Friday 31 October 2008

Fucking BATS!!!

Today is another ordinary day in Cardiff. Fucking cold outside.... Too bad my colleague is out on site tonight just to look at some bridge expansion joints. So what does a bridge expansion joint looks like??

It's one of these stuff on a bridge which your cars always drive over....

One of our projects is an emergency replacement of these damaged expansion joints. What actually happened is that the expansion joint broke into pieces and smashed some car's windscreen when the car drove over. Haha... I don't know how, but it happened... That is why my colleague is working on site tonight in the cold...

To make things complicated to this project, we need to be aware of BATS. Not to say they'll bite us or do any harm to them. But we have to protect these little fuckers.... Bats are protected species over here, and we can be prosecuted even if we touch the bats, or disturb them.

These little fuckers could potentially be hiding underneath these expansion joints. So we have to make sure that there's no bats, before any works can be carried out.

When I say make sure, I mean 'make sure'....

These kinda nonsense will only happen in UK. Why the hell would you wanna protect bats and risk the public's safety??? Anyone who's reading my blog, just wanna find out what do you think about this nonsense.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Cracks in MRR 2

A lot of people criticise the government that the mysterious MRR 2 have lots of problems such as cracks in columns. I got no comment on this simply because i haven't got the chance to look at the report... Hehe..

But anyway, similar things happen here in UK. Don't believe?? Here's one of the bridges that I've inspected. Hehe....





See the cracks around the column??? I've been here before. And I'm sure if I wear my boots and kick the column, chunks of concrete will come off.... Haha... Wait... there's more picture of the same bridge....

See that...??? No.... Not "KILL THE BILL".... Look underneath it.... The whole concrete underneath the "Kill the Bill" collapse already.... You know what cause this problem??? Foundation failure.... Maybe contractor "Ular"???

UK also got a lot of funny bridges.... They call them "Sub-standard structures".... Whatever... Have a look at the pic below.... Another bridge I've been, but don't dare to cross.... Haha...










Sunday 26 October 2008

Daylight Saving





Today is another day of the year where everyone in UK will have to wind their clocks again an hour slower... Hence we get an extra hour for the day.... Shit... this is really a long long weekend...

So why do we have to wind the clock?? Basically, Britain is an island which has been cursed. Britain haven't got that much sunlight throughout the whole year, especially during the winter. In order to get sunrise 7.00am in the morning, and the actual sunrise is 8.00 in the morning, everyone is asked to wind their clocks.

I think they're just lying to themselves. What is the point to get sunrise at 7.00am??? Just bloody wake up at 7.00am, whether the sun shows up or not!!! You have to wake up, if you have to work. You still get the 8hrs of sleep as usual....

Saturday 25 October 2008

Weekend

It's finally a weekend again... SHIT!!!! So bored.... !!!Haha..


So what do I normally do during weekends?? Read books, online, watch movies, meet up with friends, clean the house and write some reports.... The same thing I do every weekdays.... To me, the only difference between weekdays and weekends is that i don't have to go to the office. However, I still feel the same, cause there's nothing interesting in Cardiff... There's no place that I'll hangout... What a sad place...


Life here is so boring compared to KL. Not because it's a small place, but because the friends that I know here are different from the ones in KL. Friends that I know here 'come and go', as in they live in Cardiff for a year and leave Cardiff the next year... So I don't really get to know them really really well... I'm not blaming them, but this is the kinda life living in a foreign place...


So what am I gonna do today apart from writing blogs???
1) Buy a mop and mop the floor
2) Email my bro
3) Read a book
4) Play badminton
5) Invite friends for dinner and prepare dinner
6) Download some films


Sounds like a routine I do everyday... apart from the badminton and cleaning.

Another reason I think I don't really enjoy weekends in here, because I don't have anything to do in this place. The locals hangout in bar and clubs drinking until they can't remember what happened. But I don't enjoy it. Not to say I don't drink, but I don't enjoy drinking... I still go clubbing with friends and enjoy looking at the funny drunk British....





Friday 24 October 2008

Staying in late in the office

Today is one of the days that I stayed back in the office for work. Too bad there's no OT pay. There's so little stuff to do, but all the projects are tight scheduled. Bloody hate small projects.... Tight schedules and short notices which requires quick response.

Most of my colleagues (British) don't stay back and just leave around 5.30pm, just like the Malays... I've asked them why not stay back a little longer just to get the things done?? They replied, "I'm not working for free, so what's the point of staying back. We can always carry on the next day." Yup, they are just as lazy as the Malays are... Haha...

I think working late in the office is the same in Malaysia. Cause I won't be paid overtime anyway. The funny thing is, we are encouraged or sometimes forced to book 'Unpaid Overtime'. So what is this 'Unpaid Overtime'?? Basically, we work for free for the company, and the company will try and charge the client for the amount of hours we've worked. Haha.... And yet, some of my colleagues seem alright booking to this 'Unpaid Overtime'.


So when do we get to book 'Paid Overtime'?? We only get to book them if we're forced to work at night 'on site', typically night time inspection or railway inspection on a weekend. Sounds good? Well, managers and directors try to avoid and most of the time forbid ppl from doing so, including forcing us or cheating us... Sigh...



So, why work extra and stay in the office... I'm not gonna get paid... I don't care about professional conduct, and all I care about is money in my pocket... Hehe...



Wednesday 22 October 2008

Bridge Engineering

I'm working in an engineering consultancy called Mott MacDonald (Not McDonald). Probably most of the people never heard of it before because a lot of people have little knowledge in this field.

Well, I'm a bridge engineer, and my job role is to do what my boss asked me to do. So what sort of projects are we involved in?? We don't design a lot of bridges, but we're involved in the maintenance side, typically inspections, assessments and refurbishment works.

In other words, local government pay us to look at some bridges, check if they're safe and recommend any strengthening works etc. Sounds interesting? Anyone interested in bridge engineering?? I can get you a job here if you want.

I understand that quite a number of people have a bad impression on engineers in Malaysia, especially those who're involved in government projects. Corruption, over budget, minum kopi, not creative, lazy, etc. Well, as an engineer in UK, I think that this kind of stuff happens everywhere. The difference between the engineers in UK and Malaysia, is that in UK, the people here are too naive and denies it, whereas in Malaysia everybody knows it, and there's no room for denial...

So am I involved in any of these stuff?? Hmm... Nope. Simply because I'm just a small graduate. Normally it's the directors or managers who're involved in it, because they're decision makers. It's actually so easy to get involved in corruption whether you're in Malaysia or in UK. It's just whether you want it or not.

I could easily recommend a type of product for the client, and get some money from the manufacturer. It's so easy... things can be done with just a few phone calls and i don't even have to meet them in person.

But why have I not done this?? Is it because of my so called 'Professional Ethics'? Well, I've always believed that with the right price, you can buy anything, including 'Professional Ethic'. So the reason I didn't take the offer, is simply because it's not worth the risk of getting caught by my manager. I am happy of what I am now, a bridge engineer as I've always wanted to be. So why should i take the risk of destroying my dream?

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