26-5-2008 Monday

London Time: 8.00pm

Vroom Vroom!!!
British Super Bikes Event at Donington Park!

Andy (the 20 year old Andy) picked me up in his car at around 10.30am this morning! He had SatNav GPS in his car that helped him to find where I stayed at. A friend of his, Patrick, was in the car as well and we were introduced.

During the ride, I couldn't really understand the conversation between him and Patrick cause both their Brit accents were really thick. But I could pick out bits and pieces of what they were talking about. Andy told me that I may need to pay for my tickets cause he was not sure if he could get me in with a free pass. So we stopped off at a nearby cash machine to get some cash. And while we were getting the cash, this fat bloke that looked like he was drunk half the time he's awake (he was sober though) came up to us and asked us if we had any spare change. Andy quickly brushed him off and said 'no'. But he kept telling us that the bus was coming in a few minutes and he had to get to the airport.

When we got our cash, Andy then said to the bloke that was still pestering us, "I've already f*cking told you we don't have any spare change man, what the f*ck is your problem? Here's a quid, leave us alone". So he took out one pound from his pocket and tossed it at the guy and we quickly went back to the car and drove off.

In the car Andy asked me that if there were such people in Singapore. I told him there were, but there weren't many. The SatNav GPS guided Andy to the Donington village. It was kind of an old town village like Chellaston where Mrs Mary's place is at. We drove through the village an into Donington Park.

There were tons of people there! And loads of Motorbike riders in racing gear. Well they probablly wear like this all the time when they are riding. So I don't think they are one of the racers. Andy called his friend and was unable to get the free passes. Bloody hell. That meant me and Patrick had to pay to get in. So we went to the booth and bought our tickets for 28 pounds each. REALLY EXPENSIVE TICKETS. But Patrick told me that the ticket prices was quite average. The expensive ones for other events on other days would cost up to around 60 pounds if a world champion was racing that day. So yeap. Blew 28 pounds on a Motorbike event. It better be good.

The back area of the garages.


It was really windy around the area, its mainly cause we're actually on higher ground for the event. Walking against the wind felt like you could be blown away. It was THAT windy.

The Garages


We walked around the garages where the teams were at and Andy told me to take pictures with the race girls. He asked them for a picture with me and they agreed. So here are the shots. But well. I look quite crap in them cause I had to wear the beanie to stop my hair from flying around and well. The wind was so damn strong I could only have my eyes half open. Wonder how the girls manage to survive the weather wearing only that.

Whoo Whee. ( Andy took the photos. haha)


We walked around more and went to certain parts of the circuit. There was more than one event that day and we caught around 6 races for the whole day. So these are just the pictures from the event. We basically walked around for each different race to the different part of the circuit.




The Grand Stand. ( we didnt' view the event from there, cause you only can see a straight section of the track from there.)


There's Andy and Patrick. ( Andy's the one with his head turned)

This was an accident that happened while I was taking a video. Amazing. It happened right infront of us. But the last race was the best. We stood at a 180 degree bend at the circuit. And there were like 3 or 4 accidents on that last race that happened in front of us. Jaw dropping man.


First Viewing Spot


Second Spot.


Patrick trying on a jacket which he later bought for 40 quid.


The shops in the exhibition hall.


Another location


Amazingly close to planes landing in the East Midlands Airport just next door.


The Crazy Hairpin where around 4 accidents happened.


2 Bikes down, was quite serious cause the race had to be stopped and one of the rider was carried off in an aumbulance.


Last race.


After the races were finished, Andy drove me home. I'd say the 28 pounds was well spent. A little ex but yep, don't think I'll ever see this in Singapore.
Enjoy the photos.

Loads of videos but was too lazy to upload all. So here are 2 of them.

Damn, gonna spend around 20 pounds tomorrow for the Amusement park thing. Damn it.

I'm gonna be so broke.

