used them everyday and then got so used to them and found that I wanted them all the time. I was not able to use my sunglasses as much as I wanted to (considering Sunshine rare here) I could not benefit from both proper vision and sunglasses, as I could not use them together. Some of my friends recommended that I get a photo-chromic glass which reacts to the light. Somehow, the idea of just sticking to one pair of sunglasses and not being able to use my own sunglasses did not go down too well… so I decided I needed contact lenses. Therefore, booked an appointment for getting contacts.. I was told; I needed to get a new eye test for it, after which there would be more tests for contact lens fitting. They also told me, the whole process is going to take 2 hours, I was a bit worried as to what are they going to do with me for 2 hours!

Went to specsavers(store) this Saturday, got my eye test. I was told I had more power when compared to the tests that was done in India, so I was prescribed to wear -2.25 left eye and -1.75 right eye. I was a bit worried as it had only been 2 months since my first test. Anyways, I have to trust someone, so I had to spend some more money and get a new pair of glasses. Then came the contact lens fit time, underwent some more tests, looked in to strange machines, the doctor looked through my eyes with some strange pen like things with lights coming off them etc. After about 20 minutes, the doctor said, my contact lens power is different from the specs power. Its -2.00 for the left and -1.5 for the right and by this stage, I was confused as to what is going on? The doctor addressed my concern, by saying that this is quite common and used some medical terms that went well above my head. He placed the contact lens in my eye; it was more comfortable than I thought its going to be. Then came the fun part.

He sent me to another lady who gave me a session of the do’s and don’ts of contact lens world. She even taught me how to put them on and take them off, she got me to do it myself twice, I was quite happy that I could do it. I was actually dreading the whole idea of placing something in my eye, with the eye wide open. It’s a weird experience, but it’s easy with some practice. I had seen some of my friends do it, and I used to wonder how they do it with such ease and will I ever be able to do something like that?

They sent me off, with contact lenses in my eyes and gave me about 5 pairs of lenses to try. I went home, went to play tennis, and had them on for about 5 hours. I had some trouble taking of the lenses off my eye as it was the first time I was doing it all by myself. On Sunday, I wore them all day, had slight trouble getting them on, as the lenses would not stick to my eye at all. In the end, somehow got them on.. and got them off before going to sleep. I was chuffed :)

I kind of liked the idea of contact lenses, and also the idea of wearing glasses to work. Thoroughly confused - Now I have to decide how often do I want to wear them? Do I want to wear glasses to work? Do I want contact lenses? Do I need contact lenses for leisure or everyday use? Do I go for monthly/daily/yearly? Don’t know the answers to all questions yet, but that’s probably why they have sent me off with some lenses to try and see how I feel with them.

Summer....

I used to wonder earlier on, why people in this country crave for sunshine, why does every conversation begin and end with weather. Why people go crazy when the sun is out. Why people hang around outside the pubs in summer? Why do the news channels talk about weather every hour or every half hour? Why does everyone start to wear fewer clothes with the slightest sight of sun or rise in temperature?

But, I know realise the importance of sunshine in life. I had taken the sunlight for granted back home; infact most times avoided the sunlight and craved for the monsoon season or post monsoon season. Post monsoon (Sept-Jan) is my all time favourite back in Bangalore.

Having been in London for about 6 years now has made me realise the importance of daylight. I feel there is much more to a day and lot of time after work. It makes a lot of difference to my thinking and behaviour. It’s really a pleasure to come home after work and look out of my kitchen window and actually being able to see my garden without switching on lights. Leave all the curtains open to get some natural light into my home and not fearing that it’s going to get cold if curtains are left open.

Simple pleasures of life that make a difference, that we often take you for granted.

Bangalore Auto saga....

Couple of months ago, I went to Bangalore after 2 years. I had heard that the auto situation in Bangalore is a complete joke, and I experienced it big time.
Firstly, when you call for an auto, some don't look, if they do, they don't stop, if they stop, they don't want to ride you to the destination you need them to.. ! And above all, they demand crazy money if they decide to come to your destination.

One of my experiences this time around.. I wanted to go to Sadashivnagar from NandiDurga Road- Its probably about 5-6 km or even less. It was about 9.00 AM. I go to the main road with a hope of getting an auto. About 10 autos later, one guy stops for me.
He speaks in Hindi,

Me: Sadashivnagar
He: Who kahan hai, mujhe rasta pata nahi?
Me: Mekhri Circle se jaana padega, aapko mekhri cirle ka rasta pata to hoga na?
He: Nahi madam, pata nahin
Me: Chalo, mein bata doongi.. aap chalo..
He: Ok madam, aap ko Rs 80 dena padega..
Me(Shocked & angry) : Aapko ye pata nahin, ki Sadashivnagar kahan hai, aur aap mujhe bolte hai Rs 80 dho... Aapko kaise pata kitna door hai?
He: Smiles...
Me: Walk away to find another auto.. !

