bloomsville

walking home from the tube one day,
with the camera in hand and the sun in my eye;
i spotted a pretty yellow flower,
growing steadily in a hedge nearby.


"that's a weird lil flower",
i heard myself say,
(no wider then 2 inches);
no wonder i didn't see it yesterday.


crossed a narrow road,
walked pass that friendly grocer;
behind him i noticed;
was an interesting looking creeper.

is a rose a flower or a weed?
if grown so wild, so carefree;
i dare not imagine its fate,
if someone plans to clear that gate.


now, what else do i see?
not very far away from me;
tiny purplish pretties,
popping everywhere like daisies.


i must have gone overboard,
taking so many pictures that day;
a strange act in my little neighbourhood,
for a passerby asked whether i was "OK".


almost reaching home,
walking pass my neighbour's garden;
i stole another shot or two;
of her tiny little Eden.


too bad i don't know their names,
of these beautiful flowers;
well, i could start googling them,
but alas, that would take hours.

hail-le-lu-jah!

i was going craaaaazy.. being cooped up in my room for so long, trying to remember everything on Criminal Litigation. the Big day is only but on the 28th..

was about to screeeeaaaaam senseless from going thru this long, tiring, non stop ordeal.. when suddenly..


i HEARD it

went to the window.. and screeeeeaaaamed... "SNOooOooOOOWW!!""

of all the little things i knew about snow, i somehow knew this wasn't right. it isn't suppose to sound like that, is it? nor am i suppose to actually hear it, am i?


is snow suppose to look like that? they felt like someone crushed ice and sprinkled them from the sky..



ok, so if you've seen snow before, you would've figured out by now, that this is most definitely NOT snow. but i've NEVER seen snow, and to see crystal like tiny particles falling from the sky on a less then 4 degree celcius day was so fascinating!

i made myself believe it was snow..

but "snow" lasted less then 10 min.


then half an hour later it showered again..

the... hailstorm (may as well call it right), came hailing down mixed in a light drizzle of rain.
All that and the cold temperature didn't stop us from going outdoors.

all the commotion lasted for, again, another less then 10 min.

then.. like "hope" during my desperate moment, the sun came peeking out from the sky. a burst of sunshine warmed up the streets, poured in its goodness into the room.

so beautiful!

changed my mood a 360°...

oh, boy

if you're wondering whether this is a scene from one of the zombie movies (think: Shawn of the Dead) - you're wrong. but i won't blame you...

it was 10.30 p.m., at Waterloo. there were HUNDREDS walking in one direction, for kilometres, heading towards

the mothership.

It was New Year's Eve. and london's fireworks were apparently the BEST way to usher in the new year (if you don't have - a family to celebrate with/enough cash and time and energy to spend in a club/ invitation to a really cool and hip in house party...) ok, so it's not really the BEST way to usher in the new year.. But, how can u possibly explain the CROWD.

this really beat boxing day hands down. we practically crawled our way thru - blindly - the very moment we stepped out of the tube station. just followed the loud "new year music" in the distance.. to find ourselves getting sandwhiched even more in the crowd. everyone was just standing around waiting for the countdown in front of the London Eye. apparently the Thames riverbank was jam packed with people as well. whole of london is obviously awake.. i have never ever seen so many people in my life.

then it started -

London Eye Exploded with a spectacular display of fireworks...

believe it or not, we were on the "wrong side" of the river.. there wasn't a proper countdown.. the next thing we knew, the Big Ben started striking twelve, and simultaneously, fireworks erupted. caught off guard

what an experience, tho!

u can only imagine what happened after the fireworks ended. we crawled our way thru back to the nearest tube - duh.. that took, say, about an hour?

london eye bursting in flames... whoever took this was smart enough to be on the right side of the Thames, got there real early, and had a really handy cam corder (just to state the obvious). oh, he was smart to post it on you tube so quickly too...

Happy 2008, everyone!
luck in keeping them resolutions this time...

mecca

shopper's mecca - it is said - is none other then Oxford Street in London.

Oxford Street on Boxing Day therefore, is very much equivalent to the annual pilgrimage in Mecca during Dhul Hijjah.

it felt like it.
i was there.

it was madness! it was equally bad IN the shops.. shopping that day really require superhuman strength and concentration. no wonder i didn't manage to get anything "spectacular". *sulk* a friend of mine got a pair of Gap Jeans for ten pounds (so her Facebook status read). oh well, i have enough jeans anyways *self comfort*

strangely that day, amidst the throng of people, a small seperate procession was going on. the saree and vesti clad (yes, u read it right) group marched against the crowd chanting and clapping to om, hare krishna... much to everyone's amusement.

the Routmaster. oxford Circus.

the junction where the christmas lights on Oxford Street began. squint and you'll notice the Enchanted Themed lightings in between the buildings.

fancy a chandeliar in the middle of the road?
why not?

Debenham's Christmas Deco. like golden threads

child's play

more christmas lights

so this i guess is how i end my christmas entries... wish i could say i saved the best for last, but no.. it isn't. the best entry i would be able to write would be one on SomersetHouse's Ice Skating Rink - opened only during christmas hols. we missed that trip. and how it'll look will only be limited to what we can see on the website.

but to end on a good note, most importantly, a merry christmas it was, i must say.

and a very merry christmas to all, i'm to wish... till here for now, from me you hear

the Beggar's Roost

back to our adventure in newcastle...

