Annual Ring, Sentimental Sting; Gear Wheel, Bill of Time Rill...

It was June 10, 2009, Mr. Smiley got up around 8 a.m., after breakfast, he went to the South Kensington to catch a bus. It was the 2^nd day of the London Underground strike in 2009. Perhaps in England, people have got used to the strikes. In our eyes, this seems to be an annual event or even called the celebration. What for? I don’t know. As we know the ticket price for the underground has been raised a few months ago. In such a recession, what do the workers still want? Inflation is too high maybe even in this recession?

Smiley doesn’t often go to college by bus or tube, but it was special that day as he needed to catch a train at London Bridge Railway Station to Brighton. Somehow, but Smiley doesn’t know how Ivan didn’t get the cheap ticket he recommended to Ivan a few days ago. They could have bought a return ticket for 5.95 pounds knowing that they all had a young person card. Then the tickets were bought for more than 13 pounds. And as Smiley and Ivan don’t live near to each other, Ivan had bought a ticket to 3 of them who were going to Brighton together. So what’s the point? Ivan suggested Smiley to go to Waterloo Station to collect his own ticket so that he could leave at Victoria Station while Ivan and his “daughter” could leave at London Bridge. Things started becoming confusing. We’d better not talk more about this.

As Smiley wanted to depart earlier just in case of the traffic jam, he left much earlier than the website had suggested. When Smiley reached the Bus Stop, the tiny piece of land was stuffed with passengers awaiting, much more spectacular than can usually see. But that was to be expected as the tube strike would doubtlessly cause some chaos above ground since more people who were going to work or school would have to drive, to walk or to take a bus. Moreover, there was some roadwork going on around the corner. What a mess!

Smiley, as a student of civil engineering thinks that that might be what they would be doing after they graduate as roadwork seems to be more common than new construction.

Smiley walked closer to the information board at the stop and checked the route of the bus. It seemed to be going to the right direction as the end of route was the Elephant & Castle. Smiley lives somewhere near to the Fulham Road, and as he thought, the London Bridge Station should be somewhere to the north east of his residence, so he took the bus moving northwards. The bus moved towards the Exhibition Road, passing through the Science Museum and Imperial College. Ah! Now he knew that Bus 360 went around the college. The bus kept moving and passed the Royal Albert Hall. Then it experienced a left turn into westwards direction… What? Smiley was still not aware of anything. Not long after that, the bus reached the Holy Trinity Church which is near to the Beit Hall and at the rear entrance of Imperial College. Oh la la! Smiley was dumb and then driven off the bus by the driver since that was the last stop.

This appeared to be the first time for him to take a bus in the opposite direction. And there seemed to be a few more of passengers who were being silly as him as well. Now this “360” really took him for a joyride around for 360 degrees from one end of the route to the other. He was annoyed although he had won a chance to stay longer on the bus for the fixed amount of cash he had paid.

It started raining heavily outside the bus and it was about 9:30. But Ivan asked him to meet up at 10:30 at London Bridge Station as the train would leave around 10:45. What could Smiley do? Basically nothing. The bus from South Ken to Ele-castle would take at least 40min (it turned out to be one hour on that day), and then it would take at least another 16min to reach the station by bus. There was no way he was gonna make it. The transport in London was hopeless. The more modern a city is, the more vulnerable it might be as a huge international city like this would highly rely on the tube for a public transport. The bus is an alternative, but for many people, the bus system couldn’t take to everywhere you want and it is pretty slow compared with the tube. So we could say that the tube kind of has monopolistic power. That’s one of the reasons why the workers dared to go on strike. Since people rely on the tube too much, every time the tube stops working, thousands of commuters would be affected. According to the Evening Standard, 150k workers failed to get to work due to this strike although some parts of the lines were still working. I ain’t an economist, so I wouldn’t be able to estimate how much damage this might cause to the economy. Some could argue that this was an irresponsible behaviour to the society which leads to negative externalities. Of course, some attention should be paid to the tube workers as well. But it might be better if a beggar isn’t greedy and doesn’t ask for more when he’s already been given a lot.

