Ever since I first arrived in halls on my humble basement floor, there has been a semi-constant population of around 3 people which has fluctuated in my time here up until now. My room mate and I share a room on our floor, which has a maximum capacity of 4 people (2 double rooms, not 4 people to a room!) and the facilities include a large shower come toilet of about 2 x 2 metres (6 x 6 feet) and a massive kitchen comparatively to the other people who share our house all the way up to the 3rd floor (they all have tiny kitchens, which are generally cold).
Our first neighbour was a Turk, whos name was Mustafa, he stayed with us for a few weeks or a month- I don't really recall that well. All I recall of him was he went to the gym quite often up at the uni and would also take scolding hot showers - i.e going in there after he'd used it would be like walking into a sauna. My room mate and myself both agreed that he must have very thick skin or lack of sensitivity. However, he left as the boiler behind his wall was keeping him up and stopping his concentration on all things related to mechanical engineering. He thus requested a place at the newest halls of Imperial College and to our surprise he managed to swindle one!
His replacement appeared a few days later as he had suffered from a ceiling collapse in his room and needed a bed while they supplied repairs! After my room mate met him in the corridor; he came to the quick conclusion that this guy was stuck up as he didn't speak much to my room mate, Alex and came to the conclusion that he should be thus named Lord Fardquad (which stuck for about 3 weeks). As I had met the neighbour a day earlier I had come to a different conclusion; one that would proove to be more correct - he was infact the shyest guy I have ever met, very softly spoken and looking slightly lost. Thus we saw him from time to time - he seemed to drink a lot of water; that's basically when I saw him, and of course the time he locked himself out of his room at 2am at night as well as the time we watched how I met your mother.
His ceiling was fixed and he has now departed from the basement. He even left some mince pies, which to my room mates dismay contained Brandy (Mormon's don't drink alcohol). Now, today, we have yet another neighbour - and you may even be wondering why she was here (yes a she!). Well her ceiling also collapsed too (she comes from the same halls as the last guy). I was first alerted to her presence when I heard hysterical screaming as she first saw her new room and initially thought that she might be with the people from a few weeks back who decided it would be a laugh to drink in our shower. Consequently, I have not met her as I was eating dinner at the time and by the time I left the kitchen she was long gone. And so begins the 3rd incursion (how long will it last?).
On a final note I have a valuable lesson for all you cooks out there - likely you have already come to this conclusion - always remove your meat many hours in advance of cooking it or it will be unslicable! My cunning plan to get around this was to heat the still frozen chicken in the pan until I could cut it up, this worked eventually and after much struggling the frozen bird was sizzling away in the tomatoes.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Saturday 5 December 2009
Lost in London
As you may (or more likely not) know last night I got hopelessly lost in London after leaving seone (a club that is in some converted underground tunnels sporting a foam party!) in a rather inebriated and annoyed state (the reasons of which I will not go into).
Thus when I escaped from the underground warren of tunnels and out into the chilly night it was a most refreshing experience. However, as I had been separated from my friends, I had no clue where to go next; nor money to pay for a cab, which is excessively expensive by yourself - around £50. Furthermore the night buses were being uncooperative and after waiting at a bus stop for what felt like an age (probably 5 minutes) with some people who clearly had less clue about London buses than I did (which was quite remarkable) I left on a mission to find my way back to the river.
Anyway I'm digressing, I left the club and took what looked like the correct path. This decision was taken without any knowledge of where to go as I did not know where the club was located in London - except that it was in south east London.
As I ambled off I reflected on the events of that night and didn't realise that I was going in the wrong direction, i.e south as I did not have the sun to guide me and the roads all looked the same - long, noisy and wide. After yet more walking - plenty more coming trust me, I stumbled upon Old Kent Road and had one of those moments where you match something you've heard of with the real thing; by this I mean the little brown square on the Monopoly board. Then I noticed to my surprise that there was a New Kent Road too which although obvious with retrospect, had not occurred to me.
