今天公司的一个同事出事了.上午没见她来上班.说是被卡车撞了.两位女同事赶去了医院.

TEAM里四个助理,一下子少了三个.另外一个上个星期父亲病危,在办公室里接了医院打来的电话后在那里痛哭.

窗外初夏的阳光灿烂, 里面阴冷的气氛笼罩了整个楼面. 最令我感到不快的是周围人的冷漠.仿佛什么事也没有发生.他们照常打着他们的电话,开着各种玩笑,跑来跑去的赶着各种会议.欧洲部的一个经理路过,调侃我们的位子空间狭小.问我们是不是每天早上做MUSIC CHAIR游戏.每天少放一把椅子,音乐一停没抢到位子的人就会被解雇.大老板抱怨着没人事先跟他请假,一个TEAM中同时有两个人休长假.那头另外一个经理也在电话里唠叨,说自己这一年工作有多么辛苦,放弃了那么多假期,我发誓我在办公室里见到他的日子加起来不到一个月.

欧洲人,习惯休很长的假,一年的假期加起来是美国人的两倍.连我这个小员工,一年也有25天的带薪假.他们抱怨说每次休假前后都很STRESSFUL,一大堆事情处理,忙不过来.休假也累.

在生活中挣扎着的这些金领,他们该更多渴望加勒比海的阳光,欧洲的滑雪场,还是背着猎枪追逐飞禽野兽?CITY只是他们的另外一个游戏场.每天都是120分的精力,120分的利用时间.剩下来的时间就是健身房.生活如此简单?

 

I think most people would agree with me the horror of first seeing the narrowed corridor in the student hall. If people used to live in Finsbury Hall, well for those don't know, it's one of the student accommodation provided by our University, they would probably remember the long corridors with doors on both sides, very much assemble the picture from the movie Matrix.

I used to get used to the fact that students are supposed to live like that. Well, you are a penniless student what more do you expect. The concept of being a humble student didn't change until recently. It happened at work that i need to carry out a student housing research. Student housing, a rising market in UK, has been attracting more and more attention from developers, property companies and investment companies. The big profit margin and record performance is driving property companies to buy more buildings and convert to student housing. And you don't need a collegue degree to figure out why it is making so much money. The space of the room is minimised to in order to maximize the rent achievable of the whole building. If we're renting a room in uni accommodation, the rate is appr. 110 GBP per week. Commercial student housing cost about 120 above, with the highest of 200 per week. All that money you only get a 16 sq metre or smaller room. That is effectly producing twice the rent as a normal office building nearby. In a property market driven by the strong rental growth, students are effectively the best cash producing batteries, perfectly placed in those small cells while living a life.

Of course there are upside of those buildings, the life style, the social atmosphere, the crowd...and mostly the craziness and freedom you enjoy comparing to strictly ruled uni accomodations.

SO if you are interested in living a life with like-minded people in a brand new modern building next year and of course if you have the spare cash, there're two newly developed near uni. So check it out, why not

 

 

OR we can group together and find more economically housing!

 

 

 

Nothing beats sitting in a running train through the English countryside after a long tiring week working in the City. The narrowed street of central London crowed by black suits men was gone out of sight and instead all surrounded you was the nice green meadow streching your sight to the blue sky edge, which was for me, eye watering view after the long dark winter. Warm early summer sun shines recklessly upon on me and I feel every cell of mine relaxed and refreshing.

Travelling always give me the simple pleasure itself beside the excitement of what the destination brings. The idea of getting away sounds as exciting as, many times, the actual travel plan itself. This time for example, the very best opportunity of sitting one hour in the train, is provide by going to a theme park near Staines. Dressing like a buch of teenagers, we pretty much behaved like one for the whole day. Jumping up and down and eagerly joining the long queue, our childish behaviour did indeed bring us some long-lost happiness, releasing the very inner secrets from our hearts into the carefree, grass smelling fresh air.

Anyway, it is very pleasant to see the summer coming again.  Hope people share with me the same feeling.