Kidzania London

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

It's been so long!!! Thank you for still reading my blog! haha

I have a good one to share with you guys. I went to a place where no adults have been before (expect for parents and staff, of course). It's Kidzania!!

I came across the event online and instantly booked the tickets. I didn't even think twice. The event was exclusive for adults only and starts from 7.30pm to 12 midnight. 

Of course, wanting to experience everything, I didn't manage to capture it all. But you can check it out here in my youtube channel. 

Enjoy!

What's up so far

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

I know you want me to continue with my big apple stories, but before we get to that, let me tell you what has been going on so far. 

1) I have passed my Late Stage Review!!

This is by far the biggest news. If you don't know about PhD, or specifically PhD at Imperial College London (ICL), we need to go through two different assessment levels. The first one is after 9 months of registration, there's the Early Stage Assessment or some people might call it as PhD upgrade. That is when you need to defend your project, sometimes a proposal, presenting your initial data (if you have any). So the late stage review comes after 18-24 months for ICL students. Here, they will assess your progress, your future work, whether they think you will finish on time. Some people call this transfer. Meaning that if you pass, you'll continue as a PhD candidate. If not, they might either transfer you to MPhil or stop your registration completely. The harsh way of saying it is that you failed. So I passed it last Tuesday, thankfully. After a year and a half of banging my head on the walls, God knows how much hair I've lost, I finally did it!!

2) One of the people that helped me a lot since the day I've arrived has gone home. 

Another one from the many..many that have gone home before. It felt a bit more lonely in London nowadays. A lot more have finished their studies and gone home. No new postgraduates anymore. I guess the batch after me will be the last one if things don't change in Malaysia anytime soon. 

3) Eid Festival

Because my bestie and I spent our Eid in Lisbon, Portugal this year, we only get to feel the festivities during the Eid festival. This year the festival was sponsored by Lebara. You know how in Malaysia kids will get money packets when they visit, in London, they give you raffles!!! hahaha...I got a selfies stick (awesome!) and my bestie got a mug (boring...=P). But the best part of all, I get to have a selfie with the good Mayor of London, Mr. Sadiq Khan. #pleasebejealous

4) Canada 150th Celebration

The day before the Eid festival, there was another festival, which is the Canadian 150th Celebration. My bestie has been in Canada, so I'm a bit jealous of that. Even if I haven't been there, at least I get to taste a lot of their food, such as the maple syrup waffles, cookies and even drink! 

5) Royal Naval College Painted Hall

This was the most recent, but I've bought the ticket months before. The painted hall in the Royal Naval College in Greenwich is undergoing restoration (they prefer conservation) work from July to September this year. They haven't done this in 60 years. So while the people doing the work trying to conserve the paintings, they also open tours for people to go up and look at the paintings up close. If you have been to the painted hall before, you'd know that the paintings are from top to bottom. So with this tour, you get a chance to see it up close (if you're tall enough, you can even touch it; but not recommended since the oil from our hand may destroy the paint). They hope this conservation work will last for another 100 years. So if you miss this, just pray you'll live for another 100 years to see it. The Times magazine calls it as a once in a lifetime experience. 

The tour costs £11 per person. You need to wear hard hats and reflective vests for safety since it is a working site. You'll go up about 70 steps while the guide tells you stories about the paintings. The painted hall was painted by Sir James Thornhill. You'll be amazed by the accuracy and the detail of the painting. One particular example; there is a painting of a date of an event occurring a year ahead of its time. Meaning that their astronomy at the time was so accurate, they can paint it a year ahead. 

There are a lot more stories behind it, you should go and have a listen and look at the paintings yourselves.

It has been an eventful month. But the month has not ended just yet.

Until next time...

Mengambil lesen di bumi England.

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته dan selamat sejahtera semua!

Pertama kali untuk saya menulis dalam bahasa ibunda secara penuh!

Alkisahnya adalah berkenaan proses yang saya lalui untuk mengambil lesen di sini, di bumi United Kingdom. 

