What IS happening?

Police have just shot dead a man suspected to be a bomber outside Stockwell tube station.
News here and at Londonist.com

What's scary is that witnesses claimed that police:

'"pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him"

Shooting to disarm or disable is somewhat necessary. Shooting to kill - now that's scary. The Muslim council is now asking for an explanation. How can this be explained?

-------------------

I'm not scared enough to want to go home yet. My route everyday is just between Imperial and my temporary flat and occasional side trips to Starbucks. I'm not in the busy CBD, in fact I'm right beside the very gentle Natural History Museum and V&A (and I know I'll just cry if Natural History is bombed! I love that museum! But what's the point of bombing tourists and dinosaur bones?) And just TRY bombing Imperial. We're so tiny we'll rebuild in 5 minutes! That's not to say we're not a likely target; an institution with some of the greatest minds in the world! But we're protected by dear Sir Alexander Fleming's ghost in the Chem Labs to say the least. And that's if we don't implode on one of our own experiments in the deep recesses of our labs!

But above all, I know I'm just not scared because my faith says I needn't be.

Everything's alright, Yes, everything's fine

An attack that failed.

That's what it was. Just partially exploded devices.
It's being played down really well everywhere. The BBC's pretty calm about it, no need for unnecessary public panic. Tony Blair has urged everyone to go on with their lives as normal. Even the Rector at Imperial College sent an email that was rather different from the one two weeks ago, almost like a memo, alerting us of the news and telling us to go about as normal but otherwise stay where we are. I mean, sure we're shaken, but they are not going to terrify us into living our ordinary lives in ways less ordinary. In fact we're gonna live them extraordinarily! Hell, we're going to keep walking down those streets, into those tube stations and onto those buses.

(Well, not me... my dad's banned me from taking any form of public transport for now. Although I probably might still, just don't tell him!)

And it's cool and the ointment's sweet
For the fire in your head and feet
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
And relax
Think of nothing tonight

It's happening all over again

No need to be alarmed.
BBC says there has been a few minor explosions about an hour ago
3 stations evacuated - Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush
A number 26 bus along Hackney Road had its windows blown out
Nothern, Victoria and Hammersmith and City Line are suspended and that's the best transport for london can say for now, but there are talks of several other stations being closed.
Only one injury so far, no casualties... but the order now is to stay where we are.
Just like 2 thursdays ago.
Don't be alarmed.
London is going to overcome this, somehow...

Stay tuned for updates.
The regular sound of sirens passing by is giving me the creeps.

blubberish!

...comes and goes as she likes...
...finds it hard to wake up before 10...
...gets nervous sitting on the top deck of buses alone...
...cringes at dirty kitchens...
...and blotchy bathroom sinks...
...runs around london when the sun is out...
...hides in her makeshift room when the wind is blowing...
...thinks spending a day reading in the natural history museum might be fun...
...otherwise, starbucks has always got a corner for her...
...should be doing work, but has she ever?...

Who's finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? Oh, quick you guys, hurry up and read it!! I'm dying to discuss it with somebody, but I can't say anything about it here because it will just kill the usual surprises which are on almost every page in this book! So far I know Andy (my classmate) and Aimran have finished it. Andy finished it just 5 hours after it was released at the stroke of midnight!
I have to mention though, for Londoners, some events are just too freakishly coincidental, it's giving me goosebumps!

Oh, did I also mention that I got my copy of Harry Potter for just 7.99 pounds? That's about RM55, that's about 24.00 SGD, that's part of the thrill of walking all the way from Edgware Road to Oxford Street to Regent Street to Leiceister Square to find that your favourite bookshop never fails you! And yes, yes! I didn't just get one book. I got two! I'm so over-elated, you'd be daft not to notice it! Lionel thinks I'm being really silly over a children's story book, but *muaks* he's been really patient throughout my anxiety attacks when I discovered Amazon had failed me and had not managed to deliver my book to me! I'm a digbat, I know...

Off to BBQ now...

Adieu, Emperor's Gate, adieu...

