Flog — Web super–hero in training

Since coming to London I’ve…

• played in the snow (the poms back home said it never snowed in London)
• drunk Speights in the sunshine surrounded by 2000 other antipodeans
• realised my cleverly cute and unique use of the word “antipodean” isn’t actually unique at all… 4 years of Uni math papers for nothing
• not watched TV. At all. (no, torrents don’t count)!
• read 2 fiction books (an unusual claim for me)
• oggled at Page 3 Girls
• been strangely saddened/repulsed by the 17 year old slappers in the BBC series Glamour Girls who’s life goal is get get their tits out on Page 3… and then wondered where she is now
• seen what real money is, and wondered how I can get some of my own
• been amazed by the beautiful women everywhere, especially when flat hunting
• been disappointed with The Underground after Hong Kong’s MTR
• learnt not to rely on The Underground during weekends (engineering works everywhere)
• bought from Amazon.co.uk, twice
• having traveled through some of the most populous places in the world, what the “long-tail” is all about, finally
• learnt how to spot the kiwi girls; they’re the bigger ones
• grown to hate the estate flat
• noted that there’s hardly a Briton to be found in London
• been amazed how many conservative Muslim’s live here, after basically none in NZ
• read George Orwell classic novel, “1984″
• been struck by how many cameras there are watching you, everywhere, 24/7
• against my best intentions, become apathetic to being watched by cameras, everywhere, 24/7
• been quietly enjoying proper broadband
• yet to use the word “innit” in conversation
• fallen in love with BBC’s iPlayer; the Flash-based internet TV time-shifting service
• felt betrayed by Cadbury, re: the local version of the Creme Egg (looks the same, faaaaar from the same quality back home)
• been green with envy as an uncountable number of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Austin Martin’s drive past me. The guy down the street parks TWO Ferrari’s in his driveway, including the F540
• inconsolable after learning an Australian hedge fund manager, Greg Coffey, earns £125 MILLION from his bonus alone
• grown a bit more familiar with Ruby on Rails, having fought hand-to-hand combat with a fresh Linux install with all the Apache, Mongrel, Capistrano, Plesk trimmings
• realised that being a web-geek in NZ has it’s advantages; namely RSS feeds are already filled with goodies when I wake up… there are definate advantages to being awake while the rest of the world sleeps
• found a flat! yay, after only 3 weeks. And unlike the rest of London, this one has a lounge (and not a converted 5th bedroom
• fallen off the bandwagon; I discovered a place that sold V at midnight on the way home from drinks, and eventually bought and consumed the heavenly fluro-nuclear-green liquid