24-5-2008 Saturday

London Time: 9.50pm

Ah.. Its the weekend. Turns out only Monday's the official bank holiday. But Rolls Royce Derby gives Tuesday as a holiday for the people working there as well. And I'm one of the people working there. Cool.

And... They don't have bank holidays (to us Singaporeans its public holidays) in the middle of the week. They normally push it to the weekend, so if the official holiday is on a Wednesday, it'll be pushed either to the coming Friday or the following Monday. Lovely isn't it?

Went to JJB sports store during my lunch break yesterday, my supervisor, Andy Payne and my collegue, Andy Newton drove me there, they both aren't actually Andys. Their real names are Andrew Payne and Andrew Newton. And in the U.K they call Andrew, Andy. Weird. And the slang for the currency here is quid. So instead of saying something costs 9 pounds, you can say it costs 9 quid.

So I went to the sports store to get a pair of running shoes for football later (The brits don't like soccer to be called soccer, they call it football. I found quite a nice pair for 9 quid. Then after work we all went for football at the pitch nearby.

It was good exercise, loads of running. And at the end of the day, my toe had a pop-ed blister. Ouch. And I suck at football. Ahh well. At least did some exercise since a long time.

So I'm alone at home again, Donato left for Italy yesterday and won't be back till Wednesday.

21-5-2008 Wednesday

London Time: 4.45pm

Ah. Work is goood. Sitting in a room doing all the tests. During the test there's practically nothing to do. So I always grab the free newspaper before I head into the test bed. And well. I read almost every section of the paper! I can even read them twice. That's how free I am when the tests are running.

Ahh well. The landlord, Giuseppe is coming over soon with someone else to view the place. I think we're gonna have one more person staying with us soon. Ahh well. Lets all pray he's a nice bloke. But I'd reckon that he's from Rolls Royce as well. And introduced to Giuseppe by Mrs Mary. Guys from Rolls Royce are usually pretty alright.

Whooo! I'm going to Alton Towers Amusement Park on Tuesday! And most likely the MotorGP event on Monday! Awesome!

Ah. The speakers are able to recieve the radio frequency as well! Whoo!

20-5-2008 Tuesday

London Time: 5.50pm

And Monday came and went. And I'm almost done with Tueday. Its really fast. Really fast.

I've been listening to the British Radio recently; well just started today. Its a pretty good medium for news and well Brit Music. There's quite a few American songs on the station as well. So its not that bad.

And apparently there's a debate over if they should reduce the abortion timeline from 24 weeks to maybe 22 or 12 weeks. The MPs here are gonna vote for whether the time should be reduced or not soon. Well basically the argue was that mom's who have had babies born prematurely survived and that meant that the abortion deadline should be reduced. And those saying the deadline should be remained the same is that if the mother is unable to care for the baby, or the have had the baby cause she got raped or along that lines, then it wouldn't be right to keep the baby.

Well personally I think the deadline should be maintained. I'm looking at this in a way that girls who get pregnant when they are maybe 15 to 20 years old and feel that they are unable to take care of a child, and think that abortion is the way out should be able to do the abortion without making them a criminal. So yep. Wonder how will the vote turn out here in the U.K.

On a lighter note, Andrew's really nice. He just got a new Nokia phone and he has Sony Erricsson speakers from his old phone. Since he doesn't have his old phone anymore, he gave me the speakers! Whooo! I finally have speakers in my room! Too bad they only can be plugged into my phone and can't have the radio function. Cause apparently the wire for the headset is the antenna for the radio. I've just found that out after using Sony Erricsson walkman phones for over 2 years. haha.

19-5-2008 Monday

London Time: 8.10pm

And just like that Monday's gone by. I guess living alone in a country so far away has it benefits; being independent. No parents here to make meals for you, do the laundry for you, and basically just being take care of.

Its all really good in a sense that being alone out here forces you to take care of yourself. You plan what you are going to eat, plan when to do your laundry, and alot of other stuff that you don't really take notice of about yourself when your living with your parents. And its all good. I think I'm eating healthier here than I would be if I was in Singapore. Cause during weekdays I would have lunch in school and buy some takeaway at the food center nearby. Probablly the only healthy stuff I would actually be having a proper meal prepared by my mom.