(Yinsoon had been bugging us since day one to visit him in Newcastle. It was christmas and his family friend he lives with, Uncle Randy, wouldn't be in for the whole week. best opportunity to go and see yinsoon, and have the whole house to ourselves!)

after a 6 hour journey on the bus, we had to take a short train ride to Stockfield.. and the view there took my breath away.

frosted fields. vast acres of greenery. early hour sunshine
our journey to stocksfield from Newcastle's train station



i call the journey magical.
pleasant change of scenary from newcastle and london town.
sitting in the train, watching everything pass by from the window, was as if we were traveling backwards in time.

taking a breather half way on our trail towards Beggar's Roost.

Yinsoon led the way towards his humble abode

feeling thankful i wore Uggs.

warm and snuggly, loving the sound of frosted leaves and grass crunching under my feet

wishing we had a car.. lol..

impressed that yinsoon had to walk so much everyday to go to Uni.

Beggar's Roost!

the sight of it after our 15 min walk uphill was worth it

stained glass peacock

majestically looking out Beggar's Roost's beautiful garden

patio saved for summer

soaking up every corner of the house
i love english homes ;)

kitchen...

pool...

back to the kitchen again, after working out an appetite
sorry for eating up all of your food, yinsoon :P

we were so relunctant to leave Beggar's Roost. the best weekend holiday, ever.. and bet yinsoon had the best company after a long time ;) if i may say so for the others myself...

see you soon, yinsoon! we miss you already... and the pool table...

counting down to christmas

nothing beats being caught up in the christmas atmosphere. it's everywhere here - the air you breath, the sights you see, the sounds you hear, everything you read. even the weather seems really fitting. Brrrrr....

i'm suffering from an acute sense of mixed feelings. the holiday season is upon us - and all i want to do is have as much fun and adventure as possible, naturally. it's just too bad that in January, Uni reopens with a string of Assessments to accomplish

not letting that dampen the christmas spirit, i have had my agenda planned out.

It started with my quest to visit the Christmas Markets in London. never really had the chance when the markets started on the 1st week of December. so you can imagine my luck and joy when old childhood buddies Wai Chia and Wai Peng decided to do some shopping for thier mum, and called me along

they brought me to the best market i've ever been in. nothing like the pasar malam's you'll find back home nor your ordinary market with weird smell that make your nose cringe and automatically stop functioning. Borough Market (as it has been called for ages and ages - 250 yrs to be exact -at London Bridge) is simply unique. now which market have u ever done "window shopping before"?.. i raise my hand to answer

first aroma that hit me when wai chia led me to the cobble-stoned pavement (ooh, how classic) was the indistinguishable smell of ... Cheeese, even before my eyes could catch hold of any. and when they did.. my mouth started to salivate. it was like heaven - cheese heaven.

there was a particular queue leading to a stall with hot steam and even stronger cheesy aroma -

what the man did was to heat up the top layer of a thick slab of cheese - look at that thick block!-then...
scraped the whoooole melted layer onto a plate with steamed pickles and tomato. ooooooooh!


"you shouldn't have had lunch before coming", waichia said.


now u tell me.


The sight was unbelievable.

mulled wine - which is sooo delicious (fruity and herby and warm and nice); neatly arranged pastries, pies, handmade jams - handmade, how much more traditional can you get; chocolates, sold in huge wooden tubs. never have i seen so much chocolate in such a small space of area before.. yummmm... fruits, pumpkin, turkey, partridge, pork, beef, stuffed meat, stufed pork, sausages of he weirdest sizes.... soooo many. it was like being in a totally new land.

someone once told me you can't find anything traditional in london. i wish that someone reads this and swallow his/her words back. he/she is so wrong.. it really can't get anymore traditional then this. lovely, lovely, lovely

speaking of chocolates - check out the price of winter truffles... :S

wai chia and wai peng

mother of all pumpkins!

on a slightly different topic,

wednesday marked the last week of term - and what better way to celebrate it with music and alcohol/coke *ahem*, at the basement of one happening club. i love london clubs! correction: i love my first london club experience - at TigerTiger. love the music - DJ played jacko's BillyJean, Queen, The Wonders, to songs like The Way I Are (nod, nod) to (lol, i can't believe this song followed me) Umbrella - girls the song made me miss you :( .. arms on another's shoulders when george michael's Last Christmas came up.. awwww.... wat a mix!

when they say Law school kids can party, they really meant we can parttaay!


Deeps and i decided to spruce things up among our college mates with reindeer antlers. and they were a hit! i can't remember how many times they changed heads :P

Today - we're at Stocksfield - a beautiful village in newcastle!! it's freezing, but the frost makes everything look so pretty.




YinSoon, Lord of Beggars Roost Mansion decided to (has no choice but to, rather) play host for us.. and when i say "mansion" i mean it literally.


The lack of sleep thruout our 6 hour journey from 11.30 pm last night is taking a toll on me now...

look fwd to the continuing posts on this 2nd newcastle adventure of mine very soon- Christmas, here i come!