Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Results

So today turned out to be the day I got my results. Just because I feel like winding you up, I want 3 comments from different people before I reveal how badly I did.

hehe ;o)

  • Happiness. 10 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 1 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Biscuits!
  • Song of the day. The happy song?
  • Thought for the day. Thank you Jesus!
  • What I’m Doing Now. Trying to ring mum and dad… what’s the point in having mobiles if you don’t answer them!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

So the reason for the brief delay in posts? It’s not because I’ve had nothing to write, quite the contrary, I couldn’t decide which of my musings to share with you.

Since Wimbledon on Tuesday I’ve actually not been doing much (makes a change!) Hooked Victoria up with a computer, welcome to the 21st century Victoria!

On Friday, me, dad and Victoria went to the west end to see Derren Brown Live. I didn’t find it as good as I thought I would, some of the tricks he performed we’re more showmanship and suggestion than reading non-verbal queues which left me feeling like I hadn’t seen anything new. Saying that, I wouldn’t hesitate to see him again (have I been brainwashed?)

The last few days have really given me lots of time to deal with house things, mainly the mess NatWest got me in. It’s also been the first time since my exams that I’ve had time to digest my first year at university…

It was good. I made a good start to my course, joined some interesting clubs, yada-yada-yada. Let’s be honest, the first year can be defined by a few infinitesimally small moments and a few great people. I’ve mentioned them all before on this blog, and it’s really nice to be able to look over the posts I’ve made and see my moods change. Here are a few you might want to look at again, consider it the best-bits from the last year:

BTW RIP MJ

  • Happiness. 8.5 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. McDonalds!
  • Song of the day. Mariah Carey – We Belong Together (remix)
  • Thought for the day. Don’t blink… blink and you’re dead.
  • What I’m Doing Now. Chillaxing with Baz :)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Oh yea, and I went to Wimbledon…

so yesterday (Tuesday) I went to this lovely little tennis tournament down the road. It’s held every year and all the major seeds from all over the world compete on the only grand slam grass courts.

I came back from Josh’s house a day early after building his computer in record time. It was all up and running in a matter of hours, even had time to watch the new Top Gear on TV.

On Tuesday me and mum got up at 6:30am to get in the queue for Wimbledon. We were numbers 3257 and 3258 in the queue. It was all very organised and time just flew by. Before you know it it was time for 2nd breakfasts and then eleven-zies. We got in to the first court at about 11am, court 3, to watch Jankovic play. It was a great match, where the crowd were rooting for the underdog (because that’s what we British do best, see Hennman).

Round 2 was over on court 4, Keothavong (or sumin’) losing. Such a shame to see a Brit out in the first round, but again the crowd we’re supportive right till the end.

Murray Mound was crazy busy. But me and mum (being the jammy sods we are) managed to secure ourselves some seats on a bench!= near the front of the hill, primetime spot! We even saw some woman from ESPN interviewing people.

Why can’t Murray just win comfortably. I was in no doubt that he could do it, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to show it every once in a while. Joined in with all the cheering, had strawberries and Rosé, all very civilised. Victoria even managed to come down and join us, for free!

All in all it was a fantastic day, only made better by getting to spend it with my mum who I don’t get to see a lot these days!

The rest of the week will be quite quite in comparison to recent days, catching up on things and sorting out this bank mess…

Then I kick off the weekend with a bang on Friday with Derren Brown Live (absolutely cannot wait!) then off to see my sis on Saturday for a few days. Can’t believe it’s been over 2 months since I last saw you!

  • Happiness. 8.5 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Sausages and Potatoes (done to perfection, thanks James)
  • Song of the day. David Place – When The Sun Goes Down (from The Bedford last week)
  • Thought for the day. Don’t let life get you down, let NatWest do it for you!
  • What I’m Doing Now. Just chatting to Anne, one of my housemates next year

PS you know the score, check out the pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026050&id=1293892814&l=469b1faaf1

or check out the Flickr stream on the right ---->

Monday, June 22, 2009

Special Post #14: Accommodation, Part 7 – Another way

Another post in the very on-going accommodation series about the foibles of getting a house

By now you should know that getting a house is a lot of work. Since signing the tenancy agreement a couple months ago things have been crawling along nicely. On the 5th July we will officially be able to live in the property. This is good because it happens to coincide with GuilFest, the Guildford music festival that I’m working with stage crew for. This is bad because it means paying rent. This is bad because it means having a bank account organised to pay rent from. This is bad because of NatWest. I feel a story coming on….