Setelah dua tahun menetap di sini, saya bernekad untuk mengambil lesen di sini selepas tamat tempoh lesen Malaysia bagi memudahkan urusan sekiranya terdapat hal2 yang menyebabkan saya perlu untuk memandu (manalah tahu sekiranya ada kecemasan satu hari nanti), lebih mudah sekiranya saya sudah ada lesen di sini. Untuk pengetahuan semua, lesen Malaysia boleh digunakan untuk memandu di sini, tetapi hanya layak untuk digunakan selama setahun. Sekiranya lebih dari itu, boleh dikenakan saman, atau ada kes saya pernah dengar, kereta mereka ditarik oleh polis dan mereka terpaksa menaiki kenderaan awam. Kalau di tengah perkampungan jadi macam ni, apalah jadi agaknya??!

Lesen L

Maka bermulalah proses mencari bagaimanakah cara untuk memohon lesen. Kalau di Malaysia, untuk mendapat lesen L, perlu hadir ke kelas teori dan menduduki ujian teori. Bila dah lulus, maka dapatlah lesen L (percubaan).

Di sini pula, lesen L (provisional) boleh dipohon melalui atas talian. Isi borang dan masukkan maklumat yang patut. Cuma mereka memerlukan passport original bagi mereka yang bukan warganegara. Dalam masa tiga minggu, dapatlah lesen L. Nampak mudah bukan? Lesen L ni ada banyak pantang larang mak nenek dia. Tak boleh memandu di atas lebuhraya (motorway), perlu ada pelekat L di kereta yang dipandu, sekiranya ada penumpang, perlu ada yang sudah mempunyai lesen penuh dan banyak lagi.

Ujian Teori

Untuk mendapatkan lesen penuh pula, perlu mula dengan ujian teori. Ujian teori di sini bagi saya susah. Mungkin sebab ada peraturan jalan raya mereka yang berlainan, atau mungkin ujian mereka tersangatlah terperinci. Jarak antara kereta (dalam meter/kaki) bila hujan, panas, salji, banyak lagi. Bila ada kemalangan, orang cedera disebabkan terbakar, apa patut buat? Kalau berdarah bagaimana pula? Bila ada kecemasan atas jalan raya, apa patut buat? Bila ada kuda atas jalan pun kena tahu apa yang perlu dibuat. Tu antara soalan yang ada. Tiada soalan untuk tengok buta warna seperti di Malaysia (yang pada saya segmen yang paling mudah dalam ujian teori). Multiple choice questions adalah segmen pertama.

Untuk segmen kedua, diberikan ujian yang dipanggil hazard perception test. Ujian ini berbentuk video yang memberikan visual ketika memandu. Calon perlu mengenal pasti sebarang perkara bahaya yang kemungkinan boleh berlaku, dan markah akan diberikan pada 'potential hazard' yang akan menyebabkan seseorang perlu bertindak samada memberhentikan kenderaan atau beralih arah. Contohnya bila ada orang secara tiba2 keluar simpang, atau bila ada kereta yang park di tengah jalan. Sama seperti main permainan komputer, calon perlu tekan pada 'hazard' tersebut, sekiranya terlalu awal atau lambat, markah yang diberikan adalah sedikit (1 contohnya). Sekiranya calon menekan berkali-kali, 'hazard' tersebut akan dikira sebagai 'foul' dan calon tidak akan diberikan markah. Calon akan diberikan masa sebelum ujian untuk berlatih dengan menggunakan visual latihan.

Apa yang menariknya untuk ujian kedua ini, visual yang diberikan seolah2 dari kamera hd yang betul2 ditangkap dari kenderaan yang sebenar, sedangkan ia hanyalah rekaan grafik yang dibuat seperti dalam permainan The Sims. Setiap detail walhal sekecil-kecil perkara seperti bekas air atas jalan raya pun dibuat dengan teliti sehingga visual dilihat seakan-akan benar.

Ujian teori ni boleh diambil untuk berlatih di atas talian. Cuba lah banyak kali sehingga dapat pass. Markah pass untuk ujian teori agak tinggi iaitu 43/50 untuk bahagian pertama dan 44/75 untuk bahagian kedua.

Di tempat ambil ujian teori, proses untuk menduduki ujian sangat ringkas dan cepat, tetapi ketat. Selepas mendaftar, perlu meletakkan semua barang peribadi ke dalam loker berkunci. Kemudian akan diberikan komputer. Masa menjawab bagi ujian akan bermula bila calon mula menjawab. Untuk ujian teori, saya terpaksa ambil dua kali kerana gagal kali pertama dengan kekurangan dua markah sahaja!!! 

