The blog has been overhauled and the changes are not merely aesthetic. I’m going in a new direction, because I’m no longer “far far away from Scouseland”. I’ve been in London for over a year. I no longer feel the culture shock that I wrote about while I was in China, because I do feel at home here. And Liverpool is actually just a two hour train journey away.

Gone are the greens and pinks of the old site. They were from a different era. The new colour scheme of grey-on-grey reflects the recessionary days that we live in. A lot of the content has been updated:

• Articles – The longer writings
• Photos – I have a new camera, so expect some better photos in the future
• Activities – What I do with my time
• About – Who I am and where my background

What will I write about? I want to tap the under-represented market of London accountants.

Christmas in Liverpool:

Old sleeping habits – Means staying up way past midnight; sleeping for more than 8 hours; sleeping in and afternoon naps. Bliss. However, I remember a journal a health economics journal which said that over-sleep was worse than sleep-deprivation for life expectancy.

Revision for an accountancy exam in two weeks. Actually, most of the course is self-study, so technically revision has not started yet. The recommended study guide is spread over three days, but assumes that you work for 10 hours a day.

Wii Mario Kart – This is the 4th iteration of Mario Kart that I have played (SNES, Gameboy Advance, Gamecube and Wii). A motion-sensing steering wheel is now the method of control. It takes time to learn how to use it after years of using a standard controller. Funnily enough when I first played Mario Kart on the SNES, I tried to tilt the controller in order to control the kart. (I wasn’t a smart 9 year old). Now technology has caught up with my childish intuition.

More time has been spent on Mario Kart than revision.

Snow isn’t fun anymore – Returning to Liverpool means I don’t have to use public transport and get to drive everywhere. However, it has been ridiculously cold and the roads have been frozen. Not being able to stop while going at 5mph is terrifying. Driving through snow for 20 miles is horrible. You trudge at 20mph without and sudden movements. You’re not sure if you or the car behind you can stop.

Snow isn’t fun anymore, but snowmen still are:

The whole Monday afternoon got wiped out getting home to Liverpool. All due to some small errors:

• Not leaving enough time to go to the post office and then finding a queue of ten people with only three staff working. This gives a ratio of 3.3. My personal rule is, if the ratio is more than 2 then it is not worth waiting. This rule does not apply at theme parks.
• I got to New Cross station and found late and cancelled trains. I really should have checked the National Rail website before I set off, but I had got used to the trains being very reliable. However, the combination of a new timetable and icy conditions meant that New Cross station had been like this all week. Ironically, the new timetable increased the frequency of trains.
• And I should have got a taxi back home. The train was slow and the walk home was covered in ice. Not easy with a suitcase.

Actually, writing about the journey home is an excuse for me to publish a photo which I took today:

While admiring the view, I asked the question: who got my work Secret Santa gift?

A bet for Liverpool to win the FA Cup AND for England to win the World Cup. I should be £125 richer at the end of July. As a clue, the accompanying card reads: “Miracles do happen at Christmas”.