Our landlord wants us to pay our rent together. In order to do this we needed to find a way we could all pay into one bank account and then use that account to pay the rent. Simple, right? Well, in order to make it as fair and “jointly liable” as possible we opted to go for a 5-way joint account where all of us were account holders. This would avoid a situation where the person who the account is registered to is constantly chasing everyone else to pay up because it’s their neck on the line.

To make things as simple to manage as possible I decided to open the account with the NatWest on campus, so if there were any issues down the road, it was only a short walk away to fix them. So we all got together in the last week of term and went off to the bank with our forms. One of the things we all put on our forms was that we’d like to setup online banking to make it easier to manage the account. We managed to open a joint account with 2 account holders, but everyone else couldn’t be put on because they didn’t have valid proof of address (we’re supposed to have a recent bill addressed to our home addresses, but because we’ve been living at uni, it was hard to get them). Either way, we had the start of an account that we could use for now.

A week or so later I got a load of letters from NatWest with all the account information, including how to register for online banking. So I followed the instructions and registered. However, the website showed that their we’re no accounts. It wasn’t working. It turns out that you can’t have online banking for joint accounts. So why do they give you the option on the form! So there must be another way to check the balance of your account, right? Well, yes, there’s telephone baking. Ah, but your account doesn’t exist. Excuse me? Yes, there is no such account number. So that’s good news.

I’m left in the position where I may or may not have a bank account which may or may not have a standing order to the landlord and may or may not accept payments into it. All with only a week before the first rent payment is due. Good times. Thanks for nothing NatWest, all I can hope is that there is “another way”…

Banter

AKA “Do talk to strangers”…

Ascot was brilliant. There was a girl on the last day who said to me that I must be sick and tired of my job by now after 5 days straight, and I said to her that I could do it for another 100 days because it’s very engaging and the people you meet in the Royal Enclosure and the staff I’m working with are so kind and friendly, it feels more like a holiday than a real job. Overall, I got over £25 in tips this week. However, these do include money that people left behind as well as £7 of genuine tips.

One thing this week has taught me (beside the minimum stake for a permutation Jackpot) is the value of kindness. I have a new found respect for people who work behind tills, or in fact anyone who has to interface with the public on a day-to-day basis. Just by being polite, and having what me and Josh like to call “banter” can really make someone’s day. Working at Ascot it was always the people who I had a bit of a conversation with that I would remember. I would have girls who would come specifically to me to place their bets because I was good luck (apparently, even though it was them picking the winning horses).

A prime example of this was this week when me and Josh needed to buy our train tickets every day to get to work. We bought them from the same kiosk and chatted to the same girl behind the counter every day. By the end of the week it was good fun to ask her for “the usual” and have some “banter”.

I took this principle further yesterday when I rang up my bank to activate a new account. It was 12:30AM and I was expecting to get an automated message running me through activation. Instead I got a real human! After she’d set me up with my account she asked me if I had anything else to ask, I told her I was surprised to get a human to talk to and we had a bit of banter about her shift and what type of crazy people ring their bank at 1am.

It doesn’t take much to make someone smile and it makes you feel good too. It can even restore your faith in human nature. Your homework this week is to have banter with at least one person before Friday, just try it… you’ll be surprised how easy it is! I want to hear your success stories in the comments!

  • Happiness. 8.5 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Roast dinner (many thanks as always to mum)
  • Song of the day. Muse – Feeling Good
  • Thought for the day. Happy Father’s Day! I love you dad!
  • What I’m Doing Now. On the train to Josh’s to build him a computer

PS… If you bet £2 on a horse and it crosses the finish line first but without a jockey, it doesn’t count as a win. Learn from my mistake.

PPS… In response to my post on Monday (Quick Character Flaws), I’d like to strike confidence from the list. This week has given me more confidence about myself.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Ladies Day

I love working at Ascot. It’s really busy, but all the people are really friendly. I’ve been having a great time taking bets and paying out.