It's been a really long day after a really long night. After several trips on to Raymond's flat on Thursday, trying to transfer another load of the useless junk we've collected (and this was after we had siphoned away the REALLY useless junk like Bob, our dead Xmas pine tree and Amar's bathrobe), Lionel and I rolled up our sleeves and practically polished the entire house. And I mean it.
All evening, right up till 11pm, we were on our hands and knees, scrubbing the lime scales off the shower floor, wiping away the many finger prints on the walls (and yes, Lu, I actually managed to disguise the mark left by the chin-up bar! We will NOT be using it next year unless there's wooden panelling!), scouring every corner of the kitchen, painstakingly trying to remove every little spot of grease around the stove and its surrounding cupboards.
By the time we dropped into our beds, exhaustion hit us like a runaway train (oh that was such a bad simile), and I had awful dreams all night. Like the kind of dreams you get before exams where you don't have enough time to finish studying, except this time I probably didn't have enough time to clean the whole flat twice.
Lionel had to get up bright and early this morning to go to Charing Cross, and I thought I'd slowly move more stuff over and clean up a few more things before the Antonios come round to check the place in the evening, but NO! Luigi (no relation to Super Mario), turns up at the door and says we have to move out by 4.30pm latest! Time check - it's already 12.30pm!
The race against time to move and pack and clean is really much worse than trying to answer enough digital electronics questions in two hours. I have no other method of gauging time. I'm pathetic! Anyway, I made two trips to Raymond's place on my own with my 60litre backpack, but decided against a third trip on my own after one of the mechanics along the way called out to me and asked me if I would like to meet his friend. Dodgy! Back home, I was calling Lionel at hourly intervals and asking him why he wasn't coming home yet, while trying to do more cleaning and moving everything out of the rooms and the kitchen.
Finally at 4.15, Lionel came home and we moved most of the stuff to Raymond's place by cab, hoping Luigi would be late. And of course Luigi was late! We should have known Luigi is never reliable, and not only was he late! I had to call his mother to ask why no one had shown up yet to check us out of the flat!
So after Lionel made a quick trip to Raymond's place with our last few things, Luigi appeared at 5.40 and proceeded to inspect all the rooms by turning all the mattresses upside down (did he think we peed on them?), and flicking all the cupboard doors open. To my joy he proclaimed our flat the cleanest he'd ever seen, which he said was very rare and that we'd done a really good job. Unfortunately we still got 150 pounds deducted for the burn mark on the kitchen top. But Mrs Antonio is still raving about how unusual it is for a tenant to leave a house so clean! They made my day! God, help me! I'm such an obsessive compulsive!
Well, here we are now, in Thomas and Yanda's room. A quarter of the room is piled like a junk heap with all our pots and pans and kitchen stuff and books. We are keeping the bulk of our household items. A little unfair, but what must be done must be done. We also did the bulk of the cleaning without Yi Shan. You owe us, big time!!!
I need sleep, but I'm missing Emperor's gate and my big big room already. It really was such a lovely flat (when it was clean...), my haven of rest after tiring M-Nite days, my dream kitchen with all the space and cupboards in the world!, my lovely room with the sofa where we watched many Amazing Races under fleece blankets, the cool summer days where the temperature drops once you walk down the stairs to our basement flat, the many Bobs that have passed through its door...
You will always be remembered. In the many quips we will make, and the stories we will tell...

following up on the meritocracy debate...

Wan Aimran, one of my juniors here in Imperial who's been following my education/government/meritocracy posts, so kindly alerted me to this:

HARDCOPY: Time to get over meritocracy phobia

You all are worse than my mum!

grammatically speaking, that should read 'all of you are...' but real English just doesn't have that added punch of in-your-face Manglish.

but I digress.

The last thing Charme said to me was: just drop a line a day on your blog so that we know you're safe! :)

Come on! Even my mum has stopped calling everyday!

[oh but I DO love all this sudden concern and love!]

My mum really annoyed me yesterday. But in retrospect, the things she says are hilarious! Heaven knows what the Malaysian papers are saying (or showing) about the London bombings, but its got alot of Malaysians more worried than the Londoners, and that includes my ever paranoid and over-protective mother. Yesterday, she called me and devised a security plan for me should I ever be stuck inside Marks & Spencer in the event of a bomb scare. (It's happened to her before, you see. Back in the 70's). Why Marks & Spencer? Because it's owned by Jews - a possible target, no?

I know my mother worries because she is a mother and mothers worry (and I just know I will turn into her one day!), but I swear it is going to test every fibre of my patience to go home this summer and be under her care. Since my dad's recovery from cancer, there is not a single item of food that my mother does not scrutinise for preservatives, genetic-modification, carsinogens, sugar, vitamin C produced the wrong way, eggs laid by the wrong chickens and who knows what else! Sometimes it seems that everything I eat or buy is unhealthy or cancer-inducing, one way or another. She's even got me taking these pills to boost my immunity, which is possibly a placebo as I haven't been taking them, and my housemates got sick instead of me! (The only time I was sick this year was due to MNite and no amount of immunity pills could have prevented fatigue and stress!). I'm okay with the cod liver oil and the vitamin C and maybe the vegetable supplements because we don't eat enough veggies in this house (you hear that, Lu??). But other than subscribing to the 8 glasses of water a day, 7 hours of sleep and heaps of veggies and fruits health plan, I believe my mother needs to learn how to take everything else in moderation.

