Yo! We're finally connected to the net at our new place! Thanks myy dearest for waiting for the bt man to get it fixed. Our home is really starting to feel like home now with more or less everything in place.

Though we now live further away from Central London, it's actually quite convenient to get out with the train station just minutes away. Last weekend we went out to Trafalgar Square for the "House of Holland" day, to fall into the spirit of the Dutch national day. The actual "Queen's day" in the Netherlands falls on 1 May, but this event gave us a bit of a taste for it.

Does this look like the Netherlands at a glance?

We had some "patat" (chips with mayo, Dutch national food!). It was nowhere as good compared to the ones in Amsterdam, but it did remind me of the good times there.

Speaking of the Dutch and the Netherlands, my latest internet "hobby" has been doing virtual tours of Amsterdam using Google's street view. When street view came to London, I wasn't all that excited because it doesn't capture many of the places I regularly go to, e.g. my work place, Canary Wharf was missed. It doesn't have a clear view of my home either. However, since I found out that street view Amsterdam is also available, I've been stalking the place the whole time since!! I can tell from the evidence in the photos that they were taken while I was in Amstedam, around June 2008, so I'm still carpet searching the map page by page in the hope that they may have captured me on camera , hehe.

This is where I lived in Amsterdam. The dark red curtains of my place are unmistakable!

And here's me in front of my flat, shortly after I moved in early April.

I miss the place, and I want a trip back!

Life's more or less back to normal after my short but sweet holiday in Hong Kong. It's so good to have a break and get to see the ones I dearly treasure - I wish I could spend more time with everyone! worry not, I shall be back again later this year for sure. My holiday is nearly confirmed and I'll be on a look-out for cheap tickets to Hong Kong!

This weekend was a busy one and we were out running errands. But now that myy dearest has got a car it makes going out a whole lot easier and less tiring. And thankfully we were blessed with wonderful weather this weekend (it feels like summer today) so it's a joy to be out.

We took the Ferry in the car to Woolwich Arsenal, the very original home of Arsenal FC and spent our afternoon viewing some flats. There are plenty of nice, newly furbished flats round this area, but the only problem is the (even further) distance to Central London and Canary Wharf, and a less-than-ideal neighborhood area. We will probably be on the move again in April time. People knows me would know how much I hate packing and unpacking, and hence moving flats and all the hassle that goes with it, but it is really time for a change. It's not a bad time to move; rental prices in London finally seem to be calming down a little and there're more choices plus slightly more helpful and attentive housing agents.

Let's hope we can settle on a decision soon and find our next home . At the same time it's a bit sad that we will be moving out of the area which myy dearest and I have always shared a home in; we first moved to this development since 2003, and have lived in this place for nearly 5 years on and off, having resided in three different apartments in this same development! Even the postman recognises me (or rather, my name) and did a brilliant job in delivering my posts to me regardless of which address of Premiere Place was written on the envelope (I owe him a big thank you, and the porters too!). We're, rightly, moving on for good and better, but the memories of the few years I spent at Premiere Place will always be with me.

There are a handful of cherry trees here and around March every year, and we have a mini Cherry Blossoms which is so pretty! Every year I said I'd take a picture with it but never did, and today I finally took one, knowing it's likely going to be the last time I see them at my doorsteps. Pretty isn't it?

And on a final note, today is another fifteenth! Happy 15th myy dearest.

The start of the working week begins with more snow, and as a result, the london transport system is ground to a halt, with only limited transport running throughout London today. I have never thought I would see this amount of snow in Central London.

(You can see from the third photo how the snow compares from last night to this morning )

To my surprise, there's still a reasonable number of people turning up to work, and in the Wharf the majority of shops and services remains open. UK people are actually more committed to work than I thought!

The Met Office forecasted that the weather conditions is going to worsen throughout today, so am not sure at all if public transport is going to come back by tomorrow and if business is going to go back to usual. But the fact that I live so close to work means that it's going to be a working day for me tomorrow regardless, unless there's enough snow to block my front door!

P.S. We were sensibly told to get off work early, so it was a short day and we went to the cinema early evening, watched an unexpectedly great film. Story's so real, acting was brilliant and there are so many details which I find so true. Super highly recommended!

Here I am finally back for my first few words for 2009. Probably a bit late for wishing everyone a happy New Year, but hey, Chinese new year is just around the corner so in a way it's still good timing!

2009 was certainly not the best start of the year for me; I was down with this cold again which literally stopped me from doing anything apart from sleep! This virus I caught was seriously dragging me down. I am just glad that I am close to feeling fine now, and am just left with the occassional cough.

Having been feeling poorly from the start of the year reminded me the importance of keeping a healthy and happy lifestyle, which is something I always believe in anyway. Without happiness and health, achievements/goals/wealth etc do not mean much at all. And what's more, it takes effort to build up such lifestyle; and no, it's not about having a "hard-core" work-out regime, nor "eating healthy" and have carrots for lunch, but simply finding a balanced way to best live your life.

As we grow older, we can no longer take health and happiness for granted (and if one ever could when we were younger, it was a true gift). It only seemed like yesteday, but who knows how we used to be able to just pull an all-nighter as if it was nothing, and how we miss those days when there were not much to worry about, and everyone around you could easily put up with a smile on our face. But at the same time, as we grow older, we are more in the driving seat and it's really up to us to more extent how we want to live our life and be happy and healthy.

As for my remedy for health and happiness, it's quite simple really, I believethe key to it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I'm just looking forward to be well enough to start doing my runs, have some time to organise my reading list for the year, spare some time for my "arts/crafty/music" hobby etc, spend some time to organise my holidays for the year, and of course, and trying to spend time with family and friends who I dearly care for.

All the best for 2009, and the year of Ox!