On my flight today from London heathrow Terminal 5 to Oslo I had the pleasure of sitting next to a suntanned woman in her 50's from South America. I would say Mexico or Guatemala or something like that.
Her passport was blue and she spoke not a word of English. When the stewardess asked her what she wanted to drink she mumbled looked at me and what I had and after a few seconds I said to the stewardess hat I think she wants what I'm having (tea and a water).
Her son was travelling with her and sittin behind her. He was in his early 20's and looked quite ghetto.
Rosa as I will call her seemed like a sweet and friendly lady. She smiled a lot, wore a very colourful blue short-sleeved shirt which implies she wasn't told that it was cold in Oslo. :-) and I say again, had a beautiful tan that makes me jealous.
PS. I'm writing this from the express train from the airport to Oslo and the girl next to me is stunning. She's clearly a skier (has a big ski bag) yet has the most amazing tan (I can see her feet - don't ask me how) ;-)
At least 11 flights in three weeks begins.
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Flight #11 - the Cranky feminist
I've got to be careful because I'm writing this on the flight as the person is sitting next to me. Scary huh. :-)
The flight is from Helsinki to LONDON heathrow at 1930. It's not a super full flight do the middle place is free but someone is sitting in my row (10f) in the aisle.
She had an English accent when she answered whether she wanted tea or coffee but she didn't give the stewardess the light of day. Looked down and seemed downright unhappy. She has über short hair. Is rounder shaped. Dresses quite poor. Quite old womanly. It's definitely a case for one of those makeover shows.
Listening to some Pulp music. I wouldn't be surprised if she works quite high up for some charity or education maybe some governmental organisation or UN? I'm sure she's very clever and driven and talented. She gives off that aura.
I'm also fairly sure she's not too bitchy but probably quite nice if you get to know her.
When I say she's feminist I don't mean that in a bad way. She's a strong woman.
She reminds me a bit of the chubby German girl from earlier. :)
The flight is from Helsinki to LONDON heathrow at 1930. It's not a super full flight do the middle place is free but someone is sitting in my row (10f) in the aisle.
She had an English accent when she answered whether she wanted tea or coffee but she didn't give the stewardess the light of day. Looked down and seemed downright unhappy. She has über short hair. Is rounder shaped. Dresses quite poor. Quite old womanly. It's definitely a case for one of those makeover shows.
Listening to some Pulp music. I wouldn't be surprised if she works quite high up for some charity or education maybe some governmental organisation or UN? I'm sure she's very clever and driven and talented. She gives off that aura.
I'm also fairly sure she's not too bitchy but probably quite nice if you get to know her.
When I say she's feminist I don't mean that in a bad way. She's a strong woman.
She reminds me a bit of the chubby German girl from earlier. :)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
November...
It's easy to lose yourself in work. In the stresses of everyday. But it's important to get away from that. This weekend I've had my urge for "creative" time... it seems to happen every now and then... but now I feel like I've been neglecting my creative side lately and realise it affects me.
Hence why I'm blogging again as well. It's one way of releasing. Another way was taking a day off work on Friday and walking around London taking pictures. My goal was to capture a few different sides of London, inspired by the protesters at St. Pauls. In such close proximity you have so many different worlds.
- St. Pauls and Bank - Bankers, corporate suits and work work work. Now St. Pauls has been taken over by hippies and protesters though which made for an interesting contrast. Atop all that... tourists from every corner of the globe.
-Old Street - hip, young, fashion conscious people who in some instances try to dress poor when they in fact spend fortunes looking like it.
- Goodge street and British Museum - tourists and school children. A very differing group of people.
Here are my favorite few shots of the day.
While chatting about this inspirational stuff... I've been watching a lot of X-Factor lately... getting a bit of ridicule for it but the reason it's inspiring me is because the fact that there is so much talent out there in this world. There are people who are incredible and don't get the chance to share it with others. When they do it inspires me.
This is Melanie Amaro from the US X-Factor and an extremely powerful song.
While we're on the video segment.
This is an old video that I thought about today. When I first heard it I was doing alright but a friend of mine wasn't. He was lacking some confidence and listening to it made me smile. I like this song. :-) Besides that, it's a pretty cool video as well.
There are quite a few new songs on my top 5 list right now...
