Roman Bath

The last episode of our trip to England last winter ended in a city called Bath. It derived its name from a Bath site founded by the romans when they occupied the place.

We arrived in the late afternoon, hence didn't have much time to walk around the city. It's a good thing, however, that the torches in the Roman Bath site were lighted up in the evening. It gives more sense of being in a medieval era. It's also interesting that there's a 'druid priest' walking around in robes talking to visitors.

The bath facility itself is just a pool with hot water from the natural spring in the area. Maybe communal bath was more common then.

Bag Packing

We were promoting Destiny Angels, a helpline support community service organised by the church. Its purpose is to help people in crisis with 'no strings attached' whatsoever. The target are more people in isolation with no other source of help.

When my coordinator told me that we are going bag packing, I heard it as backpacking and thus was surprised initially. It's actually one of the ways for fund raising here, something to do with supermarket checkout counter, where you help pack people's grocery shopping. The purpose is to give out a leaflet for every bag that we pack so that to create people's awareness of the helpline. Also there's donation bucket if people want to donate for the cause.

The response was pretty good actually. People are more willing to take the flyers compared to if they were distributed in the streets. Also it strikes me as people are really open to give for charity here. Well, at least most of them do, with some even saying sorry when they don't have small change.

Growing Destiny

The church is growing pretty fast. We are now in the process of furnishing a new building in Gorgie, to be used for services by July. The vision is to have two base for church services. Each will outreach different areas as the statistics suggest that unchurched people are more concentrated in these areas in Edinburgh. And apart from church services it will also be used for community services during weekday.

The building itself was bought earlier this year for just below a million pound. It used to be a Bingo hall before. And so there are lots of cleaning and redecoration to do.

These days, different members of the church would just come down in daytime to help the building cleanup and refurbishment. Some even take leave from work and donate time to the cause. The new building will surely help impact and be a blessing to the Gorgie community.

Thinking Forward

These days I am having lots of thought. As my studies are finishing, a question would pop up, 'what would you do afterwards?'. In my case I know what I want to do. I want to continue working in the Industry, in the IT sector. More significantly, I like software development due to its creative nature. And also consulting since it deals with people and problem solving.

Now that I received a job offer in that area, another question pop up. 'Do I really want to stay and work here?'. There is excitement mixed with fear now. Excited because it is something I think I would like, IT consultancy with prospects of overseas travel. Excited because the company seem enthusiastic and positive. Excited because the work culture here means less time spent for work as compared in Asia. But fear because I would need to start again from scratch in terms of making friends etc. Fear because I don't find it easy here to mix in in a place where there are not so many foreigner, let alone potential racism that may follow.

Probably it is safer for me to go back to Singapore and continue working there, but that's also a less adventurous option. I like to try and explore new things and paths. That's probably one reason for me going for the European Masters. Well anyway, let's see how the thoughts sink in this week.

City of Dreaming Spires

Oxford is a nice small town just outside London. It's most famous for its ancient university, which is probably the best in the UK.

The weather when we visited was alright then, just a bit gloomy because of the clouds. There were a lot of old university buildings around the town. The dome structure here is similar to the one in Edinburgh, probably also used for graduation ceremonies.

We went up to a tower within a churh building to get a better view of the town. Indeed it looks nice, especially because there are no skyscrappers, unlike in London where the view from the top is often blocked by tall buildings.

The university buildings seem disconnected from each other and each have distinct names. For example, here is ChristChurch college, one of the largest among them.

Windsor Castle

I was always get fascinated with castles. It invokes the idea of fairy tale and medieval stories. Just outside London, there was this Windsor Castle, probably the largest occupied castle in the world.

The building itself feels sturdy and strong. Although the weather wasn't good, there were more structures here to see than the sky. We went in and saw the royal collections. Came out in time for the guards changing ceremony. Then went to the chapel inside the castle, which looks really big for a chapel.

Here comes the pros and cons of going with tours. Pros are the guide knows a lot of things, so we save ourselves time figuring out what to do. Cons would be the price and also the time limit given. As if we need to rush from one place to another to 'cover everything'.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is one of the places I normally see in desktop wallpapers or posters. We went there as part of our day trip from London. The weather, however was pretty bad, with freezing temperature and gloomy rainy sky.

The site itself was rather disappointing. Partly because of the weather. Also because the stones were not as complete as it had been and we were not allowed to enter the stone circle.

London Trip

Haven't been writing for some time now. It's spring break now and we have some three weeks holiday before exam, so I guess I can write more often now.

During winter we went to London. I was surprised actually to find it colder than Edinburgh. Apparently the place latitude is not the only factor to determine the temperature. Some say that since Edinburgh is near the sea, it's warmer. I think it's around zero when we went to London. Luckily I brought some gloves with me, mainly to hold the camera. Even with that it was still cold and I had to put in the camera quickly after snapping.

It was pleasant weather then, reflected in the tower bridge picture. This kind of weather is probably not so common in Scotland, with gloom cloud dominating most of the days. When we were at the tower bridge, we managed to see how it lifted up as a ship passed by. It was amazing considering the bridge is actually being used for normal traffic as well.

Another part we went was Greenwich observatory, where the world time clock is based on. It is located in greater London on top of a hill. Within the observatory, there is this line which signifies meridian zero degrees, in the left picture.

Another major attraction was London Eye. Looks quite bright blue at night. The entrance fee, however, was a ripoff. For a half-hour ride, you have to dig for 15 GBP. Well, we finally decided to get on since we've gone there anyway.
The view was not bad from the top, we could see the city lights from there. The camera, however was not easy to hold in night mode. Have to be extra still to get a decent picture.

London is a rich place with things and particularly people. I don't really like the crowdedness. The public underground transport reminds me of Singapore, especially during peak hours. The food prices are also pretty expensive in the city center. Overall, I still like Edinburgh more since its less crowded, but have a classical feel to it.