Summer In New York: Moving

The Summer is not officially over and we are still getting predictions of good weather but there were days that seemed like Fall. Thinking about it though, after spending the better part of seven weeks in London, every day in NY seems like Summer.

I had a lot of free time where my only really responsibility was sleeping late, one that I fulfilled with much enthusiasm. Also, I had to finalize my College registration which I managed to do with no real problems.

The only other real highlight of Summer in NY was the prospect of moving which sometimes seemed very daunting but by the grace of God, it went off without a hitch. Wish I could say the same about the move of some other friends! There move turned out to be a total nightmare and fortunately for them, they have some good friends who were able to help them out when they were in dire need.

The next few weeks will be spent settling in the new place and making it seem like home as much as possible. Shouldn't be too hard, really. That my friends, means that when you get here on your visit to the Big Apple, there will be a welcoming room waiting for you so keep that in mind.

Summer In London!

For the most part, as far as the weather was concerned, it was really the furthest thing from Summer In London. That being said, and I, being the person that I am, did not let that get in the way of me enjoying my 6 1/2 weeks in London.
I did some work while I was there and I had a good amoutn of time to spend with some of my friends. Some I managed to see quite a lot of and others, well, lets just say I am still awaiting for a reply to my last five emails. But thats friends for you.
Some of the highlights are:

* Numerous visits to Nando's with some of my favorite people in London

* Staying at my favorite place in London, that special house at Greenland Quays

* Spending an amazing amount of time with two very special friends (lucky them...lol)

* Earning sufficient cash to cover an entire Semester at College

* Watching The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (again) with Kalina as well as the first three Harry Potter films.

* The chance to walk through Central London again like I used to.

* The chance to buy myself some cool clothes and shoes at rock bottom prices.

As much as I enjoyed all that time in London, I am quite happy to be back in NY, home for me now, and get all set for the new Semester of College. I am hoping for an evenn better Semester and I plan to work even harded to make the most of what I have at my disposal.
Following are a few pictures of my Summer in London with some really special people.

Are you or are you not? That is the question!

BATH TUB TEST

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time. This
little test should get you started.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what
is the criteria that defines a patient to be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, we offer a teaspoon, a
teacup, and a bucket to the patient and ask the patient to empty the
bathtub."

Okay, here's your test:

1. Would you use the spoon?
2. Would you use the teacup?
3. Would you use the bucket?

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would choose the
bucket since it is larger than the teacup or spoon."

I am withholding the answer in the hope that some of you who read this will post a comment telling me what method you will use.
Let me know and, as a budding Psychologist, I may be able to determine if you are mentally ill, that is to say, abnormal, or normal or just plain dumb. Its always best to hear it from a friend, so go on, give it a go.

Answer:
I guess all my friends are sane since, based on this test, everyone opted for pulling the plug.

After India...London

Jon and I made it safely to London to meet our friends, Neisha, Pete and Jasmin waiting to pick us us. It was a welcome ride back to Neisha's house where I would be staying for seven weeks and Jon would spend the night and the better part of a day.
Jon was excited about visiting some of his old haunts in London and we made quite the rounds going from place to place, eventually joined by Jasmin.
Here he is outside Kings Cross Station which is close to where he lived, and outside his University, SOAS.

India 31 The Journey Continues

We left Hubli at 4:30 in the afternoon and was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai approximately 7:30 the next morning. Next was a taxi that would take us to the airport where we would catch out 1:30pm flight to London. Perfect plan but it was not to be.
It was monsoon season and we saw who was the real boss. By 7am the next morning we were a few stops from our final destination and being me, I began to panic although I did not say anything. There was good reason to panic because the train tracks were flooded as we got closer to Mumbai and the train was standing still for long periods of time.
We got to talking to an Indian man who was heading the same route as us and eventually at 10:30am, with the train at a complete standstill for almost half an hour, we going this man, grabbed our bags, folded our pants and made our way off the train. There was some water on the tracks but nothing prepared us for the water that was halfway to our knee when we left the station at that point. We eventually made it though, got an Auto and was safely on our way to the airport. Or so we thought. There was immense flooding on the roads and our driver had to change his route to get us to the airport.
Fortunately for us, the rains caused a 30min delay to our flight so we made it in good time and said our final farewells to Danny by phone before boarding our flight to India.

India 30 The Train To Mumbai

This train trip was my fourth overnight train in less than a week and it was the longest of all the train journeys. In that one week, I have spent more time and travelled more time on trains than the whole of my life before. For me it was quite the adventure and I was half hoping we could sit on top of the train like you see in many Indian films.
This was not to be mainly because of safety and also because of the monsoon which was making its presence felt since we were in Hubli.
This particular train trip was of special significance to me. The first was I finished reading the highly acclaimed book "Train To Pakistan" by Khushwant Singh. It is an amazing book and it gripped me the moment I began.
The second occurred because we had a few hours of daylight when we began the journey and Jon and I spent a fair amount of time looking out an open door and marvelling at the green farm land and towering mountains as we made our way from Hubli to Mumbai. I have never seen such greenery with rice paddies being watched over by the great mountain peaks. Here are just a few of the pictures.

India 29 Farewell

As the saying goes, "all good things come to an end" and so it was with our time in India. I had an amazing time meeting new people and making friends and spending quality time with them.
The day finally came when we had to pack and make our way to the train. All this with the monsoon staking its claim to the land and we had to make our way through the rain to the station.
It was a bitter-sweet moment for me. I was leaving India after two weeks but I was on my way to London where I am now. I was content with the extent of my trip and happy with the results of being there.
I met some amazing people and made wonderful friends whom I will remember for years to come. Here are some pictures of Jon, Danny and I as we await the train to Mumbai.