So why did they choose this day for travelling? On the previous day, the official spokesman Ivanski pronounced that “forecast light showers on 10 and heavy showers on 11”. In other words… the day with fewer raindrops were chosen, but why not pick up a day that was forecasted to be sunny? (Well, Smiley always has too many questions.)

The bus stopped every 5m, and saw a traffic light every 50m. 50min later, Smiley got off at the EC stop after which he wanted to catch a bus to London Bridge Station. Then he realized there were ABCDEF…S… couldn’t remember how many of them were there. The people waiting at the stop were not helping, but after reading the map at the stop, he figured it out soon by himself.

The bus was really creeping on the way in the cats and dogs rain. Smiley didn’t even know which stop to get off as the screen didn’t show anything useful. Luckily the old man standing next to him was getting off at London Bridge as well. The old man spoke with a London accent and he was quite humorous and kept making jokes. But Smiley was told that he wouldn’t be able to reach the station by 10:50 which made him worried. Smiley was a bit desperate, he sent Ivan a message, asking him to leave and he would probably buy another ticket. When he finished texting, he turned to the man next to him,“I hope this msg travels faster than this bus as I’ve heard that sometimes the msg won’t reach until the day after.”

“People came and went and walked away”. By the time the bus reached the London Bridge bus stop. Smiley took a look at his watch. It was 10:47 already. The old man again made fun of Smiley, “I think your watch is too fast. Mine is just 5 to.” Smiley couldn't stop smiling stupidly as usual, and then he pointed to the clock outside the train station. It was telling exactly the same time as his watch. The old man then hunched his shoulders, “There you go then…” with sympathetic look on his face.

After saying thanks to the old man, Smiley ran across the road towards the station which was pointed out by the man previously. Luckily the train didn’t come until 10:56. Ivan did a great job as making the meeting time sufficiently early saves lots of troubles especially when people arrive late. (Well, although Smiley wasn’t always late)

By the time they entered the college, it was 12:50. And a security guard was sitting at the entrance, which there was none when Smiley was studying there. Lily said this all happened after Smiley left and since then the safety level has risen. Was it Smiley’s fault? Did he have that power?

The first person Smiley wanted to see was no doubt Pat, the librarian. He hadn’t seen her for more than half a year by then. Remember every time Pat tried to help him sort things out when he was in need? She always tried to comfort him when he felt stressed. Pat said if he wanted, he could always email her even in uni. Without her support, the harsh A2 (not quite compared with uni) life wouldn’t have passed so smoothly. She is not only a great librarian, but also a psychologist and friend.

Smiley tiptoed towards the A2 students he knew (Actually most of the students in the library), and this made them shocked and even screamed. Nobody would expect his revisiting the college. Sharon, Joanna, Lolita, Lily, Betty and Vincent (almost everyone) seemed to be revising hard for the physics exam in the afternoon. Yuka and Yifen were revising for other subjects.

Smiley couldn’t remember how long he had been staying in the library. But then he went to say hi to Dr. Butcher, Mr. Dixon and Mr. Bentham in the Maths Faculty. He was pouring out the “bitter water” about the uni life there, but he kept giggling. The teachers then laughed, “Well, you can still smile in such a situation. That means you are happy about it.” “Well，that’s (what) his name (is about), isn’t it?” Well, “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.” He is always like that. You suffer you cry and flush away the sorrow, purifying your mood and the sunshine is on the way. That seemed to be the essence of Smiley.

Unconsciously, Smiley started mentioning the stuff he learnt about civil engineering. Gradually, a salon seemed to be launched inside the maths office. He mentioned the design week, and then the teachers started discussing mathematics, structural mechanics, and materials and so on. This was an unexpected lesson for Smiley and he benefited a lot. It seemed that Smiley had caused a civil forum. Probably this could be called the “civilisation”. He continued to giggle, and no wonder people remember his name wrong as “Smiley”.