Ujian Praktikal

Untuk ujian praktikal pula, sekiranya anda tidak mempunyai kenderaan sendiri, anda perlu berdaftar dengan mana-mana syarikat yang latihan memandu. Di sini, tempat ujian tidak menyediakan kenderaan sepertimana di Malaysia. Calon perlu hadir ke tempat ujian dengan kenderaan sendiri atau kenderaan syarikat latihan memandu yang dipilih. Disebabkan ada ramai 'senior' di sini yang pernah mengambil lesen, saya dapatkan maklumat syarikat yang mereka gunakan, maka berkenalanlah saya dengan Anthony, tenaga pengajar saya. 

Saya mendaftar untuk mengambil dua kali latihan (3 jam setiap satu) sahaja kerana bayaran yang agak mahal iaitu sebanyak £20 sejam! Kereta syarikat yang digunapakai Anthony adalah Mini Cooper jenis manual kerana saya akan mengambil ujian kereta manual. Ini kerana sekiranya saya mengambil ujian memandu kereta automatik, saya tak boleh menyewa kereta manual kerana maklumat ini akan diletakkan di atas lesen nanti dan harga sewaan kereta automatik lebih mahal berbanding kereta manual. 

Mengambil ujian semula selepas bertahun terbiasa dengan cara pemanduan sendiri adalah agak sukar. Perlu lupakan kebiasaan dan berlatih semula untuk memandu dengan cara yang betul, lebih-lebih lagi bab pusing stereng, toleh kiri/kanan sebelum signal dan banyak lagi! 

Pada hari ujian, saya pun pandulah kereta Anthony ke tempat ujian (dalam 20 minit dari rumah). Tiba giliran saya, nama saya pun dipanggil untuk ikut pemeriksa ke kereta. Dalam perjalanan, pemeriksa suruh berhenti di tepi, lihat kereta yang diletakkan di seberang jalan (lebih 100 meter dari tempat saya berdiri) dan disuruh untuk baca nombor plat kereta. Kemudian sambil kami berjalan, pemeriksa tanya soalan2 seperti bagaimana nak tau kedudukan 'head rest' yang betul, bagaimana nak tau 'hazard light' berfungsi. Semua soalan ni Anthony sudah maklumkan pada saya untuk ulang kaji beberapa hari sebelum ujian dengan video ini.

Selepas tiba di kereta, ada seorang pakcik berdiri berdekatan dengan kereta mengucapkan selamat maju jaya pada saya. Bila pemeriksa lihat saya sudah bersedia, dia memberikan arahan untuk saya pandu (at the junction, turn right, then turn left. Drive until the end of the road and turn left). Bahagian ini dinamakan 'independant driving' di mana pemeriksa akan berikan arahan sebelum memandu. 

Selepas arahan pertama yang diberikan, pemeriksa ujian akan berikan arahan contohnya untuk belok ke kanan/kiri, keluar lorong kedua dalam bulatan dsb. Bahagian ini dipanggil 'instructed driving', di mana calon perlu peka dengan arahan pemeriksa, lebih2 lagi bila pemeriksa suruh ikut jalan sekian-sekian, maka calon perlu peka dengan papan tanda jalan. 

Sampai di jalan yang agak kecil, pemeriksa akan menyuruh untuk berhenti di tepi jalan. Kemudian buat salah satu 'maneuver' samada 'three-point turn', 'side parking' atau 'reverse into a corner'. Pemeriksa menyuruh saya untuk buat 'three-point turn'. Saya masih ingat semasa belajar dengan Anthony, dia menyuruh saya untuk buat 'side parking' tanpa memberikan apa2 tips sebelum itu. Saya dengan yakinnya buat cara sebagaimana kebiasaannya. Dia buka pintu untuk pastikan kedudukan kereta. Dengan kagum dia bertanya bagaimana saya pastikan kereta dalam kedudukan tersebut sebab parking yang saya buat adalah perfect. hahahaha...bangga sikit. tapi bila nak ulang kali kedua dah tak jadi. Maka, perlu untuk saya tau tips yang betul supaya setiap kali saya buat, kedudukan kereta akan tepat. 

Ada salah satu 'maneuver' yang tidak semua pemeriksa akan suruh buat iaitu 'emergency brake', di mana pemeriksa hanya akan ketuk 'dashboard' dengan kuat sebagai signal untuk berhenti mengejut. Kemudian calon perlu tahu apa yang perlu dibuat seterusnya, contohnya untuk neutralkan gear, tarik handbrake dsb. 

