Last night, as I was struggling to fall asleep, I have come to realise an astonishing truth: ever since I moved to the UK, I've been drinking a lot less tea than before.
Ok, fine, I have one cup of proper tea with milk a day (or something like that), which is me adopting local habits, but I used to have 2-3 cups of green tea a day before and what happened to that?
Well, school happened to that.
Need to buy a kettle and put it in my cupboard.
Green tea is good for you.
Showing posts with label random facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random facts. Show all posts
Monday, 28 June 2010
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Shooting stars…
…are dead cool. There’s nothing like lying on the grass staring at the sky even if your bum gets slightly cold. Peace, people.
Monday, 29 June 2009
On playing God
On Thursday night Paul came up from MK and we went to the Yardbird for a gig. We were standing outside, sipping at our drinks and enjoying the music, the weather was warm – bliss. Just what I needed to forget all the other shit and remember how it feels to just feel plain happy.
At one point, I spotted a guy walking hastily towards the club. He got there and sat at a table where a woman sat with two drinks, waiting for him. As he was sitting down, he took his I-pod out of his pocket and a business card flew out onto the pavement. He didn’t notice.
The natural reaction would have been to pick it up and hand it to him, but I was in the middle of a conversation that I didn’t want to lose anything of.
A little later, I looked back and the business card was still on the ground. I hesitated – at this point, it would have been much less natural to pick it up and hand it to him. Besides, after all it was just a business card, which could not be of importance if he’d put it rather carelessly into his back pocket. But what if it was important? What if, for instance, the details on it was of a person who could change his life? Absorbed as he was in his conversation with the woman, he wasn’t going to check his pocket for it. So if I didn’t say anything, his life could have changed forever. For a brief moment, his destiny was in my hands…
I did pick it up and give it to him. He thanked me but barely acknowledged the card, just shoved it back into his pocket. So maybe it wasn’t important after all. Or maybe the woman sitting in front of him was more important than the person whose details where on the card.
At one point, I spotted a guy walking hastily towards the club. He got there and sat at a table where a woman sat with two drinks, waiting for him. As he was sitting down, he took his I-pod out of his pocket and a business card flew out onto the pavement. He didn’t notice.
The natural reaction would have been to pick it up and hand it to him, but I was in the middle of a conversation that I didn’t want to lose anything of.
A little later, I looked back and the business card was still on the ground. I hesitated – at this point, it would have been much less natural to pick it up and hand it to him. Besides, after all it was just a business card, which could not be of importance if he’d put it rather carelessly into his back pocket. But what if it was important? What if, for instance, the details on it was of a person who could change his life? Absorbed as he was in his conversation with the woman, he wasn’t going to check his pocket for it. So if I didn’t say anything, his life could have changed forever. For a brief moment, his destiny was in my hands…
I did pick it up and give it to him. He thanked me but barely acknowledged the card, just shoved it back into his pocket. So maybe it wasn’t important after all. Or maybe the woman sitting in front of him was more important than the person whose details where on the card.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Technology
Paul’s got a new phone which is equipped with this fancy technology called ‘face recognition’. It means that when you’re taking a photo with it, it will put squares around up to three people’s faces and focus on them.
A couple of nights ago, Paul tried taking a photo of his friend Matt, the camera has however decided to focus on… the wheel of Matt’s bike.
Paul’s dad says its because Matt’s bike’s wheel looks more human than Matt’s face.
I say: ach, technology!
A couple of nights ago, Paul tried taking a photo of his friend Matt, the camera has however decided to focus on… the wheel of Matt’s bike.
Paul’s dad says its because Matt’s bike’s wheel looks more human than Matt’s face.
I say: ach, technology!
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
I have been tagged!
It is always nice to find out that people read your musings – especially when the main reason for your blog is to stay in touch with all those people you love but are far away from, as it is the case for yours truly. Consequently, I was thrilled to find myself tagged by Tasha – I didn’t know she was reading, and now I do, and that makes me happy.
So first my 7 random facts:
1) I love random facts. Like that the Earth is 0.02 degrees hotter during full moon. Like that in France technically it is illegal for a woman to wear trousers (except when riding a horse or a bike) because of a law dated 1892 that was never abolished. Like that apparently coffee drinkers have sex more often than people who don’t drink coffee.