1) Adele - Someone Like you
2) Adele - Set fire to the rain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZiXMoYxG-I
3) Listen - Beyonce -
4) Breathe Gentle - Tiziano Ferro and Kelly Rowland)
5) Orphee Aux Enfers (Galop) - Jacques Offenbach
So that's a lot of links and stuff but haven't shared for a while. :-)
Friday, March 27, 2009
21 Observations
I thought it was about time to write down some observations I'd made over the past week.
1) Granted there are a lot of busses in London, there are a lot of less than ethical people too. But it is quite surprising how often a person refuses to pay to get on a bus here. For any of you who have not had the fortune to experience this phenomenon, the bus driver turns off the engine and announces that he's not going anywhere until the person is off the bus. In my case, last Sunday, I arrived in the middle of one of these "The bus ain't moving till your fat @$$ is off the bus" episodes at Euston Station. A man had gotten on, showed his ticket unclearly and walked straight on by the busdriver who asked the man to come back...the bus had been there for around 15 minutes as the man refused to get off the bus. The Police were called and ultimately the guy got off the bus. But this is not the first and only case of this happening. Incredible when you think about it. It must work sometimes otherwise the guy wouldn't fathom doing it again?
2) The police that came to that very same event drove like maniacs to the scene. I wonder if there are different speeds for different occurences. Surely "man that hasn't paid his fare for the bus" or "we've got a 392 at Euston"... can't be the most urgent and dangerous situation of the lot. The police jumped off as if they were going to face 10 hoodlems throwing stones... it was midday... quite entertaining.
3) Everytime I'm out, I meet more unemployed young enthusiastic hungry and driven individuals. This town is full of them. I've heard that a lot of people have left london and re-patriated (gone back to their home countries) whereas I am doing the complete opposite. Everyone of us seems to want to work... are willing to do quite a lot to get the work, but the opportunities aren't available.
4) I wonder how much people who have never been unemployed, who aren't feeling this frustration really understand of the situation. I've met people who have been working and months later have been made unemployed and said "I didn't know it was this crazy. I thought I had enough experience not to fall into this situation but I just can't get anywhere". "It's taking a lot longer than I thought"... "unemployment only hits unskilled and lazy people"...
5) Which leads me to the fact that I feel unemployment still has a very negative stigma attached to it. You are seen as lazy, unintelligent, unambitious and downright strange.
6) In a posh store called Liberty off of Regents street I saw articles of clothing and bags that were more expensive than my car in Sweden. And I mean double or even triple the price of my car for a piece of clothe that would hardly cover my left kneecap... I was seconds away from going up to the shop-floor assistant and asking... "Hi Could I ask you a question about this bag over here... what does it do?..... (pause...) what do you mean it carries things..nothing else?...Does it carry things that are 10 tons and make it feel like its 10 grams?. No??? So you're telling me it won't make me fly? It's not some kind of a device that will telepathically enable me to communicate with individuals around the world and possibly even those in the International Space Station... so I'm paying £3000 pounds for something that will carry my tooth picks... I will have to have a minute to think about it"... minutes later out on regents street I saw two girls walking down the street with the exact same bag... their sunglasses 10 times the size of their eyes... at least the glasses make it near impossible to develop any kind of eye disease because the eyes are well covered for the 3 days of Sun england gets every year...
7) Condoleeza Rice was speaking to an elite group of NFL owners and coaches in the US this past week. She said something which I think sticks true in a lot of different areas.
8) I read a very interesting article on the Death of Cold Calling as a means to increase sales. As I wrote my dissertation on the Balance of power in negotiations I felt this was extremely interesting and its sooo true when it comes to cold calling. The article said:
Ultimately what I'm doing when I'm looking for a job is a form of COLD CALLING. Currently the power is in other peoples hands. Unfortunately the article leaves the reader without any concrete alternatives. In my search I am trying to build the relationships needed that somewhat alleviate the perception that I'm needy but rather that I'm curious and could help.
9) For those of you who haven't heard, the G20 Summit (aka circus) is coming to London town this weekend and
10) Think back to what you were doing ten years ago... Scary thought huh...Think where you thought u'd be... scary thought... now think what you're going to do in 10 years time... :-)
11) Bikers seem to think they rule London only because they are taking the environmental option. They scream lude and rude things when they bike by if you just happen to walk in their way... obviously they are as unprotected as you get in traffic... and they are probably super nervous everytime they are out on the road but why take it out on the poor pedestrians who are even more vulnerable... I envisage the day I see pedestrians walking around London with helmets on...
