LUCIA (2013): July 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cost of living/Accommodation in Halifax, UK

Cost of living around 300-500 GBP max per month for single person.

Before coming to Halifax, from India, I faced a lot of problem in finding an accommodation. Thought will mention few options available here which might help others in future.

1) 'Ten40 Accommodation' ( http://ten40.co.uk/home.htm )
Fully furnished houses, well maintained, prices from 75 GBP per week(per person basis). The website has all the details. The price includes electricity, gas, internet, laundry. You have to take care of only food/mobile bills. All these apartments are on sharing basis, except your room(single or shared) kitchen, bathroom etc will be shared.
You can cook yourself and the kitchen is very well furnished.
NO CONTRACT, 1 WEEK NOTICE.

2) Accommodation near Savile Park.
These are furnished ones, but they are very old apartments, not well maintained and they are cheap, starting from 40 GBP per week. You have to pay for electriciy, gas, internet, laundry. Here you will get whole apartment for yourself which later you can share with others. If you share with one or two this will work out cheaper. If you know any guys working in HCL/CTS they can help you to book.
You can cook yourself.
NO CONTRACT.

3) 'Victoria Lodge'.
These are furnished apartments(1 big room, 1 bathroom), well maintained, you can share them with single person or decide to live alone. Rates are around 400 GBP per month and you need to pay extra for internet only.
You can cook yourself.
NO CONTRACT.

4) Balmoral place.
These are furnished, well maintained apartments(1BHK). You will need to take care of electricity, gas, internet. Washing machines will be provided. Rates are from 350GBP.
You can cook yourself.
CONTRACT basis (usually 3 or 6 months).

People coming from India usually work for Lloyds Banking Group(formerly HBOS). If you know anybody in HCL/CTS it will be easier for you.

Cost of Living:-
Halifax is very cheap place. You can easily get Indian groceries in pakistani shops, tesco, Sainsbury. There are lot of Pakistanis living around here, so finding Indian food items is not a problem.
Food cost should come around 100-150 max for a single person.
Phone/mobile(no internet):- you can use lebara or lycatalk. I used O2(20GBP monthly contract) which included 600min UK mobile and unlimited landline calls. Used Localphone to call India at 1.8p per min (spent around min 10 GBP per month) . Your total mobile bill should be around 15-25GBP.
Movie:- You need to go to Bradford Cineworld to watch movies. Return train ticket will cost you 2.2GBP and each movie around 5 GBP.

Places to see around Halifax:-
'Abbeyways' are the cheapest and good travel agency which can get you to places of interest around Halifax(upto 120miles one way). Usually they will be one day trip. They dont have any website and you need to visit them personally to get details. Their phone number is 01484-424682.
You can travel to Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, York for a single day return journey in train.
Hardcastle Crags near Hebden bridge is also near to Halifax.
You can visit Lake district by hiring a local taxi.
Shibden park is at a walkable distance(around 2km from city center).

( http://www.ntopsearch.com/VisitEngland/en-GB/SearchResults/Default.aspx?contentID&IndustryType=13&Location=Halifax%2c+Borough+of+Calderdale&Latitude=53.7166672&Longitude=-1.85&Radius=5&IsSearchFormAccommodation=False&sort=0 )

Monday, July 27, 2009

Sunderland International Airshow 2009

After getting bored at home for almost 2 weeks, blame the British rain gods, I was very eager to go to the 'Sunderland Airshow'. I had booked tickets in 'Abbeyways Hanson' for 25th of July. From Halifax, Abbeyways is the cheapest and best travel agency who can take you to places of interest nearby(upto 2.5hrs drive!).
Me, Ajay(armed with his new Nikon D40) and Vinod(eager to get some good snaps for marriage proposal ;) ) were ready at 8.45AM waiting for bus. Bus got on time at 9AM and took us to airshow venue at 12.15PM. We sorely missed the 'Red Arrows' performance and were able to get only few glimpses of them doing awesome manuevours while travelling to the venue. Felt lucky to get few snaps of them.

The venue was at the sea front at Roker and Seaburn and attracted around 3 lakh people(according to a british news paper). The highlight of the day was the Vulcan bomber plus Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfire, Hurricane, Dakota), RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team, Typhoon, Hawk, Blue Eagles with the Apache and the Lynx, Belgium Air Component F16, Royal Netherlands Air Force F16, The Black Cats, The Blades, Swift Glider team, Merlin, Sea King and Chinook helicopters. On the ground there was performance by 4th Field Regiment Light Gun Display, the Royal Marines Combat Display Team and The Band of HM Royal Marines Scotland.

This was my second international show event visit, the first being held at Yelahanka,Bangalore in 2007. I somehow liked the Bangalore one, mostly because of the Sukhoi MK30, F18, MiG-35, C-17, Sweden's Grippen and our own Suryakiran with their trademark Heart and cupid arrow display. Apart from Red Arrows and Surya Kiran, the only other 9 member air arcrobatic team in the world is Canada's Snowbirds. The good thing about Sunderland airshow was it was held at seafront, in between you can enjoy the seashore and a bit safe :).

Few photos from the Sunderland airshow below... I tried my best with my 2003 make Fuji S5000 to take snaps, it was more of a cat and mouse game ;). Time to buy a DSLR.

Sunderland airshow...