Unfortunately at this point I realised that I was hopelessly lost and for lack of ideas or indeed any sense of direction, I set to texting people in London who could possibly help me. As no-one replied, as you would expect at that time of night, I called my good friend Simone and promptly woke her up. Fortunately she didn't seem too annoyed about the rude awakening and I quickly set to explaining to her about my predicament.
She retrieved her laptop and guided me to the only place I knew well - the River Thames. After what seemed like forever and a few despairing moments I reached my goal, and what better place to reach it I ask than Westminster Bridge? To my right I had the London Eye and straight ahead lay Big Ben which is really quite a fantastic work of art and rather tall. Around the perimeter of the houses of Parliament there were many policemen patrolling even at that ungodly hour.
Having escaped the maze of south London I followed the river for a long long time until I reached my halls, at 6am in the morning and after a 6.5mile hike.
Here is a map of the course I took (sorry for appalling quality):
Thus when I escaped from the underground warren of tunnels and out into the chilly night it was a most refreshing experience. However, as I had been separated from my friends, I had no clue where to go next; nor money to pay for a cab, which is excessively expensive by yourself - around £50. Furthermore the night buses were being uncooperative and after waiting at a bus stop for what felt like an age (probably 5 minutes) with some people who clearly had less clue about London buses than I did (which was quite remarkable) I left on a mission to find my way back to the river.
Anyway I'm digressing, I left the club and took what looked like the correct path. This decision was taken without any knowledge of where to go as I did not know where the club was located in London - except that it was in south east London.
As I ambled off I reflected on the events of that night and didn't realise that I was going in the wrong direction, i.e south as I did not have the sun to guide me and the roads all looked the same - long, noisy and wide. After yet more walking - plenty more coming trust me, I stumbled upon Old Kent Road and had one of those moments where you match something you've heard of with the real thing; by this I mean the little brown square on the Monopoly board. Then I noticed to my surprise that there was a New Kent Road too which although obvious with retrospect, had not occurred to me.
Unfortunately at this point I realised that I was hopelessly lost and for lack of ideas or indeed any sense of direction, I set to texting people in London who could possibly help me. As no-one replied, as you would expect at that time of night, I called my good friend Simone and promptly woke her up. Fortunately she didn't seem too annoyed about the rude awakening and I quickly set to explaining to her about my predicament.
She retrieved her laptop and guided me to the only place I knew well - the River Thames. After what seemed like forever and a few despairing moments I reached my goal, and what better place to reach it I ask than Westminster Bridge? To my right I had the London Eye and straight ahead lay Big Ben which is really quite a fantastic work of art and rather tall. Around the perimeter of the houses of Parliament there were many policemen patrolling even at that ungodly hour.
Having escaped the maze of south London I followed the river for a long long time until I reached my halls, at 6am in the morning and after a 6.5mile hike.
Here is a map of the course I took (sorry for appalling quality):
Thursday 3 December 2009
Test Blog
My first blog ever. What to talk about? Actually, I have a bone to pick with the fabricator of my knife, the very knife I use everyday to prepare my sandwiches. As usual I was preparing lunch and as I was slicing the bread in half the knife snapped on it's hilt - leaving with me no knife and the only spare under my bed (good storage) in my room with my sleeping room mate whom I did not to wake with my plastic bag-scrunching sounds. Yes, you know how excessively noisy they are! However this was quickly solved when I took my massive cleaving knife from thec upboard and finished off the making of my lunch.
Given that these were cheap utensils and had this coming for a while; could it not have chosen a more inconvenient moment to break? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have held it's own in utensil pals at all with that kind of performance.
Thus ends my first blog. Ever.
Given that these were cheap utensils and had this coming for a while; could it not have chosen a more inconvenient moment to break? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have held it's own in utensil pals at all with that kind of performance.
Thus ends my first blog. Ever.
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