London is an amazingly multicultural city. I can confirm this as I’ve been here for 20 years and in that time have built a friendship group consisting of two people from Poland, a Malaysian/Chinese architect, a Theologian from the Philippines and live with housemates from China, Japan and Northern Ireland. In very few cities in the world am I able to meet and befriend such a assorted selection of treats in the pick-n-mix that is life.

When it comes to celebrations, the regional enthusiasm of all of these diverse backgrounds has an accommodating stage somewhere in the city. Last week was Chinese New Year, and I was particularly excited about this because it would be my first year celebrating in China town itself.

My housemates and I went early to an atmosphere that was steadily amplifying till the festivities began. Outside each restaurant were large, foil-wrapped, tubs of street food, ranging from noodles with pork, beef and chicken to treats like egg tarts and sponge cake. All nostrils were tinged with the aromatic blend of the concoctions used to make this vast mound of food. Towards the outer edges of the town were stalls selling bright red souvenirs for tourists, such as trowing-crackers (whose small, exhorting sound were filling the air) and origami dragons that children were playing with. Every Chinese face was aglow with anticipation, every other face was eagerly looking around with great curiosity.

A Very Photogenic Lion

Just before noon the lion came out, as prominently indicated to all by the rhythmic drumming and the steady cymbals that accompanied it. It danced it’s way through the throng of people, their cameras and camera-phones raised yearningly above their head, trying to capture the beast before them.

The mission for the lion was to make it’s way to every restaurant and get itself some cabbage with a red envelope attached. It would stand outside the door and dance to earn it’s meal. The cabbage was hung high above the door, and once the lion was ready, it would reach up and grab it with it’s mouth, later expelling shards of the cabbage to indicate that it had been eaten (festival aside, I don’t think doing this at a dinner party would be a particularly nice way to impress the guests).

Following the lion was incredibly difficult. The only way to move about was to go with one of the small streams of people that were making their way through the horde. If you were inadvertently caught in one of these flows, you had no choice but to go with it and see where you ended up. In spite of this world-record-setting group hug we all seemed to be a part of, everyone had a great time, and left with a stomach full of delicious Dim-Sum and a camera full of incredibly blurry images of a bright orange lion.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

新年快樂

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

First of all, I would like to wish every single one of you a very Happy New Year and I want to thank you all for coming here to read the strange words intermittently spattering from my head. Whether you’re a friend, an Imperial student or a random stranger surveying the internet, it really means a lot to me that you decided to navigate your way to this website.

So a brand new calendar year is upon us and it would be remiss of me to let this moment pass without updating you all with my plans and getting a bit nostalgic. You may remember my last “new years post” in which I kicked off the year with style on my neighbors rooftop. This year was a bit less death-defying in that I cooked a lovely dinner for three friends (Andrew, Ela & Rysiek) and then headed down to a surprisingly spacious St James’ Park to watch the Thames fireworks, as they welcomed London into the new year. I joined the millions of eyeballs staring up and the bright diminishing lights, accompanied by bangs, whizzes and pops, wondering what is to become of their lives for the next 365 days.

I find myself a very odd person for many reasons (this seems like a good place to stop, but I’ll carry on anyway). The reason relevant to you all right now is how I view my general happiness over time. Most people claim the happiest part of their life was primary school. The embarrassment of hormones, acne and the strange hairs on your chest have yet to come; the shackles of dependance don’t bother you; work is simple; rent and tuition fees are alien; play is constant and overall there isn’t much to be upset about.

For me, this isn’t the case, as I didn’t have a particularly nice time when I was young. While I could profess a melodramatic speech about this era in a, most likely, successful attempt to get sympathy and encouraging words, I can only look back on it with a kind of bitter fondness. I was shaped in a very positive way: I feel like that period made me a lot more appreciative of things I have in my life and a great deal more grateful whenever I experience kindness. To put it metaphorically, while working till 4 in the morning in the Central Library is a bad thing, the negative experience makes us better scientists/engineers/biologists in the end, and makes us better students overall. What get’s remarkably close to killing us, can only make us stronger

Every new years day I can look back and confidently say the year that has gone by has been better than the year preceding it, and 2010 is no exception. It started gloriously, with some amazing friends on a roof. It climaxed with working for Apple and the staggering surprise laid out by my wonderful housemate Alex and more amazing friends on my birthday. And ended on an unexpectedly rapturous note as the first term of third year rolled on.

