Walkabout - Docklands of London

The focus of today’s walk is on London’s historic docklands, heart of the old empire’s trades in opium, tea, cigarettes, just to name a few. It was also one of the most crime ridden, seedy and unsavoury places in London, home to murderers, prostitutes, the desolate and unwanted. The docklands of today is a contrast between depravation and profligacy, modesty and lavishness. This all wrapped up in centuries of history, waves of immigration and the enduring views of the Thames River.

Our journey starts at Shadwell DLR, which I have only come to know because you can get a 2 bedroom flat for £150k, even though it is literally a stone’s throw from the city. I soon found out why. Even approaching the station, it is the least pleasant suburb I have seen so far in London. Yes, I have been to Elephant and Castle, Deptford, Hackney and Stepney. The reason is not because the area is dirty, or the people. It’s simply the hideous council ex-authority building scattered around the station. These were build in the 1960’s after WWII, when Britain had no money after the war. Today they are cheap and affordable homes to mostly the Indian and Pakistani community. As a renter I wouldn’t live here even if it’s so cheap, simply because there doesn’t appear to be any life to the place. The surrounding areas just look deprived. Unfortunately I did not take any picutures, so I guess you'll just have to come see it!



Unsurprisingly, Shadwell lives up to its name as it’s derived from Shitwell, or Shitewell originally. It is also famous for being meticulously described by Dickens in his many books, as he accounted his flings in opium dens and brothels in one of the ‘meanest’ area of London.

I make my way down towards the river, through an abandoned shopping complex and into Wapping, where the scenery begins to change dramatically. A lot of the docklands and old wharf buildings are still there, restored and converted into residential flats. Fortunately they still keep their original cranes, which were used to hurl goods over the ship. Before I knew it, I was in an upmarket area, home to young professionals working in Canary Wharf or the City, who have no doubt found themselves here for the wonderful views of the Thames.





Just before reaching the river I come across the oldest pub in the docklands, the Prospect of Whitby, said to have first opened in 1520. It was also a pub frequented by Charles Dickens. To this day it keeps the same look and charms of nearly 500 years back, and I hear the locally brewed ales inside are fantastic. Walking past the pub I reach Shadwell basin, which looked picturesque at dusk, with a sense of loneliness. It doesn’t have the poshness of Limehouse basin, which we will get to last, but nevertheless is quite beautiful.





This stretch of the Thames overlooking Canary Wharf is absolutely magnificent, as it is wider than in the West End. More so than a river, I felt the two banks were separately by sea, as I heard the powerful current of the water. Walking along the Thames, I felt the people who lived here are so privileged; they’ve definitely chosen a great spot to enjoy London. I also enjoyed seeing people going about their leisure, fishing off an abandoned but breathtakingly tall pier.





The final stretch of the walk takes us to riverside Limehouse, and we move from the middle-upper class to the truly elite. The flats here are 7 figures, and apartment blocks are catered by fancy Spanish/Italian restaurants with slick interiors, designed for residents who don’t need to cook for themselves.



The Narrow is a particularly yuppie street, frequented by young managers working in Canary Wharf, rich students from China and Japan, and others of various talent. This is where the ‘pub’ narrow sits, famously owned by Gordon Ramsay. It is what’s called a gastro pub, where finger food can set you back £15, and mains starting from £25 upwards. I don’t envision myself ever sitting in there enjoying the glorious river views, but by now I’ve had enough of the good life just doing this walk.





The walk finishes off at Limehouse basin, one of my favourite spots in London to relax or go jogging. I also pass the basin when I walk over to Canary Wharf. I always feel so lucky that such privileged, expensive delights are just 10 minute walk away from my modest existence at Mile End. Walking back home along the canal, I felt sad that in one week’s time, I’ll be in new surroundings.

Walkabout - Legal "Inns" of London

I've been on 4 historical London walks so far in my 9 months in London, as well as many other random discoveries around the East End and Docklands area where I live. I've decided to ramp that up and to put together some photo albums....

I must give credit to http://londonwalks.libsyn.com/ for supplying the inspiration for me to thoroughly discover London properly and know its history....I felt I never got to know Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto properly the short time I was there, and I don't want to make the same mistake with London.

