first, first, first!today is the first time i went to a wastewater treatment plant. well, it was exciting news to get out of the stuffy office, but it's not exactly that interesting cos of its small size. well, it's definitely not the best place for the nose. right after we opened the car doors, even b4 getting out of the car, we were already greeted with the sewage smell. unpleasant, but not totally that unbearable. initially i thot i'ld puke my breakfast but thankfully i didn't. it turned out that the smell originated mainly from the screenings, i.e. all the solids that are collected from the waste waters. so once we go past that part of the plant, there's not much detectable smell.
the plant is one of the smallest plant in UK, it's to treat waters from the rural areas around there. so there's really not much to see... most of the things can be seen by standing from one location. the inflow channels were a third of how big i had imagined them to be, so everything else pretty much scaled down along with it. i guess the most interesting thing i find in the plant were the biological filters... cos i liked the way the water is sprayed onto the filters. they had arms which span along the radius of the tank and rotate about the centre, and the waters were sprayed out through the little holes spaced out equally along the arms. i tink it looked quite pretty, like small little water fountains. and i was amazed that the tank was filled only with rocks. yeah... so that was the most interesting thing in the plant.
as for the most unpleasant thing... other than all the cobwebs hanging at all corners of the railings and the control kiosk, and the huge swamp of sandflies(?) or i duno what UFI (unidentified flying insects) they were that came flying towards us all of a sudden at the biological filters (so many that i dun even dare open my mouth to talk for fear they'll end up in my body... eeks!!) , i must say the sludge tanks would rank number 1. the smell is simply disgusting. urghf. it's so bad i breathe quite thinly when i was around them, so very fortunately i cant rmb that smell now. phew.
hmm.... until i could think of any other reason, i would say seeing this plant once is enough as a visitor. it may be more interesting at a bigger plant, i duno. will tell u if i do go to one.
and so, i returned to the office hungrily at 3pm cos i had yet to have my lunch. i took an embarrassing nodding nap on the car ride back, and drowsily on passing by the receptionist, she excitedly told me there's smtg for me!
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today is the first time i received flowers at my workplace and also the first time i received such a huge bouquet of flowers. so huge it's actually tiring carrying it back home. heh. but i was totally exhilarated. i cant help but keep staring at it and smiling on my way home. even looking at it now keeps me smiling. =) up till now i still dun understand why women love flowers so much. in the past i used to think they are just a waste of money. well, of cos i wouldn't mind if anyone gave me flowers then but i thot chocolate would be a better gift cos at least i can eat them. i guess that's why i was still a little girl. hahaha... now, i still think they cost alot. but i know i love them. haha.... i guess it's becos it symbolises how much the person who bought them for you loves you. today, i received the biggest bouquet i've ever received. it's so huge i cant see all the roses at one go. a dozen of them, accompanied by lots of man tian xin (?). it's beautiful. it's pretty. i hope they never die, i hope it never dies. =)
i "cleverly" (cos i think it's supposed to be done so anyway, it's not about being smart.... haha) removed the outer most wrapping layer and while leaving the other wrapping layers intact and the end of the stalks exposed, i put the bouquet in a temporary vase made from a 2l bottle. so now the flowers are still nicely wrapped up, instead of being loose and messed up if i had removed all the wrappers entirely. so it's still as pretty. heehee...
thankew dear!! for giving me such a wonderful "surprise". heehee.... the receptionists were so happy for me! they asked me if you were in the country, said how lucky i am, and told me you must have missed me alot. =P of which i replied... no you are in spore, thank you, and i miss u alot too. =)
signing off @ 3:05 am with
Thursday, July 06, 2006
reporting to you from Redhill!hullo!!! yeah~ I got internet access!!! In my office only though, not at home. =( which means i need to do this sneakily and when i don't have work to do. haha...
well, basically the place where i work in and stay in is called.... REDHILL!!! not the one in spore tho... this one is a "bird-don't-lay-egg" place where you cant do much except to go Sainsbury for groceries shopping, MacDonalds for 2 apple pies at ?1 and most imptly, train station to travel out of here. That's about all. Don't even have a pub with TV to watch World Cup.
Watching World Cup became a tiring ting recently when I'm so tired from work (or rather from the lack of sleep the night b4) and yet I have to watch an extra half an hour for each match. Germany-Italy match was good, lacking some goals though. France-Portugal was less exciting, and i don't like having a penalty goal to decide the winner. But i guess that's how champions are made?
