Whole lotta writin' - Sleeping

I have been writing now for over an hour and I think I need to recap and endorse on that magical activity which is the highlight of my day (if you consider 11.37pm as day)...I mean, I need to sleep.

Just to conclude, I have just finished my first year of my Ph.D., which means some 30% done. I will soon need to officially transfer to my second year, but that is another story...

Last week, another buddy of ours, who just moved to the UK to start his own M.Sc. at Bath, came down for a 30 hour visit to London, which was as hilarious as much as he is and once more spoilt my jogging efforts of an entire week by a single trip to China Town for a massive dinner and a couple of pints at our local pub...

At the same time, another good friend who is working in China flew over to the capital on vacation, primarily to visit his new-born nephew and also to catch up since the last time we met a couple of months ago. In fairness, we did not have much to catch up on, since we chat online almost daily and are always up-to-date, but at least we were for a few days in the same time-zone and could greet each other "Good morning/afternoon/night" with the same ending in each case!

All the visitors are now back to their workplaces, be it 2 hours away or 15 hours away, and we are back to work too. Actually this week we are off to Malta for one of our frantic 50 hour trips, which will surely be the subject of my next post!

Whole lotta writin' - Nottingham

If I am not mistaken, one week after the "Open House", Marianna and I realised that very soon, it would be a new chapter in her life: she would be resuming her studies after an absence of 4 years from academia by starting an M.Sc. at Imperial College. We thought we should have a weekend break out of London before this time, which, from experience, I know will be a busy one. We checked a couple of towns across the UK and then I remembered! A quick call, a booking, a small suitcase and off we headed to Nottingham for a weekend!

One of my buddies whom I have known for over a decade now, JPZ, is doing a Ph.D. at Nottingham. Since I have been here in the UK, I have visited him twice at Notts and once at Worthing while he was working there, and he has come down to London a couple of times too. Since Marianna had never been to the home of Robin Hood in the Midlands and it had been a couple of months since we had seen JPZ, we abused of his open invitation to visit any time and thus we decided that Nottingham it shall be!

The trip was longish - 3 hours by coach is just at the limit of my endurance, especially the first hour which is simply getting out of London and embarking on the M1. Once we got there, the usual thermal shock: it is way colder there than London! JPZ and his better half picked us up and we headed to his flat, where we had a welcoming meal and a good bottle of wine and a deserved sleep...

The next day was possibly the most beautiful dose of weather for September. We all headed off to the Peak District, where we set off on a walk up to a cavern upon a hill, Thor's Cave, the ascend to which was (in the words of JPZ) about to give me a heart attack. But it was worthwhile the effort since the view was amazing. The descent was far easier and then another walk up to another peak, Ecton on Hill. The beauty of nature in this part of England is beyond words: fresh, pure air, abundant stretches of green and streams, no cars, no planes, no buildings, nothing really except hills, trees, grass...and cows.

All this was followed by a hearty pub lunch, a drive back to Notts, a walk around the city centre, the compulsory pit stop at a Nero's Cafe and then back to the flat. A quick shower and change of clothes and then a massive dinner at a Thai restaurant which probably restored my calorie intake to more than it was before all the walking in the morning. The night was concluded by a visit to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub, the oldest one in England (or so it says). I love that place!

On Sunday we did not stay long and only visited the city centre for some shopping and going around. After all the goodbyes, we headed back down to London and got ready for another week of normal life in the capital. I look forward to another weekend break around England (and beyond!), away from the hustle and bustle of our host city we are temporarily calling "home".

P.S. The image in this post is not an edited version of the cover of the Floyd album "Atom Heart Mother" but is a snapshot of the cows mentioned in the text above!

Whole lotta writin' - Buildings

Since my first arrival in London (of which I happened to celebrate the 3rd anniversary on 22/09), I have been reading in my "Lonely Planet" guide to London about the annual "Open City" (now renamed "Open House") in the capital. This is an annual event in which many buildings are open to the public, for free but, more importantly, some of these buildings are only open during this time! In 2007, 2008 and 2009 I failed to attend this special event (2007: I had just arrived in London and missed it by a week, 2008: I was complete my M.Sc. thesis and had better things to do, 2009: I had not yet moved back to London and so I missed it, again). This year, I was 100% determined to go, at all costs...

And so the "Open House" kicked off on 18/09 and my wife and I headed off to visit one of our favourite-est buildings in London: the Lloyd's Building by Richard Rogers. The day was splendid, chilly but sunny - perfect for pictures and enjoyment. Upon arrival, I was shocked to see a massive queue, but happily this was progressing fast and in 20 minutes, we were inside the hi-tech 1980s marvel. I lost count of the number of times I visited the Lloyd's (from the outside of course), but each time I see it, it gets me shivers: the neatness of design, the attention to detail, the immaculate finishing and the ingenuity of placing all services on the outside, freeing the internal areas from "wasted" space (lifts, stairs, WCs, service shafts etc)...sorry, this has become an architectural lesson...But being actually inside, made me appreciate the last sentence even more: the vast openness of the office spaces without any clutter but maximised usage and all lit by natural light through the massive glazed atrium. And heading up to the 11th floor, the view was simply amazing.