Dr. Butcher’s way of teaching has altered slightly as he used to use an OHP (Old HP?) in the lesson, but now he started using new HP which is more efficient. And printing out notes written down from the handwriting pad is definitely faster than photocopying films for OHP. Moreover, he can now prepare lessons in the office and no need to stay in the classroom.

Then Ivan and Smiley went to see Mrs Chris, Paula, Sioban and Mr. Bowen (He still has the teddies and gorillas with him for the Jungle Concert)

After saying bye to Pat again, they went onto the long march to the Regency, where they could exploit their appetite. They started talking about relationship. Then after dinner, they took a walk along the beach for the sake of encountering some homos (Ivan’s daughter wanted to widen her horizon and open her eyes). But then they saw none. The conclusion was, “G people don’t like taking a walk in the rain”. Then they started looking for beauties on the roads. As we mentioned to Chris earlier, Ivan was busy “hunting”, but in the end he ended up accumulating or adopting daughters. Does it mean he is now more maternal? Can we say? Not sure. But there is one thing we are sure about. That is now he has something that Uncle Gary, Papa Bear and I don’t have. That’s called the Mothers’ Day!

Walking in the rain with the setting sun on one side and the grey sky on the other, it seems that there was another sky. “Bang, Bang!” The painter of nature, seagulls high above in the sky dropped their gifts and aids on our umbrellas sending their great wishes after which they flew away. And the colourful umbrella now looks more colourful in addition to the “fragrance”. The sun played hide and seek with us going all the way westwards. The Brighton Pier was then gilt into golden with a fabulous rainbow crossing over pier and connected the ocean to the city of Brighton. Tourists stopped, stood and began to take photos. After a while, the second rainbow came into air, emerging outside the original one. They shared the same centre and appreciated the same blue sky. They leaned against each other, supporting and protecting each other, demonstrating the harmony of fusion in nature. This is how the civil engineer of the Mother Nature built remarkable bridges in the air. If only the great double rainbow extends her hands of tender to China, sending my care overseas to those who care about me! I wished you could enjoy the same rainbow with me at the same time. Or we could even ramble on the bridge of rainbow, overlooking the whole universe with the company of the shining sun, the twinkle stars and the tender moon. Let the whole universe including all the galaxies even the aliens witness the one beloved… (N.B. this has nothing to do with the Pride Parade)

“Stop daydreaming, Smiley!” shouted someone. At the same time last year, Ivan and Smiley were walking in the same streets and along the same beach, single! Now one year later, they still remained single! What does this tell us? Oh yeah, right! They longing and yearn for liberty and freedom.

On the way back to London, Smiley could have taken the train to London Victoria, where there was a direct bus to his residence, but he preferred travelling with friends, so he took the train to London Bridge with Ivan and Alex. So now he needed to change a bus. Ivan said he could walk Smiley to the Waterloo Station where direct busses to the hall could be taken, but in the end considering Ivan’s daughter’s safety, Smiley made up his mind to take a bus from the nearest bus stop to Waterloo Station after which he could get a bus home. (Ivan should have thought about this, shouldn’t he? A mother should always take care of his/her daughter, shouldn’t she? Is it one the reasons why he keeps having daughters rather than girlfriend? Hope not.)

It was raining again and it had become a bit gusty. Standing at the dim corner by himself, Smiley missed a bus when he was checking the bus route… He stood there for a long time, but no bus came. Loads of taxies passed, but none of them seemed to be in service the light above the windshield wasn’t on. Smiley was thinking that if the bus didn’t come in the following 10min, he might take a taxi if he could see any in service. Not long after that, there was really one “taxi” coming. So he was about to stop it, but then he hesitated. When the “taxi” came closer to him, he was speechless. Guess what? He saw a word “Ambulance” in the front at the light… The ambulance couldn’t have looked more similar to a taxi, especially at night, when the light of a car blind your eyes which make you unable to read any words written on it. But it seems that the light of ambulance shines sharper than the taxi.

