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On moving house 4

It has been a year. I have not posted anything for a year I believe and now I am back because I have to complete the moving house series. I have documented all my previous living conditions so feel free to have a look at my older posts, therefore, now I would continue with my current living conditions. 

The room is actually not too bad as it was spacious, only the bathroom was small. Actually, if it was not for all the problems I have faced in this house I would not move house. 

I can never deal with these wires. Can everything become wireless please?

Love this little chilling sofa and sofa bed for guests. 

Super big windows which I like but the bathroom is just too small.

It has not been a good experience at this house because the landlady did not care about the house at all. First when I moved in in 2018, there was a pest problem in the kitchen. Cockroaches were everywhere and my housemate had a hard time to get the landlady to take action. Soon after pest control came and left poison everywhere, including a spot inside the kitchen cupboard next to our tableware. How was that even sensible? Anyway that was dealt with.

November, 2018. I came home to a fallen ceiling. There had been a leak from my shower upstairs, causing the plaster to fall after soaking in water for ages. What the landlady did was hiring people to re-plaster the ceiling without addressing the leak. The situation held up for another good number of months tho. I guess it was not that bad of a leak. I had to use my housemate’s bathroom and thank god she was happy to share with me at the time. We all paid for en-suite rooms so she could have refused. 

Then we had the maggot problem. I cleared most of the eggs but the larvae just hid somewhere and turned into flies. There were around 30 flies in the house which around 11 was killed by me. I gave up after because it was endless. I called the landlady and she literally killed the files with her husband using kitchen towels. I was sitting in my room and let them do their work. 

Things held up for another year or so, giving me no problems at all until the kitchen wall on the outside cracked open in November 2019 and my shower leaked again in 2020. Oh I forgot, my electric shower has been leaking since the day I moved in and was not fixed until March, 2020. We reported the problem of the crack of the kitchen wall back in 2019 but the work has just been completed now, in August 2020. My shower was fixed by unqualified workers, meaning that I had to leave the house over the weekend for them to fix it and came back to see a toilet in my bedroom. 

They also took off all the tiles and glued new ones on. However, my housemates were not informed of the work so they suffered a weekend of construction work in the house.

The problem actually was not fixed at all so the better builder came in July and took the whole shower apart, sealed it again whilst I was working from home. Construction work went on in the house for another 3 weeks to fix the kitchen wall, kitchen windows and the gutter outside. The house was so badly maintained that the gutter was blocked by leave litter, causing the water to flood back inwards, causing a waterfall down the kitchen wall. The wood, including the window frame, was soaked with rainwater. The wood rot overtime as mould grew on it. Losing the strength, the window in the kitchen was to the point of falling off the wall. All in all it has been quite an experience in this house but yeah, I have seen worse. 202, Mordeon road was way worse to be fair.

Now I am saying goodbye to this place - hopefully my life would be easier and better. 

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Antique?

I do not think that I am the only person who likes old-school objects. London is full of people who trade, collect and exchange old objects. There are numerous antique markets across the UK, and London itself consists of many of those. Also, objects that are traded in London seems to be the best ones from the rest of the world and from England itself. In general it is a ludicrous business that many people would jump into. 

I personally believe there is “high class” and “cheap” antique, as in people differ in their collections, interests, motives, tastes and budgets. There is what you like and what you do not like, what you like but do not collect and what you would invest into because the object itself has intrinsic value. Apart from the fact that antique trade may involve big to huge amounts of income, the value of objects depends on the trend, economical stability and availability of low fee trade. Auction houses can charge a good percentage of commission; profit tax is another concern. Of course, if the deal is done in cash it would not be monitored by the tax system but, this means you will never have your hands onto deals of big amounts.