Today, my after-work walk involves historical Legal London, which conveniently is located in the area I work - Chancery Lane. This is where all the "Inns" of law are, housing all the barristers and solicitors. It's also home to UK's major courts of justice. Law is an area i should be familiar about but I have gladly chosen to leave it. It's ironic that my new career is set right in the heart of legal London.

Journey starts at Chancery Lane tube station, where I'm greeted by a traditional..16th century Tudor style wooden building.



Going straight through the building I immediately enter legal London, encountering the Staple Inn. There is a really nice courtyard for lawyers to clear their heads before heading to court.



Walking straight on, I reach the Stone Buildings, former home to the UK's Patent Office. This was where intellectual property law was first enforced and adjudicated. It's a really nice white stone building.



Moving on, I reach a few spacious squares with characterised by BMWs, Porshes and Aston Martins. These are home to a number of chambers where barristers practice. Unlike Sydney where lawyers reside in modern buildings, here they work in centuries old brick houses, with ivy vines growing off the walls. It's quite a relaxing environment. The pictures shows it quite nicely but I've seriously overexposed all my photos today...it becomes a depressing theme....



All the names of barristers are inscribed in front of the chamber



Moving on past some alley ways and law books shops, I venture past Bell Yard, with the Royal Courts of Justice on my right:



I then cross the road, and into the second Inn, through the Middle Temple Lane. This is home to many Inns of law and also the Temple Church, which I understand hosts some fantastic concerts.



Again, there are some neat alleys, leading through to the Temple Church. A private function was being held, so I couldn't go inside.



Walking past the Temple Church, again I met met with some beautiful squares where lawyers wine and dine and enjoy the open space. The architecture and gardens here are simply fantastic.





Finding my way out of the gardens and squares and back onto the main road, I am immediately met by the Royal Court of Justice, home to most of the great legal cases in British history.



Straying left of the Court I enter into Clement's Inn and into the territory of the London School of Economics. I took a picture of the Thomas More Building because Thomas More was famously remembered for hunting down William Tyndale who translated the Bible into English against the King's will, and getting him executed. ironically, Thomas More was also executed, for refusing to recognise Henry VII was the Head of the Church of England (according to wikipedia :P).



Walking around LSE, I felt really out of place because it's such a priviledged school, which made me feel a bit daunted... I then bumped into The Old Curiosity Shop, which appeared in many of Charles Dickens' novels. I'll leave for you to wiki this. I liked the compact look of the house, which really really stands out amongst its surroundings.



Walking past, I quickly reached 59 Garden Court. According to the podcast, this was the scene of the only successful assasination of the British Prime Minister in UK's history. Spencer Percival was the unlucky politician shot by a maniac.



The last part of the walk brought me to Gray's Inn, which also has its share of petite gardens and stone staircases. Why is Gray's Inn significant for Chinese history?



Because it was home to Sun Yat-Sen, the father of the Chinese Republic, when he was living in exile in London. This is still commemorated here at the Inn.



That brought me to the end of the walk, which only took just over an hour. It was really enjoyable learning about the legal history of Britain and experiencing all the traditions which has blended into everyday life here in London. All this in my backyard, right outside the doorstep of my workplace. I know my photography skills didn't do it much justice, but hopefully better stuff will come the next edition!

Feb-June Catchup!

In a blink of an eye, it's been nearly 4 months since I last updated my blog!!

Unfortunately, my podcast came to no avail as it was either too time consuming or I just lacked motivation. Maybe both combined. Seems like it hasn't just been me though. Thomson Reuters have terminated their carbon market community, which was invaluable source of information for me. Now I troll around carbonoffsetdaily.com, businessgreen.com and other sites for my news feeds but it's not the same really. The carbon markets are no longer so sexy, though I still wish I was working in the CDM field.

During these months I've been following more generally the business world, and started investing in some unit trusts, taking advantage of my ISA allowance. By stroke of luck I actually managed to avoid any exposure to BP before the oil spill. But to be honest, I really don't have much clue what I'm doing. The 8 funds I've put money into are:

Aberdeen Emerging Markets A Fund Acc
First State Greater China Growth A Fund Acc
Invesco Perpetual Latin American Fund Inc
Jupiter Financial Opportunities Fund Inc
Jupiter India Fund Acc
Legal & General All Stocks IL Gilt Ind Trust Inc
M&G Strategic Corporate Bond A Fund Inc
Neptune Russia & Greater Russia A Fund Acc

I only really wanted to go for the emerging markets...though they are the highest risk ones. But I succumbed to my own risk averse nature and bought into funds in UK gilts, corporate bonds as well as no-risk cash. Unsurprisingly, they are performing the worst of them all. Overall, it's small money and nothing really to be excited about.