In an international big city like London, things will surely be different. Some people might find it funny if they like shopping, clubbing or drinking. For others, London might seem to be dull. Initially, many people may have a thirst for the adventure to London to open his eyes or whatever, but what will be waiting there are not only about opportunities and fun, but also about challenges, frighten, anxiety, temptation and so on. If you are not yet ready, probably it is a better idea to stay in a smaller city, or even at home for a while as “Home is where the heart is”, and then try to get yourself prepared. Some people may laugh at you. But so what? Who cares? Trust Shiny: Keep smiling, and you will find your life enriching.

                                                                                                  June, 15th, 09 (Midnight)

Surveying is the practice of measuring angles and distances on the ground so that they can be accurately plotted on a map. Or it is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional space position of points and the distances and angles between them. (Wikipedia and Dict)

As you may have seen above, today I want to talk about what we did in the May, the month of exams. Imperial College Civil Engineering first year students 2009 were divided into 2 groups for the surveying. I was distributed into the 2^nd group which started the surveying week on 4^th to 8^th in the Silwood Park Campus of Imperial College, London. This campus is mainly for research students, but sometimes, although very rare, undergraduate students may need to come over to do some experiments or coursework. This campus is near Heathrow Terminal 5. (Actually not) It takes you about 50min to get to the campus from our South Kensington Campus, but the Travelodge we lived in was more than half an hour away from the Silwood Park. So it doesn’t seem to make much difference.

Our objective was to use surveying to collect information about the topography and the boundary for the given field so that we could build a road along that area to connect two places together.

The first few days were relatively relaxing. We were separated into 4 teams A, B, C and D, each of which was divided into 3 subgroups corresponding to the site number. It was said that the Site C and D were the most difficult sites for surveying since the topography was a bit complex with steep slopes. What we did on the first day was to get used to the equipments we were going to use for the following days including the theodolite, the level, the prism, detail pole and so on. There was a limited number of equipments, so 2 groups were doing the Traversing process while the other two would do the leveling. And on the second day, we swopped.

Since I was told that we would not have much time for sleep for the coming days, I went bed quite early for the first 2 days. The surveying work finished at 8 p.m. everyday, so by the time we reached our hotel, it was nearly 9 p.m. the hotel was so dim inside the rooms. There was a TV and a strong air conditioner in every single room, but there were no telephones inside. Not even a simple internal extension. I was so sleepy that I went to take a nap. My roommate went to take a shower. After finishing his shower, he woke me up… As I’ve mentioned in the previous posts, I hate people waking me up when I want to sleep. But then I couldn’t do anything, I stepped into the showroom, only to realize my foot was inside a tiny pond. And it wet my jeans. I was so speechless that he wet the whole floor inside the bathroom because he left the curtain outside the bathtub. He argued that no one told him to place the curtain inside the tub to avoid flooding the whole room. I didn’t know what to say. What was more shocking was that there was no hole for drainage inside the bathroom outside the tub… What a shower room! Oh I kind of understand, they want us to use the water wisely as in our course we need to learn environmental engineering science, which also teaches us how to do some water treatment to save the environment and supply clean water to the whole world… A leakage means a loss of natural resources in this case. Probably we could reuse the water on the floor to flush the toilet, water the flower or even something else…

In fact, before going to this surveying week, I watched most of the videos given by the lecturer online for the instruction of surveying. My subgroup mates didn’t seem to know much about it as they didn’t watch them. But then I realized that what the GTA (graduate teaching assistants) told us was entirely different from what I learnt from the videos. And some other students agreed with me. So then we had 2 methods of measuring the angles. Obviously it wouldn’t severely affect the result, but as usual, I always want to find out the truth. So I went to ask the lecturer, then he told us the same thing as the GTA. I was hopeless. I don’t know why they give us those misleading ancient videos which might be shot before I was born and now they used slightly different apparatus to measure things in an utterly opposite way. And the thing is they asked us to go through the videos and they are part of our learning materials! OK, I guess it might be me and my friends who got it wrong…

