Getting stuck.

As Poch mentioned, I have been stuck in a lift, on the balcony, in a room with a smelly dodgy guy, cotton buds. The latest stuck-age was when I went to have a cup of tea on the roof/balcony on the third floor which is accessible via a window. It was a windy sunny day and I decided to take a break from the movie I was watching, Revolver because it was a tad too confusing. Out I went sitting and sipping my tea when a strong gush of wind blew and closed the window entrance shut. The latch on the window locked itself and there I was stuck on the rooftop. I thought of my options which were:

• force open another window which leads to the main staircase and then take a leap of faith onto the staircase which was about 3 m below me.
• knock on a room window which was about 2 m away from the roof and take my chances on falling 3 stories down to the garden. The room was unoccupied which rules this option out.
  
• stay put and wait for help.
• try to force the latch open through brute force and a dented 5 yr old MAS spoon.
• soil my pants while waiting for help.
• start screaming like a madman who's contemplating a free free-fall ride to earth.

Fortunately, one of the subwardens came up through the stairs and I caught his attention. He was in a state of shock seeing me there on the roof knocking on the stairs window. I was rather shabby looking as I am on a one week holiday, hence the messed up hair and unshaven face. Kindly he opened the window latch and told me that the roof/balcony was out of bounds. Well, there goes my coffee/tea spot for the mornings and afternoons.

I received my ticket for the pre-season friendly between Man Utd against Sevilla today, very prompt next day delivery. Will be taking the coach on Saturday 8.30am arriving in Manchester at about 1.30pm. Kick off is at 3pm. Then, hopefully I can catch the 6pm coach back to London otherwise the next coach at 6.45pm will make a 40 minute stop at Birmingham before going to London which will result in me arriving in London at 1am.

This will be my second time to Old Trafford, but first since the new quadrant was opened. The Man Utd website is cool because it gives you a real-life view of your seat, depending on which stand you choose. I was looking to get a seat just behind the bench but the tickets for those seats were sold out. Well, all I hope for is Utd to win and enjoy the atmosphere. Previously, Vj and I were at the highest tier of the North Stand (I think) and Utd played against Middlesborough and lost 3-1.

Ironic - Alanis Morissette.

Square Pies.

After days of temptation, I decided to go and try the much hyped about Square Pie. I found out about it while looking up the famous Spitalfields meat market, which I have yet but always wanted to visit to see what a wet market really is like here. Anyways, Square Pie was one of the recommended places to eat in that area apart from the slightly more pricey Canteen. I came across Canteen when I was reading Tony Parsons' Stories We Could Tell. Looking up SP's website, I realised that they have a branch in Selfridges along Oxford Street which was ideal because bus 414 stops at Marble Arch and it'll take about 10 minutes walking through the crowd to Selfridges and also, I felt really lazy to take the tube all the way to Liverpool Street Station. The weather is very cool today as it rained yesterday. No point getting into the Tube and trapped in a stuffy cage of sweat, awful smells, body odour. The bus passed by Hyde Park on the way to Marble Arch and I saw what effect the weather has on the grass in the park for the past 3 weeks or so. Instead of nice green patches of grass, I saw acres of brownish some what dead-like grass all over the park.

Back to the pie.... surfing through SP's website which had an online menu, I decided on the Steak & Cheese pie before I left home. Unfortunately, they ran out of it when I arrived. Had the Lamb & Rosemary instead. I was impressed with the fillings inside, the lamb chunks were tender and still maintain the lamb-ish taste. Since I chose the meal deal (GBP 6.50), I had a portion of garden peas and mash and onion gravy. Nothing much about the peas, heck they're just garden peas. But the mash was great. Soft, smooth and creamy texture with bits of chopped fried shallots in there.... sweeeeet. The pastry was soft and crumbly and savoury. As long as it isn't soft and lumpy and looking undercooked, it's fine by me. They pack it into a nice cardboard lunch box, which I thought was very convinient and exuberated a touch of class as well.

After pie-ing my pie-hole, I walked around Selfridges' Food Hall. It pretty much looks like the one in Harrods but probably cheaper. Bottled Vittels were selling at 69 pence. So yea. And then, I saw the stall that sells one of the most heavenly indulgence known to mankind. Haha. Krispy Kreme. I was tempted but at the same time, needed some time to think it through :P Took another walk around the other stalls before deciding on getting a dozen (GBP 7.95) of their assorted varieties. Well, I thought since I have a little extra income this week, no harm indulging myself. These doughnuts are good but they aren't cheap. Best way to eat them, according to my food connoisseur friend, Germs, is to microwave it on high long enough to make the fillings inside goooeeey and the doughtnut pastry soft. I guess it's up to each individual taste, but I find microwaving it makes it even nicer.

