phil y

Various Mishaps

2008-02-13T16:58:00.003Z

I went last night with Esther to a bible study with my bike in the back of her car, intending to cycle home. An unsuccessful attempt to inflate the rear tyre of said bike left it more deflated than it had previously been. I decided to set off anyway, as for Esther to have taken me home would have meant another 20mins for her.

It was wobbly to say the least, but I made it unscathed along two unlit main roads, save for a brief encounter with a crash barrier whilst trying to check if my rear light was working. I think I need to invest in a small pump to carry in my bag.

When I made it home, I spent some time restoring some more of my pastor's files. I've been working on it sporadically when I have had the time. Unfortunately my external hard disk, to which I was saving the files, was dragged off the desk when I moved my laptop (very short USB cable). It was only an old 40GB drive, but it's a bit of a bummer to have lost it, and some of the files I had restored.

Ah well, an excuse to buy a new one.

*update* checked the bike, back tyre was at 10PSI, front was 20. Both now pumped up

Data Recovery

2008-01-20T20:58:00.000Z

I've spent quite a bit of time this week trying to restore around 100GB of lost files from an external hard disk, for my pastor. It's really made me think about sorting a solution for backing up my files, as I currently only burn stuff to DVD occasionally.

We started making our wedding list this week at John Lewis, but we're finding it a bit difficult to decide what to put on it, as we seem to have most things between us.

I'm still here...

2008-01-04T00:07:00.000Z

One thing which surprised me when I returned to my parents for a few days over Christmas, was the number of people commenting on my lack of updates. it was only about 3 people, but I never realised so many people read my ramblings. I have been busy over the last term, on school placements, and doing DIY in my spare moments. This next term will get most of my assignments out of the way, and I will hopefully have more time for updates. I've also got a new digital camera, to replace my broken one, so might even get more pictures up.

One year on...

2007-09-16T22:09:00.000+01:00

This weekend has marked one year since I came away to university.
The coming year will be a lot more challenging, I start my first teaching placement next week. This means I'll be working really hard til Christmas. I've given up my sports shop job, I told them it was because of my workload, but really, I didn't want to be there.

Since most of my CU mates are back at uni, I've been kept busy sorting wireless networks recently.
It really makes me appreciate having my Mac... There always seems to be something goes wrong when using Windows, usually related to the stupid admin utility bundled with the wireless card, which doesn't want to relinquish control of the connection, but neither will it connect to the network.

Ho hum. The joys of being a geek

Back to the grind

2007-09-10T11:22:00.001+01:00

This weekend 3 of my housemates moved in, and a good quantity of the CU also returned. Most people don't start back for a week or 2, my course begins on today, with 2 days of boring administration stuff, then lectures begin on Wednesday. Unfortunately, my student loan won't come through for another week. Since last night was the first night with 4 of us in the house, we stayed up far too late playing xbox games, as is the norm for students.

Long time, no update....

2007-08-28T15:11:00.000+01:00

I've really neglected this over the summer, been too busy doing nothing. Since my last post, I've moved house, Esther has bought her first house, I've been away 3 times, to France, Cheltenham Bible Festival and the Aber Conference, I've gained a deathly boring part time job in a sports shop, and I've spent a week dog sitting.

Uni starts again in a couple of weeks, everyone keeps telling me that this next year will be much harder. This weekend, I'm heading home to my parents for the last time before the new term.

PSA - check your pockets

2007-05-21T23:30:00.001+01:00

I just emptied the washing machine, only to discover my bluetooth headset in the bottom. I had it in my pocket when we got back from the weekend away.
I tried to turn it on, it flashed frantically in blue, then green, now it looks dead.

