Just a couple of more images. In haunting B&W.

It was an amazingly warm day in London. Too nice and too warm for November. As a result, a massive fog covered everything the next morning. I woke up in the morning and there was only one right thing to do – to go shooting in the park.

Finally, amazon has delivered a newly published Bioshock novel Rapture. I’ve just started reading it and so far it’s great. You probably couldn’t care less about it, but it’s a great addition to the story true fans would appreciate. Also it’s actually good to buy a book for a change, rather then just all those creepy toys :)

The Rapture book makes Andrew Ryan so much more alive. I’ve noticed that I don’t think of him as a fictional hero anymore, for me he is as real to as Churchill or Napoleon. And he is quite an inspiration. Weird, right?

So this is the beginning of the iconic city. ‘Oh rise, Rapture, rise!’

Day 60.

Hyper Japan 2011 was on in London this weekend, and I had tickets. It was a rather good fun last year, so we were looking forward to freshen up some memories from our trip to Japan, to cheer up for local cosplayers and,  no less important – to have some authentic Japanese food. Alas, we did not get in – the queue was just way to long, and waiting for 2-3 hours wasn’t worth it. Shame though. I should be getting refund now.

And that’s just a half of the queue, we did not bother to walk to it’s end

Instead, we went to see the last chapter of Harry Potter’s saga. Which was good, and I am glad we saw it in the cinema – my neighbors wouldn’t let me  blast the sound that much on my home system. A guy sitting next to us in the cinema had his 3 year old daughter watching the film as well – I don’t think that was such a good idea. The only thing… I was kind of expecting everyone to die in the end, I thought that how it was in the book. Obviously, I was wrong

Day 61.

It was Sunday and the weather seemed favorable, so we headed to the South West coast, to Dorset.

The first stop was in Poole. A nice coastal town, which does not offer much to do, but there are a lot of yachts in the harbour and they do regular cruises to the Brownsea Island and around as well.

With all those pines and mansions, architecturally not typical for England, it reminded us of Jurmala, Latvia. We picked up some booklets, had a light brunch and were on our way to see what was left of Corfe castle, the used-to-be strongest fortress in England, which was half an hour drive away.

When we approached the castle and parked next to the hill it stood on, we had to walk up for about 10 minutes to approach it, and then to our surprise we found ourselves in a cute little village at the castle’s gates, which was hidden from our eyes by the obstructing hill.

We got inside and it was about time for a lunch, picnic style. We had warm (though rather windy) weather, beautiful scenery we could observe from the top of the hill and live music playing somewhere not too far, in village. And food. Perfect!

Getting ready for the lunch

Now it was the time to explore, climb around and take obligatory pictures :)

Corfe castle dates back to the 11th century and remained a Royalist stronghold until 1646, when it was betrayed by a member of the garrison during a two month siege. It was captured and then blown up by the Parliament’s decision. What a waste, honestly!

It was used as a royal treasury storehouse and a prison. The main building, the Keep, is considered to the skyscraper of those time, some of it’s walls are still standing, so it’s quite easy to imagine the way it used to be.

The castle used to be rather magnificent. And so are it’s ruins now. I will be posting more pictures from our trip.

On our way back home we popped in to Swanage. Beautiful sandy beach and clean water, only sun was missing. No swimming in sea for me, anyway. But we should definitely come back some other time.

To be continued.

Day 44.

I have finally managed to say ‘no‘ to my (mostly) all procrastination, and started working really hard on my on-going-and-eager-to-get-finished projects. It’s interesting, but apparently it’s true for most designers and creative workers – they get nervous before starting a new design. Even if they are experience and recognized. It’s almost like a fear of failure. What if I don’t come up with a great idea? What if I fail to deliver?

And from my personal experience, it really does stop me from sitting down and starting working on a new project. It’s easier when it’s something rather mechanical. Like coding. You’ve got patterns, frameworks, ready solutions to certain problems, you just need to recognize them and solve them respectively. It can be mundane, but you just have to get on with that.

But what if I actually don’t like that much what I am doing? But it is all a lie. Once you force yourself and sit down, you get carried away working. For hours. You are enjoying what you are doing, you are doing a great job. And you don’t even care about lunch break or whether it’s 6pm already, you just carry on. Well, that’s me.

By the way, the leg is fine. No visible progress or regress. Just fine. Thanks for asking.

Day 46.

That’s a beautiful label, if you ask me.

Rather typical Saturday of last months – a movie and a dine-out in not-too-far Hammersmith. Our newly-discovered-but-already-a-favorite Japanese restaurant Minato was yet closed for dinner, so we decided to walk down the high street to find something else. Aha, that’s that Indian restaurant we have been passing by for years now and somehow never tried, though always saying we should. I think It had good reviews. Well, today’s the day!

