I think I should leave my last two posts of our honeymoon in draft mode for a while and get back to reality. Reality is that I started my new job 3 weeks ago. Wow almost a month. My life is slightly different now. Mainly I need to wake up earlier and take an earlier train because my office is now back in the city. Yay to that. Sort of. It is much nicer to work in compared to Canary Wharf but you know I actually have gotten used to Canary Wharf and don't mind the limited lunch choices there. Now I take about an hour each way, and because my train stops at a few main tube stations, it means I have more than one way of getting into work. What do I mean?
So I have been doing all sorts of combinations to and from work, such as
1) taking the train directly into Cannon Street (30min) and walk 20min or so to work. Sometimes I get lazy and when I pass by Bank station, I can't help but saunter in and take the Central line for one stop.
2) I take the train to London Bridge and change to Northern line for 2 stops. Northern line in the morning basically is a no-no because it is super duper crowded. I had to wait for 2 trains and then was shoved onto the 3rd train that came our way. It was packed like sardines and I didn't like it one bit.
3) Take the train to London Bridge and as I found out, instead of piling onto the Northern line, I could take the bus. Yes quite a few buses go to my office from London Bridge (literally on the bridge). Only thing is, morning rush hour with loads of (jay)walkers, cyclists makes the 18min commute more like a 25min one. Surprising considering it isn't a very long bus journey. I'm still figuring if this can be my route.
4) Take the train to Waterloo East station, walk to Waterloo station and then take the Waterloo and City line all the way straight into Bank. Technically I can walk from Bank, but oh well, you know what? I think I would take Central line for one stop.
Going home I would usually take the bus to somewhere near Cannon Street station and then take my train from there. I figure this is a better way. Taking the train from Cannon Street is less stressful than from London Bridge station.
My new colleagues are friendly and welcoming. However it is quite a different culture as in people are more independent. I don't usually witness any "hey wanna grab lunch together?". People usually go pick up some lunch silently and then suddenly when you look around about 1230pm people are munching their food whilst working at the same time. I can't sit there for hours non stop so I usually go out for a little walk before buying food back. Thankfully I am finding out that a few friends work around me so I can meet them for lunch.
This role is definitely more finance related and more removed from the business compared to before. It is a little sad although I knew it before taking the plunge. But this is reality now and there is no turning back so I need to just look ahead. Our team supports the CFO and I have to say our CFO is a very nice guy; in fact I liked how chilled out he was when he interviewed me. I took that as a good sign.. I don't need any gan cheong CFO to make my heart go thud thud all the time. More specifically they hired me to write the "story" of how the bank performs each quarter across the investment bank. That spans from the trading markets to capital markets (advisory/ mergers and acquisitions, debt capital markets, equity capital markets..) Basically I need to know everything on how the different businesses have performed. And clearly what I write needs to be careful because what we announce to investors/ shareholders/ public affects the share price of the bank. I guess I am taking baby steps at a time. Wish me luck!
So I have been doing all sorts of combinations to and from work, such as
1) taking the train directly into Cannon Street (30min) and walk 20min or so to work. Sometimes I get lazy and when I pass by Bank station, I can't help but saunter in and take the Central line for one stop.
2) I take the train to London Bridge and change to Northern line for 2 stops. Northern line in the morning basically is a no-no because it is super duper crowded. I had to wait for 2 trains and then was shoved onto the 3rd train that came our way. It was packed like sardines and I didn't like it one bit.
3) Take the train to London Bridge and as I found out, instead of piling onto the Northern line, I could take the bus. Yes quite a few buses go to my office from London Bridge (literally on the bridge). Only thing is, morning rush hour with loads of (jay)walkers, cyclists makes the 18min commute more like a 25min one. Surprising considering it isn't a very long bus journey. I'm still figuring if this can be my route.
4) Take the train to Waterloo East station, walk to Waterloo station and then take the Waterloo and City line all the way straight into Bank. Technically I can walk from Bank, but oh well, you know what? I think I would take Central line for one stop.
Going home I would usually take the bus to somewhere near Cannon Street station and then take my train from there. I figure this is a better way. Taking the train from Cannon Street is less stressful than from London Bridge station.
My new colleagues are friendly and welcoming. However it is quite a different culture as in people are more independent. I don't usually witness any "hey wanna grab lunch together?". People usually go pick up some lunch silently and then suddenly when you look around about 1230pm people are munching their food whilst working at the same time. I can't sit there for hours non stop so I usually go out for a little walk before buying food back. Thankfully I am finding out that a few friends work around me so I can meet them for lunch.
This role is definitely more finance related and more removed from the business compared to before. It is a little sad although I knew it before taking the plunge. But this is reality now and there is no turning back so I need to just look ahead. Our team supports the CFO and I have to say our CFO is a very nice guy; in fact I liked how chilled out he was when he interviewed me. I took that as a good sign.. I don't need any gan cheong CFO to make my heart go thud thud all the time. More specifically they hired me to write the "story" of how the bank performs each quarter across the investment bank. That spans from the trading markets to capital markets (advisory/ mergers and acquisitions, debt capital markets, equity capital markets..) Basically I need to know everything on how the different businesses have performed. And clearly what I write needs to be careful because what we announce to investors/ shareholders/ public affects the share price of the bank. I guess I am taking baby steps at a time. Wish me luck!
Comments
Mud Mee Thai on Ancillary Passage does a good Char Kuey Teow and decent enough Laksa.
MoMowich on Commercial Road is a nice little Asian canteen that serves ready-made curries and noodles. Good laksa too (for London, I suppose).
Within 5-10 mins walk of Liverpool Street station.