Alfie’s Antique Market is a good example. There are many people who set up their stalls there, stocking objects of their tastes and waiting for people who appreciate them to make them an offer. Many of the stores stock over hundreds of paintings, furniture, glassware, sliver-ware, you name it. The amount of initial investment is unimaginable. On top, there would be on-going expenses in rent and maintenance (they are antique shops). Some of the objects would depreciate, especially paintings and metallic objects. 

Antique inspired furniture and lights. Very expensive.

Roof top restaurant of the market

A store in the 4-story antique mall caught my eye. This is a spacious stall with no shelves. Rugs are hung up, rolled up and only one of them lies on the floor as display. The owner was sitting on a chair, enjoying a cup of coffee across the shop floor, absolutely not concerned by the lack of attractive store front and lack of customers. 

The rugs were stunning - patterns achieved harmony themselves by alternating in vibrant colours; flowers had their portrait with vibrant colours so that they blossom forever; the perfection of craftsmanship spoke for itself without the need of a single word. These Iranian rugs lied there silently, representing the culture of a country and the skills of her people. The owner told me the story of his business which was passed down from his grand father decades ago and he showed me his rug of 1500 pound. That’s not the rug that was the most expensive - there is another one of good age, pricing at 2500 pounds. At the same time, there are rugs priced at a few hundred. The owner of the family business told me that these rugs were there since his grand father set up the store, and that many of these antique rugs were never used. Rather, they were in the warehouse silently waiting for people to appreciate them. Many of these antique rugs looked shiny and untouched. He introduced rugs of different age to me, telling me how old they were. He said apart from one rug he had, all of them were handmade in Iran by highly skilled rug-makers.

The long one lying on the floor worths 1500 pounds. Aged back to the 1920s. The red one on the wall is 52 years old (est.)

I would imagine his business would be very challenging to maintain if it was not family business from his grand father. Another issue I find problematic is that not only the rugs, and many other objects that are deemed antique only came with an estimated age. Even if the age is know, like the rugs, many of them were “new antiques" as they were made years ago but was never out in the market, not even used or traded. I am sure there are large amounts of objects that were traded and deemed as antique, but the definition of antique gets blurry in some scenarios. If an object is made 100 years ago but it was never discovered, with very little wear and tear, would that still be regarded as antique? Maybe it is only me that regard antique as old objects with used imperfections. Then it comes down to the pricing problem - many of the objects only have an estimate of the age, and that estimate can be wrong. So the pricing would be inaccurate as the result. The price of antiques is similar to property market prices - prices fluctuates according to trend and taste of people. Again, antique business can be risky and the initial investment is high.

What remains unchanged is the fact that these rugs and antique objects are beautiful. I always appreciate them as a collector. But if i were to invest into antique business, i would have to think thrice. 

Modern 3D art is also displayed at the market.

#antique #market #rugs #business #art

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2am. what is better than Netflix, garlic knots and coke (all stolen)?

I dont what to put as the source.

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On Moving Out #3

Glad that it is finally Friday. Now i can rest for a bit longer. 

Back to the moving out story. 18th February 2018. I moved out of the crazy house with the crazy landlady and her baby and her boyfriend.

A week before i moved out, i viewed the room i am currently living in twice. I also viewed another bigger room upstairs. Eventually i wanted the bigger room upstairs. So i rang the landlord saying that I want the room upstairs - however it was already taken. (sad face). There was nothing I could do but to accept the fact that there was only the smaller room left.

The day i viewed the small room i actually did not want it as it was way smaller then the room I had been living in. The bathroom was decent but the main room was disappointing. Now I look back and I should not have moaned about the size because at least there is a bed. A proper bed. 

I was super hesitant about renting the smaller room. However the landlord offered a very good price - so I said yes to the deal. The bonus was the house was in a very good location to my workplace. I could cycle and I could walk to work, which saved me a fortune.

It took me only 5 days to move out. I packed my belongings into my suitcases and i dragged them from the old house to the new house. I remember I at least did 5 return journeys, dragging the noisy heavy suitcase for a good 20 minutes. on the 18th on February, i rang my friend and with one journey of a loaded car i moved everything from one house to the other and started my life here, the room in which I am composing this post. 

