Friday, August 15, 2008

okay i've been too lazy to update, please forgive me but i've had to sort out some issues, legal ones no less.

i'm now in the uk. new project. new environment. and this is the story of how i got here.

i left germany via frankfurt before the end of august. while at immigration, the officer flips thru my passport and then questions me. how long have you been here? and i knew it. that's it. i got caught. singaporeans are allowed 90 days per 6 months visa free in europe. and the germans, being exceptionally pedantic, made it a point to not give me an exit chop, and proceeded to usher me to the police office.

i got charged for 25 days of overstaying. and i'm awaiting court papers from them.
didn't help that the week before i left, my speeding tickets from switzerland caught up with me. 180 euros in 7 minutes. from 2 cameras. expensive.

but i made it onto my flight, only to have a 3 hour break to unpack and repack to head to bali for a company event. was supposed to be there for 4 days. the moment i arrived, i was told i had to take the earliest available flight into the uk. bummer. and there i was expecting to have 1 week back in singapore for a break.

so i stayed 2 nights at a 5 star resort in bali. alone. sure i was surrounded by colleagues, but i sure felt alone, and tired.

eventually i made it back to singapore, only to have another 3 hours to unpack and repack to take the flight out to zurich and then have a 5 hour transit then hop onto another flight to birmingham.

i've been here coming to 2 weeks now. i appreciate that i'm staying in a hotel that's 5 minutes walk from the bullring and chinatown. sure beats being in walldorf. tv is in english. cinema has films for 4pounds50pence, in english.

and i guess i'll be making a few trips around the kingdom. to bath. to stratford upon avon. to manchester and liverpool. to london. to scotland. and if i'm feeling rich even to dublin.

those who have me on fb would've seen some of the pics i took of birmingham.