I’ve been working in the Royal Enclosure all week, which is where all the posh people go. Served plenty of Esquires and Lords spending £50 notes.

Today I saw none other than the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber and the brilliant Peter Jones. Oh yea, and the Queen.

Working at the Tote you have to balance your till at the end of each day, so far at Ascot I’ve done quite well. On the first day I was 5p over because one man didn’t take all his payout. Yesterday I actually balanced correctly, and today I was £5 over. So overall I’m not doing badly so far (watch now I’ve jinxed it I’ll be miles out tomorrow).

Josh has been staying over because it’s easier to get to Ascot from Balham than Dunstable (where he lives). We’ve been having banter and went to The Bedford for some live music yesterday with James. Really liked the sound of a guy called David Place, so we bought his album; check out his MySpace page.

  • Happiness: 9/10
  • Tiredness: 1/10
  • Last meal: Bangers & Jackets (sausages & potatoes)
  • Song of the day: The King Blues – My Boulder (again)
  • Thought for the day: If that horse wins I’ll eat your hat!
PS Sorry, forgot to say that you can see loads of photos of Ascot here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Quick Character Flaws

If you are in a good mood, and plan to be for some time yet, do not read this. You have been warned!

Just a short post because I need to be in bed 1 hour ago so I’m awake for the first day of Ascot.

I have a few character flaws I would like to talk about today.

  1. Criticism. As much as I enjoy feedback and love it when I get some, I can sometimes take criticism very personally. I think this is one of those things that I just have to deal with. It isn’t that I lash out or become defensive, it’s just that it can sometimes knock me back. Luckily, most of the time I am also motivated to improve my work when given criticism, as long as it’s not too harsh. This steams from another trait, always wanting to make people happy/like me.
  2. Self-Confidence. I’ve come to realise that I’m not the bubbly, out-going person I would like to be. I’m quite defensive of my ‘true’ self to people I meet, which makes me a real hoot a parties. I think this again steams from wanting people to like me, and unless I’m sure that I am welcome and included, I will be very quiet and insular.
  3. Analysing. Now this I’m very good at, but it does lead me to over-analyse things which are best left alone. This was the main cause of much distress over the Easter break, and is by far the most frequent and common reason I’m not happy. The best cure for this is usually a good, long talk with someone I can trust. Some of you may have been at the receiving end of one of these, and to those I say thank you.

To balance all this out I have a great joke to share:

What did the mayonnaise say to the fridge? Close the door, I’m dressing.

  • Happiness: 6/10
  • Tiredness: 6/10
  • Last meal: Lasagne (courtesy of me!)
  • Song of the day: John Mayer – Stop This Train
  • Thought for the day: Can’t it not be over yet, to live not reminisce. Of all the things I could forget, it’s you I’ll really miss.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

No Socks

Today was one of those days I like to call no socks days. They are basically days where you don’t do much, and the things you do do don’t require the use of socks. I re-installed windows on my computer (A test version of Windows 7), this time without loosing all my data. Caught up on Click, the BBC technology program, and generally chilled out.

Those who read with a keen eye may have noticed I was supposed to be working today, well I worked on Friday and they told me that I wasn’t needed on Saturday. Because they are training up people for Ascot next week, those yet to go to a race day were given priority over me because they needed the practice, whereas I’m already brilliant at my job, obviously :-)

Work on Friday was particularly slow, it was a quiet day and I only made 97 sales, nothing compared to the 300’s I was taking for the Derby.

Thursday with dad was a day well spent. Good Father-son time spent in the shadow’s of a huge house listening to “Life, The Universe & Everything”, the 3rd book in Douglas Adam’s superb trilogy of 4 books (which has 5 books in it). Possibly the best books you’ll ever read, especially for the wit and humour of Douglas Adams, who has the ability to make you see the universe in a new light. Just take Bistromatics for example. I love these books, it’s just such a shame more of society hasn’t read them as quotes from them are lost on most people.

