Is it London 2012 or London 2020?

Last week, we were visited by one of our mates who is doing an M.Sc. at Bath. Incidentally, I will soon be visiting him and his wonderful city (for the 4th time!). Back to the present, this architect friend of mine has been to visit me in London for 3 times before so I had to think of a new place to visit. I also had to find a new place to visit myself and had no difficulty in choosing: the London 2012 Olympic site.

In the past few weeks, I was tutoring 4th year students in a design project, which was the structural design of 2 stadia in the Olympic village. The main stadium and aquatic centre and quite impressive and I became quite bored simply seeing calculations and numbers. I wanted to see the REAL thing, so that was a good enough excuse to pay a visit to Stratford and the massive construction site there.

It is always good to catch up with a Maltese friend and after a long detour of talk which also included partially planning the Bath trip, we arrived to the viewing area overlooking the construction site. The stadium is almost done, the aquatic centre too, the velodrome is ready but the rest is mud and rubbish London ground fill.

I will visit the same place in a year's time and if the place is transformed from an almost urban wasteland to even a fraction of the magical computer-generated images, then I would have to say that the Brits managed to finish on time for the 2012 games only through divine intervention.

Transfer to Ph.D. status: check!

Soon after the family left, I had a minor cold but this was a good enough excuse for me to stay at home. I always think it is best to stay in bed and not do too much work in the event of illness, and in 1 day I was back on track. Only to find in my inbox an email from my supervisor asking me if it was fine to do my transfer in 3 days' time...let me explain.

When I started my Ph.D. back in October 2009, I was registered as an M.Phil. student; this is normal University procedure and the norm is that after the first year, one sits for a viva exam and produces a document - the transfer report - outlining the work which had been done in the first year. After passing the transfer, then the student would be officially of Ph.D. level. My report was completed back in December 2010 (only 14 months after enrolment) but the logistical requirements meant that my transfer was scheduled for March 2011, almost half a year late. Anyway...

I put together a couple of slides describing my (boring) work and proposed plan of action for the remaining 1.5 years and come Friday, I set up the projector and all and presented my work. The examiner was surprisingly impressed and he said that normal procedure was to ask the student to leave the room and deliberate with the supervisor on whether to pass a student or not. In my case, he asked me not to leave and that he had nothing to deliberate since it was obvious I am of Ph.D. level and that I would successfully complete my Ph.D. on time. Quoting.

I said to myself, I am not so sure that all will be done in the remaining 19 months, but all that matters is that I am now, officially, an Imperial Ph.D. student! Yeah!

February fun

Amidst my intense following of all the Middle East turmoil, February had its fair share of fun, too.

In the last weekend, we headed off for a weekend in Essex, at Clacton on Sea, to be precise. It was another HOST visit which I applied for and this time we were hosted by a lovely English woman, sadly a widow, who provided us with a warm welcome on a Friday evening, toured us through some out-of-the-way charming English towns (and many a tea break!) and also served as a discovery of a simple yet interesting board game I had never heard of: Yatzee! Apparently, I am either very good at it or else very lucky; I choose to go for the first but others seem to differ...

One week after our Essex trip, we were visited by the rest of the Micallef clan. Initially it was only going to be mum and sis (+1) but since dad happened to be grounded at home due to the Libya uprising, he came along with the group and, ironically, had our first full family holiday abroad (though London is not much of a holiday destination for me anymore). Anyway, it was a fun few days, with ample shopping time, a massive eating do at China Town and the compulsory visit to the West End - this time it was the musical Wicked which was, well, quite wicked!

By this time, we have spilled over into March, for the Micallefs left on 8th March and that week brought about another milestone in the journey of my Ph.D...

The times they are a-changin'

Towards the end of 2010, the news items which mentioned protests in Tunisia seemed to be like mere passing comments which are found in all daily news, at least to me anyway. But by 14th January 2011, when the Tunisian president fled from his country after 23 years in power, these events were no longer insignificant, even in my neutral eyes. Within less than 2 weeks, protests sparked off in Egypt on 25th January and by 11th February, their own president gave up his throne after 30 years heading the country. It was very clear what was to happen next: protests started off in Libya calling for the resignation of their own premier who has been in power for almost 42 years. This particular event had far more serious consequences than the similar ones in the neighbouring countries...

The whole affair kicked off on 15th February and the fighting is still on-going to date. Luckily and thankfully, dad was away from Libya since he was on his field break and this made matters far more serious as far as our family is concerned. However, the fighting between protesters and Gaddafi loyalists is extensive, very often fatal, and the number of casualties and deaths is constantly increasing. One major stronghold remains, Tripoli, the city which was my "home" for 6 weeks in 2008. Whenever I switch on CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera (often in succession), I often recognise the places where the conflict is on-going and it is a real shame that people of the same nation end up fighting and killing each other, probably due to financial interests rather than true political loyalty.