12) I saw a bunch of kids playing footie in the park with a coach the other day. The pure emotions that were spilling over on the pitch are exactly why I think Sport is one of the most truley incredible phenomenon made by man. Physical activity, comraderie, nerves, passion... The pursuit of constantly improving!!! It can also bring out the worst in people. It can also clearly divide people of different abilities and leave some feeling terrible. It can be used to get out aggression in the wrong way but when done right its similar to music and art in the way it evokes the emotions. Especially among young people.
13) I found the Google Calender application just this week. What a fantastic application: I know they have it on Microsoft Outlook but this is just the application I need to be able to keep up to date with what Anne's doing and know when we are both free etc. Only negative is that Google now knows my every step...
14) People are a lot friendlier when the sun is out... a lot friendlier. Now I'm not talking about people on the tube or in shops, I'm talking about recruiters and companies. I know rays of sunshine produce enzymes or something but its incredible what a difference it makes. Especially in a country like England where Sunshine is rare... You kinda understand why warm sunny places are generally more careless and carefree...
15) One word that I hear a lot from recruiters and employers is "you're too junior for this role"... ie. you don't have enough experience for this role... but I like the fact that they call it junior. There's a paradox here... there's an incredible fear of turning 30 amongst fellow people born in the 80's... only a few years left...oooo ahhh... everytime somebody has a birthday its ... oh i'm so old... but when you think about it... we're still considered Junior for a lot of things unless we've done the same thing since graduating. If we want to try something new... "junior"... My genuine curiousity and unwillingness of acting and employing a perception of being someone I'm not gives me the tag "junior".
16) Talking about JUNIOR...Look at the following three pictures of kindergarten classes... one from the 50/60's, one from the 80's and one from the 21st century.
It's quite funny to compare ... the haircuts, the clothes and the teachers all change slightly...but kids will be kids...
Inspiration for this observation received from my friend who posted the picture on FB from her kindergarten years...
17) Coats, Jackets, boots, jeans fly off faster than you can say "8 degrees" here in London. As soon as there is a slight appearance of sun, you see people walking around in T-shirts, shorts, flip flops etc... but no sun lotion... :-D I can tell you that many that wear shorts in this weather end up with colds cause its not warm enough yet...
18) Those people that stand on the street and try to sell you stuff, try to get you to join in different groups... they must have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Together with telemarketers. It's very rare I'd like to stop and chat to them. You kinda feel as guilty at not stopping as you do at not giving a tip sometimes.. its that awkward... I REALLY Don't want to stop/pay... but is it the right thing to do?... They employ loads of different tactics but none of them really work... imagine this though.. imagine instead of young nobody's (sorry but thats what they are.. strangers to u and me)... you saw Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Lance Armstrong, Madonna etc standing and trying to sell you these things... trying to convince you to join green peace... you know what.. i think you'd stop... but of course their time is far too valuable for these kind of things... but perhaps if you could get look-a-likes... to do it..:-P people would be more inclined to stop... eh eh.. see where I'm gettin at :-D
19) I was made fun of for ordering a Lemon and Ginger tea last week... "That's a very manly drink" the waitress said sarcastically... hey!!! I happened to like the flavour of lemon and ginger... never heard that it is a womanly drink? It's not like I'm going to order a glass of whiskey for breakfast on a Sunday morning...