I've been thinking about buying gold the last 2 months, and keep holding it off because I think there's no way it'll keep rising. But as always, it just keeps motoring upwards with no end in sight....if only I was making some money for myself back in 2001...when gold was around $200 an ounce (it's $1200 an ounce now). Back then, Gordon Brown inexplicably sold off half of UK's government's gold reserves, some 375 tonnes at those ultra-cheap prices. How they wished they had held on!

In terms of the carbon world, it's been a year of consolidation and wait and see, I guess. Carbon is no longer significant enough to make big news, and major players have lost value and been bought off by large multinationals really as leverage for the off-chance that carbon will one day matter again.

Under everyone's radar, Ecosecurities have been bought by JP Morgan, Point Carbon by Thomson Reuters, New Energy Finance by Bloomberg, and Tricorona by Barclays. Now they are all operating under the umbrellas of those big companies and it's no longer so transparent what they're doing and where they are going.

As for global climate policy, it's so predictable that it's no longer worth reading beyond the headlines. Of course COP will meet again and again and developing and developed country won't agree because geopolitics is more important.

Nevertheless, there are progress made everyday on GHG mitigation methodologies and new projects through the CDM pipeline.

In the developed world, the most clean tech could hope for is to survive. Especially given the sovereign debt crisis, huge cutbacks will be announced in Germany, UK and beyond. In actual fact the UK emergency budget will be announced tomorrow and it'll be interesting to see how much the green agenda will be cut.

In my particular field, supply chain carbon management remains to be a very niche field involving only the brave few. However, the global standard 'wannabe', the WRI standard on product carbon footprinting is due to be finalised in late December this year and if companies unite and embrace this particular standard, it may bring some co-ordination in the market.

Outside of worklife, I've been keeping up with Kendo as per usual and also enjoying the city of London. Without being too touristy, I've been doing historical walks around London on my ipod, and recording my tracks as I go. Hopefully I'll keep this up and show everyone all the facinating strands of London life.

This Week in Carbon (beta) - a Podcast Initiative

Hi everyone my name is Ming-Chun Hsu, owner and presenter of This Week in Carbon, a podcast about news and viewpoints on the world of carbon management. The podcast’s format is as follows. First, a round-up of what is making news in the world of carbon. Secondly, a review of the carbon markets including the latest movements in the EU ETS and the CDM. Thirdly, I will attempt to answer questions from listeners on their most pressing carbon issues. I will also, from time to time, conduct interviews with industry leaders in the private sector, government and academia.

As all of you are aware now, climate change and carbon management is now a major policy issue facing all countries. The unique aspect of carbon is that it is awfully complicated, pervading weather, energy, transport, goods and services, food and basically every activity in life. The aim of this podcast is to unlock the complexities, have stimulating debate on issues and give people the knowledge, the power to make decisions in their lives that are consistent with their ideals, whatever they may be.

But a bit of a background about me. I am Taiwanese born, grew up in Australia and currently working as a carbon analyst at an environmental consultancy in London. I have a keen interest in climate change and energy as a whole, as well as finance, politics, economics and healthy living. All of these strands are inter-related with the issue of carbon and hopefully through this podcast, we can make sense of the relationships. There is really no limit to what we can talk about on this show. It can be as technical or general as you wish. Whether you are interested in climate change, low carbon living, carbon trading or the clean tech industry, you’ve come to the right place.

I am in an unique situation of being able to provide the viewpoints from the bloc leading world action on climate change, as I am living and working in London. I will be doing the podcast half in English and half in Mandarin. My Mandarin is not the highest level so please be tolerant of that.


Kyoto risks dying as no new climate deal in sight

This is from an article that appeared in Reuters dated 18 February. It says that the Kyoto Protocol is in risk of collapse because as we all know in 2012, that’s the end of the first commitment period and the world has not agreed on a post 2012 agreement, as highlighted by the failed Copenhagen conference.