Tomorrow I’m going to Sophie’s house to watch Down To You, something we’ve been meaning to watch for ages.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and make sure your next relaxation day is a No Socks Day.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Country roads

The last few days I’ve taken the exit at the junction and rolled onto country roads. There’s not as much traffic, and we’re not going as fast, but the air is cooler and the scenery is pleasant. I’ve met a few hitch-hikers along the way, Alan gave me a wonderful meal on Sunday, I went climbing with Lauren on Tuesday and I met up with some old-skool friends on Wednesday to watch a film.

Tomorrow my dad’s taking the wheel and driving us down to an old house he be renovating some way outta’ town. We might find a local bar to sit in for a while, maybe find this stream called the Thames.

On Friday & Saturday I’m switching modes of transport onto horse. I won’t actually be riding, just taking all the bets at Sandown racecourse. A man’s got to earn a living some hows.

Now today y’all gots a special treat, pictures of me buried in Brighton stones…

090603 Brighton (From Iola) (2) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (3) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (4) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (5) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (6) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (7) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (8) 090603 Brighton (From Iola) (9)

I’ve started an album on Facebook for all my summer pictures, I’ll be updating it with new pictures as I take them, so it’s worth a look.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026050&id=1293892814&l=469b1faaf1

I’ll make sure I mention on here anytime there’s an update.

PS: Apologies for the questionable sanity of this post, I’ll make sure to make it better next time…

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Special Post #13: Tote, unlucky for some…

Second post in an ongoing mini-series about my first ever job as a Tote betting assistant.

I love working with Tote. Essentially the job is merely regurgitating what people tell you into a till, but because of the wide variety of customers and the nature of the job, it can be as interesting as you make it. A lot of people ask for information ranging from “what is tote?” to “what are the odds on this horse in the next race?” to “what is a reverse forecast?”. Here’s your guide to Tote people-spotting:

  • The seasoned pro’s. These are the one’s that place what tote like to call the “exotic bets”, maybe picking 1st, 2nd and 3rd in a race, for example. They tend to study the screens and/or a newspaper for a long time, then (usually about 10 seconds before the race starts) place a really complicated bets with many permutations, which you then have to process before betting closes for that race.
  • The lads. Essentially the wannabe seasoned pro’s who’ll have competitions between themselves as to who can win the most money. These people usually place stupid combinations of bets, such as 5 win bets. I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen five horses collectively win a race.
  • The ladies. Can be noticed from their attire (usually understated dress and overstated hat) and because their husband will had over a £20 note to her before she approaches. She will then place a simple win or each way bet giving the horse name instead of its number.
  • The groupie. A group of girls who can barely walk through combination of ridiculous footwear and alcohol consumption. They will need an explanation of what “pool betting” is and a tip of horse to pick for the race. The latter is best resolved by handing over the race card and instigating a choice based on jockey colours (usually resulting in the pinkest, gayest jockey colours being picked).

The take home rule of betting is: the house always wins. And never was there a better example than on Saturday when I cashed out over £2,500 profit at my till alone.

I’m working for Tote this week on Friday and Saturday at Sandown Racecourse and I’m really looking forward to it. More excitingly though, it’s only a week until Royal Ascot!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Juggling

Life is all about balance. And no more has this made more sense to me than in the past week…

All year I’ve been holding things off until “after my exams” to the point that now I more things to do than Gordon Brown has resignation letters.

Here’s the list, in what I guess could be priority order (if you find your task low down on this list then don’t worry, if it’s on the list it will be done!)

  1. Continue to build website for Quondam girls society
  2. Produce centenary video for St Stephen’s Church
  3. Organise bank account to pay rent into for house
  4. Fix a broken laptop
  5. Get a computer sorted for Victoria
  6. Build Josh a computer
  7. Fix the Parish Office computer (this one’s pre-emptive)
  8. Install Windows 7 RC on my computer
  9. Copy Olu’s tapes to DVD
  10. Cook for the family
  11. Help design a PowerPoint presentation for Stage Crew to show at fresher’s fair
  12. Sell my Knex on eBay (unless you want it)
  13. Find a new current account
  14. See the new Star Trek film
  15. Organise boat trip

And there are probably some I’ve forgotten. To be honest, once the first 2 are out the way I’ll be half way there. It’s all about prioritising tasks and managing your time effectively.