Ah well

Trip to Snowdonia

2007-05-21T23:12:00.001+01:00

This last weekend, the CU lads had a weekend in Snowdonia. Original plans involved camping, but weather reports meant we booked into a bunkhouse instead. We started the weekend by visiting a local forest on Friday night, for study and worship, then, after about 4 hours sleep on the floor in Andy's lounge, set off for Wales on Saturday morning. We spent much of Saturday in Beddgelert forest, then Sunday morning we climbed Y Gribin, a ridge which runs up the 'back' of the Glyders. We finished the weekend with the traditional pub lunch, then drove back in time for the evening service.

It was a great time of fellowship, getting to know the other guys better, and being able to marvel at the world we live in - such a wonderful creation.

Chris drove his frog/lawnmower and had a little trouble keeping up...

They're not making rude gestures, as it may seem. Rob, in the back was talking to our car on a radio, Chris was scratching his eye. Just an unfortunate moment to capture

Escalators

2007-05-12T18:32:00.000+01:00

Whilst we were running round Joburg airport, trying to locate a staff member to find us our baggage, I encountered Wolverine* on an escalator. After a brief struggle, I overpowered him, but sustained slight injury. The result, which had slightly healed when I photographed it, can be seen below.

*Ok, so I was running on an escalator, and I slipped. Those edges are sharp. When they say don't run, they aint kidding.

The journey home

2007-05-12T09:41:00.000+01:00

This was where the real fun of the trip began.

We left Lily at around 1PM on Friday 13th April. We drove down to Durban, had lunch, dropped off the car and were checked in nice and early, to give plenty of time. They still couldn't give us 3 seats together. We boarded, and I was delighted to find that my seat, just behind business class, was actually a business class seat, with legroom to match.

Sadly, the delight was shortlived. We were informed by the pilot that the flight was not being allowed to take off, due to thunderstorms in Joburg. We waited over an hour, getting more and more nervous about the time. We eventually took off, and landed in Joburg with about 30 minutes to spare before the Iberia flight went.

We hadn't been given boarding passes for the whole trip, as we were travelling on two seperate tickets. This meant we had to check in again, but Iberia had closed the flight. There were only 2 Iberia staff around, everyone else had gone home, and they sent us back to SAA, as it was SAA's 'fault' we didn't make out connection.

SAA told us there was no chance of a flight that night, the next available flight with free seats was the following Thursday. They gave us vouchers for a hotel. We tried to locate our luggage, only to be told to go back the next day, as everyone had gone home.
The hotel, D'Oreale Grande, was very nice. We didn't feel really in the mood to appreciate it, so after midnight waffles, we went to bed.

The next morning we were back at the airport for 7.30, where we were told to return at 1, and they would get us on a flight. We located our luggage, returned to the hotel to shower, change and eat lunch, then back to the airport. Sure enough, they got us on a flight to London, via Paris. It was leaving at around 7.45PM. Wanting to be sure of a seat, we checked in there and then, and spent the next 6 hours in the departure lounge, trying to find things to spend our remaining Rand on.

The flight to Paris was uneventful, but on arriving, at around 8AM, we were told our Air France connecting flight was cancelled. The next available flight was at 5PM. Unwilling to wait, we were told to buy tickets for Eurostar, and Air France would refund them.
We enquired about our baggage, as it was supposed to be going to London on a non existant flight, and were told to return in an hour as they were looking for it.

We headed for the Eurostar terminal, only to be stopped by 3 soldiers. In my very tired state, I waved my passport at them as they babbled in French, as it normally works like magic. It turned out that there was a suspicious package, and we had to wait until they had checked it.

We made it to the ticket office, bought 3 tickets and returned to the baggage claim office. They had not found our bags, and filling out the paperwork took so long we were not going to make our train. So we returned to the ticket office, exchanged our tickets and got a train to Gare du Nord, where we once again went through customs.

We got on the Eurostar, but my ticket had no seat allocated, so I had to sit in the corridor until we discovered a free seat. There was a group of French schoolchildren going to Ashford on exchange, and a slightly batty American couple.
This couple talked non stop, loudly, about controversial topics (including mocking a disabled person), were very arrogant, anti French and for some reason pro English, to the extent that they began singing 'White Cliffs of Dover' when we emerged from the tunnel.