Even disregarding global talks, domestic actions have been difficult to pass through as evidenced by the twice rejected ETS bill in Australia and developments in the US where no ETS bill is likely to be passed until 2011. Obama has come out further to say that cap-and-trade may be de-coupled from a bill for clean energy, since the former is causing delay on much needed clarity on support for alternative energy. This week, Obama committed 8.3 billion US dollars to build the US’ first nuclear power plant for 3 decades. The clear strategy now is to prevent the public distaste for cap-and-trade from totally derailing the administration's climate policy.

Kyoto risks dying also because of the weaknesses of the Copenhagen Accord, the non-legally binding agreement that countries "noted" at the finale of the Copenhagen conference. So far, 55 countries have pledged their climate targets in accordance with the Accord. These countries represent 80% of emissions of the world. However, there is no obligation to fulfill the targets nor penalties for missing them. Crucially, there is not even a process for monitoring or verifying the emission reductions, something that China refused to accept.

The Accord has also been criticised for lacking in ambition, as the cuts promised do not put the world in a trajectory to avoid dangerous climate change.
So what if Kyoto dies? The simple answer is that what will remain are disparate, disconnected domestic schemes operating all over the world. The biggest one will remain the EU ETS, which has committed to 20% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020.

As interesting aspect is whether the offset infrastructure started by Kyoto Protocol, such as the CDM, will remain to support ETS in other parts of the world post 2012. Currently, the EU ETS is responsible for 80% of demand for CDM CERs.
I personally think there is no doubt Kyoto will be dead and there will not be a 2nd commitment phase. This is because it’s becoming increasingly clear that the emerging economies are now responsible for a sizeable portion of world emissions. They will refuse to take emission cuts, pure and simple. And if they won’t play, Europe will be the remaining bloc committed.

CDM executive approves 32 Chinese wind farms, blocks six

In the latest CDM Executive Board meeting, the Executive Board registered a whopping 32 GHG reducing wind projects in China, but rejected 6 for failing to meet the additionality criteria. These wind farms are set to cut GHG emissions by 11.3 million tonnes by 2012, it is claimed in the project documents. These emission reductions will be traded to offset pollution by companies who pollute beyond their caps in either the EU ETS, or participating countries in the Kyoto Protocol. No net decrease in world emissions will result.

In an astonishing turn of events, the EB embarrassingly admitted that it had erroerenously rejected 2 Chinese wind farm projects in its previous Board meeting
The EB often rejects projects for failing the additionality criteria. This is because under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), companies can invest in clean energy projects in emerging economies, and in return receive offset credits, only if they can show the projects would not have gone ahead without the prospect of revenues from selling those credits.

In China’s case, the EB noticed a decrease in financial support from the Chinese government to wind project developers, suggesting that they had become increasingly profitable and commercially viable without subsidies. Hence, they would have gone ahead without CER revenues and therefore are not additional and can’t be registered.

These projects are said to have been able to avoid 3.8 million tonnes of co2 by 2012, equivalent in value to 44 million euros. They boasted investors such as U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs , Japanese government agency NEDO, Dutch firm Essent Energy Trading and UK-based Climate Change Capital.

The EB also announced that to promote the uptake of CDM projects in developing countries, it will not require registration fees until the first CERs are issued. The EB will not require registration fees at all for least developed countries. In 2009, the UN made over 57 million dollars in CDM revenues.

Having studied the CDM in detail and listened to the EB's panel Q&A session in Copenhagen, it is clearly apparent that the EB is overloaded, overworked, and literally being gamed. How they are supposed to give technical decisions on complex technologies spanning sectors such as energy, waste, transport, forestry and land-use is beyond me. They are also NOT on site and have to rely on "evidence" on paperby project developers and "independent verifiers" who are paid by the project developers(!). One can easily forget too that they are also human and need to go home at the end of the day.

For all it's flaws, I'm still a fan of the CDM and love the general concept. I'd liken the CDM to Apple's itunes or iphone app store, where literally thousands of developers wanna get on it, get noticed and profit! However each application need to be quality screened at the end of the day by a man at desk, and I can understand how this can frustrate and infuriate developers, who yearn for an open platform to serve the market. In the case of Apple, what drives this vertical approach is Steve Job's obsession with Apple quality. It may actually make more money if it simply said yes yes to all developers. However, control of content is something that Apple holds dear. Unlike Apple, in the case of CDM, the vertical approach is a MUST because the reason why CDM exists is to benefit the environment, and not the developers, the UN, the consumers. This is why, even if the decisions may be perplexing or lacking in transparency, I in general support the EB. They are doing their best to assess additionality, avoiding being gamed, understand the technologies. They are doing this for the sake of environmental intergrity, which is why the CDM exists. Any mistakes or underperformance that results is a product of flaws or undercapacity of elements in the system, but not with the system itself. Apple, for instance, is so capacitated that there are now over 140, 000 apps for iphones, all having been checked by Apple staff. There is so much content that it beats hands down Google's open-sourced Android which has around 10,000 apps. If the EB was as well resourced as Apple, imagine the environmental benefits that could ensue if over 140, 000 CDM "additional" projects are registered. This is what we should be arguing about, not the individual injustices of each individual project.