We started obtaining loads of data from the surveying. Then we did some calculation to find out the coordinates of the given surveying points. From the 3^rd day onwards, we started doing detail surveying based on the known points we measured in the preceding days. And our subgroup B2-1 got roughly 50 detail points, and so we got approximately 150 points in total for the whole team about Site B. Then we started plotting those 3-D points onto our A2 paper. I couldn’t remember how long it took me to plot them on, but it was definitely more than 2 days. And we gotta use different symbols for trees, bushes, buildings, fences, gates and other objects. So it took us a long time to finish. As I am a slow worker, there was no doubt that it took me a long time. We needed to use arrows to indicate the earthwork along the whole road (i.e. how much earth we need to dig out or to fill in so that the site is flat enough for the construction of the road).

On the last day, the setting out process took place. Setting out means we try to find the points we measured and see whether the data for Site A, B, C and D are consistent with each other. A bad result could be different groups having a dramatic difference for the height of the same point, and these two figures will never match. All of the students followed the lecturers and the group leaders to walk on the sites. It seems that in the end, the result turned out to be well.

We were then on the way back to South Ken. Before the bus came, the students were so excited that they played football and Frisbees on the lawn. Then when we got on board, everyone started falling asleep. Now that the 5 days surveying week was done and for the past few days, no one seemed to have much time for sleeping. Many of us brought our drawing board back to the hostel and worked overnight. I guess for those days, we only slept for 12 hours (or even fewer) for 3 days. The nightmare has now vanished.

Still remember that on one of the night, on the way back to hostel at 8+ p.m., the drawing boards were all around, and some students put them into the carriages overhead. And this made the driver worried as any falling-off of boards could lead to serious accidents. The driver warned us. But then one idiot at the back shouter out, “Oh year! Let’s have an accident!” Thee driver then became furious, but he didn’t scold us. Instead, he said, “It was an accident when you were born.” The driver soon became our idol…

Not long after the surveying week, the exams began regardless of our fatigue. The exams took place in the 2 consecutive weeks almost non-stop. And we finished 8 exams within one week. Not until then had we some time for breathing. The hours for sleeping descend from day to day for the exam period. Some of us slept for 3hours everyday, but I wouldn’t dare to be follow suit. This makes no difference to competing who dies first or who devastates himself most.

Then the Dragon Boat Festival came. My friends from inside and outside civil engineering departments gathered to make rice dumplings called “Zong Zi”. It is a traditional festival in China. Virtually, the boys were helping at all. They only went to play basketball after which they came to eat. But Mary and I came to help the dollies cook in the kitchen. But then we ate most of the food. LOL! After dinner, we sat together in the common room to play Killer. Denny is the only guy who was a member in the professional killer club. It was quite amusing to see how people use logics to analyse and find out who the killer or murderer is. At the beginning, all of us were not fond of debating or arguing to demonstrate our innocence (although the killer could also do this). Then we started voting for the suspects who look most like the killer.

We then found out that many of them were good at acting and persuading, which distorted the truth. I didn’t like doing that, or I may say I didn't need to do that because they said I always look ignorant or completely lost no matter I was the killer or innocent. This clearly proves that I am a slow thinker… OK, I wouldn’t comment much on myself… Anyway, I wouldn't suggest someone to play overnight at weekends considering we still had exams the week after unless…

In imperial, life makes you insane, and it is your own responsibility to keep yourself healthy. Going to the choir used to be my measure to mitigate the enormous academic impact from impact. For the last 2 weeks of the spring term, dozens of us ‘lived’ in the central library to finish our coursework. Some boys nearly cried after working for over 24h nonstop in the library. Never mind, it’s just the Imperial Tradition, you can get used to it. Some say that Imperial’s objective is to train everyone into a powerful workaholic who is energy efficient or cost effective. Thus we can remain alive under the condition of sleeping for only 4h (or ever fewer) everyday.

I have a feel that if I continued working, I might get bombarded by plenty more spiritual missiles or even end up in a mental hospital. You need to be a yellow dog to have this special service which many international students can rarely have. In order to survive the depressed feeling, I was determined to return to Brighton. More importantly, Uncle Gary is going back to Brighton as well. He is my best friend in England I may say, but we aren’t homo!

