Mar
27
Weekend near Paris!
Filed Under Daily
I am going home this weekend. Lots of good vietnamese dishes and my little dog, Lolita! After that I will have 20 days break to brush up on my exams. They will happen sometimes in the last week of May if my information is correct. 4 modules of 15 credit each! Annoying!
The change to summer time will happen also this weekend and I welcome it. It is getting way too shiny in the morning and many old and slow pokes joined the pool. This morning I had an old specimen. I do not like swimming with old people. They just do not care. He was slow, he swam right in the middle and worse of all, his swimsuit revealed more than I would like to see of his crack…very disturbing!
Something funny happened yesterday. After ordering my take-away lunch at the canteen, I walked out without paying. I only realized that long after. And I found 1 GBP in one of the locker today. Lucky week isn’t ending yet!
Mar
26
My body is cramps and injuries free now. My wrist was a bit twisted yesterday and I thought I might not be able to swim fast today but I recovered overnight which is nice. I tried my new trendy swimwear this morning and it was OKAY. I do not think they look as nice in water. They do look very trendy on the photos.
In the elevator yesterday, there was a dude who poured a whole bottle of deodorant on him. I wonder how he could not notice. It was so strong it gave me a headache. It reminds me of my time in Australia where I had to use tons of deodorants to overcome the smell of my Chinese labmate.
Boring lectures this morning! I am hesitating about the seminar this afternoon. I guess it will not hurt to attend. The chap from Senegal failed again to start the projector. It was only an hour so I did not bother helping him. One student was getting angry. Funny thing is she was 30 min late, she misunderstood completely the schedule and talked nonsense but she felt like giving the dude a hardtime and was looking for support.
Mar
25
Quick Delivery!
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I picked up my new blue swimsuit this morning. It fits me perfectly. This is not the first time I buy from Speedo’s website so I know exactly what my size is. I’ll be able to show off tomorrow :). I also bought new hand paddles just so that I can use their rubber tube to replace my old ones. I like my old paddles very much. They could also arrive today even though Ebay’s items tend to be delivered a bit late usually.
My computer crashed again this morning. I bet it’s the heat. It is getting really warm the last few days. I lost all Amy’s FRIENDS episodes which were on the C drive. But I downloaded new ones and I realized the quality of her files weren’t great. I’ve easily found DVD rip of FRIENDS on internet. I think Amy found hers on some torrent sites. The flat is so quiet without Amy. I like her but I really do not miss her phone conversations.
I talked to Aurore yesterday. Life is still very stressful on her side but I think she is used to it now. She does not like her job at Lapeyre but she cannot quit it because of her mortgage. She wants to work for 2 years and get a full sabbatical year off to travel.
I’ll fly to Paris this weekend. Good cuisine in perspective :)! Quiet beginning of the week with not much worries.
Mar
24
It’s been a year and I’ve decided to change my boring and serious black Speedo swimwear for a trendy blue racer with some special design features on it. I also bought a stylish blue/white silicon cap with special drawings. I ordered them yesterday, and with a bit of luck, they will be here on Thursday.
All fast swimmers joined me this morning nicely in Lane 5. It is now a secured lane for very fast swimmers. We were 6 to take over that lane this morning and none of us would move to other lanes with slow pokes in them. It helped us to maintain a constant fast pace and nobody is blocking anyone else. I also stopped and talked a bit with them. Fast swimmers always try to check others’ speed and I have been tested twice this morning…! Fun game but very tiresome. My shoulders are dead and I welcome a nice break tomorrow.
My lucky week is over it seems. I told Chebet about it and she laughed at me. Life is funny though, I told her I went indoor skiing at the Trafford Shopping Center and that I loved it. Once she got home, she received a call from the Trafford shopping center and they offered her a maintenance job. She was so happy she sent me a SMS telling me my luck has rubbed off on her too. Funny coincidence! Maybe it is not over yet??? I also applied for 6 positions, three in France and three in London. Let’s keep fingers crossed. Only 3 months and a week left.
Mar
23
Short Night!
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4 hours of sleep or less! The swim was excellent though. Only good and fast swimmers in my lane. Monday are usually quiet, less crowded than any other day of the week. I talked to Jod, a fellow who swims regularly. He’s very impressed with my 6 kms a day. That was his first question when he had a chance to talk to me. He might want to do the same thing. He used to be a bit faster than me because he only came in the second half of my work out. Nowadays, he is slower no matter when he comes.
It is very windy today. I can hear very strong wind outside of my window. I have everything I need in the fridge so won’t go out today. I applied to 4 jobs in the UK yesterday and I have found a lot of ads in France. I will do my best to apply to all of them today.
Mar
21
Good Weather!
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Quite unusual for rainy Manchester, the last few days were really good! I cannot wait for summer time next Sunday, the pool is completely over saturated. There are excellent swimmers joining though.
The wind of change has come. Last week was perfect, this week seems less positive. The movie, Body of Lies was excellent but we were only 5 watching it. Many regulars went to Edinburgh (to be pronounced “EdinBRA”) this weekend.
I finished quickly Amy’s food last evening. I ate the goat cheese and few grapes. Quiet weekend for me, I need to sleep and recover from last week minor injuries and cramps anyways. My body won’t complain.
