A big salmon from Bolton Market

Shopping day in Bolton again. :)

Compared with last week, there seemed to be fewer shoppers in Bolton. Don't know if it's because some people have gone travelling with kids or because of the riots. I like those retail parks where you can find different big stores and get the things you want. It's also more relaxing doing shopping in Bolton than at Manchester city centre, though there may not be those famous brand names or chain stores. Same as before, had lunch at Morrisons - regretted afterward because the portions of the food seemed to be not as big as expected and no stamp could be collected for the meals because the lunch cost less than £8. =_=' Anyway, next time we know we should go to another Morrisons in the evening where we might have bigger portions of the food! :)

After lunch, our target was Bolton Market! Happy to get a big salmon for £6 which was cut into 12 salmon steaks plus its head! Wow! I guess I'll have a lot of salmon in the next two weeks! :p

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Lunch at Morrisons: fish & chips - ok, but seemed not big enough! :p

Lunch at Morrisons: Chunky steak pie  

a bit disappointed at the size of the pie - not as chunky as expected! 

Dinner: two kinds of salmon - salmon steak from Bolton Market which I fried 

salmon from Waitrose the other day

Yummy & nutritious :)  

3rd day of volunteering at MAG

Not done much today, besides going to the Manchester Art Gallery for volunteering again in the afternoon.

Having had experience for two days of volunteering, I knew what I had to prepare - get myself to eat 'enough' and wear enough clothes, especially long slevees, since the hall where the workshop takes place seems to get some sort of air-conditoning. A few acnes that 'suddenly' came out this morning didn't help much though. :( My hair on the forehead got so long now that I needed to have a hair clip on. I look like a 'si lai' (師奶) or a little girl?! :p

Today's workshop was okay, though I'm not sure if there were fewer people than before. The staff in charge said this week was a bit quiet at the workshop. Maybe something to do with the riots?! There were not as many volunteers as before either. I worked with the same volunteer (whom I got to know on day 1) in the costume tent. But neither of us got anything to do there. It was our 'leader' who introduced the kids and their parents to the tent; that volunteer and I worked on our own creative works - she was trying to make a paper horse, while I was making a robe with a magic wane! Actually when our 'leader' asked us to try making something, I had no idea what I could make. I still don't feel like I have much connection with the workshop and its theme - making a story, since I still haven't got much interaction with the participants so far. But at least I got to know something about how a team works - actually I've seen a lot in terms of volunteer management! :) There's only two more weeks to go (five sessions).

The city centre was still full of police cars. It was as busy as always, though I can still see some shops being boarded up, including the entrance of the building where the old office of my previous employer was!

I seem to have been very unproductive this week...

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My creative works to day - a dress/garment with a magic wane at the front! :p 

(It looks like a bag though!) 

Its back 

One of the tents 

Dinner: fried pasta with salmon, mushroom and green beans :)  

Is Manchester really ok?

The 2nd day after the Tuesday's riot.

I wasn't very eager to go out because of rainy weather but thought I better go out and refresh myself; also was thinking that if I didn't go to gym today, it was unlikely I might go in the weekend.

Everything seems to get back to normal at the city centre. After going to gym, I walked past the city centre. Only some shops still got boarded up (and were closed). I saw a van of a glass window company on the street trying to put on a new window for a shop! The 'damage' at the city centre was not as serious as I had thought. There weren't many policemen on the streets. I only saw two then. Occasionally I heard the sirens. Maybe the police still keep an eye and standby at the city centre? A friend of mine texted a message saying a group of armed thieves were targeting asian homes - don't know if it's true or not but I guess we have to be careful these days when there're so many problems in this country. Though things seem to have got a bit quiet now, I still wonder if it's safe to go out in the evening though.

Been lazy since the afternoon. Got headache again. And a bit tired after gym and so had a nap...

BT openzone is still unstable at times. I guess I may need to return that worthless o2 router sometime this week for £15 credit into the useless sim card and then start asking about broadband of another company...

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Received a £15 cheque as cashback from 'shopper discounts and reweards' for my train ticket bookings

A good offer. But I'm gonna cancel my account with it after the first 'free' month! :p

 Lunch: same as yesterday - pasta in tomato & potato soup with meatballs again

Dinner: a vegetabe roll from last night + fried chicken breast with mushroom & green beans



the day after riot

Went to bed late at 2 a.m. last night. Sleep ok, though amid fear...! Woke up at 10 a.m., but still felt a bit tired. Didn't go out all day. Not sure if it was 'safe' to go out. Kept myself updated with what was going on at city centre though. Things seem to get a bit quiet today. Was expecting those people would come out again but touchwood, so far it's said that the city centre is quiet. Good that there's a lot of police officers around, which makes me feel 'safer'. Also flatmate came back home after work. Feel better in a situation like this when there's someone in the flat.

