New Year's Eve in London

New Year's Eve was a hotchpotch of accidental events. The plan was to have a nice Afghan dinner at Jabi's (his new shared flat some 20-minute walk from Dollis Hill, an obscure Zone 3 station on the Jubilee line) before going for fireworks and celebrations near the Thames.

Dinner was great (thanks to the ever-dependable Jabi!), so was the company, which included Jabi's Polish girlfriend (a Cognitive Science student of Westminster University) and her Polish friend (a film-making student who works at a cinema in London).

Unfortunately, I had my massive backpack with me. Jabi suggested that we leave it at his cousin's flat near Notting Hill, which we did but that meant having to rush to the Thames before midnight (and the fireworks!), which we eventually failed to do.

Our original destination, Westminster station was closed and there was already a 'tube queue' nearing the station before it. We decided to leave the teeming tube a few minutes before time.

Finally, midnight was 'celebrated' at the entrance of Sloane Square station as the Tube officer wished us a Happy New Year over the loudspeaker. What followed after was a long three-hour walk across St James's Park, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, etc. London central was swarmed by the merry (or plain intoxicated) English, foreign students and tourists. Bobbies were as ubiquitous as adult English men pissing at the nearest wall or bush.

I almost forgot why we had planned to celebrate New Year's Eve in London. Besides that, it was awfully nice to be back in London and Dartford again! Other than Jabi (who now works for the BBC regional section for Afghanistan), I met up with my Russian former classmate from Essex. She is temping in Gap at Bond Street while waiting for her work permit and lives with her Turkish boyfriend (also from Essex, now doing his MA at King's College). I stayed over at their brand new single-room apartment - great location, right next to the tube station which is on the convenient Central Line (Zone 2) but comes with a hefty 1000-quid a month rent.

I had a nice Christmasy meal at Uncle Alex's. Ko helped with the turkey which turned out lovely. Paula and Carol came too, and there were the usual wine, roast veg (I loved the parsnips!), burnt Christmas pudding and cream.

Auntie Clem gave Ah Nee and I nice loose-fitting Middle Eastern blouses as Christmas presents from Egypt. Ingenious Ko bought a case of wine and made sure we had presents for everyone (i.e. "Merry Christmas... from Beng Kiat, Cheng Boon & Cheng Yee") including Ah Dee whom we visited on Saturday afternoon.

Little Jun has grown so much, physically and mentally (especially for Nee who hadn't seen her for over a year). She speaks three languages (English, Mandarin, and Cantonese) and comprehends way beyond her age (two-and-a-half).

After a few quick phone calls and text messages, I managed to meet up with Teru and arranged a dimsum brunch with two other HELP kakis, Rowan and Kelvin. I haven't met the latter since HELP because he finished his LSE external degree in Malaysia instead of England. He is now doing his Masters in Investment Management at UCL while applying for jobs related to asset management in London.

Teru is finishing his Accounting degree soon but is planning to stay on to do his ACCA. I stayed overnight at Teru's new place near Canary Wharf. Good location too (on the Docklands Light Rail line) and he pays 400-quid for his room, excluding bills.

It never fails to impress me, how expensive it actually is to live and travel (the cheapest single tube ticket is three pounds, before the recent increase for 2007) in London. Comparatively, living in other European capitals can be considered inexpensive. For what you pay for a room in London, you would get a whole flat in central Berlin. The film-making Polish girl who had spent some time in Berlin agreed and commented that the high cost of living in London is superficially inflated, i.e. you don't get real quality/value for the price you pay.

It's a shame really, otherwise London is an interesting place to be - so many different peoples, sights and events. I've learnt to appreciate the diversity of London after my term in Luxembourg. =.)

Cheng