And until someone can come up with a better idea of pumping 6.5 billion dollars of PRIVATE sector money into the environment in 5 years, than I want whole heartedly for the CDM to stay, despite all its flaws.

Carbon Markets Round-up

As of February 19, 2010, EU ETS EUAs are trading at 12.52 euros at the European futures exchange, and secondary CERs at 11.15 euros. These remain at depressed prices due to the economic downturn and the failed talks at Copenhagen. Looking ahead, analysts agree that the prices are set to level at similarly low levels.

Finally settling in

I've settled to life in London, no more feeling like a tourist and wanting to explore every weekend, every evening.

Work is repetitive but not monotonous. Work is challenging but not scary and stressful. When I put my sports shoes on and go to work, I feel energised and ready. I also feel blessed that I can afford to have balance in life.

Workmates are passionate but not never angry. People here are polite, work smartly and with purpose. I really like it. It's been a dream environment for me compared to my last place. And having had that experience serves as constant reminders of how lucky I am to be in my situation.

Of course money wise my salary is not flash. If I had stayed steady in law, banking or anything else for that matter in Australia from the time of gradution till now, I'd be making much more money. But I know I wouldn't be happy in Australia. There was just no game breaker there. Nothing there that could change your life. I may have continued living in a dark hole for the rest of my life. For that I'm so glad I ventured outwards, though often directionless, all these years. And I'm really appreciative of mum and dad for allowing me.

Not that I don't care about money, nor my personal finances. Just a pity that I've only started to take some serious interest now. In the UK, there is a new government policy intended to inentivise savings, called the ISA (Investment Savings Acount). This is a cap of 7200 pounds per year where any income made off it (capital gains or interest) is completely tax free!

So I've really deicided to take advantage and save the full amount this year. In an ISA, you can choose between savings or investment accounts. There is a cap of 3600 for a savings account, which is a no brainer so i've stashed that away already with someone. The interesting part is picking an investment account, basically ivnestment funds that invests on your behalf in bonds, corporate bonds, gilts, equities, property, and host of other financial instruments. This is the setor that's made the UK so strong these years. They've been the hub for rich people from all over the world to put their money and to place their global bets.

Having researched the world of ISA, I really can't work out what's the catch. The clear play are the emerging market funds, which seems like an absolute no-brainer.

http://www.moneyspider.com/Best-ISA-Funds.asp

Can't for the life of me see any sense in the conventional wisdom that UK funds are more stable than the emerging market funds. I don't see the UK economy bouncing back this year. And something fundamentally something needs to change in the structure of the economy to make it move again. Apart from the English language and the established financial structure (which has collapsed), I can't see any areas in the UK with distinct international advantages. Not in technology, education, science, manufacturing, creativity, or services.

In saying that, London will forever be one of the biggest hub cities in the world to live and do business. It's amazing what's just around the corner when you live in London. Just having watched the Manchester v Arsenal game with some friends last Sunday, we bumped into Matt Damon on the red carpet for his new movie Invidus. He was literally 3 feet away from me, a God-like Hollywood star alive and standing in front of me. He seemed so normal, like any guy off the street, but he's the man that's been on my screens for countless movies since I was a teenager. It was amazing, and only in London would Matt Damon suddenly show up in front of me, instead of the other way around!

Cap and Trade is dead, and I'm Glad

Cap and Trade in the US is dead for 2010, and most likely forever, following the election of a Republican today in the seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy. This means the democrats no longer hold a super majority of 60 seats (60 to 59) in the senate, therefore making their health and climate reforms that much harder to pass. It isn't really that the one seat will make all the difference, just that Kennedy's was such a safe democrat seat that the democrats will be gun shy to put out any unpopular bills, especially one as complicated and contentious (1000+ pages) as the cap and trade.