To be fair there is nothing to complaint about. The house is warm, there is a bed and there is a private bathroom. There is enough space for another desk (my TESCO 21-pound desk), a set of drawers and a closet. Most housemates are friendly or not in the house all the time so there is plenty of time I can use the kitchen. The house is new with a good washing machine and a tumble dryer. At this point I realized that my standards for living has become so low that I can be satisfied by anything regarded as “normal”. 

I do think my standards slowly has gone back higher as I live in this house because I have the personal space to rearrange my furniture and add in more items I like. I also have the habit of rearranging my room from time to time. 

I think i have rearranged my room about three times. This is how it looks like lately - i might rearrange it further later.

I am very lucky that i at least can live alone. At least i have my personal space from my parents. The only drawback is the walls are not sound-proof that you might disturb others easily without realizing. 

Now i am saving up vigorously - hopefully i can move the 4th time soon, into my own property. 

#renting #house share

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On Moving Out #2

Ok. Here comes promised blog #2 (because i am procrastinating to go to gym).

I will go to gym - just not quite yet. I am feeling a bit weak these 3 days so i would take it easy today and go in an hour. Right, you are not interested in when I would go to gym. Fine. Lets get into the topic.

It was around early Spring 2015 I suppose, i applied for two teacher training programmes. One was in Plymouth and the other was in Swindon. I had never been to these two places before but I attended the interviews anyway. I failed the first one. I was in a state of frustration and I was about to give up on my second interview. Thanks to my stubbornness I attended the second interview anyway and I got the job.

So I had to move to Swindon from Exter in June, 2015. I did not have much choice really as I have to find a place before July as I had to spend two weeks of full time training in London. I had to move asap at that point as I wont be able to move afterwards. So there I went and moved into a ground floor room with a shared bathroom in North Swindon.

Before I moved, I had the chance to visit the landlady who lived in the house with her boyfriend and her daughters. To be honest, conditions were not great at the first sight - I had to live with a family with a baby, with daughters who often comes for dinner in an old house.

Again, I had no choice. There I moved. I still remember the first day I arrived at Swindon i was actually screaming, “SHIT. There is something wrong with this place!” in my head. LOL

The house, looking at it, was not too bad.

It actually did not look too bad. ON THE OUTSIDE. The room was BIG.

But I had not got a proper bed. I had no locks on my door. There was no lock in the shared bathroom. There were slugs everywhere. The room was freaking cold as the landlady would not turn on the boiler. I could not use the washing machine unless the landlady was there. The tumble dryer was 30 years old. Carpet was 20 years old. The window actually faces the big rubbish bins therefore I could not open the windows as it smelled. I could not put anything in the bathroom without them going missing. I still remember I started living there with no lights. Baby cried every night. The boyfriend uses the toilet without closing the door. Sisters had fights and hit each other. House parties happens until 3am in the morning. No desks, no chairs, no wardrobe. I had to dry my laundry in my room. I had to take every bottles of shampoo with me up to the bathroom. I had to worry if anyone is going to suddenly open the door when I was showering. I had to wrap myself with super thick duvet every night. I went home for christmas and came back finding out my room which i have paid the rent used by others and things are all out of place. I had my stuff removed to the bin without my consent.

I am not making these up.

AND I STAYED THERE FOR 8 MONTHS.

I absolutely deserve a gold medal. I will explain why I stayed there for 8 months later, it is not relevant to this post now.

Half way through my painful accommodation experience, i rewarded myself with a nice desk from TESCO (LMFAO). I was earning around 600 pounds a month that time, so the desk was affordable to me  (21 pounds). Also i awarded myself a folding chair and a folding airer from ASDA (23 pounds in total) and managed to put the room together for a little bit.

Still I had no wardrobe.

