Author: Chris

Bangalore or Bust

The following is my post from the official CSC blog:

Firstly, a quick introduction. My name is Chris Greenwood. I am an IBM employee based in London, England and this is the very first post from a journey that promises to be a great adventure.

I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in IBM’s Corporate Service Corps. I was assigned to the ‘India 9’ team (or Blue Tigers as we are commonly known) along with 11 others from 9 different countries. Unfortunately before we even left a broken ankle reduced our team of 12 to 11.

It’s now the end of my first day. I’m sitting in my hotel on the roof terrace. I’d like to say it’s peaceful but I’m surrounded by the noise of cars, rickshaws and bikes and the incessant sound of horns that seem to permeate everywhere you go. What follows is the story of my first 24 hours…..

Continue reading “Bangalore or Bust”

Off to Bangalore

So I’m sitting at gate 20 in Heathrow terminal 4 at the crack of dawn waiting for a flight to Paris. The gate isn’t open yet and won’t be another 10 mind yet there is a queue forming in front of the desk. Why are these people in such a hurry to get on a plane? Do they think the seating is unreserved? (its not). Do they think they’ll get the Paris faster by standing 10 meters closer to the gate that my semi-comfy chair? These both seem unlikely, maybe they’ve realised that they’ll be sitting down for the next hour or so and they’re enjoying their last few minutes of Standing freedom.

I’m now on the plane I managed to get an emergency exit seat so I have about 2m of leg room but no window. Sounds like a fair compromise to me.

Think I better send this and turn off my phone. The cabin attendant just decided to remove my laptop bag from the overhead locker, drop it on the seat then move it somewhere. I said don’t worry its just my laptop but I don’t think it crossed the language barrier.

I’ll return later and explain the title of this post!

Joshua Radin at Shepherds Bush Empire – with a surprise appearance by Zach Braff

So I’ve just returned from a Joshua Radin gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. To be honest I’ve never seen him live before and was slightly concerned that we might all be compelled to slit our wrists well before the encore. I was pleasantly surprised. The set was a great mix of some newer more upbeat stuff and as Joshua himself described it “the soundtrack to your suicide”. To be honest I know the older stuff much better and his performance was perfect. I’ve never been to a gig where the artist spends so much time talking between songs but to be honest I guess many of them don’t have a lot to say. Joshua Radin was actually interesting to listen to and came across as a regular guy who’d come to play us some music.

So just before Joshua Radin came on stage I was just telling Alex that my good friend Olly went to one of his gigs in New York and saw Zach Braff. She looked up and there he was up on the balcony at the front directly above and behind us less than 10m away. He’d been keeping a fairly low profile in a flat cap but moments later everyone spotted him and he eventually took it off and waved at everone below. Later on in the evening at a quiet point Zach shouted “I love you” and Joshua responded “That’s very manly Zach”. Joshua Radin eventually introduced him near the end and explained he was over in London for his birthday.

Anyway a great evening made even more memorable!

What I’m listening to – Xfm’s Songs of the Decade

I’m listening to the Xfm Songs of the Decade while stuck in a data centre. Its so noisy in here that I need some musical relief. Anyway I decided to add the top 100 to a Spotify playlist for future listening. Unfortunately 10 of them aren’t on Spotify so here’s 90 of the top 100 songs of the decade!

Xfm’s Top 100 Songs of the Decade

These are in 100-1 order and the following tracks are missing:

98. Feeder – Buck Rogers
92. Oasis – Little by Little
80. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Can’t Stop
62. Arcade Fire – Rebellion
56. Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales of San Francisco
48. Oasis – The Importance of Being Idle
39. Oasis – Stop Crying Your Heart Out
28. Arctic Monkeys – Mardy Bum
5. Elbow – One Day Like This
2. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

I love Spotify but none of the above are obscure hence their inclusion in the above list. Oh well I

While I’m at it. Here’s what I’m listening to at the moment, mostly newish stuff but some older tracks I rediscovered on Spotify too!

Let’s Dance to Joy Division

Update: Found a few more but still only have 93 – looks like a couple disappeared!

Lowlands 2007

So last weekend I went to a festival called Lowlands situated just outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is advertised as a cross between Glastonbury and Goa and, as well as loads of live music there is a seemingly endless list of things to do when you are not watching your favourite bands. What surprised me most of all was how well organised the whole thing is yet it still feels like spending a weekend in the middle of nowhere with 55,000 hippies. Although I haven’t actually been to one of the British festivals (my ticket for Leeds 2005 had to be sold when I got a job in Amsterdam) they sound like a lot of muddy, pissed up people causing chaos made fun by some fantastic live music. Lowlands felt altogether more civilised, clean toilets, paved paths, good food and friendly security along with random art both static and performance. Oh one more thing all the of music is in the biggest tents I have ever seen, so even if it rains you don’t have to stand 6″ deep in mud to watch the Editors (or any one of the 100 odd bands playing). Anyway over the weekend we saw some amazing acts, notable were Interpol, The Editors, The Rifles (a somewhat unknown London band with an excellent album out), Mad Caddies. Kings of Leon played a fabulous set and even the Kaiser Chiefs who I’m no real fan of put on a great live performance. I could go on and list at least another 10 bands who I really like but I won’t, for the line-up visit www.lowlands.nl.

So once the live music is finished for the day most of the tents turn into dance floors with a large variety of music or, if your feet are slowly trying to kill you by this point they also show at least one new movie on a massive outdoor screen every night.

So okay it may not be the most hardcore festival experience but ask me if I’d rather wake up to an overflowing/flaming toilet or freshly squeezed orange juice and cheese and syrup pancakes and you shouldn’t have too much trouble guessing what my answer is. Oh did I mention that you can get right to the front of the crowd and watch all the music up close without getting crushed or having to crowd surf?

Welcome to chrisgreenwood.co.uk

Welcome to chrisgreenwood.co.uk this site serves as my own personal homepage. I’ve just finished my BSc in Computing for Business and am taking the summer off before looking for work. At the end of August I’m flying to Thailand for a six week holiday backpacking around Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia with four friends, two of whom will be already there. I intend to use this blog to post about my travel experiences as I travel and upon return I may sometimes post about things that I’m currently interested in or projects that I’m working on.