20) Do you think the Queen ever goes to a window of Buckingham Palace and peaks out at the masses of tourists standing outside looking at the building? I know if I were her (if that makes any sense at all) and there were loads of people always standing outside my window I'd probably invest in a telescope and when I got bored look at the different people around and realise how many different people there are out there. Maybe even buy one for my partner or for a random other person so that we could have something to talk about. People watching is absolutely fascinating. While sightseeing with John B last weekend we sat at Westminister and Buckingham Palace for a number of hours and just watched people... we saw a whole group consisting of at least 8 kids and 8 adults run across a busy road far away from any pedestrian crossing area.. there was this little girl who was holding her mothers hand as they started to walk and then a few cars came speedin in the groups direction, the girl let go of her mothers hand and ran as if her life depended on it... getting almost 5 meters ahead of her mother in a short space of distance, her facial expression as she ran was one of utter fear... but she was in her "survival instinct mode" and as she realised that she had made it across safely onto the sidewalk, her face suddenly swung around as if to think "Oh my god, where's mom, is she alright" and an almost as worried look came across her face. Interesting... It's also interesting how people find one another, we saw our fair share of couples... and I must admit, without being particularly rude or intending to poke fun at anyone, the world of Love is very strange (and as such wonderful)... we saw people who by society's standards might not be considered "overly blessed by god with eternal grace and beauty" who had found partners who might not have been "overly blessed by god with eternal grace and beauty". Nothing wrong with that as beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and is not based solely upon appearance...We saw 2 meter tall men with 1.4 meter tall women and all the difficulties they bring, we saw a family of obese people who clearly share a love for eating or coincidently both have a low metabolisms... we saw kids holding hands with their parents and others where parents were scolding and screaming and on the verge of hitting their kids, we wished that we could get 1 pence for every photograph taken of big ben, we saw suits and ties and we saw khaki's and loafers... its incredible what you see when people decide to go out and show themselves... and somewhere someone saw me and John and had their own perceptions... If I were the Queen, i'd definitely spend 5 minutes everyday looking at the people who congregate outside wondering what goes on inside...
21) My last observation will be a question. Feel free to answer it in the comments if you want or just think about it... How often do you get a chance to stop, look at the world, think about things you've read, seen or heard and comment on it...? In my case, not very often!!! Whats one thing you've observed in the world around you today? I'd be really interested to hear...
1) Granted there are a lot of busses in London, there are a lot of less than ethical people too. But it is quite surprising how often a person refuses to pay to get on a bus here. For any of you who have not had the fortune to experience this phenomenon, the bus driver turns off the engine and announces that he's not going anywhere until the person is off the bus. In my case, last Sunday, I arrived in the middle of one of these "The bus ain't moving till your fat @$$ is off the bus" episodes at Euston Station. A man had gotten on, showed his ticket unclearly and walked straight on by the busdriver who asked the man to come back...the bus had been there for around 15 minutes as the man refused to get off the bus. The Police were called and ultimately the guy got off the bus. But this is not the first and only case of this happening. Incredible when you think about it. It must work sometimes otherwise the guy wouldn't fathom doing it again?
2) The police that came to that very same event drove like maniacs to the scene. I wonder if there are different speeds for different occurences. Surely "man that hasn't paid his fare for the bus" or "we've got a 392 at Euston"... can't be the most urgent and dangerous situation of the lot. The police jumped off as if they were going to face 10 hoodlems throwing stones... it was midday... quite entertaining.
3) Everytime I'm out, I meet more unemployed young enthusiastic hungry and driven individuals. This town is full of them. I've heard that a lot of people have left london and re-patriated (gone back to their home countries) whereas I am doing the complete opposite. Everyone of us seems to want to work... are willing to do quite a lot to get the work, but the opportunities aren't available.
4) I wonder how much people who have never been unemployed, who aren't feeling this frustration really understand of the situation. I've met people who have been working and months later have been made unemployed and said "I didn't know it was this crazy. I thought I had enough experience not to fall into this situation but I just can't get anywhere". "It's taking a lot longer than I thought"... "unemployment only hits unskilled and lazy people"...
5) Which leads me to the fact that I feel unemployment still has a very negative stigma attached to it. You are seen as lazy, unintelligent, unambitious and downright strange.
6) In a posh store called Liberty off of Regents street I saw articles of clothing and bags that were more expensive than my car in Sweden. And I mean double or even triple the price of my car for a piece of clothe that would hardly cover my left kneecap... I was seconds away from going up to the shop-floor assistant and asking... "Hi Could I ask you a question about this bag over here... what does it do?..... (pause...) what do you mean it carries things..nothing else?...Does it carry things that are 10 tons and make it feel like its 10 grams?. No??? So you're telling me it won't make me fly? It's not some kind of a device that will telepathically enable me to communicate with individuals around the world and possibly even those in the International Space Station... so I'm paying £3000 pounds for something that will carry my tooth picks... I will have to have a minute to think about it"... minutes later out on regents street I saw two girls walking down the street with the exact same bag... their sunglasses 10 times the size of their eyes... at least the glasses make it near impossible to develop any kind of eye disease because the eyes are well covered for the 3 days of Sun england gets every year...
7) Condoleeza Rice was speaking to an elite group of NFL owners and coaches in the US this past week. She said something which I think sticks true in a lot of different areas.