Why - Avril Lavigne.

Wimbledon.

Going to Wimbledon is not for the faint hearted. Yingke, Vj and I left the flat at 6am to take the earliest tube to Southfields, and not Wimbledon. We then walked towards a massive field where rows and rows of people were queueing up to buy tickets. The Wimbledon ground was probably 1000 yards from where we were queueing up. The queue moved slowly but reassuringly towards the venue and it took us about 3 hours before we reached. Queueing up wasn't that bad as the Wimbledon stewards were very polite and friendly. Good natured people. There were people giving out KitKat's latest product, the peanut butter bar, Christian Dior's Farenheit, Tropicana juice. We had our "breakfast" while waiting in line. It was a chilly morning.

We bought the grounds ticket which allowed us access to all courts except Court 1 and Centre Court. While Vj went to watch Ancic play, Yingke and I decided to stay at Court 3 because Daniela Hantuchova was scheduled to play the second game there. First game featured Nalbandian and Moore. We sat at the top of the stands of Court 3 which gave us an aerial view of almost all the courts around us. Best part was, Court 2 was behind us and we could watch Hingis play as well. We also saw Justine Henin-Hardene and Roger Federer warming up nearby. Towards the end of the day, we went to see Sperm (don't mispronounce), Paradon Srichapan and Maria Kirilenko.

There's a strict rule of conduct while watching the game, as most of us would have noticed watching tennis on the television. Spectators are allowed to take a seat and watch the match if the stewards managing the seats permits you to. As long as there's an empty seat, you can enter the stand and watch. Otherwise, you have to queue up and wait for someone to vacate his/her seat. There were people who came, watched a couple of games and then move on to another court. So, there's always a chance to watch the match. Everything was very organised apart from the weather. Haha. Typical of London. On the first day of Wimbledon, it was pouring. Cats and dogs and cows. We were lucky.

Food was expensive. We got the cheapest item on offer, a hotdog for GBP 3.50. Strawberries were sold at GBP 2 per box. In fact, if anyone decides to go to Wimbledon, do bring your own food along. Food is allowed on the stands. So you can save loads of money. Not to forget, water. My 2L bottle was suffice for the whole day.

I was amazed as to how close spectators were allowed courtside. I practically stood behind where Hantuchova was and took a couple of good shots. We could have got her autograph if we were more eager to push through the crowd of people surrounding her as she walked off court. I think Hantuchova is my new tennis babe simple because of her long legs (imho longer and more dainty than Sharapova).

Lengthy queue at 6.20am.

Court 2.

Where Yingke and I sat, Court 3.

Henman Hill and the big screen that shows the action from Centre Court.

Tropicana man!!!

Match schedule.

Stewards.

Hingis.

Daniela Hantuchova.

Bliss.

Scoreboard.

Sprem.

Outisde Court 1.

Even the tube station is decorated for Wimbledon.

Nessun Dorma - Amici Forever.

Yes.

Songs.

Snow Patrol has a new album, Eyes Open. Which is a terrific album. I'd categorise them as a slow-rock/alternative band. I realise that I have a tendency to like songs which are sad. I think sad songs are more popular then happy songs. Music isn't supposed to transform our lives. It is supposed to be an outlet for everyone.

Right now, I'm sorting out my belongings and starting to put some of them into the shipping boxes. Room is in a total clutz right now. Lots of rubbish accumulated and not thrown away throughout my 4 years here. A good example is this shoe polish which I bought 2 years ago, and it is still unopened. And the shoe which I wanted to polish, is now unwearable. Holes in the sole. When it rains, my socks get wet. My 17" monitor screen, probably throw it away. Desktop, dismantle it and keep the RAM i guess. I wonder how many boxes I'll need to fit my clothes and other little items like books, speakers, radio clocks. Oh my pillows. I really like my two pillows. Dad bought them for me before he flew back to Msia. They cost GBP40 in total. Good stuff I tell you.

Will be moving out from this flat on 30 June, to student halls. Managed to get a summer research placement in my department, working on micro-powered generators, lasting 10 weeks. With about 2 weeks worth of holiday in between. Should be interesting to be here during the summer. With the blindingly hot weather, bikini babes and sunshine for 16 hours everday. Plans after the research placement? Not sure yet. One tiny step at a time. Oh yes, another good reason to be here over the summer, watching the World Cup at a reasonable time in the day :)

Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol.

Old School.

Coutesy of Foo Kong.

:)