My mum just reminded me yesterday not to bring any cookies or artificially sweetened dried fruits (and a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten) back from London. I am going to need a magnifying glass to carefully read the labels of anything I intend to bring home as gifts! She also mentioned that she shouldn't be telling me what to do as I am officially all of twenty-two years. But.. sigh! I can do anything I want in London, but hey, she's the boss at home! At least she still allows me to eat hawker food (because she knows the hawkers personally and has possibly inspected all their ingredients herself).

London, paranoid?

Londoners have been urged to return to normal life. That means - go to work! use the buses! use the tube! relive the hustle and bustle of one of the busiest cities in the world as if crazed terrorists never showed their venomous hatred towards us. Show them we're not afraid.

And just after I'd told haoxiang that I don't really feel any different living in a city that's been under seige, on my way to Starbucks (my new haven for a comfy spot to do some reading) at the crossroads of Cromwell Road and Gloucester Road, I saw a huge black cloud of smoke rising from one of the buildings facing Natwest (next to the money changer). My first instinct was to kay poh as I was at a perfect spot to watch the drama of fire engine trucks racing down Cromwell road, followed later by police cars and an ambulance. After 5 minutes, I figured that they should be able to get the situation under control pretty fast, so I went into Starbucks to order my Caramel Frappucino (I swear it's not helping the fats... oh yes, with cream please!). But from inside Starbucks you could see ash spewing onto the streets and they stopped serving us at Starbucks due to the 'dangerous situation' outside. People were starting to leave Starbucks, and cashiers and waiters were running out of KFC and Illy cafe and Burger King - some to kay poh, others just wanting to get as far away as possible in case it was more than just a house fire.

Since it was a hot day and I really needed to get my readings done, I walked to the Starbucks at Sainsbury's. Two hours later, on my way back, even more fire trucks were along Cromwell road and even more police. They'd managed to cordon off the entire stretch of Cromwell road from Natwest till the Natural History Museum. There wasn't anymore smoke, and I don't think anyone was badly hurt because the ambulances were still there but not doing anything, but you could see that alot of extra precaution was being taken. I mean, we didn't even see this much drama last year, not even a fire truck, when smoke was spewing out the fourth floor of Linstead Hall due to someone's cooking accident last year!

It has affected us. Paranoia is here to visit for awhile.

On the meritocracy debate...

Such people make me worry like hell for the future of my nation when they say things like this.

And then, some make you sigh with relief like this. It's a small glimmer of hope in a vast, dark ocean.

News bytes courtesy of Education in Malaysia.

The day after

We are all waking up to an uneasy calm in the city. Lionel and I have decided to stay home from work.

My desktop latest news update has beeped that the death toll has risen to 50. There are still bodies in the underground, being removed at Russell Square. Although many tube services are up and running, the Hammersmith and Circle Line are still closed for now, and delays and limited services are to be expected. Buses are running, but with extra high security. I don't think anyone is going to do any travelling for now. It's not that the probability of another bomb will be high (security will be at its maximum today), it's just the unease of being able to trust any form of transport, or any public spaces for that matter.

If you are feeling helpless, try donating blood -
call 0845 7711711 (uk residents only)
Thanks to this guy.

The weather today is still dismal.
Will be staying tuned to the news and working on my sound signals for the time being.

We're all clearly shaken and understandably paranoid. Even here at Imperial!

I appreciate the concern! *hugs*

I also have to say thanks for all the smses and calls and msn messages and helping me follow the news.
I can't sms back still, but I really appreciate your prayers and concern! Keep praying, not just for the victims, but for those responsible for these tragedies!

So silly, should have made it clearer. Lionel's at Charing Cross hospital doing a research placement for the summer. But he's home now. They told everyone in the labs to go home if they had nothing left to do to avoid the traffic jam that was sure to build up. But even as they were leaving the jam had already started.

Lionel had to walk an hour to get home, in the rain, nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are staying home and listening to the radio. My live BBC telecast has stopped working. BBC's bombarded right now. Plenty of varying news reports coming in. First they said it was 7 blasts. Now it seems there were only 4 confirmed explosions which occured on the lines in between 7 stations and well as a bus that exploded and its top was completely ripped off. BBC's website still only reports 2 official deaths, but radio news is bringing in numbers in the twenties. Several serious casualties, people with lost limbs and burn victims. I don't know if anymore people are still being evacuated out of the underground, the last I heard there were still passengers waiting to be evacuated.

