World Through My Camera Lens

Thursday, September 11, 2014

English Food

Office food is catered by an efficient team of chefs and associate staff which churns out Breakfast, Lunch and Tea all through the work week. Food is given at a subsidized price for all the employees. Waitrose which is one of the elite Supermarkets in UK, being a partner of JL, is one of the reasons for the price subsidy.

There is both an indoor as well as an outdoor seating to savour the food. The terrace experience are pleasant on a warm sunny day and definitely not on cold windy London days.

A typical English Breakfast and Lunch.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Shortlands Victoria Commute

The station to station commute of 23 minutes is a blessing in London, compared to an average of an hour plus commutes involving multiple train/tube transfers. This also saves the daily tube travel ordeals. The station in picture is the Shortlands station which is a two minute walk from home. People who stay farther drive in their cars and park them in the station or any road in close proximity.

This is the Orpington - Victoria train which stops at Shortlands. The frequency of the trains are amazing and accessible well in advance through the present day smart communication apps.

London Victoria Station is the one of the major railway hubs. Victoria is a locality which houses many offices. The sight of people on the way to the offices soon after alighting from the trains is a sight to behold. A typical big city rat race.

Monthly passes are very convenient for daily commuters. All of which is ably managed by technology and ample station staff on duty at all times.

The Victoria station caters to the overground Nation Railway as well as the famous London underground Tube network. There are even inter country trains to France and Belgium. I heard that France is around 3 hours from this station.

My office has two buildings both located 2 minutes from the station.

The main 10 floor John Lewis office.

The streets of Victoria are buzzing with people all through the day. The crowd comprises of people who work in the many offices housed here and also the tourists for whom Victoria is the major train interchange hub. There are quite a few touristy spots around Victoria. The Big Ben, London Eye and the Parliament are some of the famous spots.

Another building of our office is close to the Grosvenor Hotel on the Buckingham Palace Road just besides the Victoria Station.

Monday, September 08, 2014

Shortlands Neigbourhood

Living in a true English locality adds to the charm of the UK stay. Knowing this very well, we made sure to hit on this apt location through some advanced research and co-ordination of a few friends. Shortlands is located in the London Borough of Kent County. Shortlands has a dedicated railway station trough which the South Eastern British railways ply.

These pictures were taken on Rainy Morning in Aug 2014. Mays Hill Road is where the Farley Croft apartment in which we live is located on.

Shortlands is blessed with verdant vegetation and a calmness which is so much needed in a residential area. The tree in the parking lot is surely over half a century. This is a soothing view from the balcony. The visible bricks without any plastering adds to the earthen touch that this place has to offer.

The Shortlands Station is just 2 minutes walk which is a real blessing to make use of the well networked public railway transport. Other areas around Shortland are Beckenham, Bromley and Orpington to name a few.

A minute away from our apartment is this lovely calm intersection of Mays Hill Road and Kingswood Street where we can perch on the bench and spend a few calm moments.

Saturday, September 06, 2014

Streets of London

The most evident signs of the streets are the orderliness and the discipline. The signs and the markings on the roads to indicate the lane demarcation, turns, stops, warnings, et al is impeccable. The geometrically tiled pavements, smoothly cemented roads are a pleasure to be used. The traffic lights, manicured hanging gardens, well groomed trees are the hallmark.

These are some of the first pictures I shot in Aug 2014. The streets pictured are along the Shortlands railway station which is my Home station, that I use day in and out. These streets lead to the Bromley High Street.

The red cemented patch indicates that the place is reserved for Bus Stops.

Friday, September 05, 2014

Destination UK

IT jobs have enabled travel to various destinations across the world from India where the IT services industry thrives. On August 9 2014, I embarked on my maiden IT voyage for a Bangalore - London client assignment. It was 7 years ago in the very month of August on the eve of the Lakshmi Festival that I set foot in America for a glorious 3 year life experience. Archived Shots from the USA

The journey to London via Delhi was good, accompanied by another colleague Gopal. The experience of watching the movie Aa Dinagalu on the flight after a gap of 7 years was thrilling.

After the customary immigration check in London Heathrow Airport, we hired a taxi to take us to our home in Shortlands which we had booked from Bangalore. The first few moments in any new place is always a memorable experience. The taxi driver Ady from Nigeria was settled in London for more than 10 years. I was trying to compare London roads to my freeway experiences in America. I realized that there is a lot of travel involved within the busy internal roads of London, which is time consuming. There is no accessibility to a main Freeway from any part of the city,like a 101 or 280 in California State.

The right hand steering and the left lane drive is similar to the Indian standards, but the rules and discipline is the very same as America.

The GPS has become a must have gadget for navigation especially in countries I'v been outside India - USA, Thailand and UK.

It was good to see some familiar names like the Sainsbury's which is a Supermarket. It took nearly 90 minutes to cover 26 miles, before we retired for the first night in London.