London...London...

"Time is free but it's priceless. You can't own it but You can use it. You can't keep it but You can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back..." Harvey MacKay

Yesterday I took my backpack, my Canon 40D camera (a.k.a. Rebel XTi) and went by bus and by foot to discover London’s magic.
Of course, for the first time I rode a double-decker. Actually it’s fun riding it at the second floor. I’ve noticed at a point during my trip that in the entire bus there were probably 4-5 white people out of 35-40. The rest were non-white, so to say J
Getting closer to the downtown you can see how streets get more and more crowded, lots of all kind of restaurants and shops are everywhere along the street. A fruit shop, a barber shop, a high class dining restaurant and a butcher all next to each other is a regular picture on some streets of London. London is such a colorful mixture or a crazy and fascinating cocktail.
Well, when you get to the downtown this is when you see the best that London can show and offer you. It’s just spectacular: expensive stores, shining limousines, buildings with incredible architecture, beautiful lights, lots and lots of people from all social classes, races and nations…
It was dark when I got to Trafalgar Square. The X-mas tree that Norway gives London every year, as a token for the help that London gave Norwegian people in the 2nd World war lights up the Square. Those buildings look unreal even during the night.
Later on I got to the Parliament and good old Big Ben. It’s still there. It still measures the time and it’s unchangeable, calm, elegant and proud to be the Big Ben. At 8pm I heard it. I heard it live for the first time in my life. The sound of his bells gave me goose bumps. Yes, the sound of Big Ben means to me more then I can describe it here. It has a very special meaning to me…
Big Ben looks so awesome. I couldn’t stop thinking how well was he made, how many generations he saw passing by, how many people heard him and what meanings he had for each of us. Probably many of us will pass and Big Ben will still be there, making sure that each of us get every morning the same amount of time=86.400 seconds. How do you use them? What do you do with your time? Spending? Investing or wasting?

English Christmas

"There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries." W.J. Cameron.

It looks like I’m spending my 4th Christmas in a raw outside of Romania. This time I spent it in London, Great Britain. Like in every other country and corner of the World,
Christmas has a unique taste here. How is Christmas in London from my point of view?
Quiet and calm. Like the previous generation of Englishmen.

My observations:
Christmas here has few Christmas lights. Very few lights comparing to the USA.
In UK, X-mas seems to be more of a vacation then a Christian celebration
95% of the Young people spend their Christmas in pubs
It shocked me that all Churches and cathedrals of all Christian denominations were filled up with immigrants from Eastern Europe and …only old English people. Almost NO English youth in the Churches.
Most of the English people travel or rest during this time
You should dream of a “White X-mas” but all You will get will be a …”Wet X-mas”. No snow. Only rain and heavy fog.

By the way, I am sure all of You already knew that Merry Christmas is… Santa Claus’s wife J So, best wishes to You all from: Merry, Santa and Rudolf!!!

My 5th day in Great Britain

" You find no man, at all intelectual, who is willing to leave London. No Sir, when a man is tired
of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford “
Samuel Johnson, English Poet

On December the 20th I made to Great Britain. It’s the 15th country I visited so far.
Here are few impressions.
First feeling is like landing in the USA. Love it. Still miss America a lot.
What strokes me really hard is... their driving on the "wrong" side of the road. It’s crazy. It’s just so weird and crazy. British are interesting people. Even the entire World drives on the right side, they keep it left. When most of the EU has Euro, UK keeps British Pounds. Not that is bad or good but the fact itself show an inside strength, power to care less for what others say…and still be one the BEST.
The fact that people in Britain drive on the left side has an explanation. Long time ago, during the days of Knights in shining amours, it was a pain to walk on the streets of Great Britain. The swords were carried on the left side and when walking on the street on the right side, the swords of the Knights would hit each other and create discomfort. Then, the King gave a law in order to avoid "street" discomfort for Knights with swords. Knights are gone but people in England still drive/walk on the left side…
In my opinion , UK is the country which looks the closest to the USA
Another fact that surprised me is that except downtown London, there are almost no skyscrapers, no tall buildings. Streets are formed of homes with 1-2-3 floors, most of them red brick homes. Long streets with nice brick houses. Few apartment buildings. It looks like in the old English movies with Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Where else you can see a McDonalds restaurant in a red brick building built in the 17the century?
All nations of the World are in UK
Police is very afraid of "bad guys" a.k.a. terrorists and photography is very limited
Great Britain has some of the most incredible beautiful Ladies. English hot blondes are just unbelievable…;)
That’s all for now. More to come. Stay tuned.
By they way, have I told You that …English people drive on the "wrong" side of the road and it’s crazy? Too crazy.
Need to have a cup of lovely tea.
Good bye, Sire!

What keeps us going?

"We've got to live. No matter how many skies have fallen." D. H. Lawrence

Yep, another sky had fallen for me but...life goes on. I was born a winner and I'll die a winner. I may be out for a while but "I'm back, baby!"

In the last several weeks, I thought about what keeps us going. What keeps You wake up every morning? What keeps You alive?

Maybe it's one out of this list: money, success, kids, parents, glory, personal reward, charity, God, love (a.k.a.=lies, personal selfish interest), fun, desire to be helpful, a woman (a.k.a.=...............), a friend, a habit, desire to help, lack of options, hope, a great cause, popularity, pride, stupid dreams (sorry!).......

Anything else?

Blog&Roll...only 4 Super Stars

I am still tired of life, broken dreams and this kind of stuff... Even thou, yesterday decided to go to a meeting of fellow bloggers, a meeting called Blog&Roll, a Karaoke contest of bloggers. Yeah, it was the time when bloggers "had to be heard" and I've heard a lot :) For those who were not there, here are few personal mentions and pics are here:

- some bloggers can write blogs and sing songs;

- other bloggers can write blogs and... write blogs. Take a look here

- it was cool to meet people from virtual world in the real world.

- it was fun listening. Corina was the best. There were two other people who were good as well.

- it was fun singing "What a Wonderful World" by Luis Armstrong. For a while, it brought some silence and peace to the entire audience. I got aplause and cheers.

- it was a good and relaxing evening.

-thank You Sorin and Costin for doing that!

- my message for all bloggers: You guys rull&roll! You=da best!

Keep it up and sing loud!