Sometimes my room looked like this.

I am glad that i eventually moved, again in February 2016.

#moving #share room #accomodation #tenancy

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On Moving Out#1

As one of my friends is looking to move to Reading, I though I need to write something about accommodation. I think (THINK) there will be 3 posts under this series on accommodation. I shall cover the places I have lived in so far after I have moved out.

Well, I did not intend to move out in 2014. I had no choice because of the university course that I was admitted into. I had to move to a graduate studio flat called Rowan Croft Studios in Heavitree, Exeter. 

I have never lived on my own, aka looking after the house, myself, my study and my part-time job all at the same time. To be honestly I did not give it much thought as I could not - I was not able to imagine the challenges or problems that might come up when I am alone in another country that I had barely spent any time there. So there I moved, from a crowded international city to a small city with a very small population. I am now grateful that at least it was a city, not a town.

Exeter is a nice town. It is called the heart of Devon, a county in south-west England. People are very friendly; weather is mild; landscape is hilly but still friendly. Since I was based in the School of Education, Uni of Exeter, I chose to live in Heavitree, a quiet residential area which was only 15 minutes away from the Campus, 5 minutes away from Waitrose and 20 minutes away from city centre. 

The St. Luke’s campus of the university was previously an old school, which was then transformed to the university campus. The little Chapel on the left is indeed a tiny one and the school itself is so old that it is still using wooden doors with an arc top. Windows are also very old fashioned - the squeaky noise that cuts your ears when the windows were pushed up does remind everyone how many winters the building has weathered. 

My accommodation was  only 15 minutes away. Rowancroft is a village of student accommodation that consist of studios and shared flats for university students. I was paying 140 pounds a week for my studio flat back then. I had thought it was expensive but indeed it was not. Compared to prices in London, Reading, Oxford and Cambridge, Exeter does not charge much over students. Thinking about the flat was a studio, 140 was not too bad.

My building is the building on the right in the picture. i did not had the luck to have a room overlooking the inner green lawn but looking over to the next building, straight into a room in which I often saw bras hanging up. It was a nice new build with very good noise insulation. My room looked like this:

It was not very big but there was a proper doorway (where i was standing when taking the picture) and I had a very big desk, with enough shelves and drawers for storage. The bed was also a double bed - i moved it to face the desk as the bed was originally facing the door and I did not like sleeping, looking at the door (blame Monster Inc). There was a reading light next to the bed, sockets on the walls above my desk and many more in the little kitchen.

The amount of storage you get in the kitchen was amazing. There were so many cupboards that i could use. If the fridge was any bigger it would have been amazing. The oven is a microwave-grill-oven mix so i had no problem with it. The only problem was the horrible hob that was made up of conductive surfaces which burnt my hand, my pans and the hob was a nightmare to clean.

The bathroom was great as well. It was all equipped with all the necessities, including the towel dryer. there was also a mirror big enough. Shower was on the left and it was very easy to clean. I must have spent hours and hours cleaning myself and enjoying my time there. 

What did not come up in the picture was my wardrobe as I could not find any pictures of it. It was nearly double the size of my existing wardrobe. I remember I could put both of my 29″ suitcases in to it and still had the space for all my clothes. 

I really miss this period of time of living alone in a good studio flat. I could also hear the chyme from churches around me every morning and enjoy lovely runs up and down hill. Exeter was such a good place. I absolutely miss it.

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A very good start

Well, by saying start of school I am referring to the start for teachers.

This year, I am no longer a trainee nor a newly qualified teacher. This year, I am a qualified teacher with Assistant Special Educational Needs Coordinator status. On top of that, I am a competent, young, Chinese employee in the eyes of Westerners - though I strongly disagree with the Chinese part. 

Today, for no apparent reason, we kicked the start of the year at Arval, Windmill Hill Business Park, West Swindon. I had no idea why they sat us in a room with a screen miles away. Presentations were as dry as they normally are and they are repeating the same stuff as last year. Apart from that, something did catch me by surprise.