"history has a long arc, you have to take a long view of things. If you're always chasing the day's headlines, you'll eventually become so reactionary you'll ignore long-term good for short-term satisfaction, and you'll fail."Condoleezza Rice
8) I read a very interesting article on the Death of Cold Calling as a means to increase sales. As I wrote my dissertation on the Balance of power in negotiations I felt this was extremely interesting and its sooo true when it comes to cold calling. The article said:
Many negotiating experts agree; perception is everything. Even if you have power, if you’re perceived as being 'needy’, you have no power and all negotiations will be carried out on that basis
Ultimately what I'm doing when I'm looking for a job is a form of COLD CALLING. Currently the power is in other peoples hands. Unfortunately the article leaves the reader without any concrete alternatives. In my search I am trying to build the relationships needed that somewhat alleviate the perception that I'm needy but rather that I'm curious and could help.
9) For those of you who haven't heard, the G20 Summit (aka circus) is coming to London town this weekend and
"Staff in the City are being advised to dress down and postpone non-essential meetings amid fears that they will be forced to run the gauntlet of protesters."Dress down... I so have to go down to the CITY next week and see if people are walking around in holiday clothing... hawaii shirts, flipflops... will be crazy to see... then again... knowing the horrendous actions of the anarchistic protestors they won't care who they hit, throw stones at, insult, they're just in it for the fight... let's hope its a peaceful week...
10) Think back to what you were doing ten years ago... Scary thought huh...Think where you thought u'd be... scary thought... now think what you're going to do in 10 years time... :-)
11) Bikers seem to think they rule London only because they are taking the environmental option. They scream lude and rude things when they bike by if you just happen to walk in their way... obviously they are as unprotected as you get in traffic... and they are probably super nervous everytime they are out on the road but why take it out on the poor pedestrians who are even more vulnerable... I envisage the day I see pedestrians walking around London with helmets on...
12) I saw a bunch of kids playing footie in the park with a coach the other day. The pure emotions that were spilling over on the pitch are exactly why I think Sport is one of the most truley incredible phenomenon made by man. Physical activity, comraderie, nerves, passion... The pursuit of constantly improving!!! It can also bring out the worst in people. It can also clearly divide people of different abilities and leave some feeling terrible. It can be used to get out aggression in the wrong way but when done right its similar to music and art in the way it evokes the emotions. Especially among young people.
13) I found the Google Calender application just this week. What a fantastic application: I know they have it on Microsoft Outlook but this is just the application I need to be able to keep up to date with what Anne's doing and know when we are both free etc. Only negative is that Google now knows my every step...
14) People are a lot friendlier when the sun is out... a lot friendlier. Now I'm not talking about people on the tube or in shops, I'm talking about recruiters and companies. I know rays of sunshine produce enzymes or something but its incredible what a difference it makes. Especially in a country like England where Sunshine is rare... You kinda understand why warm sunny places are generally more careless and carefree...
15) One word that I hear a lot from recruiters and employers is "you're too junior for this role"... ie. you don't have enough experience for this role... but I like the fact that they call it junior. There's a paradox here... there's an incredible fear of turning 30 amongst fellow people born in the 80's... only a few years left...oooo ahhh... everytime somebody has a birthday its ... oh i'm so old... but when you think about it... we're still considered Junior for a lot of things unless we've done the same thing since graduating. If we want to try something new... "junior"... My genuine curiousity and unwillingness of acting and employing a perception of being someone I'm not gives me the tag "junior".
16) Talking about JUNIOR...Look at the following three pictures of kindergarten classes... one from the 50/60's, one from the 80's and one from the 21st century.
It's quite funny to compare ... the haircuts, the clothes and the teachers all change slightly...but kids will be kids...
Inspiration for this observation received from my friend who posted the picture on FB from her kindergarten years...
17) Coats, Jackets, boots, jeans fly off faster than you can say "8 degrees" here in London. As soon as there is a slight appearance of sun, you see people walking around in T-shirts, shorts, flip flops etc... but no sun lotion... :-D I can tell you that many that wear shorts in this weather end up with colds cause its not warm enough yet...
