Reading here

I can confidently and officially proclaim that I have settled down here. I am staying in Caversham, the "better" side of Reading. It also means higher rental cost, lesser student population and a quieter area. When I moved into the house on Sunday, I was temporarily staying in another room, while waiting for the landlady's son to move out. I moved in yesterday when he left. It's a massive room with a kingsize bed, TV, study table and a built-in wardrobe from one end of the wall to the other. What I particularly like about this room is the wardrobe. There are four sliding doors with full-length mirrors on it. This gives the room a spacious feel. Already, it's a big room that needs two heaters to warm it up, and now the mirrors will make the room feel even bigger, brighter and cleaner.


The landlady is staying in the house and she's a lovely lady. She offered me the biggest room in the house without paying the extra. "That's a room fit for four; two on the bed, two on the floor", she said. I personally think it can fit five actually. I just need to move away the shoe rack for the fifth person. But that's not to worry. The landlady expected guests in the house anyway. So she's reserving one room empty in the house specifically for her guests or the tenants' to stay in it. She could have rented that room out actually.

I started work two days ago. Everything's okay. I have lots to read and I am picking up speed on things. I thought of a picture that I took recently of Kit and a chair at the Bangsar Tea Clubhouse. That's quite indicative of how much I am reading here. If there's any message I can use from this picture about the pile of reading materials I am reading, it would be "unusually high".

I really hope to be "airborne" by the end of this month. I am quite happy so far. The Project Manager has already asked me to help him with his presentation to the Directors on a new system for the project. It's a good start I would say. I like to be trusted like that. It makes anyone in that situation feels nice, important and respected.

If I may be a little bit petty, there's neither any punchcard system for time-in/out nor an hourly time-log record or a whiteboard demanding staff to write their whereabouts on it. I shuddered when the punchcard and whiteboard craps popped out in my mind. It reminded me of the previous company that I worked for.

River Thames: Two shots taken in the morning

One shot taken in the evening

Reading is a picturesque place. There is the River Thames meandering through the town and this reminded me heaps about Cambridge and the Colleges. I need to walk on the riverside every morning to get to work and home in the evening. It's a great antidote to feeling sad about leaving Cambridge. Even the distance and time to get to work and return feel the same as from Wolfson to the Engineering department. There's still one more thing that I am missing here. I know how to resolve this. I just need to bring my bike over from Cambridge!