Get A Move On

Last year I posted a monthly update of my best moment, which was a great way to count down the most memorable parts of every month. However, this year I’m taking a more casual approach.

My last “moments post” was about immeasurable subtleties… how the finest moments often cannot be described well in words. So let’s keep this list short and sweet :)

• Mike Frazer (of MADTV fame) coming to Guildford for the weekend. Oh the Banter we had, ambling around Guildford aimlessly and having 3 different kinds of cake for breakfast :P
• Drinking a slow pint of Strongbow with my cousin Jake in Cardiff at a club called live lounge.

• Sitting in the Swiss hotel lobby with a tasty beer and working for hours…
• The house viewing with all of my NEW housemates, being amazed and getting the house (all of this story to come…)
• Going to a fancy dress party in town dressed as Sherlock Holmes and the sheer number of random people who saw this attire and thought “I must have a random chat with that chimney cleaner!”
• Spending the weekend in Guildford with my old housemate Will, more ambling around town and cake eating… (wow, I eat a lot of breakfast cake…)
• Getting to fly Business Class :) the best bit was the little cup of poo that turned out to be chocolate mousse… risky first mouthful paid off :P
• Spending the day watching Family Guy and 24 :)
• Finally getting around to watching Pulp Fiction
• Going climbing with Sophie Dean! Climbing virginity gone!

• KOKO with Julie! Amazing venue, amazing music!

May the best days in your past, be the worst days in your future

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Free Time. 1.5 out of 5
• Last Meal. Steak :P
• Song of the day. Maroon 5 – Sunday Morning
• Thought for the day. Make us a brew!
• What I’m Doing Now. Waiting for the weekend! Gig 3 of 3 :)

Somebody stop me :P

Just had my first full week in Guildford for a while, makes a change from all the swiss-ness thats been happening and will be happening.

The last week has been amazing, from having my university placment tutor visit me at work last friday and say i'd got an A for my first placement report.... To baking muffins and watching Black Swan in the cinema....

Since monday I've been out ever night, may as well make the most of being around my friends while i can :D on Monday it was my housemate Claire's birthday and we went out to a very civilised italian restaurant in town. I found it quite funny that even in guildford i cant seem to escape italian food haha

On tuesday i ended up making an impromptu visit to Guildford's piano bar, Tickeled Ivory. Never dissapoints and got to see a few poeple I haven't seen in ages and even a few new faces.

And then to round off the week, on wednesday i went out for one of my new housemate's birthdays! Thats right, NEW housemates :D i seriously need to fill you guys in on this one...

However, i have a day off work today, so im offf to london for a spot of Rock Climbing with sophie, then this evening we're going to see Maroon 5!! Win!

The next few weeks are going to be a bit epic, with switzerland, london, gigs, my sister and everything! Somebody stop me! :)

Ttyl x x x x

When Life Gives You Lemons…

My workmate and I have adopted some quirky in-jokes working together the last few weeks. One of them is to say “Buongustaio!” at every possible opportunity, especially as a greeting or sign of enjoyment. Examples:

• “Buongustaio! How are you today?”
• “Have you tried this sandwich? Buongustaio!”
• “All the tests finished successfully! Buongustaio!”
• “Buongustaio!” (a substitute for awkward turtle)
• “Could I have a piadina Buongustaio!” (an acutal sandiwch and the origin of the now elusive phrase…)
• and the list goes on…

^ Hywel, my buongustaio workmate.

Last Tuesday, after eating the steak of my life, we went back to the hotel and did some work from the lobby. We were running a series of tests on the system and we wanted to check in to see how they were doing… and I can telly you now there is nothing better than analysing performance metrics while slowly drinking a pint of beer. Buongustaio!

When Wednesday rolled around, there was lots still to be done, as the fresh batch of testing gave us plenty to mull over. After another long day, we finally left work too late to get anything other than pizza. Now I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but the Swiss (like most of mainland Europe) eat rather late compared to us Brits. We have it drilled into us from a very young age that its bad to eat just before bedtime, and to that end I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that most of us eat straight after getting in from work at about 6-7pm. Try getting served in a Swiss restaurant before 8pm and you’ll get a turned up nose… possibly because they punched you, but more likely because they have no concept of food being consumed at that hour. They’re still running off that mid-afternoon expresso that seems to fill the cafés like a social wave at 3pm. However, try getting served after 10:30pm and all you’ll get is pizza. Seriously. So you have to time yourself just right.