On top of all that I’ve obviously been working for Tote for the last 3 days, giving me pretty much no time to get anything done.

Don’t let this put you off, this isn’t a moan, in fact it’s quite the opposite. I love being busy, I just don’t like letting people down; and I worry that sooner or later I won’t be able to do something in time for someone.

  • Happiness: 8/10
  • Tiredness: 6.5/10
  • Last meal: At Quiz Night (thanks everyone!)
  • Song of the day: The King Blues – My Boulder
  • Thought for the day: Don’t bet £500 on a horse to win only to find that it comes second. Bad times…

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Special Post #12: Tote, “And they’re off!”

This post is the first in a mini-series on my first ever job, at the Tote…

Sometime shortly after returning to university after Easter while me and Josh were revising, Josh heard about a company offering jobs to students for a week over the summer with a possibility of future work. That company was called the Tote.

For those who don’t know, the Tote is a pool betting organisation owned by the government. They take bets at racecourses for every horserace in the county, every day of the year. Instead of a traditional bookmaker offering odds on a horse to win, the Tote put all the stakes into a ‘pool’, which is then divided out amongst the winners. If you don’t understand it yet, then I’m gonna give up…

Anyway, so both me and Josh applied for a job and were invited to a training day at Ascot racecourse. The date was set for the 28th, which was the Thursday of the last week. Since this was after our exams we both accepted.

On the morning of the training day I woke up to a phone call from Josh:

  • Josh: “Have you got your photograph?”
  • Me: “What?”
  • Josh: “It said in the email that we need a passport-sized photograph”
  • “What email?”

As you can tell I hadn’t been told anything about the training day, but Josh had. Basically I needed several things:

  1. Photocopy of passport (luckily Josh had a scanner so that was done very easily)
  2. White shirt, trousers, shoes (Luckily dad hadn’t collected all my things yet so I still had those)
  3. Filled out application form (what application form?)
  4. Packed lunch (ah, with my food resources being overdrawn, this one could be tricky)
  5. Passport-sized photograph (nope, not a single one)

After panicking a little I came up with a plan. We went to the train station and took passport photos in the photo booth, bought a sandwich from the WH Smiths at the station, and got Josh to print off an extra form for me to fill out on the train journey there.

We got there on time and were given an introduction to Tote and how they operate. In the afternoon we we’re taught how to use the Tote Betting Machines to take all types of bets. This would have been fine had my machine not broken about 2 minutes in. But they quickly put me on another machine and I was away.

The second part of training is to attend a live race day and be shadowed by another member of staff. Me and Josh choose Sandown racecourse on the 4th July.

Despite the lack of any proof that we were employed by Tote we managed to get onto the racecourse and were assigned to staff members. I was with Ken in the imperial suite, which is a private function room that had been hired out by a group of 40 or so people who we would place bets for. It was great fun, Ken let me operate the till while he handled the money, and by the end of the meet I was getting pretty quick at taking bets.

It was quite funny when the first customer came up and asked me how long I’d been working for the Tote, to which I had to reply “Well, your my first customer.”

After successfully balancing at the end of the day, I felt quite chuffed. It was very diverse to take all the various bets and give information and advice as well.

I was then offered a job working the Derby on Friday and Saturday, to which I could hardly refuse.

So that brings us up to date. Today was my first day at the Derby, working on my own and taking bets. It was a really interesting day with a whole range of people taking bets. One guy won £483.50 from a £5 bet, not bad by my standards. He now goes down as the highest payout I’ve had to give, and the most number of sales in one day was 264, 65 up on Thursday when I took 199 bets. Tomorrow is supposed to be very, very busy, so wish me luck (get it)!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Excursion to Brighton

Where we left off…

Mum and dad picked me up from the crew BBQ on Sunday and we got my things and said goodbye to cathedral court for the last time. Once home it became apparent that the addition of a double bed in my room would make unpacking interesting…

Monday. Up nice and early to go swimming with James. There is hands down no better way to start the week than getting a refreshing swim in. After that is was over to Graeme’s for a talk about the quiz night on Saturday and catching up. The afternoon was spent attempting to unpack all my belongings into my room. To make this easier, anything I’m not going to need in the next 4 months has been designated a spot in the study where it will live until such time that it will return to Guildford to sit in another room untouched for 6 months.