Mar
20
Very Ordered!
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Nice swim with fast and ordered swimmers. A real pleasure! Some of them are now using me to improve their own speed. They align themselves behind or switch lanes simultaneously. I don’t like dumb idiots who just clog up the fast lane. No class today and the weather is fantastic! I might walk around and check for new pants. I found Megaupload links to download a very old Chinese movie I liked when I was young. Excellent quality also!
Movie night: Body of Lies. Looks like a very good movie! There seems to be some free food again tonight.
Amy went back to Greece yesterday. She stopped by to say goodbye but when I asked why she left that early, she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled. I did not insist. I also asked when she would be back and she said she doesn’t know yet…Very strange indeed!
Mar
19
Moving On!
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We went skiing with Dave M and Iris, a girl from Holland. An hour and half of good fun and it only cost us 14 GBP per person. Indoor skiing isn’t too bad. I managed not to fall despite my weak legs. My skiing style is really crappy though. I cannot do parallel skiing yet and I use a “duck style” which is not very pretty to look at and it does require lots of effort from the knees. Nevertheless, I did not need help so it was all good. We then went to Trafford shopping center. It is beautiful and it looks a 100% better than Manchester city center. Brand new buildings designed in Roman style with fancy marble like columns and greek status…Just beautiful to the eyes! I will take Amy there sometimes to show her what we have been missing since we came to Manchester.
Time flies so quickly…My time with the Hiking Club ended officially yesterday with the vote of the new president. A good way to say goodbye I guess. The new president, James G., whom I did not vote for, even told me they used few of my pictures in their final presentation. It is a bit sad since they all know me now. Thanks to them, I met few good friends who took me around and showed me many more things: Dave M and Dave E.
Moving on is my lifestyle. It did hurt everytime and I always asked myself this question: Would it be better if I stay longer somewhere? Local people enjoy themselves for sure but they tend to be trapped in their habits and their circle of friends. They are used to their comfort zone and it is sometimes very hard to make them do different things. I like to discover their world, but I annoy them at the same time. What annoys them most is my lack of social bonding. I only do what I want whereas they only do things to be with their friends.
Mar
18
Like a Puzzle!
Filed Under Daily
My life since last Friday has been like a puzzle. Every single piece seems to fit in the end. Last Friday, during the lecture, the teacher from Senegal had lots of troubles. He could not start the projector and he was loosing everyone with his notes. Students started to get frustrated and few questions pointed out his bad pronunciation. Chebet got annoyed because she felt bad for the poor chap. She felt some kind of fraternity with the dude from Africa. During the break, I went to the board, fixed the projector and adjusted the image so that it came out perfectly. The second hour was normal and everyone was happy. I still cannot believe I simply stood up and told him: “I am going to help you” and he just stood there and let me do it. And it worked!
The movie night on Friday was great, the Hike on Sunday was perfect! I could even make people strike some funny poses during the hike and it was fun.
Yesterday, I went to the bank and made a money transfer between Barclays and HSBC. Barclays was my first account here in the UK but HSBC has free internet for a basic account like mine so everything is linked to Barclays but for my everyday usage I prefer HSBC. Anyways, after the transfer, I went out and checked my balance on the ATM machine. I forgot to take my card after and left. A homeless dude ran after me and shouted out loud: YOU, YES YOU! Everyone was looking at me in the street and they were all wondering why the “homie” ran after me. After he gave me my card, I just gave him money to thank him.
I went to bed very early the last 2 days, 9:30 pm, and even though there were noises I could resume my sleep quickly. I even woke up at 6 am this morning without the alarm and I do not have to swim today! Dave M sent an email to a group of people for a skiing event today. There is also the hiking club general meeting to elect a new president. Of course, I am attending both, that is the least I can do for this hiking club. I have had my bad times with them but I think it is mainly my fault. I am too picky and too arrogant to obey quietly people! Also I am weird, I do not say anything most of the time and that puts people in uncomfortable situations.
I also received a confirmation mail from a Law firm saying that they will review my application and that I will get an answer in 3 weeks time. That is something different than the regular rejection :). Who knows …?
Mar
17
Walking like a Duck!
Filed Under Daily
I am paying the price for the hike now…I’ve been limping since Monday evening because the lower part of my body is full of cramps. During the swim on Monday morning, my legs were so shaky…like an old man. I also have a huge bruise just below my left ass. I felt on that part during the hike, luckily my camera had nothing but I cannot say the same for my body. Then my left calve had one of the worse cramp ever. It took me 5 min to recover and the pain was horrible. I should maybe run a little bit to keep my legs in perfect shape. Swimming and running are two complete different cardio-exercise. I still have the stamina from the swimming but the legs are less powerful.
Need to send an application I’ve been delaying since last Friday. I really do not feel like studying the rest of the modules, they have no interest for my future formation…so annoying. At least I know exactly how much I should have to pass them all anyways. Not too hard it seems but I might fail if I do not find the motivation. I do not see myself learning 24 pages by heart again.
As expected the exchange rate between AUD-GBP went up. I did the right move last Thursday. It did reach the bottom! Last week was really one of these nice weeks where everything I did was just perfect. Everything just seemed right and I did not plan anything in advance. I wish life is like that every day.
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