^ A pizza

So on Wednesday evening, after leaving work too late to get anything other than pizza, we resided ourselves to the nice little pizzeria within walking distance from the hotel. To our surprise the usual woman who served us, as nice as she is, had been substituted for a beautiful Italian lady :o) Buongustaio!

This week has been twice as busy as last week, and still lots and lots to do. I also found out this week that I won’t be in Switzerland next week, but I will be the week after… and the week after… and the week after… and the week after… you get the idea. Not only am I excited about the prospect of getting to stay in this lovely part of the world more, but also about some of the work coming up in those weeks… although very geeky I’m literally loving every minute of my job. Buongustaio!

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Free Time. 1 out of 5
• Last Meal. Business class dinner on the plane :)
• Song of the day. Tranne Te and Barbra Streisand….
• Thought for the day. I’m actually going to be in the office in Basingstoke tomorrow! Wonder if those 3 Snickers bars are still in my desk drawer…
• What I’m Doing Now. Writing this post at 40,000ft… business class style.

PS expect an Accommodation post very soon! I’ve got some catching up to do…

Typical amazing week featuring Switzerland

This week was just another great week. I love work, I love life and I love my friends :) I know people don't generally like to read about how great a time other people are having, I'm not rubbing it in, I just want to be as positive as I can when life gives me the chance... Isn't that just a quote and a half :P

Sunday.
Said Au Revoir to Cardiff, Jake dropped me off at the station at which point I realised my train left 20 minutes ago. Doesn't exactly bode well considering I was due in Zurich that evening :S good start. Anyway, I figured this was fine since I was planning on killing an hour in Reading with my work mate anyway, so I'd just have to cancel that and everything would be dandy.

Jake and I, not to shoot a gift horse in the mouth (aside: what kind of sick phrase is that?), took the chance to grab a cheeky pint at the spoons down the road. An extra 40 minutes of banter with Jake never goes a miss!

On the train it was time to listen to some new music my workmate Xav had given me. Joshua Radin is a bit of a legend! Between him, Colbie Collait and my growing love for Paolo Nutini and the hours of standing on a slow packed Sunday train soon whittled away to nothing :)

All this kerfuffle with a later train did make the airport a bit tight, but we (Xav and I, Xav joined me at Reading) made it to the plane and I slept...

We arrived at Zurich about 11pm. And our hotel for the night was the airport! Basically Zurich airport has day rooms that are small rooms at the airport you can get to stay the night in. They're very convenient since you don't need to go through security or the passport check! Small rooms and shared showers, and a view of tons of tarmac. But I'm a student, the fact I could get more sleep because I didn't need to get to the airport was priceless!

Xav and I also went for a midnight walk around the airport. There is something very cool and eerie about an empty airport, in bare feet. Silence except for us, and just lots of empty space...

Monday.
OK, so trying to find somewhere to get a normal breakfast at an airport is harder than it sounds. The choice is coffee or coffee or Burger King. In the end we found somewhere that served pain au chocolate and croissants... They'll do!

Tuesday.
After a long day at work, you need to get some good eat. On Tuesday we went to a place I've mentioned before (the one with the strudel...). This time I moved away from the amazing steak I have been having to ...... horse. Filletto du Poledro is possibly the best thing you will ever put in your mouth! If you ever get the chance in your life to eat a horse steak, you won't regret grabbing the opportunity with both hands (so to speak).

Gotta dash, but I'll get some more of this written up tonight :) I have pictures AND videos coming up! You lucky lot....

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 4 out of 5 (early start this morning...)
• Free Time. 0 out of 5
• Last Meal. Just had/having a Swiss yoghurt for breakfast
• Song of the day. Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece Of Heaven
• Thought for the day. Gutted I don't have another hour to finish this post, lots o' good news!
• What I'm Doing Now. Eating breakfast watching the sun rise over the Swiss Alps.