I was walking on the beach one clear and cold night, it was dark, and there were stars. I hadn't really seen them here before, not that well and not that many. I blocked my view so that I could only see the water and the sky, and imagined myself standing on a frozen lake back in Finland. For a moment I really felt like I was there. I felt like I could turn around and make my way through the snow up to our little cottage where there are candles burning on the table and the sauna is hot. God, I wanted to go to sauna. I've heard there's a sauna here at the gym, but, umm, no thanks... I've already tried English ice-skating and that was enough. No English sauna for this lady.
I was feeling so lazy yesterday I got out of bed (or actually not even that cause it's the only comfortable place to sit) around half past two in the afternoon. All I did during the whole day was watch Skins. First I thought about blogging later, but got a bit addicted I suppose. It's nice to discover songs you listen to playing in the series, makes me feel cool every time. Earlier today I popped into a couple of card shops (I've never understood why there are so many different shops that sell cards here) cause I'd like to greet my friends on Valentine's Day. I wouldn't even have thought about it yet, but the shop windows are oh-so-red-and-pink-and-rosy and full of hearts and pretty much anything that's got I LOVE YOU on it. And I found my task slightly more complicated than I'd expected. It's very clear now Valentine is a different story in England. It's all about love and lovers, wives and husbands, boyfriends and girlfriends, not so much about friendship. As far as I'm concerned, back home it's mostly about friendship. (Isn't it?) I might want to keep on looking for something a bit more neutral than the greetings I've seen so far!
A couple of weeks ago we were supposed to have that famous staff party at the hotel. Mean punch, they said. When I asked Tinsley what's in it, he said a better question would be what's not in it. However, the party got cancelled "due to bad weather conditions". One morning stepping outside on my way to work it was snowing. I was so happy for I'd thought I wasn't going to see one snowflake this year. But the snow melted before my shift ended. Then a few days later, in the morning of the party, I opened my hideous curtains, the window was steamy (it's not what you think, it's always like that when it's cold outside) and I just thought it looked weird somehow. So... white. I opened my window. Woah. There was a lot of snow out there! Excuse my englishness for it wasn't really a lot for a Finnish person. Approximately an inch. Maximum. But believe me, no matter how funny I personally find it, it's not a joke the whole country turns upside down when it's snowing. You might have seen something on the news about England being hit by snow. On the news it basically stated "DON'T GO OUTSIDE IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO", people didn't know what to wear so I almost froze to death myself only by looking at them, trains were delayed or not running at all not to even mention flights, schools were closed and so on. Amateurs. No, really, I understand they're not prepared for anything like that, but cancelling a party that's inside the hotel for the staff who live inside the hotel? Really? We went out to the garden and built a snowman. You may think everyone knows how to do that, but no, they don't. Brazilians don't. It was quite sweet, though, I must say.
A friend of mine stayed here for 10 days, which was nice and strange at the same time, just like when my family was here. She had a room of her own on the same floor. We did some shopping and clubbing in both Worthing and Brighton, and took the train to Reading for my friend wanted to see a football game. I liked that town, it was different. The last two nights we stayed in London at a hotel right opposite the King's Cross station. My inner Harry Potter fan was indescribably pleased with that. (And there was a Harry Potter shop there!!!! Speaking of which, want to know what's a horrible feeling? When you just can't afford a wand.) We were being proper tourists since I hadn't been to London even once during my almost five months here. Why? I just don't know and now I wish I had. Still I managed to show her around town and use the tube laudably — I'm so proud of myself. We visited the London Eye and Madame Tussaud's plus checked out the basic attractions like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace. And took a stroll on Oxford Street, of course, with Chris Martin repeatedly singing in my head about how he took his feet to Oxford Street trying to right a wrong.
We threw a little party before Marika left on the 28th of January. And she thought she could sneak out without one, haha! It's all so weird, I feel like she just came here for four months, and now she's gone. Me and Jatta are the only Finns left. I'll never get used to the people coming and going thing.
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| Snowy Steyne Gardens |
Jamie Cullum - London Skies
