Croeso

View of Stratford from my balcony

For the past year and a half, this has been the view from my balcony. I could see the Stratford and other such buildings from the comfort of my home. This was taken recently during a very foggy morning. We are exchanging this view and the busy hustle and bustle of London to some relaxing and soothing, even sedate, lifestyle of Swansea (at least that is our hope). We will be moving to Swansea this New Year and start a new phase there. New job, new place, new lifestyle closer to the seaside. I am getting ready to be battered by the winds daily.

This was a sudden and very surprising move for us. We wished for it only by the end of October after some thought and by end of November, we had options available for us. As they say, be very careful of what you wish for 😉 We decided to take the plunge, be adventurous and see how life is in Wales. I hope that it will be as pleasant as it has always been, thanks to everyone who has been very kind to us and I am sure I will let you on in all the stories I encounter during this new journey. I am ready for this new ride, are you 😉 ?

An year here and off to a short break now

It has been a year since I arrived in London and boy, does it seem like ages ago. What with the move, not just the place but also the job it definitely feels like too many things have happened this year. I am on my half-term holiday break now which is great and much needed, but there are so many things to be done. On top of that, I fell ill and lost my voice for the past two days. I can kind of whisper things today without straining, but it is now at the stage where a dry cough has taken over and my sinus is slightly clogged so not a good few more days to look forward to. Among all these did I enjoy the snow? I definitely did. Not the icy patch the next day though. I almost fell a few times walking on those.

Silver lining among these events is that we are going on a short trip to Italy this Sunday and will be back just before Christmas. All our presents are ready and waiting next to our nativity set (we don’t have Christmas tree). That would also mean I will be off the grid unless I get good wifi there and am not too tired to blog. We are going to take it slow and steady with the trip, not rushing through the places etc. There will be lots of photographs for sure and a travelogue once I am back.

Y’all stay safe, hope for better things, spread the festive spirit, be safe, keep blogging, and most of all keep smiling.

 

Never been so jetlagged

Never have I ever felt jet lag so much in my life. Ever since the trip to India was booked, I have been working on settling things and getting things done that I hardly slept. Except for a couple of hours sleep during the flights, my days in Bangalore and back here in London were filled with packing and unpacking. I have literally slept for straight 12 hours the day I landed back in London and still  managed to sleep another 10 hours the next two days. Sign of old age? Or the release of stress of finally moving my base to London? I am not sure. But I am eager to get back to having normal sleep times and to be more active than I have been these past few days. 

My blogging has taken the brunt of it and I am yet to check on a lot of posts which I have missed over last two weeks. And given that so many interesting things have happened around the world I am eager to check on the posts. Hopefully, this week will be the week when I settle down a bit. 

Keep the change

Every where I travel I keep getting these coins and I have no clue what to do with them after a while. I did give away some coins from places I have been to those who collect them. But the rest is with me. I don’t even know how much I have in these coins. I am sure they will become antiques after a while. But what value will they hold?

Why are we still dealing with coins when everyone is trying to go paperless (even though I am not a big fan of using credit cards everywhere) ? I feel that these .99 paise/cents/pennies rates should be done away with. I remember my mom having those 1 paisa and 2 paisa coins from their times. All she did was to use them during Vishu kani (a new year festival down south) as a display thing and for worship. That reminds me of the small red postbox shaped coin box I had while growing up where I used to save my coins out of the pocket money I used to get (which wasn’t very much anyway). I wonder when and where I lost it. My nieces have got a Panda coin box which is very cute. But I think I like my postbox better than this cute one.

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Post for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “coin.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

SoCS Badge by John Holton@ The Sound of One Hand Typing

WPC: Change

For this week’s photography challenge theme: Change


I always love the way the color of the sky changes during a Sunrise( or Sunset). These were taken in Nusa Dua,Bali during my recent trip. I was expecting it to be a bright sunny day, but apparently clouds had other plans.