Malta is featuring prominently in the whole saga, for many countries have based their evacuation camps on the island, being the safest nearest country and a stepping stone to the rest of the world. I believe some 8000 people have so far been taken to Malta from Libya via plane or sea and I guess many more are to follow.

I trust that the conflict does not last for much longer and that the sweep of change going on through North Africa and other Middle East countries will bring happier days to the region.

Barcelonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

With the wife's exams finally over, it was time for holiday! The first trip of 2011 (hopefully the first of many) was going to be my first visit to Spain, in the city of the architect Gaudi: Barcelona.

It all started as a joke one boring Sunday afternoon when I was flipping through the RyanAir website and came across a return flight to Barca for £20. I could not not book and, 20 minutes later, I had booked the flights,coach to Stansted and a room in a central hotel in Barca. Come January 21st and we fled London to the Mediterranean early in the morning, very early actually.

Getting a 7am flight means waking up at 2am in order to get two buses to Victoria and a coach to Stansted at least 1.5 hours before departure. The waking up was painful but in no time we were on the bus stop. The first bus took us to Hyde Park Corner, all fine, but the second bus did not turn up and after a 2 minute moment of panic, we got a taxi to the Coach Station and started our journey to the airport, just in time. The flight was smooth for most of the time, except the last 15 minutes, during which I thought I was going to die at the foot of the Pyrenees (and that was not an exaggeration) and at 10am we landed in Girona and then boarded a coach which took us right to the city centre of the city which everyone has been visiting lately, Barcelona.

Although it was beautifully sunny and clear, the temperature was crisply cold (we later found out that it was one of the coldest weekends of this winter!) Finally rid of all luggage, the adventure began with a walk from the hotel in Placa Espanya to the Olympic Village but with one significant stop on the way: the Barcelona Pavilion. This 1929 Van der Rohe masterpiece is one of my favourite buildings in the world and to finally see it live, experience the spaces, the sleek lines, the reflections, light and shade play and the freshness of the design which is only 82 years young (it seems it was built only last year)...it is simply beyond words. The massive open spaces of the Olympic Arena are impressive, as is the Communications Tower of Calatrava and the stadiums and spaces.

The afternoon kicked off our Gaudi trail, with a visit to his Pavilion Guell and its mighty metal dragon gate and the curvy Porta Miralles. A trip to the Monastery at Pedralbes and then down to the Rambla and the Market concluded the afternoon. After dinner, we headed back to the Olympic Arena area in Montjuic to enjoy the spectacular aptly-named Magic Fountain.

After a massive breakfast, the Saturday started with exploring the Barrio Gotic or Gothic Quarter, its narrow streets (reminiscent of our own medieval streets in Mdina) and the amazing Barcelona Cathedral. Highly contrasting the old heart of the city was a visit to the modernist MACBA. Back on the Rambla, we paid tribute to the street performers and Gaudi's Palau Guell and then started some serious Gaudi study by visiting Casa Battlo. In no way do I not acknowledge the genius of Gaudi, for he paid unlimited attention to detail and design, but I am sure that the bloke was on some sort of hallucinogens whenever he was designing, for I cannot believe anyone of sound mind can come up with such surreal designs. His work is like a 3D Dali painting or a snapshot of a real-life cartoon world but, whatever was the inspiration for it or however you wish to describe it, the work of Gaudi is definitely unique. The two hours in Casa Battlo were simply mind-blowing. A visit to the Casa Amattler, Mila (or Pedrera) and Vincens concluded the day before dinner in an amazing Catalan restaurant literally round the corner from the Battlo.

The Sunday was entirely devoted to Gaudi, with first a visit to the Sagrada Familia church and then Park Guell and its surrounding areas. I shall not dare try to describe the emotions stimulated by the Sagrada but going past its threshold is like stepping out of this world and entering another world of huge stone and concrete trunks and twigs, closely and carefully mimicking the efficiency of nature's structural engineering but at the same time laden with beautiful decoration, sculpture, stained glass and abundance of natural light which all make the interior spaces magical and surreal. The trip up one of the spires was almost literally out of this world and the maze-like narrow spiralling corridors down were fun. The time in Park Guell concluded our Gaudi experience, with the compulsory pose with the mosaic dragon and a time of chilling in the Spanish sun.

I forgot to mention that in these 3 days we had walked almost 2 dozen kilometres which had one "minor" consequence: extensive blisters on 4 of my toes. It was, to say the least, uncomfortable, but, that aside, I think the weekend in Barca was amazing and, in the words of Freddie Mercury, "if God is willing we shall meet again someday!"

Happy new year!

2011 kicked off on the North Bank of the River Thames in London, spot on across the water from the London Eye which was the centrepiece for the first few minutes of the new year. As hinted earlier, on 31/12/10 we met up with the freshest newly weds from our Maltese circle of friends and by 8.45pm, we had occupied a prime location along Embankment where we awaited the first few "tocks" of the Big Ben signalling the start of 2011.

