FIRE

I was on my way back home from the office, when suddenly I saw clouds of smoke. The smokes appear to be coming near where I'm staying. Gosh... it couldn't be my house.... could it??? It probably could be.... Knowing the fact that some of my housemates could potentially turn on the stove and SHIT happens....

When I'm about to reach home, I started hearing sirens from Fire Brigade. Glad to know that the fire brigade wasn't heading towards my house, but to the row of houses 2 streets away. I knew there's gonna be something exciting worth blogging/bragging about... So I rushed to the scene.

This is what I saw in sequence.





The car just got set on fire!!! How COOL is that??? The funny thing is, it was raining today, and how the hell did the fire started.

Another funny thing is, the owner of the car was wearing one of my company's jacket, but he doesn't work for us. Hmmm... I bet he stole it from someone. Gonna wait for tommorow's news and see him with a Mott MacDonald jacket and a burning car. Haha...

Hot Wheels

I was in the petrol station yesterday cause my mate said he needed petrol for his car. I was surprised to see someone filling up the gas tank on a wheelchair!!! Yes, she was filling up her van and she's on wheels...

I am impressed that she can do all of that all on her own. Think about this. She has to lift her wheelchair and put it on the ground. Climb to her wheel chair. Push herself so that she can fill up the tank. Slot in her payment card and also reach to take her receipt. After all the hard work, she's gonna have to climb back to her driving seat and lift her wheelchair back to her van. I know that wheelchairs are very heavy and also expensive.
This makes me think of what I'm going to do if I am in a wheelchair. Well, if I'm gonna be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, I want that wheelchair to be special. As an engineer, I often like to modify stuff to make things better. So, I guess this is what my wheelchair will look like....

It's gonna make me feel like Robocop.... Instead of running it on wheels, I'm gonna have it running on tracks. So I can squash things on my way and not worry of any terrain. Another good thing, is that you can actually have the same height as a normal person standing. So when you're talking to people, people don't have to look down on you. Always stare at people's eye when you're talking to them. So next time, when you speak to someone on wheels, remember to squat down and speak to them.

But if you guys ever seen anyone with a wheelchair like the one below, make sure you don't give him/her money. Cause they're all conman.... Haha.... It's a tricycle...

Credit Crunch in Engineering

I'm starting to see more and more effects of the CREDIT CRUNCH in Britain!!! It's crawling nearer and nearer to me. And now, it's hitting some people around me.

Ok. This afternoon, I've just heard news that two of our competitors (Atkins and White Young Green) are going to shut down their local office (in Cardiff). Well, they're engineering consultants for those who're not familiar. Is that a good sign??? Hmm... What do you think?

One of ATKINS' building that they always take pride!!!!

Now take this pride and move out of Cardiff!!!! Haha....

Well, them shutting down will mean we get a bigger share of the regional market. However, that's also a sign that there isn't enough work for everyone. Meaning, the market had shrinked in size.

So in this current economic climate, what sort of precaution have my company taken. Directors have been convincing us that the company is strong and robust and blah blah blah.... And we have not hired or fired anyone until now. So, their plan/strategy, is to ask employees (like me) to work some unpaid overtime. Hmm.... He said " As long as everyone chip in (sacrifice) a little, we will shelter this crisis, and we will be strong in the regional market... blah blah blah..."

Well, I don't own the company. I don't even have any shares in it. Why should I work for free??? I'm still not convinced to work for free.

I wonder what will happen 6 months later. Economist have been comparing the credit crunch with the Great Depression in 1937...

Christmas party

It's the time of the year again.... Christmas... My office is having 'Secret Santa' among us this year, which means everyone will have to buy someone a present. I don't know what to get for my colleague. What if she doesn't like it? On top of that, my friends are exchanging presents too. So, another present for a friend. I'm really stuck in what to buy for my colleagues and friends, cause I hardly buy presents. In chinese culture, we don't buy presents, we just give money. Haha...

The following are some random ideas that I had in my intoxicated mind, but most of them seemed to be too random and impossible.

This is said to be the coolest christmas present... Haha... Only in America??

Secret gift for my colleagues.... Haha...

This will be nice for the girls. It even squirts white stuff... How cool is that??? And I guess this should be quite cheap.

I hope I can find my christmas present here.... Haha....

I guess I'll just make something and give it away as a present. Maybe a cheesecake or I'll cook something? Buying presents just isn't my thing. It's always the same old presents... chocolates, wine, gadgets.. At the end of the day, it'll be forgotten and thrown in the bin when someone moves houses. Better to make some food which can be eaten straight away or shared among everyone. Haha...

Lost a Bid

Today is another sad sad day in the office. Everyone in the office is very depressed and most of the managers and directors are all worried. We lost a bid for a framework contract.... T_T

The client is Camarthenshire County Council (CCC), and we have worked together for more than 5 years. Sadly, we've lost in the tender. Almost half of the work/jobs in our office comes from CCC, and we've lost it!!! We even opened up a new office in Camarthen so that we're more competitive, but we lost it.

You see the bunch of roads in the west of Britain. That's where Camarthen is.

Loosing in this bid means most of the staff in our office will be redundant. Probably some staffs will move to other offices while some unlucky ones will be sacked. The recent increase amount of work from the Highways Agency will probably absorb some staffs from our team.

Everyone in the office are all depressed and worried. Our colleagues in the new Camarthen office is getting a little paranoid and have been ringing us frequently. Oh dear....



So what if I got sacked??? I'm not too worried about that, because normally they would aim for managers first, simply because they have higher salaries. Although pawns like me are dispensable, I'm not worried. If I got sacked because of redundancy, the company will have to compensate... Hehe... So please... sack me.... And if I really get sacked, I'll just get back to Malaysia and start my life.... because I'm not really having a good time here...

Underbridge unit

You guys may laugh at me for being childish... But I think this is a cool piece of machine... This unit here is called the Moog 230X.... It's an underbridge unit... This heavy mother fucker weighs 33T...

Check this out...

Arrival on site...

Starting to deploy...

Looks more like a SCUD missle launcher....

It's deploying the platform....

Me climbing down the ladders to the platform... Looks just like the game show 'Fun House'.... Haha...

Anyway, I was surprise to know that the operator to this machine can actually steer and control the whole vehicle remotely... How cool is that... He steers the whole truck while we're underneath the bridge by using cameras only..... His visibility is only 3m....What the fuck!!!... Haha... I like this machine....

Site visit

Just came back from inspecting some bridges.... Been a long and tiring day... The bridge itself is nothing exciting, apart from knocking a few loose concrete in the columns... This is how the concrete looks like if you hit them with a hammer...


Anyway, I think I'm getting ill soon... Been staying in the cold for the past 2 days.... And haven't drank any water or had any lunch when I'm on site... What a tiring day....


By the way, I'll upload a few snap shots of the bridge that we've inspected tomorrow. And will show you the condition of the bridges in UK.... You'll be surprised.... I'll also show you guys the machine we used when we're inspecting the bridge. It's awesome.... It's a monster...

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.

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...

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...

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?