Surprise #1. Head Master said well done to me in person when I first entered the room and he greeted me very politely goodbye at the end of day. The only explanation for this is that my cohort of GCSE chemistry students have done exceptionally well.

Surprise #2. Head Master praised me in public when he was presenting data of the latest GCSE results. Obviously, I was not the only one being praised. I did feel very happy and some other staff congratulated me as well.

Surprise #3. Many staff happily chatted with me - I did not get that for the past two years. I felt respected and appreciated more.

Surprise #4. I was very sociable today. I surprised myself by this. This is the best start I have ever experienced so far, maybe I should say thank you to the much needed long holiday in the past 6 weeks.

Surprise #5. This happened outside work. I was shopping in a shop today when I saw a half dead succulent in a pot. Two leaves fell off and, I took them home. (cheeky me). Hopefully they will grow into 2 happy succulents!!

I have had such a great day. So much to be happy about. 

If I had a significant other to share this with, it would be AWESOME.

#psychologicallyfit #happy #great start #progress

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my dream, once it was.

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A very Interesting Website for amateur photographers

OK i have started taking pictures again. Yes, again. I liked it very much but I could not afford it, also I could not take a camera with me when I left my home city. 

That’s why this time when I am back home, I started taking pictures again. I genuinely felt so happy when picking up the camera again. It made me even happier when I found this website called GuruShot.

GuruShot holds photography competitions. The Site put up differently themed competitions which every user can participate. Users then vote for the best photo of the topic anonymously. If you want to join a competition, you can simply upload your photo through the website or the app. The website is tracks the number of votes you get and who voted for your photo. The more votes you make, the more likely people are shown your picture thus get more votes for yourself. On top of that, you can collect points by competing, which moves you to the next level on the website. More importantly, it provides a very good platform for photographers to appreciate photos taken across the world.

I joined a competition last week. I am more than pleased to have the results below. Joining the competition is great fun and it is very exciting to have seen people putting time and effort into capturing beautiful images of cultures, emotions and objects.

#gurushot

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GOOD and BAD News

I just received a message from my head of department on FB msger. 

He was asking me to check my work email as GCSE results will be released tomorrow, meaning that he has got it already today.

So I flipped my lap top back to life, clicked on chrome, typed in outlook at the top and hope that the browser would log in for me. 

But it did not happen. And I realized that I have forgotten my work password. BRILLIANT.

Then I looked to my phone - auto login might work on my phone. AND IT DID. The GCSE results were good - I think i did a good job in teaching chemistry, and a fair job in teaching physics. Chemistry results were exceptional. I am so happy about this.

So that’s the good and bad news.

Um.........How can I get to work on the computer the first day back?

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Today is my 3rd B-day

This year is my special year - i have 3 birthdays this year. To explain this, i need to explain the lunar calendar leap year system.

In the conventional western calendar, leap year means adding one extra day to February once every 4 years. But in the lunar calendar, an extra month is added to a year once every 3-4 years. The extra month can be January, February, March, etc., depending on the rotation. 

For myself, my lunar birthday is on the 20th of June. And this year, since it is a leap year, there are two Junes. Today, is the second 20th June on the lunar calendar. On top of today, i had my earlier lunar birthday on the 13th July (western calendar) and ofc my proper birthday on the western calendar. Therefore, today is my third birthday.

I am not writing this post to ask people to celebrate it with me. It is only to highlight this special year of my life. I don’t see myself having 3 birthdays in a year anytime soon. 

Happy Lunar Birthday, again, to myself. Cheers.

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Liverpool - birth place of the Beatles

I have always been a Beatles fan. I grew up with their lively music at home, and every time i listen to their music it draws back lovely childhood memories. Finally we had the chance to visit the City of Liverpool, where everything began for the Beatles. 