2) I share my birthday with, among others, John Coltrane, Ray Charles and Eurypides (although I sincerely do not know how did Wikipedia people manage to figure it out for that last one).
3) My very favourite place in the entire world are Tatra mountains in Poland (Zakopane). Any mountains make me happy, but there is just something about these particular peaks that makes it a true soul asylum for me. No demons can go there.
4) I sing most of the time. I try to keep it in my head when in public, but I quite often fail.
5) I love garlic sandwiches. One of the best things about being sick when I was little was my dad making them for me (cause garlic boosts up your defences and you’re sick in bed, so no one cares if you sweat it out and stink). Take a slice of bread, butter it, put chopped up raw garlic on it and finish off with some salt. Yum. (I have just made some for Manpreet, as she’s poorly and off work, she was sceptical at first but then loved them).
6) I can’t sleep without my stuffed dog. What can I say – a 25 years long habit is not easily lost. Not that I’ve tried though.
7) My favourite season is winter. Even if it is not snowing, although of course it is much better with snow. There is something about the crispness of the winter air that makes you feel more alive and makes everything sharper and more there. And then there are the evenings, dark and cold, which make your home and bed even cosier than usual.
And now for the tagging –
Tasha has already tagged some of the blogs I would have tagged, but there’s still one by an old friend of mine Ewelina and Carina’s culinary pages, and then some by people I don’t know but whose writing I enjoy: Annie Rhiannon, Morning Coffee, German Joys. I know it's not 7 but that's all I've got.
So first my 7 random facts:
1) I love random facts. Like that the Earth is 0.02 degrees hotter during full moon. Like that in France technically it is illegal for a woman to wear trousers (except when riding a horse or a bike) because of a law dated 1892 that was never abolished. Like that apparently coffee drinkers have sex more often than people who don’t drink coffee.
2) I share my birthday with, among others, John Coltrane, Ray Charles and Eurypides (although I sincerely do not know how did Wikipedia people manage to figure it out for that last one).
3) My very favourite place in the entire world are Tatra mountains in Poland (Zakopane). Any mountains make me happy, but there is just something about these particular peaks that makes it a true soul asylum for me. No demons can go there.
4) I sing most of the time. I try to keep it in my head when in public, but I quite often fail.
5) I love garlic sandwiches. One of the best things about being sick when I was little was my dad making them for me (cause garlic boosts up your defences and you’re sick in bed, so no one cares if you sweat it out and stink). Take a slice of bread, butter it, put chopped up raw garlic on it and finish off with some salt. Yum. (I have just made some for Manpreet, as she’s poorly and off work, she was sceptical at first but then loved them).
6) I can’t sleep without my stuffed dog. What can I say – a 25 years long habit is not easily lost. Not that I’ve tried though.
7) My favourite season is winter. Even if it is not snowing, although of course it is much better with snow. There is something about the crispness of the winter air that makes you feel more alive and makes everything sharper and more there. And then there are the evenings, dark and cold, which make your home and bed even cosier than usual.
And now for the tagging –
Tasha has already tagged some of the blogs I would have tagged, but there’s still one by an old friend of mine Ewelina and Carina’s culinary pages, and then some by people I don’t know but whose writing I enjoy: Annie Rhiannon, Morning Coffee, German Joys. I know it's not 7 but that's all I've got.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Guantanamera
Yesterday night I found out that the predilection for Guantanamera’s melody for football-related chants is not an exclusive oddity of Polish supporters. The Germans use it too. And possibly other nations as well, I just haven’t yet had an occasion to observe it, or maybe I have but it didn’t catch my attention at the time. As Wikipedia explains (you’ve got to love Wikipedia), Guantanamera is actually a Cuban patriotic song. What Wikipedia fails to explain however, is how did it become so popular among football fans – my guess is that the melody is catchy and easily accommodates football related phrases in any language.
So it would seem that Guantanamera is a common element in all national football cultures. The difference I have noticed is that as far as the Poles had several different versions of their Guantanamera-based chants and enthusiastically sang them all through the game as a way of encouraging their team, the Germans sang it only after the game to express their exhilaration with the game’s outcome and their belief in the ultimate victory.
