madly rushing

i got up rather late for the 2nd part of the LATEX course yesterday but made it nonetheless, albeit a wee bit late... cycling is ace. i don't know what i'll do without my lovely 3-gear-back-pedal-brake bicycle that i flew over from T?bingen. it's probably not pampered enough...

we learnt how to add figures, cross-references and bibliographies into the practice documents but my queries about incorporating references from bibtex went unanswered; it is afterall a starters' course. i suppose some of you out there might know -- if you do please let me know! (click on the "say hello!" to the right to get in touch... thanks in advance). i might have to download Miktex sometime... hmmm.

anyways after some 3hours and a wee tea/coffee biscuity break in between, i dashed off cycling back to the department to park my bike and ran all the way to the train station to catch a train to Glasgow. i had to be at the Home Office before 3pm and the travelling time to get there is approximately an hour... i arrived in time to board the train but security didn't let me through without a ticket... i had only 3 mins to get one and i did just in the nick... thanks to the new ticket machines, then quickly sprinted through the crowd and jumped from the platform into the departing train. i felt invincible for 5 secs. then thought to myself: this is all so unnecessary... grrr. glad i made it though... i didn't stop running in Glasgow... i ran to the tube station and from Cessnock i ran to the HO dept. and made it only just... at 3pm. they were expecting my visit after my phonecall... in fact, the whole dept probably knew... hmm.

the usual security checks were done to get through and while i waited for some 30mins i got myself a cuppa from the vending machine and tried to clam my lungs down from all that gasping of the piercingly cold air. the center was sparsely decorated. it was rather empty too. i overheard a couple who was also there with regards to visa issues. they were quite perplexed by the sudden charge of application fees... finally, i got my new visa and the old one scrawled with some official stamp as a form of cancellation. the new details appeared correct and although i inquired about the raise of fees, all the head of the office who dealt with my case, seemed to say was that there's nothing they could do and i'll have to speak to my local MP about it. he also mentioned that it is unlikely that the fees will drop and so the proposed raise will be likely to be implemented in April 2005... resorting to the reasoning that the UK is the last of the EU countries to implement fees so they could be catching up on supposed lost-finances... crap. that's all i can say. crap.

i had some time to kill before taking the train back (my discounted ticket meant that i could only travel on off-peak trains)... the last time i went, i searched for this quirky and lovely Tea House called Tchai'Ovna near Kelvinbridge that nick recommended... it was pouring that day and hiding in a teahouse was a brilliant idea... it is a lovely place tucked behind a street of secondhand bookstores and LP recordstores... with a variety of wholesome vegetarian dishes and teas to choose from you are spoilt for choices. i requested to try a pot of "the golden flower of healing" -- which is a lovely blend of lavender, camomile and green tea... it was just what i needed to nurse my headache... and i left the place with a bag of lavender tea... just in case i might need a quick fix again! i must go back again but perhaps with some company next time...

however, it was sunny yesterday... and i thought i'd rather stay close to the train station. i've not been to Glasgow much (but i've seen a few museums though)... and i thought i might as well try to find a pair of warmer trousers for the freezing cold days since there are more stores there... i wandered into some stores and tried to look for warm trousers or happy shoes. i found 2 pairs of trousers in the end... which is quite remarkable!

on the way back, i read another short story from "Elephant and other short stories" by Raymond Carver, an author (and poet) i am beginning to grow quite fond of... perhaps i will share my thoughts on them someday... but i am no expert on such things and i can't string clever and eloquent sentences to make a brilliant critique...hmm...

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Saturday, 20 November, 2004 at 14:25 hrs