England is a funny place where the public transport is usually privatised. In such a serious economic crisis or recession, the inflation of public transport is still happening. On the other hand, in my city, the public transport is highly subsidised. So the price for single journey is 2 yuan on average, and stays the same for ages. A couple of months ago, the cheapest return ticket between Brighton and London only cost 4 pounds, but now it costs 6 pounds (large increase in terms of percentage change).

I got up extremely early to catch the train at about 8:30 a.m. It was chilly outside, although the Sun was shining happily. I didn’t go back to get more clothes, luckily, it was warm in the carriage. After getting on board, I opened the book in hand to kill time. Due to the engineering work, it would take me 2h to reach Brighton. But I didn't care about the time. I didn't feel that sleepy, but I reckon my brain was not operating properly. I looked at my watch. Just half an hour after the departure, I thought there was half an hour more to go. Gradually I fell asleep and woke up from time to time.

I couldn’t remember how many times I woke up. I couldn't even notice I arrived when I looked out. Probably Brighton Station didn’t change that much. We’ve just been apart for a few months, I couldn’t even recognise it. Sigh… I didn’t realise the train had stopped until I saw the passengers all got off. I nervously bounced up and jumped off the train. In my head, the sleeping monster was still distracting me.

I was wandering, it was a bit cold. And I turned around to confirm that it was Brighton. I didn't move until I was sure. Then I walked fast towards the Churchill Square after which I walked along the Western Road. Everything seemed intact since I left apart from a bit refurbishment going on. There are 2 colleagues in our department who come from Brighton, but shameful enough, when one of them talked about the roads and streets in Brighton, I knew none of those he mentioned. “Are we virtually talking about 2 different Brightons?” I never remember the names of streets. Instead, I just walked, sometimes based on accurate mapping in mind whilst sometimes just according to my own feeling.

This time I just walked down the Queen’s Road. I walked all the way from Brighton Station to Palmiera Square to see Gary who was in the Holland Road Church. Along the whole road, I didn’t see anyone I knew, which was a bit disappointing though. I tried to find everything I remembered on the road and they all looked unchanged. I seemed to understand something: I fixed my eyes too much on the past and focused on those that I saw, but meanwhile, I lost the chance to concentrate on the new things which came to me at the back when I faced the past. Obsessed in the past, I messed up the past and future. While I’ve been seeking something familiar with, now it’s time to move my eyes towards something novel.

There was a place I was desperate to go to. That is GFC, also called Girl Friend Club by Bellerbys students. When we were in old Bellerbys campus on Cromwell Road, we went to GFC a lot for lunch. The boss is a Turkish guy who is always lively or even “aggressive”. He always tried to make fun of us. Probably it was because we were his regular clients. After we moved to the new building near Brighton Station, we seldom went to his store, but once we had time, we would still go, especially on Sunday afternoon after a short gathering with Uncle Gary, Nelson and Ivan. As exams came last May and June, we couldn't afford the time to visit GFC. Just before we finished our A Level life in Brighton and went back home, we went to GFC again. Since then, I didn’t go again until now. So it has been more than one year.

When we popped in on that day, boss’s eyes flashed a spot of light. He seemed to be shocked and couldn't speak a word. He shouted out eventually, “Oh, my friend! Where have you been? London?” He was so excited that he stopped what he was doing and started chatting with us. But meanwhile, he attempted to make jokes of the laughing Gary like usual, “You! Get out of here!” with his finger pointing at him. “So where are you going now?” he asked. “Well, eat in GFC.” We was a bit touched and smiled. Seldom had we seen him smiling like that. He said, “So what do you want to eat?” “No. 6 PLEASE!” I placed a 20 pounds note on the counter. This time he didn’t make fun of the “6”. Instead, he seemed to be a bit shy and he told me that he would like to cook me a special meal. Then he moved the note back to my front and patted it after which he gave me a gesture telling me that he wanted to offer a free meal. Then he helped us get 3 bottles of canned drink. Gary’s friend who came along with us was fully entertained by the boss.

