Tag: England

Let it snow, let it snow…

Manuel Marques December 5, 2012 No Comments Uncategorized , , , , ,

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This was the view from my lab window at 10 AM.

Absolutely fantastic. I had obviously seen snow before (Portugal is a southern country, but it can get to subzero temperatures in the countryside and in the mountains!…), but since it only snows in Porto every 15 years or so (and even when it actually snows it is never that intense, just a few flakes that melt immediately when they hit the ground) I saw snow falling for the very first time. And it was magical, I was grinning from ear to ear 😀 .

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Actually, I was a bit fortunate, as it only started snowing heavily when I was already inside my office – I still had to deal with the ice on my driveway (grabbing the bicycle in one hand, and the handrail in the other, while slowly and carefully climbing up the ramp out!… 🙂 ), but that was about it. And obviously, this being England, the public transportation systems grounded to a halt – my housemate actually had to get a cab in order to get to work, there were trains cancelled and major traffic jams along the motorway (it pays off to live close to campus! :D). Hopefully next week I’ll be able to make it to the airport to get my flight to Porto, fingers crossed… (I will give the whole day to get there, though, just to be safe!)

OK, any major news? Well, surprise surprise, Santa came earlier to my place and I got myself a shiny Galaxy S II (a review to follow, perhaps this weekend, time-permitting). On contract, with 10% off due to a student discount, I’m paying only £22.5 for 2 years, which is not too bad, especially when considering what the plan offers and that I paid nothing for what is still a very good smartphone (actually, all the images of this blog post were taken with it – and it films in 1080p, which I found pretty darn good 😉 ).

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My new working station. Lots of flashing lights and traces, and a big quad-core Xeon workstation under the desk – this is geek nirvana! 🙂

The work is, somehow, progressing (at least, that’s what I say to myself every day after staying up late in the lab ramming my head against the wall to make my code work). And today I got myself a new desk for my lab, so now I can work comfortably in my computer (properly stocked on tea, obviously). And next week I will have my last lab session of 2012, with plenty of lab report marking to follow (yay!). That, along with an article I will have to write for a conference proceedings will keep me busy while recovering from my surgery and hopefully keeping myself from being terribly annoyed of not being able to row when the river and the club are so close by!… 😛

Location update: Canterbury, Kent!

Manuel Marques October 27, 2012 2 Comments Uncategorized , , , ,

So yeah, I don’t know what on earth was I thinking to move from a sunny, warm climate into the famous English climate again. But the fact is that on Tuesday we were having highs of 27ºC in Porto, and in here I’d be most grateful if the 10ºC barrier would be passed. But it is not the cold that bothers me the most, it is really the lack of sun – the last time I saw the sun was 2 days ago, when the plane was making its descent towards Gatwick. I think I’m starting to understand the desire of old English folks to spend their retirement years in Portugal and Spain… 🙂

And now I’ve began the unavoidable house hunt – trouble is, since I came so late in the term, almost everything was taken, leaving only some not-so-nice properties. Fortunately I managed to find a very good one on my first visit (call that luck!), and if nothing better comes (the three houses that followed couldn’t compare to this one, definitely not!) I will most gladly move there.

I want to sort this accommodation issue ASAP, there are so many interesting challenges up ahead, I really can’t wait to start working! 😀

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