Here, I prepare my own lunch and dinner from scratch. Purchasing groceries at the supermarket, preparing dinner with my housemate and after dinner, prepare my lunch for the next day and store it in a lunch box. Not too oily or salty stuff in my meals, which I think would be a main part of my diet if I was back home.

Then comes the thought of keeping yourself healthy. When I was back at home, I didn't really take that much fruit cause basically I was just too lazy to grab an apple. And if I'm hungry during the day I'd grab some snack outside or at home. Here, when I get hungry before dinner time, I take out an apple to keep me filled till dinner was ready. And I'm proud to say... I haven't touched soft drinks since I got here. Which is probablly 1 month plus without fizzy drinks. Well I mean fizzy drinks such as Coke, pepsi and whatnot. But the only unhealthy thing I've been drinking is beer. And even that I don't drink often. Only twice since I'm here.

And being alone here you learn to manage your own finances. When shopping for groceries, I'd try to find the best deals before making a purchase. That I probablly won't do if I'm shopping for groceries with my parents.

So yep. These are the benefits of staying alone out here. Given the chance I'd probablly want to live independently again. Of course probablly not here in the U.K. Haha. But yea. Think the only thing that sucks about here is the weather, and that my friends and family are all on a little island 11000km away.

Other than that, I'm doing pretty well on my own.

18-5-2008 Sunday

London Time: 11.05am

And the weekend arrives once again. The last day of the week. And officialy I'm here in the land of the Brits for exactly 4 weeks.

Yesterday night, Donato invited fellow RR people that lived just opposite us to have dinner. We had pizza, beer and pop corn. The 3 of them were actually staying together in the same house.

One was a Korean dude who's name we can't pronounce, so we all just call him Hugh.

Another was a German dude called... Wolfgang. How COOL IS THAT? His name is Wolf Gang!

And lastly was Alextio? Well he was the Italian guy that came over the other day for dinner.

Oddly, they all commented that my Engilsh was the best among them. And when I told them English was my first language, Donato burst into laughter cause he said the same thing when I met him. I guess to European people, as long as your asian and not from the U.K and if you can speak English fluently, it was a surprising thing.

Well we basically just chatted till around 1am in the midnight. i only had 2 bottles of 250ml Stella Artois. Its beer from Belgium but produced in the U.K. It wasn't that nice anyway.

And well. Heard tomorrow's a holiday for Singapore! Long weekend!

My holiday's from next Saturday till the following Tuesday! Whooo! Hopefully will be going to a MotorGP event and the amusement park!

16-5-2008 Friday

London Time: 8.45pm

Just had my dinner, which was pasta with eggs, cheese and some pepperoni. Didn't really update cause I'm just too lazy to blog.. Seriously lazy..

Anyways. Work is great. I think its really good that I am able to have my attachment at Rolls Royce, but then again, the only thing is that its in the U.K, Derby. Which kinda sucks. But ahh well. We can't have the best of both worlds.

Andrew Newton, a 20 year old guy in the same team as I am, asked if I wanted to come along for a Motobike race on the next bank holiday Monday. He said he would try to get a pass for me to go in for free. I think tickets costs around 20 pounds? And he's driving. So yep. Good deal. Told you the people there were nice.

And on the Tuesday bank holiday, I'd probablly be going to the Elton Towers? Or Olten Towers? Not sure though. But its an amusement park and its apparently quite famous in the U.K. Will be going with Toby and a bunch of other people I think. But I'm hoping there will be a seat for me in the car. If its full then I can't go. So well. Will ask on this coming Monday!

Donato's going to club tonight at Nottingham. He's collegue's gonna drive him there. He asked if I wanna go... But I passed up on the offer. Mainly because its quite last minute, and just not really in the mood. Would like to go one day though. Just not tonight. haha.