Bila hampir tiba di tempat ujian (tempat kami bermula), saya perasan pemeriksa tulis sesuatu atas kertas. Bila jeling sikit, nampak tulisan pass certificate. Masa tu dah rasa gembira yang amat. Nasib baik masih fokus untuk memandu dan berhenti dengan cara yang sepatutnya. Alhamdulillah...saya lulus! Ikut fakta dari majalah yang saya baca semasa menunggu, kadar kelulusan ujian praktikal di sini hanya 40%!! Alhamdulillah...syukuuuuuuur...

Selepas tamat, pemeriksa tanya samada nak lesen dihantar ke rumah atau ambil di pejabat, dan saya pilih untuk dihantar ke rumah. Bila pilih untuk dipos, pemeriksa akan ambil lesen L. Lesen akan dihantar dalam masa dua minggu. 

Maka, berposing lah saya depan kereta Anthony dengan pass certificate. Tapi tak jumpa pula gambar dia ambil. Malu pula untuk nak minta semula. haha...maka, gambar orang lain sajalah letak dalam ni.

Sampai situ sahaja buat kali ni. Silalah baca post saya yang lain.

The Battle of Hastings

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

1066 is the year marking one of the important event in the English History which is the Battle of Hastings. It marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era.

To know about where it all began. Let's watch this story telling using a map and veggies!!

The next part of the story had to be written since it was still raining when the guy continued, so I didn't want to soak my phone. 

So after Harold was offered the throne of England, William was furious since Harold promised that he would be offered the crown, and since Harold made a promise while holding the sacred bones, it was like he had broken a promise to God as well. William told the pope and the pope wasn't very happy with this. 

Other than Duke William of Normandy contesting to the throne, there was also Harald Hardrada of Norway, and Harold's brother, Tostig joined forces with Harald after he was exiled. To make this story short, the Saxon faced threat from the north (Norway) and south (Normans). The battle with the Norway occur in East York which called the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25th September 1066. After winning that battle, Harold lead his army towards the south to fight the Normans that had landed at Pevency in Sussex.

Well, the short version is the Saxon was defeated by the Normans and Duke William became the new King of England. This important event gave a lot of changes to the English history and gave birth to new things such as the monastery, cathedrals and many more. Read more here.

Since the troops of King Harold stopped in London for a week before heading towards Hastings, this march also camped here in Hyde Park (it wasn't for a week though, only a day). And the rest was history, literally. 

During this reenactment of the historic event, there were demonstrations on pottery making, the medieval version of medicine (more like witch doctors), blacksmith, leather stitching, shoe making and many more. Everything was authentic and as it was used during those days.

It was a great way to learn about the English history and heritage. 

I've written this last year when the event was held, but it was left in my draft for so long, until a few week ago, someone reminded me of it. That person shared a rather interesting history of England, where the natives of this place are actually the Celts. During 55 BC, the Romans, led by Julius Caesar first invaded Britain and forced the Celts to where they are now (Ireland, Scotland and Wales). 

After the Roman empire invaded Britain, the German tribe called the Anglo-Saxons gave a threat and wanted to invade Britain, which they did from the 5th to 11th century. That era is known as early medieval England. As mentioned in the video, the chronology of these events were retrieved from Bayeux Tapestry, such as this.

 England is one of the country that is rich in history. Even if you don't really like history so much, it'll be a waste not to know the past.

“Study the past if you would define the future.” ― Confucius

Until next time..

Weekend @ Camden

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

One weekend, my bestie and I just itches to go somewhere to vent and release after all the labwork that we did. I saw a video on Facebook before about cronuts (croissants+donuts and ice cream!!!) by the Dum Dum Donutteries, which when I checked in Google, they are located at Camden Market.

So we went there, with the hope of finding the cronuts, as it is summer, gorgeous weather for it. Before that...about the market.

How to describe Camden Market?? I have one word. Awesome!

Camden market is so unique in so many ways, from having the most out of the box-futuristic things such as the Cyberdog... 

To the very old and classic stuff such as this cute little jukebox and record player.

Hipster? They may love this place. Maybe....It's filled with vintage, handmade, classic stuff. 

There are many tunnels, nooks and crannies locating various stalls.

This is one of the vintage stalls where the jukebox is. There's also cameras from the victorian era. I'm serious! They are still functioning!

