It's almost the end of the year...

...and it's freezing. Really felt the cold this morning whilst walking to work as temperatures dropped almost overnight. The the autumnal chill has gone, never to return and there's a mean cold bite to the air now.

... and I can't believe we're at the tail end of the annum - where did the year go? It seemed only yesterday that I came to Heathrow airport. I was still in Gatwick earlier this year (as Rita reminded me - bumped into her on the train). I worked with Rita and a small team of 6 in Gatwick who were just lovely - very easy to work with and the times were very flexible. I remember it was a crazy winter where snow fell and stopped London literally and we cracked jokes about AT's ability to drive through snow. I turned back twice due to the snowfall as there weren't any trains. Can't believe this was in January.

...and I've started lighting candles in my room - feelings of deja vu; a reminder of winter in Stockholm in a freezing student dorm where I endeavoured to burn candles to ward off the cold. Ok so it wasn't a very great idea in terms of HSE. Somehow feel comforted by the little fairy lights twinkling on my window sill. My room is freezing cold for some reason despite the fact that central heating is on full blast. This is the 3rd November I'll be spending in this flat at this end of the world. I have no qualms as OKR has been good to me so far.

... and I've got another round of pay increase this time of year. Which is a jolly unexpected surprise. I had one mid-year already and didn't foresee another one coming in a long time. One of the directors , KF, gave me a call but I wasn't at the phone. It was my first line manager, PR, who got me and told me the good news. It was great to speak to PR after a while. She was the line manager in my first project in T&T - sure do miss the good old days at the Shard with the dream team. Nevertheless working in the airport is also pretty interesting too with another view of Project Management. Told my current line manager, GP, that it's like going to a university everyday - every working day I have a morning mantra (aka Microsoft) 'Where do I want to go today (in the University of Heathrow)' He found it funny.

Dependence....

What is this feeling that you're missing someone and can't seem to do things unless it's been endorsed, enthused, encouraged. It used to be alright to do things without bearing on someone else's time and interest. Now every move that I make; calling up a friend, making appointments on the weekend, planning a week of exercise, suddenly creates a tension of whether this would affect another individual. Although my schedule is pretty fixed due to my staid nature and love of planning, suddenly I may need to 'cut down on my social' activities- much to my astonishment - because I like planning in advance in order to avoid surprises and this should more or less counter and mitigate expectations....

Deepavali/Diwali, Bards and Birthdays

November month is upon us again. The weather fluctuates between the cold, wet and windy to the cold, crisp and clear. V says if the berries are hanging on the trees as they do now, it forebodes a bitter cold winter. We leave the omens aside for now.

Celebrated Deepavali with the gang this year at Thina's. We had murukku's, pappadams, manchurian, curried prawns,parattas, chickpeas, biriyani, Tapashya's curry, aubergine with woodfish, a fantastic frisbee cake and not traditionally mojitos (:P), pineapple tarts, peanut biscuits, sujee biscuits, oat and chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake. All of us decked out too in kohl, sarees, kurta's,etc...there was even a kolam of Ghanesha with candles. I missed the fireworks:( It was lovely to be at yet another Deepavali celebration at home away from home.Thank you Thina and Tapashya for hosting - Kal, Sanjay, Biren, Aarthi, Shivan, Usha, Thinesh, Vini, Joey, Rina, Indran for the fun times.

As it's November month, am besieged again with birthdays.

Went away to Warwick for the weekend with the girls to celebrate dear old Quiza's birthday. Hadn't had a great start when I forgot to bring my itinerary and had to shuffle between Paddington and Marylebone, almost got thrown off before Didcot Parkway but luckily providence brought me an angel in the form of another girl who had a brochure and a fight with the conductor. Nevertheless arrived safe and sound, picked up by Vini and her trusty sat-nav Mable.

We had a lovely time the next day going around Stratford-Upon-Avon. Went to see Shakespeare's old house along the High-Streetand walked along the Avon river, drawing up the ghosts of our recent past as the girls chatted and laughed while we walked with Quiza's parents and trying our best to conjure the Stratford days of old looking at the 'colombage' style, crooked and quaint cottages in the architecture of-old. Later on we were joined by Priya and we went for a nice English pub dinner celebrating Quiza's birth with a pastel-blue cake tied with a white satin ribbon.