Recollection Part 2

31.12.2006 - Life is Beautiful

Friends went for church service at Tottenham Court Road and I tagged along.

Hillsong, as I was told, is a Pentecostal Church, who uses the Dominion Theatre at Tottenham Court Road as the venue for its Sunday service. It's the first time I've attended such a lively and merry service, and it's really cool seeing how worshippers express their devotion to God through music. Amazing!

Funnily enough, towards the end of the service, there was this mysterious sweet, onion-y smell that wafted into the hall, as if to announce the advent of lunch time! The 4 of us - me, Sly, Edna and Irene all admitted to feeling hungry, in unison!

Seeing we were already at Tottenham Court Road, we walked down to China Town for lunch. Sly had this insatiable craving for duck rice and so we settled for a restaurant he swears by for duck. Food was alright (I had Char Siew and Siew Yuk Fan...salivalicious!), but the same couldn't be said of the service. Barely 5 minutes into finishng our meals, they brought the bill without us prompting, how unruly was that? Yeah ok, I know they depend heavily on fast turnovers, but if only they do it with a bit more tact, I wouldn't have minded so much!

No wonder they say Chinese make the best businessman...we are shrewed to the max!

Anyway, the fatty meal left us all needing a walk to aid digestion. Blustery wind blew on but that didn't stop us from walking to Trafalgar Square, leisure-walking through St James's Park, admiring Buckhingham Palace from afar, acknowledging Big Ben for telling the time, contemplating calling on Tony Blair at Whitehall and arriving back at Lord Nelson's column almost an hour later. It was thoroughly pleasant despite the wintery gust!

p/s: While we were walking pass Downing Street, Sly said, "Good afternoon, Mr Blair, can I see you for a moment? I'm Sly, the Prince of Borneo." Haha, I was the slowest of the lot to get that. Either the wind had frozen off my cognitive ability, or that I was thinking of some un-nameable pretty boy, I don't know!!!

Pictures courtesy of Edna's camera, and Sly's angle-perfect snapshot.

Time check - ooh, it was only 4-ish. Plenty of time to kill before going for dinner at 9.30 in the evening. So we adjourned to Cafe Nerro to try to bring some colour back to our noses, cheeks and fingers. There, we met up with Alan, a friend of Sly's back in Coventry (or was it Brum). We yakked for about an hour, during which I found out that Alan's youngest daughter is older than me, the English don't quite like the Welsh (woops) and that Hogmanay and New Year's celebration in Scotland were cancelled coz of the inclement weather.

Oohh please please please. May that not be the case with London!

Thankfully not. We left for dinner at around 9ish in full force. The chosen venue was Des Amiz at Covent Garden. Des Amiz means "friends" in French or so I was told. There were 8 of us for dinner - Fitri and husband, Irene, Sly, Alan, Edna, Jacey and I. These people with whom I was honoured to dine are high-flying individuals. All of them bar Alan (who has a lecturing stint with the Uni) are here doing their PhDs. I know they're sick me of saying this but really, I take my hats off these brilliant people who have such determination to go that far up the ranks of academia (Edna is aka Dr Gias)! I on the other hand can't wait to finish MPharm and then PERIOD!

Couldn't see Fitri in this pic :(

Couldn't see Sly in this pic :(

Anyway, we had a fine dine. I had chicken liver for starters (wrong choice considering I never liked liver of any sort but I thought I'd stretch my comfort zone. Honestly, stick to what you normally eat is best), and haddock for main course, and creme brulee to top it off. It's like what they say...save the best for the last!

The original plan was to catch the fireworks along the Thames Embankment, but infortunately we left the restaurant too late to be able to get there in time, so we had to console ourselves with just catching glimpses of rays of light radiating from the London Eye, and the explosive POP sounds that came with every floral blooming up in the sky....

Was reading a friend's blog the other day and the phrase "look how far we've come" caught my attention. Haha Eunice, need to borrow the line sekejap :)

Whether it was kismet or not, I don't know, but I re-read the 01/01/2006 entry in my diary while clearing my room today (fyi, reading old diary pages can be very therapeutic!)

"...At about 5 mins to midnight, I went over to Min Yee's place (coz her room has a better view) to see the fireworks , conspicuously signalling the start of a new year. At that time, her TV was on, so at the stroke of midnight, we saw footages of New Year celebrations all around the world. Without a doubt, the one that caught my attention the most was London. The fireworks display was magnificent, made even more magical by the river Thames, thanks to the reflection of the water. The few of us in the room were in awe, and couldn't help but shamelessly shriek 'wah' each time we see it bloom. Such a far cry from the modest one we have in Cardiff. Secretly I said to myself, 'you know what, I'll be there next year. Next New Year's Eve. Come what may.' Only time time will tell if I made it in 364 day's time."

Dear diary, I can safely say I made it. To London. 364 days after jotting that down.

Although it was a huge shame I didn't get to see what many of us had hoped to see, but look how far I've come...and what a way to cap a wonderful year. Not sure if I'd have the chance of repeating this same feat in years to come (I say feat because surviving the stampede out on the streets of Central London with 250,000 people was a miracle), but at least I know I've tried, and satisfied myself that I succeeded in making a dream come true...partially!

One came from the North East of the country, the other came from the South West of the country, and they congregated at the capital. Although hugely disappointed about missing out on the fireworks display, they still have lots to smile fort!