Will those riots happen again? Can our life be back to normal?

Fingers crossed...

Things always have both positive and negative sides - while it's sad to have these riots happening by irresponsible people without moral values and senses, people showed their care for the city by helping clean up the mess this morning. I don't know if the riots would help or destroy the UK further as far as its economic and social problems are concerned. Something needs to be addressed though...

I could have gone to gym, had a drink with a friend and dinner with someone (I miss GBK burgers and chunky chips!) if the riot had not happened...

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Lunch: pasta in tomato & potato soup with turkey meatballs! :)

the tomato & potato soup with meatballs

I thought I might share it with someone...

Dinner: the vegetable rolls bought from Waitrose yesterday

After they had got steamed...

Dinner: vegetable rolls & broccoli with rice & soup

A closer look at the vegetable rolls (with miso sauce!)



Never felt so scared/insecure living in this country

A day started with happiness but ended with fear.

Had a busy morning - went to kaplan to enrol for the new semester, went to gym, had a quick lunch back home, then headed to the Art Gallery for volunteering. Today I was asked to work in the 'costume' tent/meadow area. Another girl, whom I had met in the first volunteer meeting, and I were helping a team 'leader' and worked together on the meadow by cutting out some paper flowers and grasses for the meadow. The task was not boring; I was ok with it coz I didn't need to have much interaction with others. :p but I did have a chat with that girl and another volunteer who took an initiative to start the conversation. After the workshop had finished, we all volunteers had a short feedback/evaluation meeting with the staff in charge. During the meeting, one of the volunteers suddenly burst into tears and said a friend of hers had passed away. :S None of us had any idea of what was going on with her as the staff in charge took her to the neighbouring room for a chat. We were not sure if her friend's incident had anything to do with the London riot. Anyway, during the meeting, some volunteers talked about the riots and they were busy communicating with their friends/families through texts.

I was so hungry after the voluntary work that I went to a Chinese bakery to buy 3 mini buns. Yummy. Walked past the city centre. Could feel the atomsphere was different from usual - fewer shoppers and some shops had closed early or already wrapped up some expensive items. On my way home, I could see a lot of people trying to get back home by bus or by car. Traffic jams got much serious. My friend and I wanted to get updated with the news but my laptop failed to get access to the internet. Friend tried to go home early by bus but there seemed to be no bus at 7 p.m. already. but 'luckily' he got a lift by a man who was also waiting for bus at the bus stop and who got his wife to come out to pick him up. It was more dangerous to be on the street! Flatmate called to say she was not coming home tonight. Probably she was scared by the riots at the city centre! I was scared too!

Being home alone all night was really scary. I had a chat on the phone with two of my good friends; I kept an eye out of the window all the time. The only 'comforting' thing was I lived in a flat surrounded by many other residents. I heard the sirens from the police cars frequently. Felt like being in a war or something. =_=' Why has this country become like this?

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Dinner: pasta in miso soup with chicken & broccoli

Not have much appetite tonight though! :p 

How do we measure one's creditability/trustworthiness?

Another 'busy for nothing' day.

Just checking and replying email took me some time this morning. =_= Didn't feel like going to gym when it was raining. Went to the Chinatown to buy rice & soya sauce and Aldi for vegetables to cheer myself up. Tidying up my room, having a chat with mum and writing diary can cost me another afternoon.

Finally the o2 Credit File Referrals Team replied to my 'appeal'. They can't accept my application because I haven't got any credit agreement before and thanks to HSBC who didn't have the correct postcode of my flat, they supposed I had never been at my current address! (Plus I'm not on that electoral register - what's the point of registering when I don't have voting rights?) Stupid HSBC, Stupid o2... Looks like I'm gonna give up o2 but I just want to get my money back...

I met an ex-colleague whose project has been related to mine before. He asked me where I was working at the moment. =_= Also met an elderly por por at the Chinatown, who asked me why I had time to buy foodstuff today; shouldn't I have gone to work? =_= Before I graduated, people kept asking me when I would finish my thesis and graduate. Now that I have graduated from my previous study, people who I knew at my previous workplace keep asking me where I am working now. In some people's eyes, is life just about work and study only?

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Lunch: last night's leftover - minced pork with 梅菜 + mushroom & spring green!

Dinner: fried Japanese ramen with minced pork, egg, mushroom & broccoli! Yummy!