I have no idea how 2011 can surpass the incredibe year I’ve just had, but I’m very eager to see how it manages it. And to end this embarrassing oozing of nostalgia I would like to mention a few people who I think deserve recognition for making my year as significant as it was: Emilie (@nopolymerchains); my irreplaceable DT Crew (Rachel, Min, Ela, Rysiek, Andy); the amazing housemates I, quite frankly, don’t deserve (Alex, Mini, Cathal, Kumaran, Amy, Hanan); the coursemates keeping me alive every term (Ben, Olly); all the amazing people at Apple (Jase, Gilles, Sonia, Alex, Natasha, Jonny, Fernando); and the uncategorised, but equally amazing Charlotte, Henry, Jula, Aimi and my sister Shayna.

And if that outpouring hasn’t made you flee and/or projectile vomit, I will say goodbye. I hope you all have a wonderful 2011 that surpasses 2010 in every way, shape, form and function.

Thanks for reading,

Chris xx

It’s a new year, a new decade and a whole new period of life to look forward to for the target market of my blog. 2010 is upon us and it really did begin fantastically for me.

New Years was more of a secondary thought this time round, and was thus arranged in moments of brief consciousness after Christmas. I spent the whole term looking forward to Christmas: the food, the break from work and the excessive amounts of sleep, not really focusing beyond that point as it risks my mind wandering forward to June and exams.

Last year I went to watch the fireworks at London bridge. It began with a nice meal at a Japanese restaurant with a friend from halls and then quickly became a fight to get to Embankment to meet up with two of my closest friends (whom I never managed to reach). We were thrown into a crowd of thousands of people, being directed in a seemingly random fashion towards nothing of particular interest. The whole of London had been bordered, all the side streets and bridges were blocked off and there was no easy way to get to where we wanted to go. After about two hours of fighting through sweaty herds of people we decided to remain on the unknown bridge we were currently on. From there it was a further hour and a half of standing and waiting for lights in the sky, being squashed by drunks, muggers, loud people, smelly people, pushy people, violently pushy people and a strange Asian man who was giving me rather odd looks. The fireworks were spectacular as always, but after 3 minutes of colourful explosions you quickly remember where you are and how uncomfortable the last 4 hours have been. After the fireworks it was even worse, competing with seemingly millions of people for a train ride home.

Not Enough Chocolate

Still scarred from the experience of last year, I opted for the same thing I did the year before, a few good friends and a nice warm house. Only three were available this time round, but that was more than enough as we all reminisced, gossiped and enjoyed each-other’s carefree company while we still could. So instead of the cold, cramped conditions of before, this years countdown was met with party poppers and champagne from the comfort of my (unbeknownst to them) neighbour’s rooftop

My Toxic Vodka

I think I should explain that. My student accommodation has a very small, very dirty garden, which none of us have spent longer than 1 minute in since we moved in. We also live on a cul-de-sac, which has lots of space and sees very few cars, so I though this would be the perfect place to drink and light some sparklers. My, more adventurous, friends thought differently. The third floor of my place has a big lounge, which was used for the warm celebrations of the night, and a small window overlooking the train lines. Underneath this window is a slightly angled roof, which leads up to a part of my next-door neighbour’s rooftop, which happens to be flat. On previous visits, they had eagerly talked about going out there, but I laughed it off as I have a terrible fear of heights. This time round I was slightly drunk and loved them just enough to climb out of the window.

How to Break out of the House

With 15 minutes to midnight we grabbed our coats, poppers, sparklers and champagne and quickly worked out how we would get out of and get back through the small, oddly placed window. After nearly breaking the rain-gutter, the four of us made it outside with seconds to spare. As we laughed and joked about our achievement, we were interrupted by the feint sound of a gong coming from a radio I had on loud inside the house. We missed the countdown completely, but hugged and screamed out “Happy New Year!!”. From there it was a cool winters night, the distant view of fireworks and my wonderful friends reining in the new decade.

Glowsticks for the win!!

I know a quiet night in and a bizarre trek to the top of someone’s house doesn’t seem like much, but for me it’s always been the people that have made experiences worthwhile. It was the perfect start to a very significant decade.

Thanks for Reading,

Chris xx

(with special thanks to Rachel, Min and Kieran)