6-05-2008 Tuesday

London Time:

First day of work! Offcially.

Woke up this morning feeling quite warm. Then I noticed, it really was getting warm. The weather is warming up everyday! Whoo!

So basically got up, washed up, prepared breakfast (toast with butter and milk), and got ready to go to work. Had to report at 9.00pm, so i left the house at around 8.20am. I put on my windbreaker and waterproof pants as well.

Apparently the windbreaker works really well. It wasn't cold at all. Only my fingers were a little chilly. But all in all. It worked wonders.

So cycled to Moor Lane building, its basically just opposite HSBC bank. And parked my bicycle in the parking area. And got a week pass from the security shack.

Then I got directions to the C-wing reception, and basically asked my way around. Finally I was led to the Combustion area office, where I met Kevin. He's a really nice guy, probablly late 20-ish? But noticed from his accent that he sounded abit Irish. And I was right, cause he said something about it later on at lunch. I knew that accent probablly from watching BraveHeart DVD back in Singapore. Its by Mel Gibson. Really good show. FREEDOM!!!!

Then he told me that I'd probablly be working in the Rig testing facility across the street. And he introduced me to a bunch of other people, from his team as well as from other teams. I'm not gonna talk much about what teams there are, cause I'm probablly not allowed to do so anyways. So pardon me for being vague on the details.

Most of the people there were guys and were really nice people. All around 20+ to early 40s age. After all the introduction was done(I can't really remember most of the names though, I'm really bad with names), we left the building and went across the street to the SRC. Strategic something something, its not that I don't wanna tell you what it is, but I probablly can't anyways, I can't remember the full name. Its always mentioned as SRC.

I was told that most of the buildings here were constructed during World War II. So basically the buildings were OLD. But they were slowly knocking them down and building new ones. So yep. But I heard that the buildings were used to test the Merlin Engines that they used on the Spitfire WWII fighter plane. Awesome.

So I went in one of the buildings, into a workshop, and basically met my supervisor, Andy Payne, and a few other guys that were part of the team I was in. Before this, I pictured Andy Payne to be a formal looking person, probablly in a long sleeve shirt and a tie, office-like person. You know, the usual tall and fairly skinny type with a face that probablly doesn't take jokes well. But boy was I wrong. Andy Payne turned out to be a guy probablly in his late 30s or early 40s, pudgy, with a really big nose, as in literally. And well. Bald? He was funnny. A really nice man. He told me that he went to Singapore few months back to meet up with Choon Kiat, the guy who came here last year from Ngee Ann. And brought him around Singapore.

There was this really tall guy as well, his name was Tobey, or Toby? I don't know. But its pronounced that way. Apparently he's quite new there as well. He's only been there for the past 3 months and had around 3 more months to go. He was there as an intern as well. He's REALLY tall. Probablly 1.90m? And again, he's bald. Not that he's too old or anything, I think he's just probablly around 20 years old? He just shaved it all off. And he's got a ring on his right eyebrow. Kinda punkish. But he turned out to be a nice guy as well. He told me there was the International Society Meeting tomorrow and asked me to go along as well. He'd give me the details later.

As we were walking back to Moor Lane Building, we walked past a container like area, that was the canteen. That was a temporary one because the older one was burnt down. They suspect it was arson by a few kids that got told off by the security guard for cycling around that area.

When we got back, I was given a report to read, it was basically the tests that were carried out 2 years ago. It was hard to stay awake reading the report cause it was so damn wordy. But yep. I think I was given that to read cause there was nothing for me to do that time anyways.

Lunch time came and we all went to the canteen for lunch. I ordered rice, and was given a HUGE serving. I've got no idea why. Then I ordered sausages as well. So basically I could only finish 1/3 of the rice and all the sausages. There was really ALOT of rice. And it was cooked with egg and some veges. Tasted... not really good. And that all cost me 3.30 pounds. Damn ex. Shall eat something better and healthier tomorrow.

After lunch I went back and did an online tutorial course on Combustion. Pretty interesting stuff, but got slightly boring at the end. Then just slacked around cause there was nothing to do till around 4.45pm. Then I suited up and went home.

The weather was warm. I was perspiring by the time I got home. Yay. Summer's coming! I got up, chatted to some of my friends still online, did some push ups and sit ups, and went to bathe.

Donato came back soon after and we went to the Supermart to shop for groceries. It was a long walk to the supermarket. And most of the stuff was for me cause Donato had enough food for him at home. So yep. The bill cost me 17.10 pounds. I hope thats all for this week's groceries. But I still gotta get a mircowavable lunchbox. So I can cook my own lunch and bring it to work.

Donato's gonna prepare dinner soon. I think its steak for tonight. Well. Here I am typing out this entry. Oh yea. Apparently the work hours are quite flexible. The total hours to work a week is 38 hours. I don't know if lunch time is included. But we only need a half hour for lunch. And if we come in early, we can end early. Or we can work later one day and leave earlier on the other. And its really based on trust. Cause there's no signing in or anything. Cool. But yea of course I'm gonna work my 38 hours. Its good in a way that I can work later on other days and go home earlier on Friday.

Oh yea. Tomorrow night I'll be going to the International Society Meeting. Its gonna be held at a pub called Bridge Inn. And it starts at 8.30pm. Whee. I'll be cycling there with Toby probablly. Cause he lives at Alvaston too. Quite near to where I stay.