We arrived in London late, said goodbye to Katherine, and got picked up by my parents, who got slightly lost getting home. We finally arrived home some 54 hours after starting, having travelled by plane, train, bus, car and on foot.

Points to learn about this trip are as follows:

Avoid connecting flights where possible
Joburg departure lounge is boring, though the toilets are nice
Something else can always go wrong
SAA food is much nicer than Iberia
The French army don't have any bullets in their guns

Lily of the Valley

2007-04-27T18:43:00.000+01:00

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates, I've been really busy writing an assignment.

We arrived at Lily on the Monday, early evening, just Warren, the manager, and all the volunteers were leaving, they literally drove out as we drove in.
So we had the first evening for Esther and Katherine to get reaquainted with the children and house mothers, and for me to be introduced. Strangely, on learning I was Esther's boyfriend, they all laughed...

The kids at Lily are unlike any I have ever encountered. They are very tactile, crowding round you, jumping on you. They are very trusting of visitors, something which could be a problem later, but they are in a very good environment, with a strong Christian basis.

On the Tuesday, Sung Min, Warren's new bride, made her return from Korea. The welcome the kids and housemothers gave them was quite something to see, with banners and a Zulu song.
Sung Min was a volunteer at the same time as Esther and Katherine, so they were happy to see her again. As part of their wedding gift, we presented them with a framed satellite image of Lily.

We also got the chance to visit Makaphutu, the childrens village which has recently come under Lily management. They have had many problems there, but the new manager Wade, one of Warren's brothers, has many ideas on how to improve things.

I was made to be useful during my time there, I was mistaken for a volunteer by one of the staff and ended up driving the Kombi to Pietermaritzburg on an errand. My computer skills came in handy also.

It was a great time, I finally got to experience what I had been told so much about, and it has definitely confirmed my desire to serve abroad, should the opportunity arise.

We were there from the Monday, to the Friday. When we left, at around 1PM, we had little idea of the journey we faced. More on that later.

Lesotho and the Drakensburg

2007-04-22T22:53:00.000+01:00

On Thursday 5th, we drove into the Drakensburg. We stayed in a backpackers hostel at the bottom of Sani Pass, the mountain road into Lesotho. On the Friday we took a trip into Lesotho, where we got to experience a traditional dwelling, complete with home made bread and beer. As we were leaving Lesotho, the clouds descended, remaining til the morning we left.

We did manage one short walk to a nearby waterfall, and on Easter Sunday we visited a local church then drove into the countryside for a picnic. We then went to a local posh hotel for dinner, only cost 85 Rand ( 14 to the £1).

On Easter Monday we packed up again and drove to our final destination, Lily. More on that later.

St Lucia

2007-04-18T13:06:00.000+01:00

On the Monday (2nd April), we spent the morning looking around the shops in St Lucia, and in the afternoon we went on a boat around the estuary, where you can see hippos and crocs, as well as a variety of birds.
The next day we drove up to Sodwana Bay, which is supposed to be a very secluded quiet beach. Instead the beach was full of people who had driven onto the sand in 4x4s and set up gazebos. We looked pitiful perched on our towels between them. Shortly before we left, we went for a walk along the beach, only to discover a section of beach that was completely deserted.

Wednesday we decided to go to the beach at St Lucia. We were just starting down the road to the beach when a man in a pickup offered us a lift.
We discovered, as he drove us, that the beach road is about 3 miles long, so we were fortunate. We weren't at the beach long as the weather turned bad. We began the walk home and were offered another lift, which dropped us right outside where we were staying. Riding in the rain is actually pretty fun.

Thursday morning we left and drove down to the Drakensburg.

Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me every time we went out in St Lucia. I'll hopefully get some copies from Katherine.

