End of an era… well the flat
Well today is the day that we give the keys back for the flat. Can’t say that I’m that sorry to see them go now, it’s been quite a dragged out process so I’ve not really got any attachments any more.
I suppose the one thing I will miss is the convenience of uni being so close 2mins has now become 25mins and having to go in today just to take my library books back is a complete arse. Why they remove the ability to renew online is beyond me!
The university is really getting on my nerves at the moment though as I can’t seem to get the Health and Saftey guy to approve anything for my experimentation and the timescales are getting close now. Apparently I am unqualified to operate and bench sander, it seems that being 25 and having two degrees does not qualify you as being responsible enough to use these machines safely. I would like to see the training course… It’s a real shame because the University is losing itself funding in the future as I now have no inclination to do any futher research with them when I’m at work - that’s probably a PhD student - at least a Masters that they’ve lost out on unless they buck their ideas up. I’ve managed to get the ok to build my test-bed at work where it will remain as it’s never going to be approved at uni.
Oh well enough uni rant, back to today and my 1000 words (I’ve written about 50).
Good Hunting
ITV News (ish)
I’m not really one for watching the news very often and I haven’t really been keeping up recently but with living that much closer to Charlie’s school we got home in time for the lunchtime news yesterday. And it was bad.
The ITV news team were reporting on the flooding in Sheffield - now I’ve got nothing against that but the whole broadcast was about that - has nothing else happened. Plus it was like reading the daily mail, each item was presented in a sensationalist fashion with time only given up to stories that show the devestation and problems that the flooding has caused.
Not one story reported on any show of human determination or spirit, I know it was there because when we watched some of the BBC news later on in the day (For other reasons) they showed stories of how people were helping other in any way they could one person had made hundreds of cheese rolls for those that had been flooded and didn’t have access to power or fresh food.
The part of the broadcast that made me laugh was a shot from the helicopter, they were flying over parts of the city and showing how it had been affected. There was a part where the reporter said something like ‘look at this car park where all the cars have been lifed on top of each other’, when the camera shot was over what can only have been a scrap yard - I’m no expert but a flood does not stack half the park neatly on top of the other half!
The lesson - watch the BBC (Abi’s been telling me for years…!)
Good Hunting
Many days in the life of man
Well I haven’t written a post for over a week, mainly due to the fact that after writing 1000 words of thesis/paper then writing an interesting post has kind of deserted me, and partly because it seemed a lot of effort to find the password.
I have several things that I can talk about though so this might be a long one… (in no particular order)
Duncan’s Stag Do
At the weekend Ian and I drove up to Nottingham for a day of stag activities, first off a daredevil driving challenge entitled Follow that Minibus. The plan was to meet everyone at about 10.00 so that we could pick up the minibus and get to the activities easily but it quickly became apparent that 10.00 was ambitious from leaving Halstead at about 7.45, but we tried. James gave us hope when he said the Bus driver was going to be late but we were still a few minutes shy.
A broken phone conversation revealed that we had only just missed them and we could actually see the minibus so we followed - now at this point the driver of the minibus had been informed we were behind him and had pulled over and waited for a minute for us to catch up, he also knows that we are not from Nottingham.
So he pulls away and drives straight through an amber light leaving us stranded at the traffic lights, that really sets the tone for the next twenty minutes while I fight through city traffic (in a city I have no idea about) following a minibus that obviously knows where the speed cameras are, has no lane discipline whaatsoever and is incapable of signalling unless he’s doing it wrong. The highlight of the trip was his overtaking manouever down a single carriageway that I would not have attempted in my car, this of course meant that I had to overtake to keep up as we have no idea where we’re off to. Ian’s text of “Perhaps this is a good day to die” says it all.
Quad Bikes
When we arrived at the correct location (the minibus driver dropped everyone at the wrong place first) we climbed into our overalls and onto the quad bikes that seemed rather fun, after a few mistakes I got the hang of them and by the time Tom decided to lead me off through the woods by himself I was really enjoying it!
Clay Pigeons
Shooting a gun is something that I’ve always had a slight curiousity for, perhaps its all the wargaming that I’ve done in the past but when you actually hold a weapon that was specifically made to kill people it’s a bit different. James did make the point that I’m allowed to drive a car which is more dangerous but I wasn’t convinced the comment was just about the car…:) After a brief saftey talk and not signing anything we were allowed to go and shoot at the clay discs. The actual shooting was really fun however and I scored a rather good 21/25 only bettered by Duncan who managed 22/25 (I would like to say I let him win due to it being his stag and all but that’s not really my way as people know).
Hooters
The meal was in Hooters where the food and chat was fun but the service was definately not, to be honest Ian and me were in a bit of a rush and although we enjoyed the company the fact we had to rush off meant that we were waiting to leave the whole time. After a rather good 2hr20 journey back to Halstead Ian was off to work meaning that he hadn’t slept for the whole day as he’d come to mine from work the previous day. I gave him the keys to his car and I coudn’t help but feel concerned for him driving back but he made it ok and from his blog seems to be fine now!
MUUUUUUUSE
Lest I forget Muse at Wembley. The stadium was awesome, awe inspiring some might say. It managed to be plush and massive at the same time. The parking was a bit steep (£20) but it all turned out ok in the end. My chemical romance weren’t all that good but Muse were mega - they opened up and never stopped. Everytime I see them live they remind me why I love them so much. So I have to say thanks to Ian for the ticket!!
Good Hunting
We’re in and they’ve connected the internet about 5 days earlier than they said they would!
Well we’ve moved in and we’ve started to unpack everything that we brought with us! Which was a lot. It seems like we’ve got a house that is decorated in cardboard, and the fact that the internet connection seems to be working is very strange!
Any this is stopping me unpack!
Good Hunting
Boxes, JB, Vicky & Jon
This weekend (apart from the GP) was spent packing boxes and seeing JB, Vicky and Jon. As for the boxes they just fill the flat now. They are everywhere! And we’ve run out… …with more things to pack! Plus Charlie’s not feeling at all well today.
On saturday night we did manage to get out for a while and see JB and Vicky & Jon. We visited the Purple Dog again which is a great little pub and was just right for a drink and a chat although I think I’d like to forget the naked fencing conversation now…
I would also like to apologise to Vicky for not mentioning on the blog that we went out with her and Jon the other day when I had mentioned everything else.
JB came round on sunday and we had a bit more of a chat about all things JB, hopefully we’ll see him again soon and wish him good luck for his promotion! Although being an underwriter does mean that he is scum… (nice scum though).
Good Hunting