18) Those people that stand on the street and try to sell you stuff, try to get you to join in different groups... they must have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Together with telemarketers. It's very rare I'd like to stop and chat to them. You kinda feel as guilty at not stopping as you do at not giving a tip sometimes.. its that awkward... I REALLY Don't want to stop/pay... but is it the right thing to do?... They employ loads of different tactics but none of them really work... imagine this though.. imagine instead of young nobody's (sorry but thats what they are.. strangers to u and me)... you saw Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Lance Armstrong, Madonna etc standing and trying to sell you these things... trying to convince you to join green peace... you know what.. i think you'd stop... but of course their time is far too valuable for these kind of things... but perhaps if you could get look-a-likes... to do it..:-P people would be more inclined to stop... eh eh.. see where I'm gettin at :-D
19) I was made fun of for ordering a Lemon and Ginger tea last week... "That's a very manly drink" the waitress said sarcastically... hey!!! I happened to like the flavour of lemon and ginger... never heard that it is a womanly drink? It's not like I'm going to order a glass of whiskey for breakfast on a Sunday morning...
20) Do you think the Queen ever goes to a window of Buckingham Palace and peaks out at the masses of tourists standing outside looking at the building? I know if I were her (if that makes any sense at all) and there were loads of people always standing outside my window I'd probably invest in a telescope and when I got bored look at the different people around and realise how many different people there are out there. Maybe even buy one for my partner or for a random other person so that we could have something to talk about. People watching is absolutely fascinating. While sightseeing with John B last weekend we sat at Westminister and Buckingham Palace for a number of hours and just watched people... we saw a whole group consisting of at least 8 kids and 8 adults run across a busy road far away from any pedestrian crossing area.. there was this little girl who was holding her mothers hand as they started to walk and then a few cars came speedin in the groups direction, the girl let go of her mothers hand and ran as if her life depended on it... getting almost 5 meters ahead of her mother in a short space of distance, her facial expression as she ran was one of utter fear... but she was in her "survival instinct mode" and as she realised that she had made it across safely onto the sidewalk, her face suddenly swung around as if to think "Oh my god, where's mom, is she alright" and an almost as worried look came across her face. Interesting... It's also interesting how people find one another, we saw our fair share of couples... and I must admit, without being particularly rude or intending to poke fun at anyone, the world of Love is very strange (and as such wonderful)... we saw people who by society's standards might not be considered "overly blessed by god with eternal grace and beauty" who had found partners who might not have been "overly blessed by god with eternal grace and beauty". Nothing wrong with that as beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and is not based solely upon appearance...We saw 2 meter tall men with 1.4 meter tall women and all the difficulties they bring, we saw a family of obese people who clearly share a love for eating or coincidently both have a low metabolisms... we saw kids holding hands with their parents and others where parents were scolding and screaming and on the verge of hitting their kids, we wished that we could get 1 pence for every photograph taken of big ben, we saw suits and ties and we saw khaki's and loafers... its incredible what you see when people decide to go out and show themselves... and somewhere someone saw me and John and had their own perceptions... If I were the Queen, i'd definitely spend 5 minutes everyday looking at the people who congregate outside wondering what goes on inside...
21) My last observation will be a question. Feel free to answer it in the comments if you want or just think about it... How often do you get a chance to stop, look at the world, think about things you've read, seen or heard and comment on it...? In my case, not very often!!! Whats one thing you've observed in the world around you today? I'd be really interested to hear...
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Learning lessons...
Lesson #1 - Spending over 24 hours straight inside an apartment in London should be avoided at most costs.
------ The last thing you need to do when looking for work is confine yourself to a very small space with no windows so following an extremely productive morning job-hunting session where I was able to spew my CV and cover-letter out to a number of unprepared victims, I decided it was time to end my 24 hour self-confinement and take a short wander on the streets of London.
No matter what time of day you travel these London streets you seem to see professional looking people wandering here, there, everywhere. Businessmen in suits taking late 15.00 o'clock sandwichs in cafés everywhere. To think every one of these suits is a value-adding member of society. Fantastic! Came to thinking though that due to recent economic difficulties, the fancy schmanzy suits their wearing today may need to be worn for a little big longer than they may have liked. :-)
Lesson #2 - Patience! Only stretch yourself when you know the entire you is with
----- Taking the tube back from Kings Cross to Old Street, I witnessed the EVENT of the DAY!!!!