South Africa Part 1 - Outward Bound

2007-04-16T22:10:00.001+01:00

I'm going to split this into sections, for easy readability.

First up, the journey there.

Esther and I met Katherine at Heathrow on 31st March.

We flew Iberia, via Madrid, to Johannesburg, uneventfully. However, the food was awful, you had to pay for it on the short haul flight, and the meals on the main flight were manky - grey chicken for dinner, nasty looking cold meat for breakfast.
And the flight attendants were grumpy. And old. Hollywood lied to me.

We arrived in SA late, and we rushed from the international terminal to the domestic, to be told our connecting South African flight had closed. The man then tried to check us onto the next flight, only to discover the tickets we had were blacklisted.

We originally bought our tickets from MAS Travel, who took money from people, issued tickets, then ran off to Pakistan with the money, without paying the airlines. In December, Iberia contacted us about it, and they honoured the tickets, issuing new e-tickets, including the last leg with SAA.

However, SAA blacklisted the tickets without telling us, and we were forced to buy new tickets to Durban, hopefully we can claim back from the travel insurance.

We got on a later flight, picked up the hire car, and I drove the 300KM from Durban to St Lucia in one hit, arriving at about 7pm on the Sunday.

Morals to the story:

Beware of cheap tickets from small travel agents
Don't fly Iberia
Don't travel on April 1st

Easter Holiday

2007-03-29T23:49:00.000+01:00

2 more days, then I'm off to South Africa with my girlfriend and one of her friends.

We're starting off by visiting St Lucia, then the Drakensburg mountains, with a day trip to Lesotho, then finishing with a visit to Lily of the Valley childrens home, where the girls spent 6 months as volunteers.

I'll try to add updates, and photos when we're out there.

Testing mobile posting

2007-03-16T15:43:00.001Z

Apparently, you can set up your blog to receive posts sent from an email
address.
This was sent from my mobile, if it works, it's pretty cool.

The signature it places at the bottom is annoying though.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/ .

2 Weeks, 1 Day

2007-03-16T15:25:00.002Z

I've been lacking in time for updates recently, due to workload.

And laziness, in all honesty.

Today I made my appointment for my jabs, ahead of our trip to South Africa, on the 31st.

I'm now getting really excited about it.

I'll post more details of what we're doing later.

u hs ovastayd yr wlcom...

2007-03-07T04:39:00.000Z

Texts to deter illegal migrants

They have some batty schemes. This is but one. I only hope they don't mess it up.

Knowing the govt, they'll probably text a bunch of WWII veterans by mistake.

I love this bit:

¨Home Secretary John Reid said the new policy would make life "uncomfortable and constrained" for illegal entrants.¨

Just wait for them to sue because the texts contravened their human rights by making them miserable.

Weekend Away

2007-03-07T04:17:00.000Z

I had the pleasure of spending the last weekend at The Frontier Centre with the 18-30 group from my home church. We looked at Genesis, focusing on the Creation, Abraham and Joseph. 50 chapters is a lot for 3 sessions, but it was handled very well. In our free time a group of us, undeterred by mud and floods, made our way to an adventure playground we'd discovered last year in the dark. Wasn't quite as good with little kids in the way, but still.

I stayed home Sunday night, and left at 6am to drive back to uni for a 9am lecture. Made it by 8.30, had a shower, then rushed over to the campus, only to find we didn't have a lecture. Infuriating.

I'm up late, working on an ICT assignment which involves creating a browser based tutorial for Yr7 kids, to teach basic database functions. If my tutor agrees, I'll upload it for people to test out the links, iron the kinks* and generally comment on it.

At least the party animals seem to have all passed out, so I'm undisturbed

* pure poetry, even at this time of the morning.

Artistic Merit

2007-02-23T02:17:00.000Z

I heard the sounds of laughter and sellotape...

...Good thing the room was unoccupied...

