the foggy common

16 nov 2012

photo from my mobile phone. the common park. southampton.

these photos are from not long ago. it was 12.06pm. 12 degrees celsius. i went for a walk in the common park, which is just neighbours with avenue campus, where i come to do my phd work. it was so foggy and beautiful. 

it was a 35-min walk, not much, but enough to make me feel much better. the park is soo beautiful and well preserved. despite the cold and the fog we see people there alone, with family members, with their dogs, all enjoying the fantastic park. i will miss it forever when i leave it here. fond memories.

a misty morning in the common

7 nov 2012

 
this is the common park. it is misty in this very cold morning. 3.5 degrees celsius when i arrived here today, 7.30am. mysterious and beautiful. i felt like going for a walk there just as i was faced with this rather rare [to me] and inviting scenery. i came to the office instead. maybe later on i will venture in the park.

these two photos show one of the ways to access the park, which is quite large and really really beautiful. it is just a 1-minute walk from the avenue campus, where i work on my research.

a foggy day in soton town

15 mar 2012

beautiful and blossoming spring is in the air; we all know that. also, days have been slightly warmer around here, with some very nice and sunny. it is funny to know the temperature maybe be low, like last night it was 7.5C, but it didn't feel super cold. winter is about to say goodbye but we are still getting these foggy mornings which can be a little chilly and beautiful and romantic. me likey 
this photo i took with my mobile phone this morning, about 7.20am when mike dropped me off here. it is the southampton common park . i love this park and i walk through it nearly every day, as i live and work very near it. mike just texted me to say he had a difficult drive to work because it was really foggy all the way to work, which is now in salisbury, about a 45-minute drive in normal conditions.

manha tao bonita manha

19 may 2011

i went to bed last night thinking of going for a walk at the park this morning. i woke up this morning feeling my life would get stuck if i didn't go for the walk. i checked out the weather: 5 degrees and a beautiful sunshine. for a moment i felt tempted to stay indoors but it was clear to me i needed and did want the walk.

am thankful to the birds singing to me everytime i walk at the park and i feel so much better, i breath fresh air, my digestion improves right away; the list of benefits is endless. i get answers to some puzzles that have been keeping me company, i clear my head.

tao bom caminhar na manha tao bonita manha.

autumn & the lovers' walk

5 nov 2010

this is what the lovers' walk path looks like in these chilly but beautiful autumn days. this passage is on my way to the avenue campus. nature is so inspiring. the whole common has been so beautiful there is no photo to make it justice. our eyes see, our heart feels it, but the camera cannot register the real and breathtaking beauty.

autumn at the common

23 oct 2010

once again the common is getting more colourful and amasingly beautiful with the arrival of autumn. this morning i went for a great walk and was lucky to get some rain. oh My do i love it. breathtaking! this is such a privilege to have this opportunity to live so close to this park, which is my heart with its singing birds. love it. i can't tell how many photos i have of the park. this is one of the many i took this morning.

good morning, gorgeous september sun

2 sept 2010

just came back from an invigorating walk at the common. the sun is shinning outside and it is not cold (13 degrees just now). i walked for 70 minutes. i don't always go fast, i speed up and slow down many times. i see people come and go. i have been descovering new avenues, sometimes literally 'avenues' at the common from my walks, sometimes metaphors for 'avenues' other than the concrete ones but not less important to me.

i walk, i breath, i feel awake, i listen to the birds, i think, i smile, i feel i am having the beginning of a good digestive process because of the moves, and it feels good. today i found a new path. i try to vary the paths i follow but essentially my walks start with no fixed plans, and i like it. sometimes i walk for a while in one direction to then realize i haven't walked for a long time. in this case i go towards other directions, but i don't care really where and for how long, i just understand that sometimes when i 'apparently' feel tired is the moment i am getting mostly warmed up for the activity, and this has kept me going. i love it. i feel very happy.

i will now get ready to go to uni and sort some things out. later on have lunch with my dearly friend Diana, who arrived yesterday from Romania. yey!!!

