Nilsson har hund

RT @aliesbati: 1789: C. Husmark Antoinette (M) ger besökare på Stockholmsoperan kakor. Grundlägger sålunda socialförsäkringssystemet. #s …

Beard (in less than a) second: http://t.co/7NuIOfTl

Sherwood!

I was travelling light. Everything I brought with me to England fit in a suitcase, a back pack and a weekend bag. Knowing I had limited means of transportation and no clue on where I would end up in terms of a place to live, I decided to bring as little as possible.

For the first two weeks, the company would provide me with a hotel room. During that time, I was expected to find myself a home. Unfortunately, given my arrival during one of the busiest weeks in the Nottingham housing market, the first week of term, it was nearly impossible to find a decent place anywhere close to work (in the vincinity of Lenton, the student area). So there I was, on the Thursday before the Sunday and the final night at the hotel, having found no housing but instead all the new office bugs and thus a pretty bad cold. I had the day off to go house hunting, starting to feel the panic.

Having arrived from France the week before myself, my new friend and colleague had offered some helpful advise and pointers to the nearby agents. There was apparently a one bedroom flat in Sherwood that he’d seen and liked, but eventually decided against having found something better. It was being offered by an letting agent just down the street from the hotel, so I went to book a viewing. The viewing was in the late afternoon and the agent was kind enought to drive me there. The house itself was an old victorian building, each floor having been made into a flat. The agent led me up a narrow staircase accessed from a side door. It smelled of old house, like at my godmother’s place in Oslo.

Upon entering the top flat I saw the views to the south. I stood in awe.

The views to the south east, about half of the vista

From the big windows shone a brilliant sunlight, illuminating the entire Sherwood valley in front of me. There and then I made my decision. I was unlikely to find anything better in the few days I had left. I wandered around to see the rest of the flat, which seemed to be in decent condition. The same afternoon I applied for the tenancy on a basis of first come first served. Being unable to provide a bank account (as that would require a permanent address) from which to pay the rent, the company had offered to provide the deposit and guarantee the first month of rent.

On that Sunday I moved in. Sat in the sofa provided by the landlord enjoying the sunlight. I felt relieved.

#thankyousteve (and E. Burke) for Simplicity. http://t.co/nlK7QH78

RT @Mark_Levengood: Jaha, nu gick Nobelpriset till en i mitt hus. Håhåjaja. Känner mig förföljd av framgång.

lim(x→0) 1/x

(Source: allcalypso, via juliasegal)

Week off from normal programming duties. Commence science! http://t.co/di7kNjbm

Manual proxy by-pass: working from home.

Year one, part one

Today marks the first anniversary of my life in Nottingham, England. A year ago from now I left the familiar life I had in Umeå, Sweden, to embark on my journey into the unknown. I had been given the opportunity to work abroad and had nothing holding me back. This is the story of a series of unexpected events leading up to this day, told in English to keep some of the key figures of the story in the loop.

Unit ready; Boarding

I arrived at my Nottingham hotel in the late evening, having been picked up from Heathrow by a company paid taxi driver. I had now spent four single trips to and from said airport, querying the drivers as much as I could about my new home while warming up the English of my vocal chords. So, there I was in my hotel room, in the very same room as I had been a month earlier for my job interview. I’d been booked in for two weeks, allegedly enough time to find a more permanent residence in a strange country. Completely exhausted by the journey and the days of preparation that preceded it, I went to bed after finishing my Skagenröra sandwich brought all the way from Arlanda.

I had been told not to turn up at my new workplace until noon. Instead, I spent the morning setting up my base of operations starting with communication devices. I strolled out onto the high street in search for a sim card. Being all new to the town, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some data allowance available for the Google maps. At least that was the plan. A little later, armed with an “unlimited” data plan of 500mb a month by Orange, I set off on a stroll to find the Games Workshop headquarters. My phone still complaining about not being activated, I brought forth my trusty sense of orientation coupled with a mental map of the city centre. High on life, I walked along the canal that would be my main landmark the first couple of weeks, counting the bridges passing overhead. The fourth bridge was close to where I was headed. Unfortunately, I took the wrong turn at its base. Instead of finding the temple of Warhammer that was to become my office, I found myself sitting outside Priory Church, trying to figure out where I was. Still no mobile network. With a little help from a nearby shopkeeper, I was back on track and still not late thanks to setting off early. In the afternoon I officially became a GW employee with a badge and all.

Aside: After another day or two without network, I am finally adviced by Orange that it may take up to 72 hours for the data plan to kick in and only if there is any credit left. Before that all data traffic is charged as roaming. Turns out all my top up money went in the first automatic syncronisation. Thanks.

View from my hotel room on the first day