Mute Math

2007-02-22T00:35:00.000Z

Tonight I went to a long anticipated Mute Math gig at the Bar Academy in Islington. It was great to meet up with some friends whom I had not seen in a while.

The support act was OK, they were very young and seemed to lack confidence on stage. Not so Paul Meany, the lead of Mute Math. His repetoire included standing on his piano, crowd surfing, diving across the stage and hand stands on the piano. Not to mention the Keytar.
The drummer was wild, at one point he dropped a stick, so finished the song using his hand. Despite duct taping, he still seemed in danger of losing his headphones. The band are highly creative, using synthesisers along with traditional rock elements, and at one point 3 of the band were drumming on all manner of objects whilst the fourth used his pedal set to amazing effect.

A great night out. I would recommend them to any fans of alt rock, and the live experience is just something else.

Some Changes

2007-02-21T03:52:00.000Z

I've been fiddling, cos I can't sleep, and have made some changes.

You'll have noticed the colour is now Black, I hope it's not too difficult to read. I have been meaning to change the template for ages.

There's also a link at the side to another page which gives some details about me. Another thing on my list to do.

Should go to sleep now.

Bwlchgwyn

2007-02-19T12:06:00.000Z

Friday, I went for a scenic drive, which was cut short due to miserable drizzly weather. I did, however, make it as far as Bwlchgwyn, which has the honour of being the highest village in Wales. I stopped to take a couple of pics, but it was a bit misty.

I found a new friend whilst I was there. He wasn't much for conversation though.

Been a while

2007-02-13T22:32:00.000Z

As one avid viewer kindly pointed out, I've been a little lacking on the updates.

The reasons are 3 fold:

I was very busy for a couple of weeks at the end of Jan.

Following that, I've been ill, had 2 really nasty viruses in 3 weeks.

Thirdly, and because of the above, I've not had much to say.

I'm at home at the moment, a brief visit to coincide with the 14th Feb, we're not celebrating it, but going to see Blood Diamond instead. As an aside, we've recently marked 6 months together, seems to have passed in a moment.

I'm planning to do a couple more scenic drives, must take a camera. Then you'll all stop moaning.

Scenic Drive

2007-01-12T21:37:00.000Z

I decided, as I'd handed in an assignment I'd been struggling with, I would go for a drive to unwind. I ended up driving to Llangollen, I took a few pics on the way with my phone.

How could I resist a place called 'World's End'?

The road got a bit narrow

They even ran out of bridges

View down the stream

My new chariot, not so clean now...

Timelapse

2007-01-01T22:34:00.000Z

I made a short video at my grandparents, using the built in iSight on my new laptop. It took one frame per second, then plays it back at 25. My sister was doing a cross stitch.

Shows how much I fidget.

NYE

2007-01-01T22:00:00.000Z

We saw in 2007 on Beachy Head, it was slightly breezy, as the pictures might show.
I had hoped to be able to see all of Eastbourne's fireworks, but we couldn't.

We sheltered in a lookout post, celebrated at approx midnight with fizzy grape juice and cold pizza, then retreated for a picnic in the car. Our empty cars initially caused some concern for a man in a coastguard truck who kept shining his spotlight on the cliff edge. But he realised we weren't there to jump, so went on his way.

Happy New Year to all

Brecon Beacons

2006-12-25T00:43:00.000Z

We visited on Saturday, it was very cold, but very thick frost was beautiful. I love Wales

25.12

2006-12-25T00:11:00.000Z

Mine are riches from thy poverty

From thine innocence, eternity

Mine forgiveness by thy death for me

Child of sorrows for my joy

Enjoy Christmas

Phil

More War in Africa

2006-12-21T14:41:00.001Z

I've been watching this developing for a few months now, it seemed inevitable sadly

Somalia at war with Ethiopia

No doubt it will be relegated to a small paragraph, hidden under pages dedicated to the plight of the truly needy; those whose Christmas flights are cancelled.