My grandma used to have this radio. I wonder what happened to it.

This is my favourite!!! haha...what are the odds of me bumping into this. Definitely going to buy one before I go back home.

More stores...more alleys. You can get lost in this market.

A very productive way of recycling your old shirts. huhu....

They have loads of cafes here. This is where you come to find street food. Malaysia's food is here too!! But our main reason is to find the cronuts.

In the end, we found out the DumDum Donutterie  at Camden has been shut down and that they've moved to Shoreditch. We felt bummed, but we didn't want to go back in vain, so I found another place which I watched a video previously as well called the Cereal Killer Cafe.

This cafe only serves cereals from around the globe (mostly the UK and the States).

The menu...

These are some of the choices. There are three sizes of bowls to choose from. People often became overwhelmed with the choice that they have to make. Being an impulsive person that I am, my bestie and I picked our choices in a second. haha....

I chose the Cinnabon and I add some strawberries with whole milk, while my bestie chose Hershey's chocolate cereal with chocolate milk and Oreos. They made their own chocolate milk by adding chocolate sauce in the whole milk. Smart!

This is the inside. The TV between the crates showed some oldies morning shows, makes you feel like a kid eating breakfast again. The TV at the far left is showing Johnny Bravo if anyone still remembers. haha....

I love the decor inside the store, but the lighting can be improved since it's a bit gloomy. 

More cereals being displayed. There's Dunkin' Donut cereal!! I would buy some if it's still around. 

Paying for a bowl of cereal. Who would have thought we would see the day. 

Here's the video from Time Out London. 

It's more of a 'try it once' kind of place. It's sure is unique. 

Until next time...

Car Boot for Charity

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

I just recently moved to a new house. The new house is a bit smaller than the previous one (you can refer to here for my previous house), so we needed to let go a lot of our stuff. Plus, a friend of mine gave a bunch of winter coats and clothes that other people left at her house.  

What can be a better idea than selling them at car boot and gave all the money for charity? huhu...so we did just that. 

My bestie searched for car boot sales around London area and found one at Battersea. There are some nearer to us, but their website wasn't updated as compared to the one in Battersea. The car boot in Battersea is one of the largest one in central London. It is held every Sunday. We booked a slot for £25/car, and told to arrive at a specific time.

We arranged with another friend of ours since we don't have a car of our own. Thanks to K.Sarah, we get to experience selling at a car boot.

As we arrive, there were already many cars lined up. The management was so good and kind. They helped to align each car perfectly and even apologized for the delay when we were waiting in line.  

Most of these stuff weren't even ours. The airbag, some of the clothes, yes, we bought them. The bag, the food processor, we got them for free. The kids clothes are of course my friend's, K.Sarah. 

She even brought along her two daughters to help out. Of course being children, they helped by playing and eating..hahaha...(jangan marah k.sarah. =P)

We managed to sell most of our stuff. The most hot item was cookwares, toys, gadgets, accessories. They finish within the first two hours. Clothing and shoes doesn't sell as quick, but we did manage to sell quite a few.

Of course, other sellers are here as well. Most of them are like us, trying to get some money by getting rid of old stuff. But some are professional sellers that do this for a living.

The car next to us was raising for a charity as well, so we got some competition. hehe...

In the end, we managed to raise £150!!! Alhamdulillah...words can't describe how much I am grateful for this. All the money will be given to Muslim Hands charity to help orphans in the sub-saharan Africa. 

If you would like to help us raise the fund and donate, please email me and I will give you my account details for bank transfer. Thank you in advance.

We will definitely do this again.

Until next time...

Colourful London -Shepherds Bush

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!!

The thing I love about living in London is that, you will see things that are just extraordinary like police on horses, classic cars, and even F1 cars just popped up out of the blue.

This happened a while ago, but I needed to free some space in my dropbox. So rather than deleting it, for safekeeping, upload it to my blog.

My bestie and I were waiting for our bus at Shepherds Bush and suddenly, we saw this F1 car being pulled up into the truck. Well, no need for further explanation than that. 

Just these two guys, heaving and pushing the F1 racer back into the truck. 

Another colourful experience was after a dinner at the embassy, we were walking back to the tube station and saw the England football team bus. They must've been staying at a nearby hotel or something. So, of course it was a chance for photos! haha...If not with the team itself, their bus is a close second. 