Thank goodness I'm only here for 6 weeks. I'm oredi getting bored. Luckily today's weather is COLD!!! wheeee~ My office has NO aircon at all, my gosh. And it's called the HQ. I wonder how the CE here can tahan. Normally when it's hot and there's no rain, the office is stuffy and hotter than outside. The fan blows hot air onto me and makes me sleepy. The windows can only be opened at a maximum of an estimated 5 degrees. Makes me wonder who approved of this design. Should learn from Germany!! They have windows that are cleverer than engineers from Imperial! haha...
Yah, I WANT to blog about the Germany trip. Cos it's just too eventful not to mention it. I so hope to get internet at home. But I guess even if my landlady apply it tml, I'll also have to wait for at least 2 weeks? By the time it's up, it's probably time for me to go home.
By the way, if you happened to have me in your address book under my singnet email, please change it to the hotmail one. Cos I don't have access to that singnet email anymore.
Cooking for 1 person, i.e. myself only, is not an easy task. I've been overestimating and I always end up cooking 2 people's share of pasta. And I finshed them all. hoho... sitting in the office from 0900-1730 everyday is not helping either. I tink i'll be growing a tummy soon. But b4 that, I think I'm about to fall sick.
Rmb the times when your male coursemates shoot rubber bands at each other during lecture breaks or tutorials?? You thought it only happens in sch eh? My colleagues just did that half an hour ago. They are easily above 30 yrs old. haha...
My lunch break is over. Time for me to "look" busy at work again. Adios for now!
signing off @ 8:38 pm with
Saturday, July 01, 2006
the last few moments in london this academic yrit has been crazily busy ever since the last post. busy with packing and storage, busy with germany trip, busy surviving the adventures in germany, busy looking for accoms in surrey, busy with a lot more small random things than tat. urgh. i'm freaking exhausted.
i so wanna blog about the germany trip becos it has been soooo adventurous, but not now. there's no time for that. this is probably gonna be my last post for the next many days, even weeks, becos i'm going to move to a place with NO internet. oh dear.. i hope i can survive. i will be down in surrey for the next 6 weeks... so if anione wanna pay me a vist, PLS DO COME!! i'll be bored to tears.
hmm... too many things to say, too little time. the year ended well, and i guess i can safely say everyone in the house left london feeling good about the stay.
oh, for the crazy krispy kreme fanatics who never fail to buy them home for their beloved to satisfy their gluttony, i just found out that there's one stall right in the heathrow terminal 3 departure area. so, dun haf to worry abt not being able to get it from harrods during the few days b4 sale which would be closed for sale preparation, or having to carry soooo many luggage and balance that green pokka-dotted box all the way to the airport, becos you can safely check in your luggage and be freed of them b4 purchasing those yummy doughnuts just b4 boarding the plane. how convenient. now miangz wun be disappointed anymore. haha...
till then, i hope to hear more from you. but i guess the only way to get in touch with me then would probably be by snail mail. oh dear.
today is the first time i received flowers at my workplace and also the first time i received such a huge bouquet of flowers. so huge it's actually tiring carrying it back home. heh. but i was totally exhilarated. i cant help but keep staring at it and smiling on my way home. even looking at it now keeps me smiling. =) up till now i still dun understand why women love flowers so much. in the past i used to think they are just a waste of money. well, of cos i wouldn't mind if anyone gave me flowers then but i thot chocolate would be a better gift cos at least i can eat them. i guess that's why i was still a little girl. hahaha... now, i still think they cost alot. but i know i love them. haha.... i guess it's becos it symbolises how much the person who bought them for you loves you. today, i received the biggest bouquet i've ever received. it's so huge i cant see all the roses at one go. a dozen of them, accompanied by lots of man tian xin (?). it's beautiful. it's pretty. i hope they never die, i hope it never dies. =)
i "cleverly" (cos i think it's supposed to be done so anyway, it's not about being smart.... haha) removed the outer most wrapping layer and while leaving the other wrapping layers intact and the end of the stalks exposed, i put the bouquet in a temporary vase made from a 2l bottle. so now the flowers are still nicely wrapped up, instead of being loose and messed up if i had removed all the wrappers entirely. so it's still as pretty. heehee...