And only when I was browsing through the (rather extensive) menu, I realized it was a vegetarian restaurant. Really? Yes. Really. What, didn’t you see the restaurant’s sign? It clearly says so. Well done me! Well, I am not against vegetarian food, it’s just… I was really looking forward to tearing some flesh, fish or meat, cooked or raw… and now I would be getting none of those. Oh what the heck, we’ll stay. And so we did. The food was nice (and priced rather formidably), but the whole evening after I was feeling somehow hungry after being fed, I felt… scammed :) If only they threw a couple of king prawns in my main….

Day 47.

Our friends took us on a car to Wales. Now that was really great day for otherwise uneventful week.

We went to see castles and ruins – they’ve got loooots of them in that part of the Kingdom. Our friends were worried how I would be moving around, but I showed them it was a piece of cake for me :) Well, kind of – was knackered by the end of the day, and my palms were literally polished from using crutches, but the trip and walking around made me feel like a normal disabled person. It was also a great day away from urbanistic monstrosity of London. I will be posting more about our trip and what we saw there.

To be continued.

Day 32.

Hallelujah! My universal has remote arrived today. Finally. That should put me out of my misery. I have at least 5 different remotes, where usually have to use 3 to get things going, so it is such a hassle to carry them around (and remembering where they all are), especially now, in my position. Now those days are in past.

Overall, very happy with it – it’s a mighty remote! You can even assign macros, so you can switch on TV, receiver and the cable box just by pressing one button. Nice!

The only annoyance is that you need to scroll between the gadgets with two buttons – seriously, One for All, what stopped you from adding another 4 buttons, so you can choose your devices with just one press (since you still use space to display the devices on the remote? That really puzzles me, as this is something that would be obvious after the very first remote testing.

Day 33. The Pimms-Burger-Party.

The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty much the best you can get from British summer, so I thought I should throw a party. For my friends. But most of all, for myself. I’ve been inside these walls cut off from what is happening around long enough and if I keep going like this, I might not survive a great and rare summer day .

And it was hot! Not everyone could make it, but those who came to see me, we all had a really great time. That really boosted me with some positive and creative energy. Should be enough for another week or two. Thanks everyone for coming and thanks Veronika for your help organizing it. See few pictures after the jump.

To be continued.

Day 15.

The weather this summer is rather miserable here, it comes as a little surprise, but we had and extremely nice, warm and dry spring. But this type of summer kind of works for me – makes me feel a bit better about my staying in all the time :)

Day 17.

I might be saving money (and time) this summer, with no shopping or eating out. My day and evening ensemble is simple and consistent: shorts and a t-shirt, with an occasional hoody. The fashionista inside me must be crying. 
I shop online for groceries though, and I think I can easily get used to that:) Actually, I do more shopping. Online. It’s just I don’t seem to care about clothes this summer, and it feels weird. 

Day 20.

The leg kept bothering me in the last few days – I had to take pain-killers. 

Day 22.

I am considering the change of career – I’ve done a lot of hopping and balancing on one leg lately. I could join a circus… 

Day 24.

Another visit to the hospital. My cast got upgraded. It’s more fixed and rigid now. Makes me feel more safe about my foot and accidentally stepping on it.  I also got to choose its colour – I went for gentleman’s black.

It was such a relieve not to have a plaster, but it was only 5 minute long (or better say, short). There seemed to be no exterior changes in the condition though. I guess it’s normal. 

Day 25.

The leg is hurting more in a new cast, especially when you start moving around in the morning. I think it’s because the cast is tighter, so when the blood rushes in…

Day 26.

I am getting better with my crutches – it’s not that tiring any more. And I am fast. 

We went to see a movie (actually it was my second cinema visit since the injury) today, followed by a lunch at a French restaurant.  It was between Bad Teacher or  Kung Fu Panda 2. Panda won – it was showing on the ground floor of the theatre. Good film by the way. Still funny.  

In the restaurant they put us at the table, designated for the disabled. I did not appreciate that. I asked for a table at the window, with a better view. Thanks.

Day 28.

There is apparently another career opportunity that opened up for me. I am quite positive I am  becoming a pro dish washer. 

Day 29.

The first victim of my (rather understandable) clumsiness – I broke a whisky glass while doing dishes. It’s not like we drink whisky, I actually dislike it a lot, but now the set is incomplete  :( And I though I was already a pro.

Day 30.

What a day… I should have just stayed on Facebook – I’m sure I would have done and achieved more. 

To be continued.