Other than that – God, my drunken German is good. I only wish my sober version of it was better!
So it would seem that Guantanamera is a common element in all national football cultures. The difference I have noticed is that as far as the Poles had several different versions of their Guantanamera-based chants and enthusiastically sang them all through the game as a way of encouraging their team, the Germans sang it only after the game to express their exhilaration with the game’s outcome and their belief in the ultimate victory.
Other than that – God, my drunken German is good. I only wish my sober version of it was better!
Sunday, 13 April 2008
On hair and feudalism
No one here knows me enough to appreciate the importance of the fact, but hopefully some of you do: my hair has been growing for months now and I have not yet been caught whining about ‘this back bit’ annoying me, read: I have no desire to chop it off.
It is a known fact that cutting hair is a symbolic expression of the desire to liberate oneself from their past. Also, hair is a symbol of femininity, which is why many cultures hide it and see wearing long hair loose as a sign of exuberant sexuality. Finally, think Samson – hair is power. It makes me wonder what should I read into this unusual willingness to let mine grow…
Never mind.
A random fact that caught my attention today: until very recently, there was still a feudal state in Europe! A little island in the south-western English Channel, called Sark, has just abolished fiefdom this month. And all these years I was dealing with feudalism as something belonging to the past, ignoring the fact that there was a genuine feudal Seigneur living right under my nose! He even has a Seneschal! Check it out for yourselves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sark.
For my part, I want to go there!
It is a known fact that cutting hair is a symbolic expression of the desire to liberate oneself from their past. Also, hair is a symbol of femininity, which is why many cultures hide it and see wearing long hair loose as a sign of exuberant sexuality. Finally, think Samson – hair is power. It makes me wonder what should I read into this unusual willingness to let mine grow…
Never mind.
A random fact that caught my attention today: until very recently, there was still a feudal state in Europe! A little island in the south-western English Channel, called Sark, has just abolished fiefdom this month. And all these years I was dealing with feudalism as something belonging to the past, ignoring the fact that there was a genuine feudal Seigneur living right under my nose! He even has a Seneschal! Check it out for yourselves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sark.
For my part, I want to go there!
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Everyone should have a Cate
I love train stations. Train stations are where everyone is going somewhere (which you can’t really always say about life). Everything has a sense of purpose, and there’s always something or someone waiting for everyone at the end of the journey: home, adventure, experience, something. Train stations are happy places. Life really happens there.
One thing that amused me while I was waiting for the train that was going to take me to Oxford, was the announcements. “I’m (extremely) sorry for the (severe) delay to your journey.” said the speaker and to my expat year it sounded as if the person making the announcement felt personally responsible for the problem.
I love going places, even if it often makes me way too thoughtful for my own good. You get to see bits of life that you would have wanted or could have had. Oxford is an academic city, knowledge and study seep from each stone and each angle. And one of Cate’s friends made me talk about my thesis, which sort of made me miss all that…
But most of all, I love Cate. Cate is someone that makes you think, review your opinions and form new opinions about things you never felt you needed to have an opinion on before. Cate is also full of random facts (did you know that banana was actually a berry?) and quick advice that always makes sense. So I’m back from Oxford untangled and back on track. My reason is back where it belongs and no longer absent without further notice. Everyone should have a Cate. And next time I go shopping I will buy chicken.
One thing that amused me while I was waiting for the train that was going to take me to Oxford, was the announcements. “I’m (extremely) sorry for the (severe) delay to your journey.” said the speaker and to my expat year it sounded as if the person making the announcement felt personally responsible for the problem.
I love going places, even if it often makes me way too thoughtful for my own good. You get to see bits of life that you would have wanted or could have had. Oxford is an academic city, knowledge and study seep from each stone and each angle. And one of Cate’s friends made me talk about my thesis, which sort of made me miss all that…
But most of all, I love Cate. Cate is someone that makes you think, review your opinions and form new opinions about things you never felt you needed to have an opinion on before. Cate is also full of random facts (did you know that banana was actually a berry?) and quick advice that always makes sense. So I’m back from Oxford untangled and back on track. My reason is back where it belongs and no longer absent without further notice. Everyone should have a Cate. And next time I go shopping I will buy chicken.
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