PARADISE

Var din egen väg

Självporträtt

 

Song of this week

BUSY DAYS SEEM SHORT

I went to the center this morning 'cos of the National Insurance interview booked at 11.20. I managed to get myself awake n out intime (on a Monday morning, not bad for being me) to have some spare hours to look around. A local dude recommended this shop, CASS ART LONDON, when I was asking for some supplies. I can't complain, it had everything I want and more - on 10th anniversary SALE. Nice!

I took a walk through China Town, where they still had the decorations from the Chinese New Year (23th January).

Finally... I headed towards northeast part of London, which for me was a new area. It's funny how u can take just a few tubestops, n walk out in a totally different surrounding. Like those what-ever-they-called-'em in Star Trek! Kinda funny. 

Anyways, this area is strongly Islamic. You can find the east London Mosque, Muslim center, London Islamic bank, n so on... Walking threw this area I reached destination Job Center, were me and a bunch of other foreigners were queueing to get our passports and papers checked. Then... queueing again to get the passports back. All n all I was waiting inline for about 2,5 hours... Well, now it's atleast done! Yey!

Aaah and guess what was waiting for me when I got back to Kent?! The letter from the bank with a bank-account number and a checkbook! Finally!!! So, on the bureaucratic part, this day was a success and a big stress relief. I will go to sleep hyvällä mielellä today. Who's commercial in the Finnish TV had that slogan ? "blablablablaa.... Wake up happy!"...? To end this day I took the boys to the playground, had some nice dinner n finally time to relax. Today felt like...1 hour. A very busy 1 hour....

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CREATIVITY, NOT DESTRUCTION

 

The garden of Adam // 29/01/2012

There goes yet another week -- all n all no complains! This sunday is for relaxing, painting, drawing... Peace and quiet; I'm loving it. Time to empty every thought from my mind n just lean back. No pressure, no expectations, no meetings, away from the crowded streets and the heavy traffic.

"...for a safer London..."

I was out in Shepherd's Bush the other day (it's the same area as were u can find one of the westfield shopping centers). We managed to find a nice karaokebar, heh.. with extremely talented singers, and as always also some.....not so talented. You know, the ones you feel embaressed for... I hate that feeling.

As I wrote earlier, I have that kind of  "it will all work out somehow"-mentality... I tend not to worry. Sometimes though, it's a good reminder to keep yourself aware of your environment. For those two days this week, in S. Bush, two policemen warned me about getting robbed, in different occations. "Dont answer your phone in this area unless it's an emergancy", "please keep a good hold of your handbag". Though I didn't see anything bad, other than a few drunk people (which I'm more than used to in Kokkola too) I suppose it's a rough area. I don't mind though. I really do look forward to finding my way to Brixton too, something about rough unglamorous places fascinates me...

 

Going-to-bed-song of yesterday.

You people crossed 1000 blogviews, in one month... Cheers for reading, sweeties!

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Another day, another drawing.

 The weekend is one more time gone, and a new week kicked off. I had the pleasure of meeting new nice people again. We made the second round around Westfield shopping center, had some dinner, went to get ready for going out and finally hit the streets and ended up in Club bond ; a glamorous and poshy place in the center of London. Coctails for 15 £... entrance 20 £.... We were lucky to be on the guestlist. London nights can be great laughs and a loads of fun, but it can also be extremely expensive.

I'm sad to say I missed the London Art Fair which was planned for sunday, simply because I didnt have the power to go after that night out... 

It's easy to meet new people here when you are new, I think... Like today for example, I was in the playground with the kids, n met a sweet girl who lives just two blocks from me; we started talking n got along - now we are heading to Bromley together some of the next matching free days. I didn't go there yet, so I'm glad to get company to go with!

Somehow I'm starting to get used to the idea of living here. Life can be good, we better enjoy it while it lasts, right? The eagle has landed.

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BRITONS

Words to remember when visiting the UK

• Thank you
• Excuse me
• Please
• Sorry
• Cheers
• Pardon

...do remember to put atleast one of them into every sentence, and you will be alright. If you manage to combine them all in one, you might even make a good impression.

Brits are extremely polite in their speech, which I do find kinda nice. I'm doing my best to keep up! Except for when I'm exhausted and the true Finnish way of not speaking to anyone shines threw. Like the other day... I was walking along the sideway minding my own business far away in the world of my own thoughts. I didn't even notice one woman giving me way, and she did give me a reminder of that a thank you would have been good. M-hm! L&L - Look and Learn. I go along with the motto; Treat people the way they treat you.

 

Now off for new inspiration from London's saturday cityrush. The nicest thing is you never know what the day might bring you! Laters, near n dear ones!

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BITE ME. PLS.

Bite me. Illustrated.

My dear sister warned me about opening a bank account in the UK. I usually don't care enough and go with the "it'll work out somehow"-attitude. Well today I went to 4 different banks n still don't have an account. Some of them wanted to wait for me to have a national insurance... I'm just saying..... COME ON? What has that got to do with the bank. F-ing Nada. Talk about overprotected. What do they think I'll do? Jesus.

So, now I'm waiting one week for them to check threw my papers and information, to see if they might be in a good mood of giving me an account?

Cross your fingers, n wish me luck.

RAUTAROUVA AND HEVOSVOIMAA

Rautarouva!

 I happened to see the movie Iron Lady in the cinema in Westfield (thanks, it was really a nice place, but the movie? Not worth the 105 min of our precious time alive). I just checked it out on IMDb and saw the Finnish translation -> RAUTAROUVA!  Hahaa, Finland, without irony, I'm loving it. It's all in the details!

Westfield is one of the biggest shoppingcenters in Europe (second biggest?), I was too tired to enjoy at the time being, but will be heading there soonest, again.



Today we made a fieldtrip to Sevenoaks to see a dear friend of the family, which also happens to be... a horse!; a beautiful and calm one.
All n all, it's been a great week and I can't believe it's already friday again tomorrow!

Btw, we were back to +12 degrees again today, there goes the winterjacket!

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