update at 2.47pm: got back from lunch with Diana at the crown inn at about 2pm. once again, great chat. i am glad my friend is back, but not for long. she's going to new york this coming tuesday and will not be back until the 24th. it is going to be a field work trip for her research. i think she'll also attend a conference.

oh happy sunday

30 may 2010

the common park is so beautiful now with the new season and the amazingly beautiful green leaves on the trees. the birds are singing even more, i suspect. every day i see people who come there for walks, and they bring family and dogs with them. i am very fortunate to have the park as a possiblity of path to walk to uni. i have chosen to walk instead of riding the bus lately, maybe for three months. it feels so much nicer. the walk helps my digestion, and it is such a gift to appreaciate nature right here, just a 3-minute walk from home. and, what is just as importat: i feel safe there, even when i don't see people around. when i do see people coming towards my direction i don't fear anything. to me they are habitues, just like me. many people are very punctual at coming to the park to exercise.

li yu and i walked through it this morning on our way to uni. i went to hartley library to study and she was going to the sports rec, to swim. she is finished with assignments but i am still quite busy and actually super stressed out with bzzzbzzz. we got to the highfield campus, union shop, still chatted a little more and off li yu went to swim and i was headed to hartley. came across yuki, with whom i talked for about 20 minutes. she is a very nice friend of mine, and was, of cours, at the library for the same reasons as the many other peope who were there.

inside the park there is usually only people and not cars. today we found cars, tents and the ice cream car. these are all signs of a fair to take place during the day. people take advantage of every minute of good weather. brilliant!

maybe because i walked in this beautiful day, maybe because i am really loaded and behind on my work, maybe because i am not an irresponsible person afterall, maybe because i had so many inspiring companies at the library, i.e, people doing the same as me, but the fact is that today i was productive, not as much as i had hoped for, but i felt i moved forward.

i stayed at hartley until about 4pm. after that went to the stilo with diana and had dinner there. after that we walked to portswood road to buy food at the polish shop, to this blonde, blue eyed woman who speaks no english, and at the international shop, too. time to bed!

another chilly day

8 may 2010

 i had plans to go to the library today, to be there and just cross the road for the theatre later on. well, i also needed to try some tidying up in the area here. i started off the day with for a nice one-hour gold run at the common while i was doing laundry; when i put the clothes in the dryer i left it here because to dry the time can be longer: 75 minutes. i love the days here, with new colours and the sounds of the birds, but it was very very cold. at first i thought of trying out to go very lightly dressed up, with one or two covers only. when i got there i was happy i was properly dressed to remain at the park for the time i wanted. chilly chilly common park.

back inside the house i organized the room, a little, i mean. this is always important to me, as it makes me see better the things around here and help me move on on on on, i.e., do the different, new things i have to do. i am happy i changed and washed all my bed sheets and got back a duvet i had already put away, thinking warm spring was on the way. spring yes, but not warm yet. i now sleep on winter pyjamas and have a bed sheet to cover me, plus two duvets. yes, they switched off the heater in the uni halls. i emailed them complaining about it this week. below is my contact with them. there is hope if next week it is still too cold to bear. i'll get ready to go to the theatre now.

-----Original Message-----

From: Lima K.S.D.

Sent: 06 May 2010 13:16

To: Rxxxx; Sxxx

Subject: heater

Hello,

I live in st margaret's. I understand spring is in the air, but still very and constantly cold. Could we please the heater switched back even if only for a few hours per day? It is particularly cold in the morning and in the night.

Thanks a lot,

Kalina

__

Hi,

Many thanks for your query about the heating. I'm afraid that the heating goes off this time of year in our halls every year. It was turned off when the weather was warmer, and I do appreciate that now it has got colder again. However, the weather forecast is set to improve at the start of next week so I'm sorry but the heating will not be turned on again. The heating in other halls is off at the moment or being turned off over the weekend so the situation is the same across other sites. However, if you feel next week that you are still cold, please let us know and we can review the situation.

Many thanks

Txxx Kxxxxx

Assistant Hall Manager