Tuesday. Finally that lie-in I’ve been waiting for. Got up at 2:30pm and worked on a website for the rest of the day.

Wednesday. I went off to Brighton with Josh, his girlfriend and his sister. We had a great day in the beach, exploring the pier and the little lanes. Fish & Chips for lunch, burying me in the stones, a spot of gambling, shopping, Nando’s and back on the train. All in all, a wonderful day. I think I could really get used to this group, we all get on really well and have lots to talk about. Can’t wait until our next excursion.

090603 Brighton (1)

Left to Right: Josh, Jess (Josh’s Girlfriend), Iola (Josh’s Sister), Me

Expect more pictures soon (maybe, my camera ran out of juice so I’m relying on Iola and Jess).

  • Happiness: 8/10
  • Tiredness: 6/10
  • Last meal: Nando’s
  • Song of the day: Jason Mraz – Details In The Fabric
  • Thought for the day: “I smell like a chocolate urinal” -- Me after trying on many different spays in boots.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Special Post #11: The forgotten bits

This post will cover the parts of the last week that are easily forgotten. These are the little things that make the week special, not a night in a club, but a small part of the bigger picture.

1. The Notebook – In the last week I read The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks. It’s similar to the film, but easier to be drawn in by the sadness of it all. Essentially a love story about a summer romance that was never forgotten, it tells a heart-breaking story of Allie and Noah meeting again after 14 years apart. It’s a testament to the book that I read it in 2 days, the quickest I’ve ever read a book. The writing style is very cut and dry, telling the story straight without drooling on for paragraphs with descriptive prose. Overall I would put it as a must, must read for anybody who wants to feel the beauty of true love is possible. I’ll stop now before I loose all my manly-ness.

2. MadTV – This is the group I am part of that is trying to create a weekly show for the students of Surrey University. I am now the Technical Director and therefore in charge of filming and editing all the shows. We had a meeting to discuss the plans for next year such as getting new talent and starting up a sort of soap opera.

3. Packing – When dad came round on Thursday and we borrowed a Tesco shopping trolley to move my things from my room to the car. The problem is we only had this bright idea on the last trip!

4. Colorweb – Stage crew hired a giant ‘web’ of lights to backdrop the stage for end of year show. It looks absolutely amazing and was great fun to play around with. God only knows what it must’ve looked like if you were drunk and wearing 3D glasses…

5. Gibbo DJ – One of my friends, Tom (AKA Gibbo) managed to get a one hour DJ slot in the unions bar below Rubix on Thursday night. Have to say it wasn’t exactly my kind of music, but it was cool to have someone you know DJ-ing!

6. Ghostbusters – One of stage crew’s traditions is to dance to Ghostbusters whenever it is played. This happened twice this week in quite a cool way. On Thursday Gibbo played a punk version as part of his set and on Friday the 3D-Disco people played it with 3D ghosts coming out of the screens! Both quite new takes on the usual.

7. Pan-Tilt – Getting to play with the new remote control camera from stage crew on friday. It’s about twice the size of the other cameras we have of that type and can take some pretty cool shots. Boys and their toys…

8. The Lake – I know I was only going to do specifics but the whole lake party was magic. I managed to bump into pretty much everyone I’ve met in my first year at uni. Stage crew, housemates, course friends, new housemates, other friends, it was just such a great night.

I’m sure there’s more, and I know there are a few I haven’t mentioned, but you get the idea.

I don’t want to say that it was the best week of my life, because it also had the biggest low point, leaving!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Don’t try this at home!

Pictures!! Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025767&id=1293892814&l=7341fbd86b

Lets have a little lowdown shall we?

Tuesday: Up at 11:30am. Go Karting in Surbiton which caused bruising but was great fun. In the afternoon we go into town to do a spot of shopping and soaking up the sun. In the evening I came back home for one night only for Dad’s birthday party. It was meant to be a surprise but he’d clocked it, but it was still a great night. A taster of what it would be like to live at home again. Get back to Guilford and into bed for 3am.