The whole visit lasted just under an hour so this gave us enough time to visit another London landmark before lunch: the City Hall. A short walk across the city to the Thames and across Tower Bridge led us to "The Scoop" and the egg/helmet/testicle shaped building which landed controversy on Norman Foster's CV. We swiftly headed inside since there was no line whatsoever and the same story as before began: amazement at the detail, unusualness of design, quality of workmanship and (needless to say) endless number of photos. Up on the terrace offered a great view of the Pool of London and then down the huge ramp/staircase which takes up most of the building's footprint and which leads to the actual Hall.

A few years ago in my student days, these buildings and many others were only reachable through books and Google Images. Nowadays, I have the luxury of seeing these buildings first hand and, on special occasions like this, actually experience the spaces therein. After all, a building is not only a design or an image, but a volume, a liveable enveloped space. I love London!

Whole lotta writin' - Jogging

The next thing which comes to mind is jogging. The reader might recall that, many months ago, I mentioned my quasi-daily jogging activities. I am pleased to say that the effect of this was that I lost some 4 or 5 kg in a few weeks but I regret to say that this activity lasted only until the wedding, after which I regained those 4 or 5 kg and more! And I have proof for that...

The reader might also recall that in June I was in Budapest for a conference. During that conference, I wore a suit and it fitted me quite comfortably. Last August (i.e., 2 months later), I happened to try on the same suit and the trousers failed to go up any further than halfway my thighs! And this caused me a severe panic attack! Besides prompting me to buy a new suit (which, by the way, I really like!)

From that day onwards, I decided to take up jogging again, 3 to 4 times a week, as well as cutting out all the rubbish food I was consuming almost daily (nachos, crisps, desserts and that kind of stuff). The initial efforts were painful, but nowadays it has become part of the routine and I also invested in a new cool pair of running shoes which makes the effort much less stressful on my feet and also gives me incentive to get back on track, quite literally.

Despite the many urges from my wife, I keep insisting that I do not want to buy a scales to measure my weight but a few weeks ago, I happened to try again the trousers I mentioned above and, voila! The trousers did go up to the expected position and I also buttoned it, albeit not comfortably! So the effort is paying off! I hope that this time I will not abandon the exercise, both for the sake of fitting in my clothes but also for the benefit of my health!

Whole lotta writin' - Sketching

It is 10.22pm on a modest weekday and I decided to extend my writing antics, not in writing technical reports or journal papers but to update my blog. Given the late hour and the level of tiredness, I will try to remember all of the events from the past couple of weeks and record them here, but I cannot promise that I will not forget some minor episode; the good news is that there were no insignificant occurrences at all, as you shall read in this post and the few that follow...

The first thing that comes to mind is that after an absence of many months, years actually, I decided to start doing some sketching again, for leisure. In my early undergraduate years, it was part of the design syllabus to create sketches of urban and rural landscapes, abstractions as well as some nonsense, hoping to nurture the skills required to master architectural design. I recall the initial painful long stays outdoors, trying to sketch a streetscape, with pad on the lap, shadows changing with the setting sun, people stopping to stare and all the complications of drawing "live" in the street. More happily I recall the advent of the digital camera being accessible to all, my fun, isolated snapping trips and the comfortable sketching at home off the monitor, accompanied by background music, the omnipresent coffee mug and the liberty of intermittent yet regular breaks.

Back to 2010, I decided to start off by a set of sketches of Michelangelo's sculptures (again, off a monitor using photos I took at the plaster cast collection of the V+A or images off the net). Modestly, I think the work is getting better as the number of sketches increases; now, I even upgraded to a proper sketchbook rather than loose sheets!

To be honest, the first few consisted solely of naked (or almost naked) men, which may seem to be suspicious as to my mating habits really are. Not that I am homophobic, but I happen to be heterosexual and nowadays I am shifting towards the female nude (again, Michelangelo works). One problem: the Renaissance genius happened to sculpt mostly males and his females are really as muscular and well-built as any healthy athlete, so I guess I will soon conclude my Michelangelo series and seek an alternative subject...

So this activity started off in September and I am proud to say that I have managed to keep it going (to date) and intend to maintain it! Not that I have any ambitions in the art world, but at least it serves as a break from academia, math and the computer keyboard!

End of summer '10

Thank God for this one September afternoon when I am (shamefully) spending my lunch-break sitting at my workstation at Imperial; every cloud has a silver lining, for I plan to update my blogging antics once and for all before my memory starts to fail me...