They say never work with children or animals...

2006-12-21T14:25:00.000Z

I say I'll take on 30 of your worst kids, accompanied by the hound of the baskervilles, and a hungry bear, on condition I don't have a broken computer to contend with...

Friday, I'm off to Cardiff for the weekend, to stay with my girlfriend's parents. Then I'm coming back home for Christmas day. Next weekend the whole family are going to visit my grandparents, which will be nice, as we rarely all get together. We're staying for New Years Eve, although there won't be much partying to be had.

I hope that the few of you who read this drivel have an enjoyable Christmas. And everyone else of course. You might even want to risk interrogation by the Hurt Feelings and Equality police by actually celebrating the real meaning of Christmas.

Just a thought...

Home Sweet....

2006-12-13T16:36:00.000Z

So Monday night, I came home, Going back tomorrow for the CU Christmas meal, and my last lecture on Friday.

Haven't been able to work as I planned though...

My laptop keeps having a hissy fit, something to do with the wireless network card, and it freezes randomly. Or simply forgets it's network settings. Or forgets it has a wireless card at all.

This morning, I had to drive over to my sister's, to try to start her car for her. No luck, so I suggested giving her a lift.
That was when I noticed my back tyre was a little flat. A full 20PSI below normal, to be precise. Having driven over 150 miles home on it, I was shocked to say the least. No wonder the handling was bad...

So this all took me 3 hours, by the time I had got back home. I was then in no mood to work. Ho Hum. Should have stayed at uni.

Remember boys and girls, check your tyre pressures, feel like a fool ,since I'm normally the one nagging my sister.

1 Week

2006-12-09T16:15:00.000Z

Not much interesting has happened recently
I'm heading home on Friday for Christmas, 3 weeks off.

I only have 4 lectures this week, so nothing to do Tuesday to Thursday, really must work on those assignments tho...

HMP Hindley

2006-11-30T22:50:00.000Z

So today myself and 3 girls went on an educational visit to HMP Hindley in Wigan. It was quite an intimidating place to look at from the outside, and everywhere has locked doors, most of the doors have an additional barred door adjacent to it, so chances of getting around without keys are slim.

We had an introduction, then we were shown around one of the (empty) cell blocks, not quite the palaces the Daily Mail make them out to be. We went on a tour of the education department, visiting an art class, a gym, an ICT class, a Business Studies class and an induction assessment, where the inmates are assessed as to their academic abilities.

To say it's different from a school is an understatment, they often learn at a very basic level, but much of it is hands on learning, they run motor mechanic and brick laying courses. The lads we encountered in art and the gym just stared at us (well at the girls!), but in the ICT and Business classes they were in much smaller groups and we were able to see them working and engage with them. They ask a lot of questions and won't give up without an answer. They all have to do classes, but can choose subjects, the idea being to educate them so they can get a job on release, sadly there is around a 65% reoffending rate.

We got to meet Michael Shields, the celebrity within the prison, the difference between him and the other inmates was astounding, he was sat quietly, doing his induction and trying not to be noticed. We did get introduced to him, and from talking to him, he really didn't seem like the type to be there.

P.S at no point during the visit were we searched, we had to put our phones in a locker, and we were supervised going round, but there were a couple of times I could have slipped an inmate a bag of weed whilst the teacher's back was turned.

Do not pass Go, do not collect £200

2006-11-24T23:47:00.000Z

We received a confirmation tonight for our visit to HMP Hindley, next Thursday, as part of our Education studies. The speaker we had from last Monday has arranged for a group of us to spend the day learning about the education system first hand.

I had better take my tear gas.

4 More weeks

2006-11-21T14:08:00.000Z

I spent most of last week at home ill, hence no updates.
Now, with Christmas fast approaching, I'm up to my old tricks, selling unwanted stuff on ebay,
to give me a budget for buying presents.