I'm glad the cap and trade is dead. Originally I had been in favour of it but now i just don't see the point. The whole argument behind cap and trade was that it would be more politically acceptable to the public than a tax, which has been proven blatantly wrong. Second argument is that it guarantees year on year reductions in GHG, whereas the tax doesn't. Well, since when did the US ever cared about GHG reductions anyway. If anything can actually get the climate agenda moving, it would be worlds better than endless talk over insignificant GHG reductions.

So goodbye cap and trade...and hello....something else....anything!

I'm really loving living and working in London. It's not that I love the city...I really don't. For example, I've boycotted the tube because they've hiked up the price twice in a month...and the service and conditions has gotten worse and worse. One time, my friend even vomitted in the tube....I really don't blame him because it's so stuffy inside. I've also been fined 25 pounds on a bus because I had forgotten to swipe in (it was freezing and snowing that morning, I was off in my own little world).

This week, I started wearing sneakers to work, leaving my boots in the office to change when I come in. It then ocurred to me I didn't really need to bring a bag either. So today, I just ended up jogging home. It took just 35 minutes, and was really relaxing actually. Happy to say that my two legs was more efficient than both the tube and the bus, as I arrived home at 6:10pm, which is the earliest ever since coming to London.

I really love the freedom I have to do whatever I please. This would be unthinkable during my times in Osaka.

2010, year of no expectations

2008-09 was a year of hope for me. The election of Obama, Australia and US's cap-and-trade, and of course Copenhagen. For a new-entrant into the carbon/clean tech space, it was a period of endless excitement, optimism and enthusiasm.

As time rolled by, I feel like I've been duped. Or rather, I was just a baby re-learning what old veterans had already experienced. What I thought were giants tsunamis that were about to sweep through the shore were in fact just gentle waves, nothing special. These days, when I hear about new carbon legislation proposals, UNFCCC meetings, carbon projects and so forth, I think about how unlikely it will reach its stated objectives, the political barriers forthcoming, and the negligible impact it will incur in any event. In other words, I'm pretty much jaded.

I spend more of my time these days following business and financial news, the electronics industry and the energy industry in general.

I guess the biggest news for me this month has been the release of Google's Nexus One, Lenovo's sleek and potentially game chaning hybrid slate/netbook, GM's release of the Chevy Volt, and Google's threat to unfilter its content in China and its threat to leave operations there.

As for the carbon world, the British government's decision to license out rights to build 6000 offshore wind turbines stands out. The problem is, apart from the unprecedented engineering challenge ahead, this will turn out to be probably the biggest outsourcing exercise the world has seen. Although some of the winning contractors are British utlities, I envision all of the components and logistics will be produced and serviced by German and Scandanavian companies. There are only 2 manufacturers of offshore wind turbines in the world and they are both German. I just don't see how to British will make any inroads in terms of manufacturing and logistics support. I do see them providing "advice" and "consultancy", consisting of reports hoping for others to do something, as well as fitting a large chunk of the cash, probably a large portion through the taxpayer.

In the world of CDM, no real news since the controversial rejection of the Chinese wind farms. The market has pretty much stalled, with EUA prices hovering around the 12 euro mark not helping either. At this rate Kyoto will be dead by 2012, which means that demand will probably only come from the EU ETS post 2012. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but huge risks still remain. Recently, Poland successfully won a case against the EU's imposition of a hard cap on its industries. Whether the EU will buckle down and enforce auctioning of permits is going to be a highly politically sensitive hurdle.

Job wise, things are going ok. Although I know I can be more efficient, creative and think outside the box more. A lot of it is about putting myself in the mind frame that I'm in fact the entrprenuer running the joint, the big decisions are mine, what would I do? And also, putting myself as the final client and customer, and what would they think if they read my work? Suddenly, there is more cutting edge to my work.

On the kendo front, I am going to grade for Nidan in Ireland this February. Am feeling confident. Will pull through. It's made me more keen to go to trainings, and has really focused my efforts.

Food and health wise, am eating well, mostly veges, cereals, fruits, nuts, fish and water. I do on a weekly occasion treat myself to something guilty : P.

On the personl side, I'm happy to announce to the world that I've finally found my soul mate Cici, a partner who I can enjoy all of life's beautiful offerings with.