Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Life is a Game

At the moment it feels like life is a series of puzzles to be solved, each one more challenging than the one before. I am presented with a lot of “Life Themes”: Finance, Adventure, Experience, Relationships, Self Development, Future Plans... and I have to make sense of it all and fit them all together in a way that works for me. Not too much or too little focus on any one element, a healthy balance where all the parts fit together to form a harmonious whole.

To do this you have to look at things from different angles, try out different possible solutions and be prepared to mess up sometimes, you very seldom get it right the first time. But that doesn't matter, who's keeping score anyway? You can try to think about it logically or just go with your gut feeling and hope for the best, but the best approach is usually a combination of both. Sometimes the solution is staring you in the face, but you're too blind to see it and the feeling of being stuck can become really frustrating before you finally "get it”. And even when you do “solve it” the feeling of accomplishment is short-lived: Just before you get bored or complacent with the solution you've created things change again and become more challenging and you start the process all over again on a higher level. Very much like this game (I'm currently stuck in Level 23...):



Oh, and of course then there's always the question of what comes after the last level...

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Boxing Day Crowds


I don't regret not being there at all. Thanks TFL!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Don't Trust TFL

Today I'm breaking the silence to explain this little adventure in public transport.

I thought it might be interesting to go to Oxford Street for the Boxing Day Sales, but since there was no public transport a day earlier on Christmas Day, I first consulted the TFL (Transport for London) website to see what my options were. I entered my departure time, To and From Locations and was quite surprised when TFL suggested the following:



Options 4-7 are bus and tube routes with an expected travel time of around 50 minutes, reasonable for the 3-4 mile trip. Options 1, 2 and 3 left me a bit confused though. Three busses and a train, just to get to Oxford Street? Departure time 00:49? Thirty hours travel time? A flight from Johannesburg to London only takes about twelve hours!

I had to look into this suggestion and after I plotted the route on Google maps, it turned out to be this 36 mile epic journey via Heathrow Airport! (All the way to Heathrow by bus, back to Paddington Station by train and then a short 20 minute walk to Oxford Street...)



The Blue Line shows how to get from A to H (just North and South of Hyde Park) with a Great Western Detour via points B,C,D,E,F and G.

I decided Boxing Day wasn't a good time to trust TFL. On the BBC News I could watch from the comfort of my sofa how crowds of eager customers lined up in Oxford Street to spend their pounds .

I wonder how long they traveled to get there?






Friday, December 26, 2008

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Monday, December 1, 2008