Until next time...

Lumiere Festival, London 2016 - Day 2

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!!

Alhamdulillah, we had the opportunity to go to the spots for Lumiere on Sunday, 17th Jan which was the last day of the festival.

We first went to Mayfair area because we missed it on the first day. There were quite a few not-to be-missed installations here.

From Bond Street Station, we went straight to Grosvenor Square Garden. My friend have forgotten the map that we get the day before, so we were just following others that were holding the map. 

As we arrived, there were already a very long queue going into the garden. The first one that we saw was this, called spinning night in living colour by Elaine Buckholtz. This is actually sampled from Van Gogh's painting called All Night Café. 

Next is one of the installation that I looked most forward to, called Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker. Because this display was on the ground (not suspended or on a large display), a lot of people cramped up to see it. Even when we want to take pictures with it, some of them were o rude not to wait and sat down as well. So the pictures turned out really bad because you can't see the lights from the bench which was supposed to be the attraction. Even when I want to take a picture of the bench itself, there was always someone sitting on it, hence the butts pics. 

It was still a gorgeous display though.

This display is called Brothers and Sisters by Ron Haselden. It looked like a child's drawing of their family, being put into lights. That's because it was drawings of school children from the Isle of Dogs, London. Cool!

Just around the corner of the garden, is the installation of Aquarium by Benedetto Bufalino & Benoit Deseille. This was by far the hardest installation to see!!! There's only one, that's one thing. It's located at a curb of a road, that's another issue. Then, all the crowds that gather up, and the people up front that just refused to move on after taking pictures. The guards had to finally take charge and only let 10 seconds of picture taking, only then the crowd started moving and we finally get to see it. It was soooooo beautiful. These are real fishes in the tank made up of the famous London red telephone booth. How creative is that?!?!! After our 10 seconds turn, we walked to another installation as we walked back to the station.

On the way, we saw this bowl of fresh flowers and onions? being displayed outside a bridal shop. hahaha...talk about random.

The next installation was located here. This is actually a garden, called the Brown Hart Garden. There's actually a pretty interesting story how this garden came about. 

The gardens began life as the Duke Street Gardens where a communal garden was laid for what were then working class dwellings in Brown Street and Hart Street.

In 1902, the building of the Duke Street Electricity Substation led to the removal of the street level gardens. The substation was completed in 1905 to the design of C. Stanley Peach in a Baroque style from Portland stone featuring a pavilion and steps at either end, a balustrade and Diocletian windows along the sides to light the galleries of the engine rooms, and deep basements. In order to compensate local residents for the loss of the old communal garden, the Duke of Westminster insisted that a paved Italian garden featuring trees in tubs be placed on top of the substation. It was completed in 1906. The deck of the property was open to the public as an ornamental garden until the 1980s when it was closed by the then lessees, the London Electricity Board.

The dwellings surrounding Brown Hart Gardens were built by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company (founded in 1863) to replace the poor housing that existed previously. In 1888 Moore suggested that tenants of old houses should move into Clarendon Buildings and that inmates of Clarendon Buildings should go into the new blocks, so that 'those who had not been used to a model lodging house would be gradually improved before moving into new buildings'. This was approved, but it cannot have been generally done. Though no figures are available, the rents for those displaced and rehoused were fixed below market value and indeed below what they had paid before, while for newcomers the terms were higher. This was only possible because of the low grounds rents charged by the Duke on all the buildings on both sides of Duke Street, amounting to £502 per annum as against £2,193 for old leases of the same sites. Altogether 332 families were accommodated in the developments of 1886–92.

Together with Clarendon Buildings, this meant that the Duke and the I.I.D.C. had between them settled nearly 2,000 people on the Grosvenor estate in Mayfair.

Since 1973 the blocks have been taken over by the Peabody Trust, and their names changed from 'Buildings' to 'Flats'.

In 2007 plans were announced to revamp the site, and the site was reopened to the public after 20 years of closure in October 2007. In 2012 the gardens were closed for further refurbishment, under supervision of BDP, the architectural consultancy. The new development includes a glass building at the Western end, housing The Garden Café, run by Benugo. The gardens were reopened to the public in June 2013. -Source: Wikipedia

Moving on..the display was called Sanctuary by Sarah Blood where there were displays of birdhouses with background sounds of birds and crickets. 

