Life in Manchester

Looking back at time, I realise I been in Manchester for 3 weeks now. Things had been great with only a few bits of problem but well I guess that is what makes life interesting. Since arriving, I notice that there is a lot of similarity between Manchester and Singapore. The people are friendly and very warming. If any of you think Singaporeans are not friendly and warming well maybe because of the looks. All Singaporeans I have know are very nice indeed but due to the pressure and hectic lifestyle it is understandable why one seldom see a smile on their face.

Other than people, there is also the traffic, supermarkets, shopping malls and other small things. Well for traffic we also drive on the left side, there is also the three colours use in the traffic light which serves the same purpose. Oh one thing the pedestrian crossing is not very friendly so it is very common to jay walk. I have not seen any wet market like those in Singapore but there are quite a lot of big supermarkets around where I live as well as in the city centre. They to are the same except you might find it that they also price their products with rates such as 2.3pounds per litre of beer even when u are buying a four pack which may cost say 4pounds. This does really help consumers to compare prices across the different supermarket. For those news article that you have been seeing in Singapore regarding cutting down the use of plastic bags. Well just to let you know Britain is not what some may think. They also serve their customers with plastic bags freely. There is really only one that I come across that requires you to pay for the bags. But their stuff is really cheap and good man. I also have a chance to visit the America supermarket giant “wall-mart” but it is known as ASDA in UK. To me it sounds Indian dun know why. Their only characteristic is that they have a huge car park in front of their mart. Like the one at “Giant” in IMM.

Today I just visit Cheshire Oaks a shopping mart somewhere just below Liverpool. Over here that are like up to 60+ retail shops (single story) that sell mainly clothes and other stuff such as cookery, chocolates, books and etc. These shops are divided into three main zones which encapsulate the carpark. After been to three different shopping malls, this is by far the cheapest a Briton can get his share of branded goods. Cause all shops are offering up to 50-70% discount of their normal retail price. Even so, it is not cheaper than those we can find in Singapore. However their formal wear for guys and the ladies are very nice. I have not seen something like that before in Singapore would like to buy but it cost about S$300 which is the cheapest. But to sum things up things at Singapore are better and cheaper but after a quick check on the standard of living, Manchester has a lower standard of living compare to Singapore. How do I measure? Well I have seen their job ads and they earn about the same amount of pay as us per annum. But their clothes, groceries and public transport is much cheaper than those in Singapore. Imagine that you can pay 2 dollars a week to take unlimited number of bus rides including night rider. When did SBS provide something like that?

For their petrol is like 91.9 pence per litre and 94.9 pence litre for diesel. For Singapore, petrol cost like 1.8 dollars per litre before I left for Manchester. Not to mention cars which are so much cheaper since they dun need COE. Wha talking about cars, I have seen 2 Lamborghinis, 2 or 3 Porsches, a fleet of Ferrari’s since their sales office is just behind the school. There are also a lot of mini coopers and different types of coupes as well. There is a well mix of varieties on the road over here as compare to in Singapore where you mainly see Japanese cars, followed by those merc, BMW and etc. Although their life style may seems very colourful, but trust me I think Singapore maybe better since it is better orgainse and has better maintain buildings and streets.

We know to get first class in UK is easy cause it only requires only 70 or 75% and above but after seeing how the lecture is being conducted, I change my though. I though I will never see chalk boards system anymore but guess not since they are still using it to teach in uni over here. Actually it is really interesting to see their chalk boards. Cause their can scroll up and down like your browsers to create a page feeling. Oh yah since it is a chalk board system, it also means you have to copy and make you own notes from scratch. Is it not interesting? For those slightly more advance lecturers, they will use OHP. So it means there will be a lot of transparency used right. But I saw another brilliant device which is like those old cassette tape. Where the user rolls the transparency from the top to the bottom. So you will have constant supply of clean transparency till the end of the roll. The advantage is that there is no more of those overlapping or falling of transparency which is so problematic. If possible will try to have a picture of it and show it on my blog. Now that is what I will say how simple innovation can improve our lives better. But really studying here is really very independent. Unlike Singapore where lecture notes are provided and being studied for in the exams. Over here it seems to me there is a need for a lot of reading so I guess I better get started if not I will start to lag behind.