There's little connection with the outside world, although telecommunication lines are slowly coming back to life, but its only understandable that they'd be all choked up. My only communication with anybody at all is through the Internet (and strangely through my 3G phone, why it only works at times like these baffles me!)

My mother has managed to speak to me and my father says to come home.

You never imagine you'd be in a situation like this. It's rather dream like. And not a nice one at all!

What a bomb!

We're alright. Lionel's currently stuck in Charing Cross hospital, but we've decided its best that he stays there for now anyway.

Everyone's staying put for now. So far its been 6 blasts and 2 fatalities. A bus and 5 tube stations.

Phone lines are choked. Msn is my only medium of communication right now.

Stay tuned and pray!

Thanks for the worrying and concern.

5 day week system for schools next year

I knew this would happen! I told you this would happen! And right in the Star today:
Saturday school activities still on

but...

There's always a but. School uniformed groups should start lobbying against this!

I hope Paris wins the bid!

It's just a few more hours.
I'm not backing the bid.

It doesn't seem fair that all of London's transport systems, utilities and the entire city itself will only be spruced up and be given a major upheaval if we win the bid.
It's not fair that the major hike in bus and tube fares will increase even more when three new stations have to be built for the Olympic village.
Why can't they clean up London without an Olympic contract? God only knows how much that needs to be done! We've been screaming about it for oh so long!

Yesterday Venki came down from Barking to walk around central London with Lu and me. We walked past the London Eye, then across the Thames to say hi to Big Ben and Westminster, then caught a bus to Chinatown and after a hearty lunch walked down to Leicester Square and then to Covent Garden where we watched several street performers and musicians, and toured all of the insides of the London Tranport Museum's shop. The Museum itself would have cost a freaking 5 quid!

Then we came to the conclusion that there was just nowhere else to go. It was raining, and thus the British Museum was a very long wet walk away. The Covent Garden performers were also taking shelter from the rain. And everything was just wet and gloomy and it felt like April showers were back again. So we went home.

What I love about London are the parks, the free museums, the kebab stalls, roast duck, krispy kremes and Covent Garden. But it just takes an annoying drizzle to spoil half of that. That and the words 'not in service' at the tube.

Booked, tagged and bound!

Yeap, I copied the title right off your blog, Sher. Hope you don't mind.

So after a lazy hazy day, spent lounging around doing various errands and then getting a cuppa with Ayish followed by more lounging around in my room watching the M-Nite dvd again and talking about the 'old days' (how can we ever get tired of our baby?), what better way can I end my day with than filling in a book tag!

Total number of books I own: I buy almost every book I read (I don't believe in borrowing or loaning or stealing etc.), so erm... that's a pretty big collection. I intend to house a library one day.

Last Book I Bought: Ooh, I went on a book spree a short while before my exams with Lionel. We came back with no less than 8 books, me thinks. Among them were Fly: an experimental life, and The Chinese Experience

Last Book I was gifted: Well, erm, here's the joke. I don't remember being given any books in the last few years. You'd think people wouldn't think I was a book aficianado. If you did give me a book and I've forgotten, well message me and I'll edit this!

Last Book I Read: The Da Vinci code. I don't believe it and I do not subscribe to it.

Currently Reading: Does the Glamour magazine I bought at the airport count? Oh fine, I'm starting on Angels and Demons. I'm not a Dan Brown fan, in fact I think he's awful, but since its sitting prettily in my fireplace, I might as well.

Five Books that mean a lot to me:
You are kidding! You can't make me choose! Alright, off the top of my head...

1) Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safron Foer
I just took one look at the cover and I knew I had to have it, read it, know it!
2) The Remains of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

If you had to take a pause in life and look down the fork in the road, this is a book you should have by your bedside. Don't ask me why. I just felt that way about it, reading it after Prelims in my little hostel room in Singapore.

3) Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

It isn't so much the story that means a lot to me, it's the people I read it with, the long forgotten times spent analysing it, tearing it apart and then seeing it in a new light, back in Mrs Menon's dining hall on hot Saturday afternoons. And then, things fell apart. Where's the centre we had now?

4) High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
The beginning of my love affair with Nick Hornby, Helen Fielding, and all other witty, tongue in cheek, satirical authors. I dedicate this top 5 list to High Fidelity.
5) Jane Eyre & The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
She's my namesake, and I can't choose between these two books. I love them both. There's also Shirley, but it's almost like Jane Eyre. I liked the Professor a little bit better because it had a happier ending.