My laptop had a problem starting up when I turned it on in the late afternoon. 

It was ok earlier today... :( 

Learning to deal with things myself :)

Though I stayed at home all day today, I seemed to have been busier than going out!

Finally decided to do a three-day trip. :) It may be a bit late to make bookings for things at such a peak season of the year. Train tickets, hotels, coach tickets, all booked last night. But this morning when I woke up and checked email, one of the guesthouse booked last night said they no longer had the room available! :( So I had to search again and can't believe hotels & guesthouses had been booked so quickly! =_=' At the end, I had to book travelodge... again. Location, prices, convenience, quality - we can't get all anyway. Also last night there was a mistake when the coach tickets were booked (because I wanted to save as much money as possible!). So I had to make a call to amend one of the tickets and pay £4 more.

Maybe that's what I've learnt from organizing the trip - sometimes when you want to save some money, at the end you may lose more! Also, the most important thing is not how much we save in bookings (though it'd be a bonus if we don't need to spend too much money on travelling!), but the fact that you can enjoy your trip with people you go with.

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I had never thought of making a complaint to o2 about how they have dealt with my application for broadband, till today. A friend of mine was thinking of getting o2 broadband and home phone and called to ask if I had got my o2 problem sorted out. That made me think again about how inappropriate the way they dealt with my application. So I decided to write a complaint email to o2. It's not only about money, but also about putting things right. o2 is no different from many other shops/companies - all they want is to get you to become their customers and take your money, without considering fully the rights of the customers. Hopefully I won't be disappointed again....

A lesson learnt.

Next time shouldn't trust too much the big companies... and I should have been more outspoken!

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Done laundry, kitchen & shower room cleaned. Did a bit of search for my trip as well. :) 

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Headache & dizziness still didn't go away. Frustrated. Worried. Sighing... 

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A friend of mine who I had worked with for a research project at HKU more than 10 years ago talked to me  on msn this afternoon. She went back to HK from the US with her 'boyfriend' for good early this year. She said she's still trying to adapt to the life in HK. Extra long working hours. Bad people. She kept asking me when I'd go back to HK and my plan - what jobs was I looking for? Was UK economy very bad? It's nice to talk to her, but I find it difficult to explain to people what I'm doing here.

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Lunch: burger!! with ketchup from Morrisons!

Plus sausage & spring green. 

Dinner: Oh I love this one! 

steamed minced pork with 梅菜! :) 

Hello, Bolton here I am again!

A relaxing day in Bolton.

So many people in Bolton today! Carpark, shops, supermarkets, market... The weather was rainy at the beginning but getting better later! My legs had been feeling sore - not sure if it was due to doing too much walking yesterday (at gym and to and from Art Gallery)?! Sometimes shopping is really a good exercise; you don't have to go to gym to practise your legs! We went to Bolton market for fish this afternoon - having had experience before, I didn't hesitate that much when it came to deciding whether to buy fish or not. I liked the salmon that I had bought last time for £5. This time I got salmon for £5 again but they seem not as good as last time - and maybe the 'bad' salmon I had got from Arndale Market has made me a bit worried about the salmon I got from Bolton Market too. THey look ok but they seem to smell a bit strange?! :S

Anyway, I managed to get some fruit from Bolton Market as well. :) Shopping in Morrisons was a must! No last minute bargains though. I miss the Morrisons in Eccles a bit. I miss their cheese & omelette and their fish and chips seem to be a bit better as well. :p

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Breakfast: had the egg & watercress sandwiches I got from Morrisons yesterday.

Tasted ok but the eggs were a bit too much...

Lunch: got 'free' sauces from Morrisons cafe. 

So I don't need to buy ketchup... 

Lunch: fish & chips + traditional breakfast

Tasted Ok but would have been better if there were sausages! :)

The combination of bacon or fish & chips with toast was really good

Dinner: salmon in 'teriyaki sauce' :)

Broadening my knowledge & experience of working with non-Chinese

The first day of my volunteering at Manchester Art Gallery today for their family summer workshops. A bit nervous. When I got there, I found there were actually at least 7 to 8 volunteers and I was the only two among them who just started their first day today. I had no idea what was going on in that big hall at the gallery and I just followed what my team leader asked me to do. She suggested me working on some boxes to make a 'mountain'. Some kids were curious about what I was doing. The theme of the workshop was about story telling. Kids and their parents visited the exhibition and then came up to the hall to make a story of their own by wearing costumes, making different props and having a speech on the stage. There were also some films being shown, e.g. Shrek, Tangled, to inspire them. I guess I need a bit of time to get used to working there. After all, I haven't worked for more than 5 months! But it was a good start to get in touch with people, especially non-Chinese. It's so different when the people you work with are non-Chinese.

