When I first arrived in London, my colleagues would make mention that we work in the city. To which I would think "Of course we work in the city.. London is a city, everyone here works in the city. What are you talking about? Chey." Later I realised that they meant the
City of London, which pretty much was the original boundary of London many years ago. London then was small, tiny even compared to today. Later on whenever people ask where I work, I would almost beaming, say "Oh I work in the city" trying to sound cool because I thought it is cool "to work in the city". (And I still do btw.)
But alas, unfortunately, we are moving to Canary Wharf at the end of this month! Canary Wharf is the new financial hub of London. Where all the big investment banks, big rating agencies, Bloomberg, Reuters, and many other big financial institutions are located. It is like Raffles Place. So basically, we are moving from the old historic and charming City, to the concrete jungle. Don't like. Ironically I live in the Isle of Dogs which is pretty much where Canary Wharf is located so I should be the last to complain as I can pretty much walk to work! Many of my colleagues living on the posh west side of London are dreading this move big time and I usually keep quiet and listen to them whine until one of them would ask me "In terms of travelling, are you affected Belinda? Where do you live?" And I would sheepishly reply.. "err, I live in the Isle of Dogs.." And they look like they wanna kill me.. haha ok I am over-exaggerating here.
So we have taken over the old Lehman Brothers' building which some people comment is a bad omen but whatever.. no matter how much whining, we ARE moving. This is apparently the biggest office move in London ever.. because it involves moving more than 8,000 people. Can you imagine Raffles Place increasingly by 8,000 people all of a sudden? I shudder to think of the lunch crowd. omg. And we are the lucky ones to be the first ones to move.
Going back to Singapore means that this is my last week working in the city (boohoo) and I made sure I remembered to bring in my camera to take some shots of memorable places around work which I will fondly remember, etched in a special place in my memories.
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| For a start, my office is situated at Love Lane. How cute is that?! |
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| London Guildhall next to my office. It was a lovely Friday afternoon with clear blue skies. |
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| The Old Jewry Church next to the Guildhall where they hold regular lunchtime services. |
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| Oh why have I not thought of attending one service in my 3 years here? |
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| A description of this church |
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| Oh this I HAVE to share. This is a super popular Vietnamese Cafe that I go very often. Queues start snaking out of the cafe from 12pm and people WILL queue up in the cold, trust me. Because I'm one of them. |
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| Working in the city, you notice that there are many churches. This is my usual path to work from Bank Station. And the huge clock will always tell me if I am late for work! |
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| Tesco Metro at Bank Station. haha taking pic of Tesco. This my friend, is where I get food on the way home to cook my dinners! |
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| The same church as above, St Mary Le Bow. The church bell still chimes at every hour. It is said that a true Londoner must be born within earshot of the Bow bells ringing. |
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| Bow Churchyard. If you look on the right, behind the statue, it's the pub which I had my farewell drinks with my old team. Usually there is a florist selling flowers (he's on holiday still!) on the left. K gets a stalk of rose for me from this guy often enough for the florist to remember him as the One-Rose-Guy. It's quite funny I thought I'd share with you :) |
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| Boris Bikes, launched by the mayor of London Boris Johnson who wanted to encourage more Londoners to cycle. Many cycle to work using these blue bikes. |
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| Love Daunt Books at Marylebone. This is one of their branches which K loves. We always meet here whenever we go back together after work. |
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| Another interesting name lane. I hope it's sweet. |
The names of the streets that lead off it reflect the trades that
flourished there – Wood Street, Milk Street, Bread Street, Honey Lane,
Poultry and Friday Street (for fish).
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| Ah shops. Where I get my shopping fix once in a while during lunch hours. River Island, Ted Baker... SALE still on! |
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| And of course, the spanking new One New Change shopping centre which opened last year. A huge H&M in the corner :) |
Would have loved to take more photos but people were starting to stare at this girl taking photos of things that look so normal. I guess that is us isn't it.. taking things for granted until we don't have them anymore.. oh well, if I do manage to take more, I will post more. Lovely 3 years' worth of memories.. sweet memories :))
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