Wednesday: Up at 11am. Get my wristband for the End Of The Year Show (EOTYS) at Rubix. I got this free thanks to stage crew once again saving my wallet. Went to a dance show in the evening with some great contemporary dancing, katak and ballet (Sophie will correct me if that’s wrong). There was also a different piece which was outside and had the dancers following a car and climbing things, weird but cool. After that I headed off to Wednesday’s EOTYS. I had to leave early in order to get up for my training day.

Thursday: This is the surprise I was telling you about. I’ll go into more detail in a special post coming soon! Essentially it was a training day for a job. After returning from that dad came round and collected 95% of all my belongings and took them home. This left me living in a husk of my former room, made me very sad. Fortunately I had no time to morn the loss of my things because it was time for a house party. Had my dinner (2 packets of crisps). Stayed at the party for a couple of hours then headed over to the union for EOTYS. Left at 4am.

Friday: 8am start. Help Stage Crew set up the union until noon. Opened a bank account with my new housemates for paying rent next year (more about this in an upcoming accommodation post). Off to Guildford Spectrum for a spot of ice skating (see first picture)! Ice skating was good fun and Sophie was surprisingly quick on the ice, it must’ve been her sporadic arm movements! Got back to the union at 5pm to continue setting up. Free pizza at 9pm. The band came on at 10:30pm when there were only 2 people in the union. The staff had to occupy the dance floor to give the band someone to play too! I was doing pit cam for the band, trying to get some arty shots. Zane Lowe (amazing radio 1 DJ) played at midnight; he’s so energetic on stage that you can’t help but get carried away, loved it! After Mr Lowe came 3D disco. Essentially 2 geeks with Macbooks playing old songs and showing poor ‘3D’ effects on projectors. You might be able to tell I was none too impressed. As Phil put it: “These glasses do five fifths of **** all!”. Once Rubix shut at 3am it was time to packdown all the stuff we’d put up outside. Come 4:30am we head over to the lake (at this point the sun was rising). All you need to know about this charade is that at the end of the year everyone goes to the lake for a massive party, the pictures tell a clearer story. At 5:40am the generator powering the speakers and DJ desk ran out of fuel, stopping the music mid-song, much to hundreds of people’s disgust. So we decided to start packing stuff away and were back in the union by 6:45am with everything back in its rightful place. Despite having only had 4 hours sleep the night before, I didn’t feel too tired. Either way at 8:30am I went to sleep.

Saturday: Got up at 9:30am feeling refreshed. OK, I lie. I felt quite bad, but either way I didn’t feel like sleeping. I think the rest of the morning was spent saying goodbye to people and trying to wake up. After Lauren had left at 3pm, I headed over to the union to packdown EOTYS. Unfortunately only 7 people in crew could drag themselves far enough from their bed to get to the union. Packdown was actually good fun despite occasionally feeling really tired (I can’t for the life of me think why). I got back to Cathedral Court at 7pm. Only me, Sophie, Joy and Don remained from the whole of our block. We watched Britain’s got Talent (I got 40 winks), had dinner (cheesy chips counts, OK) and watched ‘50 First Dates’, a great film if you haven’t already seen it. Got to sleep at 1:15am.

Sunday: Rise and shine at quarter past nine. Toast for breakfast. Started packing up the remaining items from the kitchen and my room. Said goodbye to Sophie at 11-ish and then headed over to Crew BBQ! Every year crew have a BBQ at the end of the year. I think it’s an excuse for the union to get rid of the alcohol they didn’t sell at EOTYS, but that’s fine with me! Bouncy castle fun and a bit of lake dipping finished off what can only be described as the most eventful week of my life, by a long way.

So many great memories that will all merge into one, which is a shame in a way because each one was memorable in its own right and should be remembered for what it was rather than because it was part of the last week. If I had to choose my favourite day it would hands down be the Friday. And by Friday I mean from 11:59pm on Thursday until 8:30am on Saturday. I want to do it again! It’ll be worth the 12 month wait…

  • Happiness: 8/10
  • Tiredness: 5/10
  • Last meal: Vegetable curry
  • Song of the day: Dizzie Rascal - Bonkers
  • Thought for the day: Is this the longest post so far?