After the workshop, the staff in charge talked to us about the feedback and suggestions for the workshops. That's a good thing that my ex-employer didn't do...

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My last job/project with MMU, my ex-employer and the funding body still has some follow-up work to do. But I started learning about how the 'big' organization/funding body works. They're strict about their rules, strategies and they need you to follow what they want (because they fund you!). It takes a lot of time to negotiate on things (even for a meeting!). That's something I'm not used to. I guess that shows I need to broaden my experience with different kinds/types of organizations...

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Is it really hard to reject people's suggestion or request?
1) MMU professor asked the team to take part in the media training and people already state their availability. But I don't want to take part in the media training, because I don't want to be in the spotlight. :( Should I tell the professor honestly about my thoughts?
2) New flatmate asked me if I could just claim student exemption for council tax without putting her name in. But I don't want to get worried about being found out about lying, and after all, it's against law...

I'm tired of having to give in to others' desire all the time...

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I started thinking about what to eat for the following week as I'm making the food shopping list.
下個星期食咩餸?
1) 梅菜蒸豬肉
2) 白汁三文魚螺絲粉
3) 麻婆豆腐 (though I'm hesitating about its spicy sauce, hmm...)

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This was the 'mountain'! I cut those shapes on the boxes! :)

Dinner: egg fried rice with chicken & peppers + spring green! Yummy!

No photo on lunch since I only had a home-made cheese sandwich before going to the art gallery.

I only want ramen, not headache..

So relaxing & 'hea' today, that I actually don't know what to do! :S

As mentioned in the previous posts, I had been wanting to eat Japanese ramen these days (hmm, I seem to prefer Japanese dishes these days!). Yesterday's ramen for lunch wasn't good, because of lack of a good soup base. So today I went to the Chinatown just to get some miso paste to make the soup base for ramen, even though it was raining heavily when I went out. :S The miso soup base for ramen was quite good, but it'd have been better if there had been some tofu in the soup. Would like to have some 'char siu' as well. :p Anyway, can't be so picky - it was so expensive to get 'char siu' here!

Not feel like doing gym today. Plus the rainy weather in the morning discouraged me...

My headache seems to cause less pain this morning. Not sure if it was because it wasn't as warm as before. But I still went to see my GP, though I was a bit afraid of getting the 'useless' advice. Surprisingly, he did try a bit harder to diagnose what was going wrong with me before he made a conclusion. (Is it because his clinic's business was not as good as before? He's been recruiting new patients..) He asked me some questions, checked my blood pressure (141/78 - the upper figure seemed to be a bit high..), had a look at the back of my eyes, checked my vision and my body movements. He didn't find any big problem. So at the end he asked me to take paracetamol for a few days and see if the headache would be gone. He said if I had sinus infection, it should recover on its own within 2 to 3 weeks. Hmm, hopefully my headache will be gone soon... Oh, my conversation with the gp made me think about again the need to practise my English...

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Lunch: chicken with peppers + spring cabbage!

I was trying to clear my fridge... 

Dinner: Japanese ramen with chicken and vegetables in miso soup

Miso soup paste from Chinatown

It's not easy to find Japanese stuff in those Chinese supermarkets!

Gathering with ex-colleagues

A day of social life.

While I was in the gym in the morning, I talked to the ex-colleague who had tried to call me for a chat a couple of days ago. In the afternoon, I did some window shopping with another ex-colleague. In the evening, I had a reunion dinner at a local casino with my ex-colleagues. The food was quite good. I had a 'chicken supreme' with white wine sauce. It was yummy but may be too fat! I felt so full that my stomach seemed to complain for a while by signalling a bit of pain to me. Nice chat with colleagues. We still talked about our ex-employer, who's got nothing but shameful things! :p Actually sometimes I don't feel like attending such reunion meals as I'm worried people would ask about me and I don't know what to tell them. But tonight was ok.

My headache didn't stop. >_< When I woke up this morning, I could feel the pain already! Finally I couldn't help but made an appointment to see my useless GP tomorrow about my headache. The weather today was sunny but stuffy hot. Don't know if that was why I wanted to eat ramen noodles so much - I wanted to have a bowl of 'char siu' ramen noodles, like the one I had before at Wasabi restaurant. But I didn't have 'char siu'; so I used chicken instead. And I didn't have a nice soup base. I still want to eat ramen noodles...