This Book Tag is now passed to: (alright... who reads... hmm... who reads?)

Anyone who's chanced on this book tag and hasn't done it. I know the ones who read (kat, cl, fidzy, hx, jac, jills, kimmy, maggie), so there! You've been book tagged!

The Spanish Preview

I'm brown, I'm penniless and I'm home! Hot scorching Spanish days just fly by in the blink of an eye when you're not trying to avoid pick pockets or scheming gypsies (but as we learnt, we Chinese are a slipperier lot!), and while Lionel finishes with the 1200 plus photos we took, here's a little preview for you blood-thirsty blog-snappers, just to whet your appetite.

(Oh, I have to add that all these photos are courtesy of my humble Olympus mju 300, and not Lionel's mighty Nikon D70s. See, even little cameras can churn out pretty decent postcard shots!)


Our days in Barcelona drained us of our money more than any other Spanish city. Here's the famous Gaudi lizard at Park Guell. I'm glad Park Guell was free. 16 euros to visit Casa Batllio even with a 20% discount is a major rip off.

Seville on the otherhand really captures the feisty, hot-blooded Spanish spirit!

From the bull fighting rings:

The famous Maestranza bullring, which aficianodos proclaim is the most beautiful and was featured in Bizet's Carmen. I am still staunchly not a supporter after the horrifying discovery that up to 5 bulls are mercilessly tortured and killed each fight. At least the meat is fed to the poor.

To it's very red, tomato saturated food:

Enjoying a dinner of tapas at one of the many outdoor 'Bordega's or bars.

And yet Seville has that sense of serenity and spiritual one-ness, magnificently captured by the Moorish and Islamic architecture.

Like the fountains at the Alcazar

The Mercury fountain at the Alcazar. If you could only see the view we were facing! You'd have to wait for Lionel's photos though.

And the Giralda tower

The bells, bells, bells of the Giralda (isn't that a name that could inspire magic lamps and sultry arabian nights?)

And then there were the fantastical orange trees that just bloomed everywhere and gave the air that tangy scent:

In the courtyard of the Cathedral after climbing up the Giralda tower. The trees were littered with oranges, but much too far up to pluck... damn it! It isn't easy being an orange thief!


And for the Roman History enthusiasts (like Lionel), just outside Seville in the little village of Santiponce lies what was the third largest Roman city with its remarkable mosaics. However in a very Malaysian way, during the Middle Ages the ruins were used as a source of stones for buildings and much treasure hunting was carried out without any restraint and it was not until recent times that the value of Italica was realised. (The Duke of Wellington was one such criminal!).

Oh well, at least we got to see what was left of it (much to Lionel's joy!)


Overlooking the massive amphitheatre and the entrance to the amphitheatre below. You can just imagine the great gladiator fights were the precursor to bull fighting.


Then it was on to Granada, where all beauty and wonder seemed to just culminate in the Alhambra, the most sensual and romantic of all European monuments (or so some say, and having seen it for myself, I would never object!). Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains, this was the last stronghold of the Moorish Islamic empire, before the Reconquest. However it retains all the serenity and charm left by the Moors, with the most intricate yet harmonious architecture I have ever seen, or hoped to see in my life.

I mean, just look at that:


The lovely intricate carvings in the Court of Lions, one of the many magnificent courtyards in the Nazrid Palaces.

Honeycomb-like structures on the ceilings forming an 8-sided star.

Another view of the Court of the Lions, or Patios de los Leones where the centre font gives the court its name. This court famously inspired Washingon Irving to write his Tales of the Alhambra

Graceful stalagtite features, which are repeated all over the palace - a unique feature of the Alhambra

A notable feature of Islamic architecture is the use of water everywhere, to create a feeling of peaceful serenity, coolness and spaciousness.


Subtly rippling pools create the illusion of mirrored images and more space, while the calm noiseless water provides a spiritual atmosphere, like this one in the Partal


Fountains provide both aural and visual beauty, like the many fonts in the Generalife (pronounced He-ne-rah-li-fay)


And of course they provide several picture-perfect moments!

The view of the Albaicin and Sacromonte, the old Moorish quarters, is just amazing! Its practically an entire hill littered with tightly packed white-washed houses, and of course the cave homes that used to belong to the gypsies, and are still in use today!

We just had to get a photo:


And on our way out, I caught this photo of the entire Alhambra (excluding the Generalife where we were at)


You don't see that everyday! When I feel like uploading the rest I'll let you know.