I must say it was a long wait of almost 3 hours till the real excitement began but the atmosphere was festive, the weather perfect (dry and not that cold) and by 11.45pm the action was gaining momentum. A massive countdown "clock" was projected onto the Shell building (10 or 15 floors high!) and as soon as the clock hit 12 the Eye set off with an incredible show of fireworks synchronised with the best of Brit music which lasted a full 10 minutes non-stop of colour and fire. As soon as it was all over, I witnessed the largest exodus of people ever; I later found out that 250,000 people were along the River Thames that night (that is more than half the population of Malta!) and all went seamlessly well with no accidents or confusion. Well, the tube stations were packed beyond their capacities and the journey home (which usually takes 20 minutes) took 2 hours, but once home we had champagne awaiting us and the night stretched till the early hours of 2011.

The next day was marked with a massive lunch at China Town and a farewell to our Maltese friends who flew back to Malta that night. And us? Well, it was still holiday time for me but my poor wife had to revise and study for the upcoming exams!

Wrapping up 2010

You might recall the last post - the trip to Malta for a wedding. Soon after that trip, it was time to go back yet again, this time for the Christmas break. You might also recall that the last flight was threatened by the snow and bad weather and Gatwick was on the brink of closure and we were flying from Gatwick. This time round, we were flying from Heathrow and, surprise, surprise, it was Heathrow's turn to be traumatised by the British winter!

The flight was scheduled for 8.40pm but the plane needed de-icing and left only after 10pm, arriving at Malta after 2am and thus finally going to bed almost at 3.30am. That particular night was probably the one and only really stormy night in Malta for December 2010 and the plane simply could not land but the wise pilot finally managed to get that Airbus on the ground with us passengers barely noticing, despite the heavy rain, lightning, thunder and wind that was enveloping the aircraft from all directions. By the time I was about to sleep, some God-sent rooster happily living in one of the neighbour's gardens decided to start crowing, but this was no hindrance to sleep immediately after landing in my bed!

We stayed in Malta for 10 days until Boxing Day but the week was full to the brim with activities. We had the traditional annual Christmas dinner with all of our mates, which included the Secret Santa antic (I bought my gift from London and with the 5 euro budget got a book worth £25!!) and in turn received a cool book of archaic, sadly disappearing Maltese words grouped under various topics. The next day I headed off to Valletta on a mini guys' night out and gladly remembered that in Malta you can buy a round for 4 with just 6 euro, whereas in London you pay that much for 2 drinks at most, if lucky. Good times; how I love Valletta. Then on the next day I had a reunion with some old mates, some of whom I had not seen for almost a decade and it was great catching up! Then Christmas Eve was very busy preparing for the Christmas do at home, which was more involving this year. Shopping, cleaning and cooking (well, helping thereof). And then we headed for a Midnight Mass at Valletta with the newly-wed couple from October's wedding (the couple from December were honeymooning at the Maldives!) and although the service was well animated and cheerful, it was too long and only finished in the early hours of the 25th...

On Christmas Day, we had a whole day of feasting, feeding, drinking and talking at home, where the dining room was filled to its capacity with the addition of the in-laws, but all went well. Especially the food, which I miss badly (English "cuisine" simply sucks) but at least it gets me to appreciate it more whenever I am at home. The Malta trip soon came to an end and on Boxing Day we headed back to London, the first flight in ages with no hassles! And once back in London, my poor wife embarked on a marathon of revising and studying for the January exams, which brought feelings reminiscent of December 2007 when I was studying for my own M.Sc. exams, except that I had 1 week less than her, so she cannot complain really!

I took a week off and stayed at home most of the time, except that the honeymooners made their final stop of their month long holiday here in London. This called for my London guide services, which we did this morning. We met them again later on tonight for the NYE fireworks display beside the River Thames, but that story spills over into 2011, so will leave it for the next post.

2010, the final year of the first decade of the new millennium, was a colourful year. The year characterised by the opening of Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building) in Dubai, the Mexico Gulf oil spills much to the worry of BP, devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the Icelandic ash clouds, the iPad, the crisis in Greece and Ireland, the World Cup in South Africa and the fun related to Paul the psychic octopus, the elections in the UK, the 40th anniversary of Glastonbury, the "scandals" of WikiLeaks, the drama of the Chilean miners and the protests in London and Rome over high tuition fees and cuts in education budgets respectively.

In Malta, 2010 is remembered as the year of firework-related tragedies, the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, the deaths of Guido DeMarco and Nikol Cauchi, the series of mafia-style robberies and attempted murders, the presentation of JPO's divorce bill in Parliament, the quasi-comical floating coffins in the Qormi flood waters, the power station debates, the repeated countrywide blackouts, the collision of a truck into the Marsa bridge bringing the country to a halt, the Isle of MTV and massive concerts by Elton John, Rod Stewart and Joseph Calleja and the usual never-ending tit-tat of Maltese politics.

For me, 2010 will be simply characterised by one event: the year of our wedding.