Hoping on the tube I grasped at the pole to steady myself for the upcoming journey. The doors were seconds from closing and a group of 3 Japanese kids had just hopped on... just then, as the doors started shutting... a woman stretched both arms forward in hopes of making the train... to her surprise though the doors shut trapping her arms at around the elbow with the rest of her torso still on the platform... she was no match for the powerful jaws of the door so she started trying to pull her arms back to towards her... suddenly you could see the fear in her eyes as she realised she was gripping tightly to a plastic bag with her purse and mobile phone in the bag and in her hands. The bag was still in the train but her body was outside. Reluctantly she released the bag staring through the doors at a little Japanese kid who was trying to help and holding the bag. The train began to move with the woman looking distressed on the platform... a little teenage Japanese kid holding the bag with the mobile and phone on the train looking at his friends wondering what they should do.
I must admit I couldn't help but giggle at this tragic situation. Really there should be no moral or lesson to this funny event, but if we decide to anyway one might say its important to make sure you are totally commited and fully behind any leaps you make take. Had the woman waited 2 minutes she would have caught the next train. Patience! In the philosophical mood I'm in right now, this is something I will keep in mind in my pursuit of a job.
I'll finish today with a totally random picture. It shows the everyday in London. No particular street, sight, person, or reason to take it other than to show that life continues as usual out there. :-)
The journey continues
------ The last thing you need to do when looking for work is confine yourself to a very small space with no windows so following an extremely productive morning job-hunting session where I was able to spew my CV and cover-letter out to a number of unprepared victims, I decided it was time to end my 24 hour self-confinement and take a short wander on the streets of London.
No matter what time of day you travel these London streets you seem to see professional looking people wandering here, there, everywhere. Businessmen in suits taking late 15.00 o'clock sandwichs in cafés everywhere. To think every one of these suits is a value-adding member of society. Fantastic! Came to thinking though that due to recent economic difficulties, the fancy schmanzy suits their wearing today may need to be worn for a little big longer than they may have liked. :-)
Lesson #2 - Patience! Only stretch yourself when you know the entire you is with
----- Taking the tube back from Kings Cross to Old Street, I witnessed the EVENT of the DAY!!!!
Hoping on the tube I grasped at the pole to steady myself for the upcoming journey. The doors were seconds from closing and a group of 3 Japanese kids had just hopped on... just then, as the doors started shutting... a woman stretched both arms forward in hopes of making the train... to her surprise though the doors shut trapping her arms at around the elbow with the rest of her torso still on the platform... she was no match for the powerful jaws of the door so she started trying to pull her arms back to towards her... suddenly you could see the fear in her eyes as she realised she was gripping tightly to a plastic bag with her purse and mobile phone in the bag and in her hands. The bag was still in the train but her body was outside. Reluctantly she released the bag staring through the doors at a little Japanese kid who was trying to help and holding the bag. The train began to move with the woman looking distressed on the platform... a little teenage Japanese kid holding the bag with the mobile and phone on the train looking at his friends wondering what they should do.
I must admit I couldn't help but giggle at this tragic situation. Really there should be no moral or lesson to this funny event, but if we decide to anyway one might say its important to make sure you are totally commited and fully behind any leaps you make take. Had the woman waited 2 minutes she would have caught the next train. Patience! In the philosophical mood I'm in right now, this is something I will keep in mind in my pursuit of a job.
I'll finish today with a totally random picture. It shows the everyday in London. No particular street, sight, person, or reason to take it other than to show that life continues as usual out there. :-)
The journey continues
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The first rejection...
Moving to London without a job in the best of times might be tough but doing so when the world has gone absolutely mad with economic fright? Well one might rightly be considered slightly naive.
Deciding that you are going to "pursue" your dream career might also be considered brave when things are good, but to do so when nobody is willing to take a chance is seen in the majority of peoples eyes as down right STUPID. :-)
That makes me STUPID and NAIVE... :-) Something to put on my CV...
However...
Don't really know who this Philip Adams guy is.... but as Richard Branson says...sometimes you have to say "Screw it, lets do it"... The more you risk, the greater the fall, but also the greater the rewards...
Sitting here in London, embracing my first of many "You've really chosen the wrong time to move. Nobody's going to take a chance on you", I logically start questioning my decisions! Ultimately though, if you haven't given it a go...
The hunting process is amusing because just when you thought you've found the perfect company, the perfect opportunity ... prepared your CV, your cover letter, your perfect answers, the door slams in your face quicker than you can say.. "Take a chance, take a chance take a chance"... and you question whether the chance is gone. Should I return to my safety spot? At the moment my answer is a resounding no... :-)
The journey continues and so do the dreams...
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