Showing posts with label tube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tube. Show all posts

Sunday, 18 October 2009

time is overrated

The clock is ticking, but time is standing still....

My friend told me that her clock had stopped working - but it was still ticking. From time to time, we all want time to stand still. There is quite simply too much to do, and too little time.

My volleyball coach at the university wants me to join another team he coaches, London Lynx. The Lynx play in the English Premier Division, so this is quite an opertunity for me to improve. Practice is all about improving, but it is so much easier to improve if you are playing with people that are better than you. This is the case in all areas of life, it's one of the reasons I wanted to move to London and study at Imperial. Today I was supposed to bring £27 and two photos of me to practice. That was what my coach needed in order to register me for the Premier Division. Well, this moring came, but I still didn't have the money or the pictures. I got up a little before 11 am so that I could get free breakfast in the Willis Jackson common room. Practice begins at 12, and it takes 20 minutes to walk to the Ethos centre, so I figured I'd have enough time to get the cash and have the pictures taken on the way. I didn't leave my room untill 11.35, and somehow the picture booth I was convinced I had seen in the tube station, had vanished. Well, that was inconvenient, most inconsiderate considering the fact that I didn't have the time for this. I ran back to a photo shop where I knew I could get the pictures taken; but time was racing by - and the shop owner was not. He was dealing with the customers ahead of me so slowly, it almost seemed as if it was all planned as a cruel joke. Now, I must add that being late to volleyball practice is slightly more serious than it sounds. My coach hates people being late, and makes a show of demanding five push-ups for every minute you come late. Those of you that know me well realise that I am rather lazy, and not the biggest fan of push-ups around. Although I wanted to tell the shop-keeper to hurry up, I was able to restrain myself; settling with casting impatient glances at the clock on my mobile phone. As my pictures were printed out, I got ready to pay, only to realise that the guy was getting ready to carefully cut out the pictures, removing the white frame around them. I couldn't believe it! As I left the shop it was already past twelve and I still had to run from South Kensington Station to Ethos. One of my natural abilities I treasure the most, is being able to sneak around and seem inconspicuous, despite my height; arriving at least ten minutes late, I was somehow able to evade the fifty looming push-ups. In the end I didn't even need the pictures, I won't be able to register untill tuesday.

When I was in the picture shop I wished time would stand still. I wished life would go on, and leave time behind. I wished life would keep on ticking, without any clocks in the world moving. Time is something we all wish we have more of. I'm halfway to fourty, and my life has barely started!!! Yes you guessed right, time for a cliché. But seriously, if there was more time, we'd just make more plans - we'd be just as busy, we'd still be wishing we had more time. Besides, we don't want to give up the best excuse ever, now do we? "sorry, I don't have the time."

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

volleyball and the tube

Whoever said that university life was hectic, sure is right. Add the buzz of a metropolitan capital to that and you've got my first week so far. Yesterday was the day i treated myself to the pizza hut buffet, which was nice enough, but also reminded me that stuffing oneself full of greasy food is rather gross. (By the way, gross is a word that makes me think of what the word describes just by looking at it; who came up with that spelling????) I also went to my first Imperial College volleyball practice last night. The gym in Wilson House was pretty crowded, but it was still great to be playing again! Half-way through the practice I was told that I hade made the team, which is great, but which also brings me to this next issue. You may remember that I wrote about taking a stand for what you believe in and living up to the consequences a few weeks ago. I also wrote that I needed to make my mind up about some core issues before I began studying; well, I didn't really. As I had predicted I was forced to decide last night. Sly as I am I managed to sneak away and evade the problem, but I'm going to have to face it, VERY soon.

At the freshers fair I realised that the people I had been looking for, the kind of people I want to get to know can be found in Imperial's clubs and societies. Having common interests is a great way to start off stimulating relationships. I guess it's kind of obvious that I'd find these people in the societies I am interested in joing. Obviously friendships are based on more than merely having things in common; some of the people i find the most annoying have one or more of the same interests as me. A place full of people with my passions and hobbies is a great place to start looking though.

After volleyball practice fate had something very specific in store for me. I experienced being stuck in the tube for almost an hour. Although this was really inconvenient and annoying, especially since I had to walk all the way home, I guess it's one of those things you just need to experience whilst in London. Because of the delay on the train I also got to know Owen and Pro from volleyball. I actually ended up showing Pro the way back to Imperial since we were forced to get off the underground earlier than we had planned (good deed of the day). Cyprus has been my dream vacation destination for years, so making a Cypriot friend comes in at a good second place.