Merry Christmas!

(December 24th, in my room) Christmas Eve in London. I was in Texas on this day last year. So I have spent Christmas overseas two times in a row. Now I have been terribly busy with two essays, which I have to submit on January 5th, 2009. But I'm doing well in these days. I take constitutional walks with a camera in my hand by snatching odd moments from this busy schedule. I took pictures of Harrods's illumination, The Salvation Army band−they remind me of the Christmas episode of the Mr. Bean comedy series− and the Ice Rink at the Natural Science Museum. Luckily, I happened to see the old Double Decker specially reserved for the Wedding couple on my way home from Harrods. I don't have enough time to comment on them now, though I have a lot to write here. So today I just uploaded these pictures. Merry Christmas!

Had a bad cold + End of the Term

(Police officer on the Horse, near Liverpool Street Station)

• On 5th December, I caught a bad cold. I felt very tired in the previous night, and I found that I had a fever in the morning, though I didn't know how high my body heat was because I didn't have a medical thermometer. All I can say is I had been feeling chilly all through the day. So I couldn't do almost anything but sleeping in the bed that day. I just sent an email to report that I was not going to attend the class in the following morning. Actually, that was the last class of the course. I really regret I couldn't participate in it because I can enjoy the language class very much every time. Although I was shuddering with cold, I ventured to the nearest pharmacy called Boots to buy some medicines. I couldn't sleep well the night before, so I wanted to get a cold medicine with drowsy effects. But I couldn't find anything like that. Therefore, I had to spend another terrible night. By watching Japanese comedy shows on YouTube, I was trying to keep my mind distracted from the loneliness and sufferings. Thanks to them, I slept well in the morning on Saturday. I knew that just the effects of the medicine helped cooling down the fever, I really wanted to have some Japanese foods like noodles and steamed rice, I went to Japan Centre in Picadilly Circus in the afternoon on that day. I took a bus at first, but it terminated at Marble Arch. Then I was waiting for another bus toward Picadilly Circus, but most of the buses don't go over the station. So I changed my route and took a tube to the same destination. Buying some Japanese foods, I left the store immediately, and went home. After having an early dinner in my room, I spent the rest of the day on lying down on my bed. It was on Monday I felt better, though I was still sleeping a lot on that day. Now, I'm worried about my papers. I have to submit two essays for 5000 words on January 5th. I don't think I can enjoy my Christmas vacation.
  

My Passport has come back! + Free Guided Tour

(December 3rd, in the Library)

• On November 28th, I got an email in the morning from TFL(Transport For London) Lost Property Office, which told me that they had found my lost passport and could return it to me. As you can imagine, I became really happy to read that message. At the same time, I remember that I filled in the inquiry form on the TFL's web page (https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/lostproperty/default.aspx) and had sent my inquiry to them on the day when I lost my passport. However, there is information about their policy on it that if any contacts from TFL Lost Property Office are not made within 21 days, that means they couldn't find the item you inquired. Therefore, I've already given up the idea that they might find my passport, because, as of November 21st when I went to the Embassy of Japan to apply for a new passport, almost 4 weeks or longer have passed since that bad day. In other words, the 21-days rule had made me wait for any procedures to get a new passport until November 21st. But, contrary to my expectation, they have finally found my passport, and let me know almost one month after I made an inquiry. At first, I called the Embassy Office to ask for any advice in my case, that is to say, I'm supposed to have two passports. The office lady on the phone kindly understood my case, and gave me instructions to bring the old one so that they can invalidate it. Of course, I asked her if I could still use my old passport by cancelling my application for a new one so that I don't have to pay any money. But, she said it was impossible because a new one had already been issued. Thus, I was convinced that I had to pay 68 pounds for a new passport, or, rather for my stupid failure. As for my student visa pasted on the old passport, she told me that it was still valid. So when I go through the Immigration at any airport, I need to show both old and new passports, that is, new one for a passport itself and old one for my student visa. Next, I called TFL Lost Property Office to ask what I should do to get back my lost passport. The woman at the issue desk told me that first I had to come to the office, which is located in Baker Street, and then pay 4 pounds for a fee charged for restoration. Thus, I was equipped for getting my old passport.
  
• I could have gone to the two offices straightway in the morning on that day. But, I wanted to participate in Free Guided Tour at 1pm. So I decided to go to Holborn station first, where the tour was going to start. Now I put the reason first why I got interested in it; in the third and fourth week in November, we discussed Charles Dickens's Bleak House in our seminar. In order to attend the seminars, I had needed to read it, and most of the previous weeks had been spent on reading the novel. That was really tough and challenging experience for me. But, I could manage to finish reading it anyway, and I really enjoyed the story and its fictional world. I had been fully absorbed in Bleak House for those two weeks. In the first session of the seminar, my professor told us he would join the Guided Tour for Dickens the following day. Then, a few days after the first meeting, I got an email forwarded to the students in the course from our professor through the postgraduate administrator, which told us that by an astonishing coincidence the Guided Tour specialized in Bleak House would be held on 28th Friday. So I was really happy to get the information, and readily decided to take part in it. The brochure can still be downloaded from http://inholborn.org/app/webroot/files-user/files/WalksJunAug(1).pdf, which I got at the previous night. So on that day, first I had a really good time by visiting the relevant sites of the Bleak House world through the tour with intelligible explanation. I thought that I had had the best part of studying English literature on the spot. Although it was raining during the walk, I think I had been a bit excited by such a wonderful experience for those 45 minutes.
  
• After the tour, I hurried over to TFL Lost Property Office by bus and walk. I didn't know exactly where the office was, so I took a bus to Oxford Circus for the starting point because I had known that Baker Street is located north of Selfridge in Oxford Street. But I had to walk a lot to get around there. And I found later that I should have taken a tube because the office was right next to one of the exits of the Baker Street station. It was 3:30 pm when I left the office with my old passport in my backpack. Next, the closing time of the Embassy, which was 4:30 pm, compelled me to take a tube to Green Park Station. Thanks to the underground, I made it eventually. I was really busy with these experiences on that day, but I think all of them have taught me quite good lessons in any way.
• The picture below shows the building in 58 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in which the solicitor Mr. Tulkinghorn is supposed to live in the fictional world of Bleak House, and in real life Dickens's friend John Forster used to live.