We visited the Beatles’ Story, a museum about the Beatles, and the New Cavern Club, which was rebuilt from the old Cavern using the original stones. The Cavern Club was where the Quarry Man (early Beatles) and the Beatles gained their fame. 

Just in case if you are not a Beatles’ fan, a the Beatles became world-widely famous in the late 60s with their rock and roll music. The picture above shows how people queued to enter the Cavern Club over lunch time in the late 60s, just to listen to the Beatles live. Today, the Cavern Club has been relocated two shop spaces down Mathew Street in the centre of Liverpool. Right opposite to it, there is the wall of fame with names of bands engraved on them. With the statue of John Lennon, it is a very popular tourist spot (especially for selfies using the selfies stick). 

10th April, 1970 was a remarkable day in rock-and-roll history - the Beatles disbanded when Paul MacCartney pulled out. It was such a shame that Sir Paul made this decision - just imagine the disbanding of a world-famous band at the very peak of their career. The world was shocked, shaken and fans were of course devastated. If I was there, I would have cried.

Anyways, it was a very good experience to learn about the Beatles and the members in personal by having a nice wonder through the award-winning museum and, going to the Cavern Club for some live Beatles Music. People were singing, dancing to the Billboard champion songs of Beatles and enjoy a beer or two. We were lucky to have one handsome guitarist + singer to deliver really quality covers of rock-and-roll from the 60s and 70s. I was so glad that I made the decision to go there. It was a very good experience and on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, admission is free. What a bonus to my little trip!!

I was also lucky enough to catch the 60th Anniversary of the Cavern Club and had the chance to try this ale - the favour was light and smooth, which is an easy drink with the fantastic live music. 

If you are a Beatles fan, if you had the chance to go to the UK, visit Liverpool. Go to the Cavern and the bars with live music next to it. 

See you in Mathew Street. 

P.S. Don’t go Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields on your own.

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Today we had dinner at The Light House, Windermere. This is a very nice restaurant for its prices. We had an Italian meatballs served with rockets and pasta, and, a Greek Lamb Burger. We drank two Ginger beers as well. Both dishes tasted amazing. The lamb was minced, mixed with red onions and sweet corn and garlic. It tasted very rich yet not too overwhelming. Also, the mint sauce was a perfect match with the Lamb. The sweet jelly was so appetizing that even lamb-haters would accept this magic combination of minced Lamb and mint sauce. I could say so far this is the best Burger I have ever tasted in the UK. For the meatballs, it was rather average but it was highlighted by the use of fresh ingredients. The tomato sauce was absolutely freshly made from tomatoes, parsley and garlic, not just the bottled sauce anyone can get from Tescos. The meatballs were made fresh as well - they don't taste like those dense solid meatballs straight out of the freezer which are very salty and fatty. The meatballs served here were slightly loose in the middle, carefully seasoned and had a good balance of lean and fatty meat, though it is still on the lean side. Rockets gently freshened the heavy taste of beef and tomato sauce, lifting the dish to the next level. If you ever go to the lovely town of Windermere, Cumbria, the UK, remember to drop by this Light House at the end of the main street just pass the railway station. It would lighten your day.

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The rainy misty lake district

We went on a tour to the lake district. However, the weather is not nice today. It was windy, wet and cold. We we're lucky that it was a mini bus tour so we didn't have to walk a lot but still, we need to walk to certain spots to take some pictures. It was nearly impossible to take pictures in the morning as the weather was too wet. Well, you still could take some but the pictures would only show grey clouds and messy hair. We we're lucky to have slightly better weather after mid day. We went on a cruise in Ulls, to the castlerigg stone circle and a slate mine in Hornister. The lakes were beautiful, but the weather has down-graded them for a bit. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Hopefully we can. Have better weather then today. Unfortunately, the sun won't join us for sure tomorrow.

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Castlerigg Stone Circle.

#castlerigg

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#lakedistrict