This guy annoyed me like crazy, first of all has no clue where Sadashivnagar is, forget that, does not even know where Mekhri circle is, cannot speak Kannada(local language) and then wants me to pay Rs 80(normally would have costed Rs40 or so) and tell him the route of how to get there.. If he could have, he probably would have asked me to ride his auto and he would have sat behind ! He has no clue how far away this place is or anything like that, for all he knows, I could have said Basavangudi!

Its a real frustration when you don't have a bike or a car that you can travel from one place to the other. The auto situation in Bangalore, made me helpless many times.. and I realised pretty quickly, that's its not a very pleasant state to be in,,,

Limousine Ride..

One of our good friends(lets call them Y&S) are leaving the UK for good and moving back to Bangalore.. and a few of us wanted to do something special for them, that they could remember for ever… So we decided, as a complete surprise, we shall take them to dinner to a restaurant in Central London in a white stretch Limousine.

As always, I was given the task of organising the event. I went away and contacted a number of limo provides for quotes. First we wanted to get a Hummer Stretch Limo, but figured that its too expensive and also too big for 8 people. So, we finally settled for a normal white stretch limo.

There was a bit of confusion as to how we actually invite the couple without letting them know what we plan to do. As they have kids, they need advance notice unlike us, who can get ready in a jiffy. In the end, we managed it somehow and they were ready at 6.45 PM. They were pleasantly surprised, when they say a stretch limo outside their door, ready to take them for a ride.
The interiors of the limo was fantastic. They had wine and champagne glasses everywhere. There were dim inset sparkly lights inside, nice steel interiors and leather seats. We were 8 adults and 2 kids and not once before this we had been together in one vehicle. We normally need 2 or sometimes 3 cars to comfortably fit all of us. It was a great experience, all of us in one car, drinking and chatting away..

It was a great evening out that all of us will remember..

New office... New team

I have been taken out of my original role and been deputed to a new project. The project office is based in a new location and I am really excited to be a part of both the team and the office. London is a very old city and therefore there are very less sky scrapers. A number of buildings are listed and therefore cannot be destroyed or externally modified.

The highlight of the new office space is that it has about 33 floors.. And although we are on the 12th floor we have some great views. This is the first time I am actually working in such massive building. I get cheap thrills like that J

The best part of this office is that we don’t have many phones yet, which means no one can contact me easily. I am left all by myself to do some work without disturbance, which is fantastic. I am a big fan of natural light and clear glass windows, and the office has a lot of both. It’s also closer to home than my old office; it’s a 20 minute train journey which is a luxury by London standards.

All in all, the choice of moving from my original role to the new role, worked out really well from all aspects so far.

A picture... I wil remember..

A break.. from the norm…

This was on my list of places to visit from a long time. Isle of Wight, a beautiful island famous for its natural beauty and sandy beaches. It’s apparently the largest island of England. In about 2-3 hours, one could drive around the island.

View from the ferry

I was the organiser of the trip (nothing new there), since it’s an island, we need to get to a port first, after which we can get on a ferry that will take us across to the island. Portsmouth was our port of exit from mainland England which is about 2 hours away from where we live. We (I) decided that it would be nice to leave early, get to the destination in good time, drive around the coast for a few hours and then relax in our rooms for the rest of day.

We headed out at 7.00 AM, for there about 9.00 AM for our 9.30 ferry. It was a new experience for some of them being in ferry with the car. We had breakfast in the ferry which was a new experience. Reached a place called Fishbourne near a town called Ryde and decided that we would carry on driving along the coast and would stop if we found anything exciting. We stopped at a vineyard for some wine tasting, had some really nice fresh apple juice and tasty liqueurs. I loved the Elderberry liqueur and we got some home with us too. We also stopped at a place called waltzing waters and watched a spectacular musical fountain, it’s the best we have seen so far.

On the way - English countryside

After a few hours of driving, everyone decided that we ought to stop for a bite. On consensus, we ended up in an English pub that served with some delicious veggie food to our surprise. After a nice meal, we headed to our sea-front rooms, checked in, changed and got ready to head down to the beach of Ventnor. The beach was not as good as we expected, had a quick stroll, wet our feet, realised that the water was too cold and therefore went into a amusement arena and played some games instead :)
By this stage, all of us were a little tired and wanted to hit the bed, but ended up playing cards, having dinner and chatting until about 1 in the morning.

Beautiful city of Ventnor

Day 2: After a heavy breakfast, we headed to Alum Bay where the world famous ‘Needles’ are situated. On the way, we got the witness the beautiful English country which has something different to offer all the time. It’s just beautiful. I love the lush green meadows, yellow mustard fields, colourful shrubs and flowers spread all across. Isle of Wight reminded me of Scotland. We also got to see the white cliffs of Isle of Wight on our way to Alum bay.

Alum Bay had a glass making factory and there we witnessed glass making process. It was amazing to see colourful glasses being made. I bought a nice vase from there just for memory. It was indeed a wonderful experience.

On the whole, was an exciting trip and wonderful memories and quality time spent with some of our closest friends who mean a lot to us, and it’s a pity that one of them are leaving us and heading back to our homeland for good. We will miss you :(

White cliffs of Isle of Wight