We had an interesting lecture yesterday, a visiting speaker from a young offenders institute, to tell us all about the education system for the inmates. I'm not sure it's the kind of job I would like to do, the (as yet) unincarcerated youths you encounter in schools are bad enough.
It's good to hear that the education they receive can have a positive impact, they had one lad who went on to study maths at Cambridge apparently.

1 Down, Many More To Go

2006-11-07T13:57:00.000Z

Assignments that is. Finished my first and handed it in. 1500 words on SWOT analysis.

Last weekend I was home, drove down Thursday evening,went used car shopping on Friday (for my gf, not for me!), then to Reading on Sat, to do some planning for our holiday at Easter.
Went to St Albans firework display in the evening, as usual it was good but the weather was freezing. The picture is shamelessly stolen from the website of the display organisers, and is actually from 03.

Sunday, we had a family lunch together, which was nice, then I spent half an hour fumbling in the dark, trying to change a friend's car battery, without the proper tools. I did succeed, in case you are wondering.

My visit was topped off by 2 great church services on Sunday, I'm glad I stuck around for the evening service. People were surprised to see me, but most of them managed to feign happiness.

I left at around 10.30, got home at exactly 1.00 - I love driving at night since no-one else seems to and the roads are really empty.

For Andy

2006-10-25T21:44:00.000+01:00

something of note

Money again

2006-10-24T13:48:00.000+01:00

I've created a spreadsheet detailing all my expenditure since I started at uni, I can't believe how much I spent, mostly without realising. In addition, I have made a budget sheet, for the remaining 8 weeks of the term, and I will use it to see how well I am keeping to the budget. I'm aiming to save some money at the end of the term to put towards a holiday at Easter, more on that later. Thanks to my new found addiction to jam sandwiches/jam on toast, I now have a suitable repository for all my change.

Currently only holds 47p

Another week gone

2006-10-19T14:39:00.000+01:00

I would have put another update before this, but I've been pretty busy.
My girlfriend came to stay for the weekend, which was very nice. We went shopping in Chester, had lunch by the river etc.

After my lecture on Tuesday, I headed home as it was her birthday. I timed it so I got to her place just before she got back from the bible study, then appeared from out of the shadows clutching a bunch of roses. She was pretty surprised to see me, and very pleased.
Last night we went out to Zizzi's to celebrate with a few others, was good to see people again.
We have a habit of pulling faces etc. when people try to get a photo of us together, this one was no exception.

I've now come back to uni in time for my Thursday afternoon lecture, it was tempting to stay at home for the weekend, but I'd left some work I needed to do behind.

2006-10-12T13:18:00.000+01:00

Got back today from a short visit to see my aunt in North Wales, my parents had rented a cottage which had spare rooms, so I went over on Tuesday night, having no lectures on Wednesday. Was nice to see her, it's been about 5 years. Didn't see much of the rest of the family who live round there, only my cousin's daughter and her baby. The picture was taken by my dad in a restaurant in Llandudno.

The joys of a hall of residence

2006-10-05T13:27:00.000+01:00

Had a fire alarm at 1am today. This siren sounded, stopped, sounded again, stopped again, then silence.

Then it started and didn't stop. Alex and I went to investigate, it was going off all around the building, despite the fire safety talk which said each flat was on it's own enclosed circuit.

They also promised us no late night fire drills. In fact they said the alarm would never sound throughout the building

We got to the bottom of the stairs in our block, discovered everyone was evacuating, so I followed suit and Alex went back to get dressed. After 2 mins outside, 2 things were discovered...

It were flippin cold...

....and the other 2 flatmates who were in at the time were still in bed. Asleep.

You see the alarm sounder is outside the main flat front door and unless you're awake you're unlikely to hear it. Great designing.

I went back for a fleece, despite being told never to re-enter a building, and hammered on their doors.

after 15 mins outside in the cold, surrounded by people in dressing gowns and mini skirts, the nice fireman let us all back in.

