broadband, as always, lags down depending on the pressure on each exchange. meaning, the more people using the same broadband in ur area, the heavier the load will be. me? since i live where most old people/family lives (not in student concentrated area), my 2mb virgin media really feels 2mb all the time .

wait, ur broadband is using cable or phone line?

cant u just dload whenever u sleep? that's what i do most of the time. before i go to bed, i start the dload queue, and switch it to auto shutdown when finished. so u can dload after 11pm unattended.

for accommodation in london, dont expect to see anything below GBP75pw in zone 1 and 2. and please bear in mind, london is huge. from one end to another is roughly from KL to seremban. zone 2 is roughly in the range of 20-45 minutes to central london by bus depending which area u're going, so if u're staying outside zone 2 (3-6), u're really staying quite far away. it's not worth it if u convert the expenditure for transport. atleast u still can cycle from zone 2 to school, but not zone 3. especially not in winter .

my suggestion is to find accommodations in zone 2. it's cheaper than zone 1 and not that far away.

i cant give the latest estimation on the expenses for u bcoz i dont live in london anymore, but 3 years ago i survived in london with GBP425 a month including accommodations. things u need to cover are:

i. electricity
ii. heating
iii. water
iv. internet
v. food
vi. phone/mobile
vii. london transport
viii. academic related (photocopying, printing, stationaries etc)



en suite basically says that the bathroom is inside/attached to the room. standard suite means u have a shared bathroom in a flat, apartment or hall. personal wash basins are a cultural thing. remember that the british dont bath as often as we asians do, so usually they just wash their face and all.

part time jobs are easy to get, but equally easy to lose it as well. the pay arent as high as most expects, bcoz as a student u're stuck with a maximum limit of 20 hours per week. meaning if u earn GBP5 per hour, u could only earn GBP100 per week. u think that's alot? wait till u see how much u need to spend .

while talking about accommodation rents, u may encounter rents quoted per week and per month. what is the difference?

outside the big cities like london and birmingham, rents are often quoted per month. meaning there are 12 months per year, so if ur rent is GBP400 per month, it would accumulate GBP4800 per year.

but in the big cities, rents are always quoted per week. lets say ur rent is GBP100 per week, u might think it accumulates to GBP4800 per year, assuming each month has 4 weeks. but u'd be wrong. there are 52 weeks in a year, meaning u'll be paying GBP5200 per year, that's one extra month of rent! it's not a trick, but a reasonable quote in the property business.

and when it does rain heavily, sheffield pun banjir... LOL

well, i live 50metres from a flood-risk zone. does that count?

when u send parcels, ALWAYS ask for proof of postage. always.

sure.

whassup?

1st class recorded is the same service with 1st class standard, only that it is recorded to keep track on the delivery and later needs to be signed by the receiver. u can track it online with recorded delivery, but not with standard.

he probably meant for letters. 1st class standard letters are posted in the mailbox. those exceeding certain weight or size will be taken in at the counter and using a printed sticker stamp rather than paste stamp.

oits, anyone going to notts games 1 december?

u do know that the last time the exchange rate is +- 5.50 is 10 years ago, right? LOL

anyways, this is nottingham games blog.

i studied in london between 2003-2004.

1. i suppose GBP10k per year should be enough to cover the basic necessities and all study needs. but i'm not sure it'll cover anything extra like having satellite or cable TVs, shopping, mabuk2, jalan2 and all that. maybe if u homecook or cutoff on several luxuries like always changing mobile phones etc.

2. i was sponsored by JPA/SLAB under UTM contract, which covered 100% of the fees plus GBP500 monthly allowance. it comes with a 4 year contract with UTM, which is just another year to go .

that's probably bcoz they dont hang their phones out on their belts like we malaysians do hahahhaa!

adding to that, eye tests alone cost about GBP15-17, and u cant make new pair of glasses without prescription. i think there's one company having free eye test for christmas, but only if u buy a pair from them. but if u're under NHS, then u could get the eye test free.

yeah... i decline too

i'm studying architecture education for my PhD in sheffield.

i could share with u anything u wanna know about UCL. i studied for my masters there back in 2003/2004.

my wife uses orange. no problem, just now chatting all morning...

it might just be the cell in ur area is down. try and get outside of ur normal cell area.