So back in August, when the British summer was aiming at making an end, I headed down to Malta for a short break of 4 days. This particular flight started off as a challenging one: the flight was at 7.30am, which implied waking up at 1.30am, get ready to leave by 2.00am, take a night bus to Marble Arch at 2.15am, take the Green Line bus to Luton at 2.30am, arrive at the airport at 3.30am and finally head down to the Med. I included the "am" each time simply to emphasise the pain endured, but which was leading to a dose of real summer - no pain, no gain! The highlight of Sunday was a fiesta of Maltese rabbit for lunch prepared unfailingly by mum. Monday was a day spent almost entirely at the beach, which turned me from an expanse of ghostly white to a boiling red lobster. Tuesday was a fantastic day out virtually sponsored entirely by one of my good mates, who kindly gave us a mini-tour of the Maltese north-eastern coast by boat in the morning and an al fresco ride in his new sexy car in the evening. The day was concluded by a seaside BBQ with the rest of my Maltese friends. The last day started off with a sunny morning spent at The Point in Sliema and then back to London in the evening. An intense and delightful break which provided me with my annual dose of Vitamin D and good fun!

Back in London town, I was working on my first research paper which to date is virtually complete (except for one section which is pending due to lack of software to complete it!) but will hopefully be submitted to a journal for publication by autumn. It is great to know that , as I move on with my Ph.D., I will have publications which put my work into the public domain. Hopefully...

The end of the month was characterised by music! On my wife's birthday, I took her out to the musical We will rock you, which I thought was the closest thing to a concert by her/our favourite band, Queen. And then on Sunday (when my mum and sister were visiting), we went to see The Lion King, which was awesome. As usual, such events make me want to indulge into music, full time, but I suppose it is virtually impossible at this point in time.

Summer is drawing to an end (although today it is rather sun and warm!) and very soon it will be 3 years since I first came to London (albeit with a 6 month absence therein) and also the completion of my first year into my Ph.D. Which reminds me, my lunch-break is over and I need to get back to work!

Requiescat in pace, Profs

I am still shocked at the news of the passing away of Maltese President Emeritus, Prof. Guido De Marco (1931-2010).

I am not much of a fan of politics, especially Maltese politics, which are heavily saturated with partisan sympathy. I do, however, admire several giants of politics in the local scene, and one of the foremost of these is Prof. Guido de Marco. In my childhood, I was referred to as 'Guido' by my relatives, thanks to the random abundance of hair I sported which was similar to what the Profs. had in the 80s, clearly a man who lived up to the sign of the times. Throughout the next 2 decades of my life, I developed an admiration for the statesman, whose achievements surpass by far those of many Maltese politicians; being President of the UN General Assembly and President of the Republic suffice in this regard.

Earlier last year, whilst in Malta before my starting my Ph.D., I devoured de Marco's The politics of persuasion and my admiration for the statesman continued to expand. Such a great figure in the world of law, a holder of such a prestigious position in the global and local scene, and yet his writing is not any more complex than that of a well-versed adult, devoid of any unnecessary articulation but simple and accurate and, most admirably, diplomatic and ethical in all its forms of criticism towards his opponent.

I recall one ordinary morning last year when I was heading up Republic Street in Valletta towards my workplace when I spotted de Marco walking, slightly bent but steadily with the aid of a walking stick, with an immaculate suit and sunglasses. I said, slightly louder than usual to make sure he would hear, "Good morning, Profs" to which he immediately nodded, smiled and replied, "Buon giorno." Indeed, that morning I was heading to my workplace, which was the architectural practice of his son-in-law and this led to the following serendipitous event.

At the office, I was lucky enough to befriend my boss's son, one of de Marco's nephews, who, during one random afternoon chat gathered my looking up towards his grandpa, promptly set up an informal meeting with the President Emeritus. Indeed, prior to my departure from Malta to London to embark on my Ph.D., I had the great privilege of spending 30-45 minutes with Guido, who welcomed me in the Orangerie, his Hamrun home-cum-office, with confident hospitality as if he had known me for years.

I recall that meeting vividly, where we discussed on-going world and local politics, terrorism, his vision of Malta's future, his colourful rival Mintoff, well-deserved criticism of the latter and equally warranted appreciation where applicable of the former premier, the obvious talk on architecture and the architectural profession in Malta, my vision of the latter, my upcoming Ph.D. and informal talk of how I know his nephew and son-in-law. The meeting came to an end after Guido signed (in his characteristic green ink) my copy of his autobiography, in which he wished me "a bright future in [my] service of architecture and of Malta."

I was wholly impressed by the grandness of the character, which I was of course expecting, but never knew that such a giant would combine with such handsome quantities diplomacy, modesty and charisma even before a complete stranger. In later years, Guido had clearly lost weight and was no secret that his health had been deteriorating, but during that time in his elegant office, I thought to myself that his physical persona had surely diminished over the years but only to provide more room for his ever-growing internal grandeur, which is not subject to the limitations of the physical realm.

I will cherish that September morning of 2009 for the rest of my life.

Last week, Guido was admitted to hospital and was in a critical condition. Only 2 days ago, he was released from hospital and yesterday he reportedly said, "I feel I have been born again. Life is beautiful. I am seeing life with new eyes and I am looking to the future." Only 48 hours later, Guido passed on to a better life and he has lived up to his prophecy in all its correctness: he is born again in a world of no pain and is now conscious of a better existence where the future is unbounded and beauty is beyond what the eye can comprehend.

Rest in peace, Prof. de Marco and I assure you that I will do my best to keep up to your recommendation of serving the architectural profession and the mother nation which we both affectionately love: Malta.