Between 11/12 and 13/12, I went up north to Nottingham to visit one of my Maltese friends there, who is also doing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. It was my 2nd trip to Notts and, somehow, whenever I am there, the temperature is almost freezing! All in all, it was a good trip: lots of talk, walk, shopping, music and food...the trips by coach were a bit too long (I would have gone to Malta in the 3 hours each way!) but definitely worth it!
Back to London, the Christmas spirit started to get progressively more and more intense. The Departmental Christmas do took place on the 14/12, an event which would merit a blog post of its own. The food was, surprisingly, quite rubbish but the same cannot be said for the provision of free wine and beer all night long. And this was a necessary motivator for me to be bestowed with all kinds of titles the next day: "the dancing king", "the man on fire", "the man who knows the moves" and what not...all I asked my colleagues was for them to request the D.J. to play Billie Jean and/or Human and then the rest is history: I took over the dance floor and kept the party alive till the late hours of that night, finished off by a few handsome shots of Jagermeister and finally by a McDonald's meal (shame!) on the way home and a good, solid 8 hour sleep.
The next day was the least productive workday of the year but motivation increased rapidly in the late afternoon in preparation for the dinner to a Thai place kindly organised and sponsored by my supervisor in the company of several other characters who, away from campus, displayed their more colourful sides. A night again topped off by a couple of G+T in an attempt to aid me beat the bitter night cold which, by 15/12, was starting to increase exponentially.
The last few days of the week were characterised by the first snowfalls in London for the month of December. And, on a less entertaining note, by my nose displaying severe constant leakages which, at best, proved to be highly inconvenient. Besides the unavoidable awe at the sight of snowfall, I was heavily engaged in fabricating white lies to disguise my premature trip to Malta for the Christmas period. To the best knowledge of my family, I was meant to arrive in Malta on 24/12 but, in actual fact, I was scheduled to get there on the 19/12, on a 7am Easyjet flight from Gatwick. This implied being at Gatwick at least by 6am thus leaving Victoria at least by 5am and Earls Court by 4am. Stressful. Solution: I made arrangements with one of my Italian colleagues to stay at his place at Clapham and get the train directly from there with no additional interchanges. Perfect!
And thus the end of term arrived. On Friday morning, all packed and wrapped up, with dripping nose and all, I left home as usual at 9am and was awake for the following 22 hours! After a very unproductive day at the office, a good night-out of drinks/pizza/clubbing/drinks brought my 2009 stay at London to an end. Back to my friend's place on the verge of collapse, I succumbed to a brief 30 minute nap which alas ended at 4.45am. After negotiating nearly freezing temperatures and icy pavements for 10 minutes from my friend's place to Clapham Junction, I boarded a train to Gatwick. Once past security, I enjoyed an early English breakfast of eggs, bacon and all that goes with it, meant to keep me happy till I landed in Malta. I got on the plane, found a window seat, fastened my seatbelt and...slept!
2 hours later, I woke up, looked out of the window and all I saw was white, white, white. "Holy s***, we crashed in the Alps!" was my first thought. Soon I realised we were still at Gatwick on the runway: we had not departed yet due to heavy snow. Almost immediately, the plane started moving and took off. The next day I read in the papers that Gatwick airport shut down - perfect timing!
Three hours later: home sweet home. From just above freezing temperatures to sun and heat. Christmas with 24 degrees is not usual, unless you are in Australia, but Malta is an exception. Europe was literally frozen over and we were enjoying sunshine every day! It was a wonderful 2 week stay: good times with my other half, family and friends. Sorted out lots of logistical duties. Been around a few places. And consumed loads of food, glorious food. On new year's eve, I was out at this street party in Floriana, which proved to be quite amusing and a success, particularly due to the relatively mild weather which allowed us to stay out partying practically all night long without freezing to death as some unfortunate homeless Europeans ended up doing a few days earlier...and people talk of global warming?!
Like all good things, my trip to Malta for December 2009/January 2010 came to an end. I flew back on 3/1, terrified of the immense inertia I felt towards resuming my work and my independent living in London: life was too comfortable doing "nothing" and finding "everything" ready!
All in all, 2009 was a great year. I started off working in London, found myself back in Malta and starting a new job there, a brief return to London to graduate as M.Sc. D.I.C., back to routine Malta life, a surprise contact from Imperial and a Ph.D. offer, some serious course-of-life-altering decisions and back in London!
Actually looking back at the period 2000-2010, it was a good decade. The first few years brought my teen years and all the occurrences associated with them to an end. The biggest chunk of the decade was largely devoted to my undergraduate schooling more than anything else; 2001-2006 laid the foundations for me to launch my career in the world of architecture and engineering. Running in parallel to all this: the discovery of my soul-mate. And the final few years: an exciting mix of working in the industry, realisation of building projects, travel and moving to one of Europe's most exciting cities to pursue and finish postgraduate study, work and embark on a doctorate.
And 2010? Definitely one of those really good years. So far, definitely the coolest year ever (the maximum temperature we had in London so far was 1 degree)...joking apart, I am sure 2010 will be unforgettable and radically life-changing and will merit decent blogging. So, watch out!
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