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Breakfast: I had finished the porridge and so I tried the cornflakes with special K (& blueberry) this morning

Hmm, I think I'd prefer special K alone or porridge... :p 

A little puppy has arrived today! I got it after accumulating some Andrex points... 

Lunch: ramen with chicken - not nice :(  

Dinner: 'Chicken Supreme' with mushroom & white wine sauce

Actually I like the chips!

One of my ex-colleagues ordered beef satay with noodles. Also yummy!

Back to reality - making a new friend

Feeling a bit better today, emotionally.

But there was noise from the neigbhours throughout the day. In the morning, I heard noises of some men arguing in Cantonese!  Then later, there were noises of some ongoing works upstairs, till the evening! =_='

Back to gym in the morning. Wasn't much motivated though. Did some light exercise only. But felt better than having no exercise.

There was some email correspondence between MMU professor, my ex-employer and the funding body for my last project, about the upcoming meeting for 'communication strategy'. Professor suggested most of the team members, including me, doing the media training offered by the funding body. Oh no, I don't want to be in the spotlight!! :(

My October bride-to-be friend invited me to be (one of) the photographers on her wedding day! Cool! My 450d will have a good day then! :) The second time I was a (non-professional) wedding photographer at the same venue. Can't wait for it! :p But what am I gonna wear this time?...

I met up with a lecturer from University of Manchester who was interested to know more about the local Chinese community. She was nice and treated me a cup of tea at Cafe Nero. :p Conversation with her reminded me a bit of my phd thesis. She encouraged me to publish some articles. But I'm not sure if I'd like to go back to the academia and I'm not confident in my phd thesis. It's not good enough for having a place in any academic journal... But somehow talking to her does make me start to think about again my future career. I did feel a bit excited about offering to take her to Chinese Sunday schools for her research interests. Her mention about my phd supervisor, who had been seriously ill, did make me think about getting in touch with the latter. What am I going to do for my career? Something I should think about. Anyway, it's nice to make a new friend today.

Oh, felt like having a bowl of Japanese Ramen today. Don't know if it's because I have seen some recipes about Japanese noodles/soup before...

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Lunch: shallow fry pork chop with broccoli, carrots & potatoes!

Dinner: same thing as lunch. Spot any difference? :p 

Walked past Waitrose on my way home.

Didn't find any good bargain. Saw this apricot & raspberry muffin being sold at a reduced price, 59p

But I still thought it was too expensive... 

A new look of St. Mary Hospital; photo taken last week.. 

In need of positive energy

The first day of August. Mixed feelings. It seems the summer/summer holiday is going to end soon? And it seems I haven't done much for the past month. =_=' New ACCA classes are starting in September. And I still haven't found a part-time job. Then there's volunteering at Manchester Art Gallery in the next four weeks. Feel some stress. Totally anti-social today. And lack of motivation to do anything. Not want to go to gym. Not want to see anyone. Not want to talk to anyone else. When one of my good friends whom I usually talk with these days gave me a call, I didn't feel like picking it up. I haven't talked to her for more than 2 weeks, since she spent her holiday with family and was busy looking after her nephew who had come to the UK for a visit. I didn't feel like telling her what has happened to me recently. Just can't be bothered. I only went out for cheese and vegetables because I really wanted to have them today; other than that, didn't feel like going anywhere.. Something wrong with me?

A friend of mine sent me an invitation to her wedding reception in early October. Though I'm not sure if it's too fast for her and her fiancée, who have been dating for like half a year, I'm still glad for her. At least she's happy now.

I was almost scared by a staff from the agent when she came to our flat for inspection this afternoon. This was the first time I was home when they did the quarterly inspection. She just had a quick look at each area of the flat. The only thing she had doubts about was the kitchen floor which had stain...

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Lunch: yesterday's left over - steamed salmon, tofu & mushroom

Dinner: cheese & egg burger with vegetables and nachos! 

a 'free' ketchup sauce from Mcdonalds that I used to eat with the burger!

A closer look at the burger: the Tesco cheese is not bad. 

lazybone feeling unwell

Being a lazybone at home today. Slept till 10 a.m. this morning - don't know why I woke up that late, not like me, and I dreamt that I was seeing a Chinese doctor last night. :S Internet connection was still not that stable. Can't complain much though, as it's 'free'! Did laundry and cleaned the kitchen and shower room, before having a nap in the afternoon. Felt unwell after waking up, with headache and nausea feeling! :S Was it because I slept too much today?

Shouldn't be that lazy...

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Lunch: steamed salmon in 'teriyaki sauce' again! 

Dinner: tofu with mushroom & mixed vegetables 

Hmm, actualy I wasn't sure if the tofu had gone bad...