The sound of birds chirping. But it's not very clear. 

At the same place is the display of Dissect also by Sarah Blood located at the entrance of the garden. 

After Mayfair, we went to King's Cross St. Pancras Station to see the rest of the installations.

As you exit the station towards Pancras Square, you can immediately see one of the displays, along with the information of the location of each displays.

This display is called IFO (Identified flying object) by Jacques Rival. This is because the installation is shaped like a birdcage, and there's a functional swing where people can actually use and have fun with, thus, flying-like action. 

This unusual object is a permanent piece in the King’s Cross area. The IFO Birdcage was originally designed to be positioned in the sky thanks to the crane in the giant building site, and become a monumental luminary above King's Cross. Designed to be a scenographic installation for an urban playing field but also a true light installation expressing an urban message, it finally found its place at the crossroads of the two stations.

Just beside the cage, there's this interesting thing called Poetrics where people say a word to these red circles and that word will be arranged as shown in the picture below and become a unique and individual poetry.

A friend of mine tried, but then her word didn't came up. huhu...Maybe it didn't work as well as we thought. 

The second installation is just at the building near the birdcage called Joining the Dots by Cleary Connolly. The display looked like dotted stick figures doing some kind of exercise. haha...

Further up, we saw the display of dresses by Tae Gon Kim at of the window display.

Pick your poison girls.

There's an installation along the road after the dresses called graffiti. But because it was displayed on the road, a lot of people just walked by or actually stepped on the installation. However, I did managed to get a good picture on our way back.

Because people took a selfie with the installation on their faces, we wanted one too. But it wasn't really clear. haha...oh well...

Further up across the canal, there's a display of the circus by Ocubo on the building. 

Near the canal, another display called Binary Waves by LAB [au]. 

When we first arrived, it just showed this display with minimal movements of the red lines. After we went somewhere else, it showed this

Just love how they display information of the festival. It looked like a book. 

Beside the canal, there's this old boat called Word on the Water. It's actually a used book shop!!

Look at this cute little lady with her beautiful dog just sitting by the fire. So quaint.

You can even go inside. There's more books inside!!

This is a miniature displayed on one of the shelves inside.

My mum used to have this. This is a typewriter for all the young readers out there. I've used this to help her with her work before. Where is it now anyway??

Awww...Jemima Puddle Duck! I used to have this book!! I wanted to buy this book for my niece/nephew, but I didn't brought cash with me. Will have to come back then. haha...Notice the small chair? =D

The old style furnace, old style displays

They even have this books printed form the 1800's. Dickens in the old bindings. Come on! Where else can you find something like this at a place like this??!?!

I'm getting a wee bit excited with all these classic books and old school stuff.

Moving on to Lumiere...This installation is called litre of light by Mick Stephenson. 

You can actually participate in putting one of the bottles that you've coloured/painted into this display. It was quite crowded to go through this 'tunnel' of lights, but at least we were moving.

There were different shapes being displayed as well.

This display is actually for a cause in helping to get lights in places that has no electricity. In helping poverty, sustanability and climate change issues. 

Just outside from the litre of light installation is this solar-dish-look-a-like.

This is most boring I think. It was called Spectra-3 by FIELD.io

It just turns, and sometimes increase the light intensity, with a loud sound on the background like a UFO or something. 

Just outside the building, a bit further up is the last installation (the furthest) at King's Cross.

This installation is called the diver. 

See this guy dive. =P

As we walked to go back to the station, there were a lot of food trucks where you can buy some food. Beside all the food trucks were this dome called KERB. I think it's a disco. I saw a trans lady that were dancing and making others in the dome to join her. hahahaha..

On the way back, we saw another installation of the dress at a display window of a pub/disco.

They were having a private costume party I think. I saw a clown, popeye and even elmo!

Actually, the last installation that we went to is the King's Cross Tunnel where it's located at the passage from King's Cross to St.Pancras station underground. We missed it when we were walking by earlier, but it was a good thing because then we can directly go to the station to catch the tube.

This last installation is called pippette. I was actually looked most forward to this because in the picture, it looked most interesting. But when we came there, it was such a disappointment.

You can barely see the colours as the light might be a little too bright. The worst is when I want to take pictures, my phone acted up and made this lines (this is not the display). It made the display a little bit more interesting though. hahaha...

After a very very very very cold night, we turned in and went back to hibernate.

Until next time...