I took my money back as we knew he wouldn't take it, so we would give it to him when we left. Customers came in one by one, and boss made fun of some of them whom he was familiar with (usually students). As I hadn’t been there for ages, I decided to take some videos of him and the whole shop. So I video recorded what he did behind the ordering desk, including his packing food, collecting money and making faces. After a while, the special meal was sent to us. The boss gave me a dish of diverse or mixed kebab many of which I couldn't name. Never mind… I don’t usually pay attention to the name of food, and I just eat what I like to eat. Before eating, I took loads of photos of the kebab. The kebab might not seem to be unique in the world, but it actually is. The taste may not be the best in the world, but it is cooked by a good friend and it is the chef that really makes the meal particular. Boss said he wanted to help us take photos, but after we passed the camera to him, he started taking photos of himself and his girlfriend. He is just like a naughty kid as before. I shared the dish with my friends and then we finished every single piece of food in it including those I didn't usually eat. After all, I didn't want to waste any food he made. We noticed that the price of the student meal had gone up by 50p for each. So the Donner Kebab is now 3.5 quids.

I still remember that I used to be a greedy child. Every time I went to GFC, I would ask boss to give me an “Extra Large Kebab”, and he always gave me a larger portion happily. He was a boss who didn’t seem to love money. But this time, I would give him 5 pounds for the kebab as well as thanking him for being such a friendly boss. We placed the 5-pound-note on the desk and about to leave. He threw the note out beyond the desk. We there laughed and picked it up and put it back to the desk. Then he threw the money out again “furiously” (which he actually not I reckon). Gary’s friend picked it up again and put it onto the desk again and we ran away swiftly. But he still threw the cash away. As we left, we saw the customers nearby laughing. Were there any police nearby, we might have been arrested as we ran away like robbers or thieves. If the police then realised that we were not escaping after burglary, but because we overpaid the boss, we might get ourselves onto the front page the newspaper for the day after: “3 Asian students who caught after paying too much for a meal”.

Sometimes we’ve got to become a child again to ease ourselves from the heavy burden of life or work. Since children are innocent and they don’t think too much, they can often live a happier life than us. It is indeed a good way for relaxation. Mr. Bowen is a good example. My dear friends, youth is not age of life, but about the state of mind. As long as we can keep ourselves young in mind, we can recover ourselves rapidly from the misery that comes to us. We are like kids, and so is the boss. He released his anxiety of work and at the same time entertained us. Honestly speaking, I hadn’t been that happy for a long time.

Gary asked where I wanted to go. I told him I wanted to go to the beach. London is near the Thames River, but it isn’t near any sea. At least not as near as Brighton. The sea and the English Channel wouldn't understand my sadness in college, but it could comfort me. It was a bit chilly in the wind although it wasn’t quite gusty that day. We headed to the opals on the beach and I ran around. As we could see, there were many people around enjoying the bath of sunshine and some were reading books. We lay down and the rocks warmed us. I closed my eyes and listened to the kind roaring of the ocean. Then I began to pick up stones on the beach. I found a few stones that are in heart shapes and Gary’s friend found some shells and rounded limestone which we called the “Easter Eggs”. Now you know why the opals on the beach kept vanishing and the sands underneath got revealed. Year, I put a few opals into my schoolbags. This is my way to carry the smell of Brighton back to London. Shh… Don’t tell others. You didn’t see anything.

Gary and I shared and exchanged the feeling about university and he tried to help me out. Well, as civil engineering students, we don't appear to have enough time for socialising. So besides working, it was sleeping. No clubbing or even speed mating. I don't seem to have many friends from other departments. Thanks to the help of the boundless capacity of the sea, the unhappiness was filtered and rushed off. At least at that moment, I found the peaceful wonderland, a silent one for my heart. Thanks Brighton! Thanks Gary! Thanks for accompanying when I feel down! Now I am not that depressed any more and it’s time to pick up tools again and fight back!

                                                                                                                5^th, April, 09