I feel sorry for those who had to be up early for teaching practice

Money Galore

2006-10-02T21:45:00.000+01:00

Just realised it's been more than a week since I updated this.

Had my first week of lectures, went well, nothing too taxing so far.
My grant came through the other day, so I'm on less of a budget now, just have to try not to spend it all in one go.
Haven't had my loan yet as...
well I forgot to tick the box saying I wanted it. This has now been rectified, so I should be even richer soon.

Off to North Wales next week for a couple of days - my family is spending the week visiting an aunt and cousins, so I'm going to pop along between lectures.

Not much else interesting to add.

2006-09-23T15:48:00.000+01:00

Just added some pictures of my room, as it stands, not terribly tidy. It's nice as far as uni accom goes, great to have my own bathroom.

Unforseen Expense

2006-09-22T19:32:00.000+01:00

So much for getting by on £10 this week.

Had a big problem yesterday with my laptop. It seemed to forget that the network card and sound card, amongst others, existed. After trying various things to fix it, I reached for my pile of CDs to find that the XP install disk wasn't there.

So I went home to get it.

Left at about 2, got home by 4.40, not bad going. Picked up the CD from my parents, sorted my laptop, and spent the evening with my girlfriend - she got a bit of a surprise when I called her, was great to see her though, even if it was less than a week since I left.

I stayed overnight at my parents, was originally going to drive back at about 11pm. Didn't feel like my home anymore, felt a bit weird.

But discounting the £38 for petrol and £7 for the M6 toll, I've still only spent about £8

Bored...

2006-09-19T21:37:00.000+01:00

Got my timetable yesterday, not starting lectures til Monday, so other than the freshers fair tomorrow, I'm twiddling my thumbs.

Trying to finish my sister's wedding video, turning out to be a bit of a mission.

I withdrew £10 yesterday, trying to make it last at least until the end of the week, as I there's very little I need to buy. Got about £7.98 left, a pint of Pepsi in the union bar last night only cost a quid. Will let you know how much I have by Saturday.

2006-09-18T13:34:00.000+01:00

A little bit I forgot to add - went yesterday to a church I had 'researched' before coming away, very friendly people, got invited to lunch, and then to their young people's group after the evening service.

In the evening, one of my flatmates and another from the upstairs flat came with me, they both said it was very welcoming, and seemed keen to go again.

More importantly than the welcome, though, was the teaching. Which was very good, much like my home church, they take a book of the bible and work through it methodically, that way you can't skip the bits that make you feel uncomfortable.

All in all, a good day yesterday, shame I wasn't at home though, they had the Archbishop of Uganda to speak, I'm assured he was good, will have to try and download the recording.

2006-09-18T13:29:00.000+01:00

After 2 days without internet access, I was given my password for the uni network today.
Had an introduction to the course today, got given my timetable.
Enrolment takes place this afternoon, and I have a library tour tomorrow, but other than that, I've got nothing to do til Monday.

Must get round to getting some pictures of my room up.

Still not sunk in yet

2006-09-15T17:52:00.000+01:00

So today's my last day at home, had a leaving party last night. Thanks to Han for the venue, and for those who came.
Still not really woken up to the fact that tomorrow I'm going to be living elsewhere, going to a new church Sunday, meeting loads of new folk. Really excited by it though.

Going to spend the evening with my girlfriend, going for a meal. Really should start packing clothes at some point.

The Beginnings

2006-09-14T09:42:00.000+01:00

I've created this blog as a means for friends of mine to keep in contact and up to date whilst I am away from home, studying at university. So far, I don't really have much interesting to offer, but hopefully that may change.

I start as a 'fresher' this coming Monday, I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet. Having always lived in the same place, the same house, it's going to be wierd to move to a completely different place with totally new people. And the prospect of getting back into studying after 4 years is intimidating, but also exciting, in a way.