Dear Life,

Thank you. Thank you for the amazing times of the last few months. For giving me the privilege of working in Switzerland. Allowing me to go to Amsterdam and have the time of my life. Giving me the best friends I can hope for and more.

I know I’ve sometimes been frustrated with you, and it’s easy sometimes to get trapped in stress and not see how it will all work out in the end. I now have faith that when the time comes, you will provide me with a life I can’t imagine. I know I will have to work, I know I will have to try hard and not always do what I might want to, but in the end it will all pay off.

The last few months have been a dream and I know I will wake up soon and have to fall back down to reality, but right now, every day I can wake up with a smile and go to sleep knowing my dreams will not be as good as the last 16 hours… I can’t help but smile when I think how lucky I am to be here and to know a small part of it is because of the endless days I spent working every evening and taking my studies seriously.

If I ever need the motivation again to do the right thing, remind me of this moment: when I look out over the expansive skyline beyond the borders of this balcony, where the alps fall off into the clouds and the Swiss sun creeps slowly over the clear blue sky. This. is. the. moment.

• Happiness. 10 out of 10
• Tiredness. 0 out of 5
• Free Time. 2 out of 5
• Last Meal. Pancetta & gorgonzola sandwiches
• Song of the day. Jessie J – Price Tag
• Thought for the day. Take pride in being whoever you want to be
• What I’m Doing Now. Living the dream

LX317

Another week, another flight to Switzerland. I'm still having the best year ever and travelling over the Swiss alps every week for work.

I know in my last post I tried to justify how little I've been blogging recently by saying what I've been up to, but there is another reason. I'm kind of doing the same thing every week... Work in Switzerland Monday to Friday, then try and live my life at the weekends. That usually constitutes more travel and catching up with as many friends as possible.

Now we're in May it's beginning to dawn on me how this phase of consistency in my life is coming to an end. In 2 months time I'll have moved out of my current house and be living with a friend for 2 weeks before moving into my new house. I know I still haven't got around to that accommodation post yet, but it is brewing. Not only will I be moving out of my current house, but my current housemates and lots of my other friends will finish university and leave Guildford for good. And that smells far too much like growing up for my liking. Friends going out into the big-wide world: travelling, teaching, moving back in with parents... It's scary to think I'll be walking through that door in only 12 short months. And if they go half as quick as the last 12, it'll be coming sooner than I can possibly imagine...

Since I haven’t done a “moments” post for a while let’s get you up to speed.

• Day in London with Charlotte. Went to a vegan all-you-can-eat restaurant, Covent Garden, met up with Beth, went to Camden market, saw Lifehouse live, went home and saw Becky… it literally couldn’t be any better.

• Going to Weymouth town and visiting the cider bar!

• Games night playing Cranium and Twister
• Sat at the bus stop in Lugano in the sunshine after missing our flight…

• Getting a Mercedes convertible as our hire car. Driving in the sunshine by the lake with the top down…

• Going on a pub crawl in Amsterdam

• Hiring a bike in Amsterdam and getting royally lost

• Going to an amazing steak house in Switzerland with the customer and having a horse steak.
• Getting very drunk on a bottle of port on the boat trip and going on a midnight mission to get McDonalds chips.

• Having a BBQ in Birmingham in the glorious sunshine, miraculously meeting up with Adam Hurd and going rowing in the dingy with hundreds of people watching.

• Having my first pint of Guinness on the boat trip.
• Drinking 4 pints of very strong Cider with Katherine on the boat trip, then all staying up until 5am.

And that’s all for this time, I swear I have actually started writing the Accommodation post, and the first one will be ready very soon!

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (my special power is sleeping on public transport) 
• Free Time. 1.5 out of 5
• Last Meal. Steak :P
• Song of the day. Creed – One Last Breath
• Thought for the day. May the fourth be with you…
• What I’m Doing Now. In Switzerland until the 12th May…

Another Fail…

Hi. I know I promised an accommodation post and an explanation of what I’ve been up to recently, but, as usual these days, I found my weekend being spent catching up with friends and getting odd jobs done (or at least started).

I can explain why I’ve been so busy recently with the aide of a bullet list:

• Monday 21st March: Off to Switzerland for another week of work.

^ We got a convertible :O

• Friday 25th March: Off to Amsterdam from Switzerland for a weekend with some mates

^ We went to all the intellectually challenging sights…

• Monday 28th March: Straight back to Switzerland from Amsterdam

^ Eating an Italian pizza while watching the sun set over the Swiss alps

• Friday 1st April: Back in Guildford
• Saturday 2nd April: Busy weekend catching up with laundry and seeing a few friends
• Monday 4th April: Switzerland
• Friday 8th April: In the office in Basingstoke for a day before going off to Birmingham for a boat trip with my new housemates!

^ Ginger on board

• Thursday 14th April: End of the boat trip, a night in Guildford
• Friday 15th April: Off to Weymouth to spend a weekend with Charlotte

• Monday 18th April: Switzerland
• Friday 22nd April: More laundry, and going to London
• Saturday 23rd April: Day with Sophie planning the inter-rail trip!
• Sunday 24th April: Easter Sunday at the Mitchells
• Monday 25th April: Back to Switzerland tomorrow…

And then there’s what’s coming up:

• Friday 29th April: Got the day off work for Charlotte’s birthday party in Guildford
• Sunday 1st May: Day in London with Sophie and Julie
• Tuesday 3rd May: Back to Switzerland, for 2 weeks this time
• Friday 13th May: In Basingstoke office for a day
• Saturday 14th May: Dad’s birthday in London
• Monday 16th May: Back in Switzerland until the weekend…

So my life’s a bit WOAH at the moment. Can’t wait to have enough time to tell you about some of the great things like housing next year and inter-railing!

But for now, keep it real and smell you later :) x

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5 (another early start for the flight tomorrow)
• Free Time. 1 out of 5
• Last Meal. Pasta courtesy of brother James
• Song of the day. Hellogoodbye – Baby, It’s Fact
• Thought for the day. Lots to do, and lots more to do after that…
• What I’m Doing Now. Should be sleeping. tut tut tut.

Coming Soon

I haven’t forgotten about you! I’m working on the long-awaited Accommodation post in light of spending a week with my new housemates on the boat last week!

I’m still in Switzerland and having a great time… don’t worry about me! You’ll hear all about it before Christ has risen!

Speak to you ladles x

• Happiness. 9 out of 10 (lets turn the excitement down a tad)
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (but missed my alarm this morning… largely due to it being set to this evening :S)
• Free Time. 1 out of 5 (but this weekend is catch up time!)
• Last Meal. Steak and pasta – Got to love Switzerland :)
• Song of the day. Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song
• Thought for the day. The thing Ross dressed up as instead of Santa…
• What I’m Doing Now. Once again looking forward to the next few months :o)

Writers Block

Hi All,

I have a confession to make. I’ve been neglecting this blog like a distraught mother neglects her 2-year-old daughter on a motorway lay-by. And it’s not for a lack of things to say, on the contrary, I’m lacking a sufficient filter to weed out all the awesome stuff so that only the EPIC stuff on real tiger-blood remains!

So, my life is still a dream, and Switzerland, Guildford, London, friends, family and others are still keeping my days going. And in that regard there is nothing to report. I went to Amsterdam a week ago and confirmed that it is indeed a crazy place, full of amazing people and a mental attitude to party! The weekend was brilliant and encompassed everything from chasing a tram on a bike to boat trips and oriental food, pub crawls, museums and much, much more besides….

You may think this blog is loosing momentum, but to be honest there are only so many times you can say “reality is finally better than my dreams” I know it won’t last, and I know I’m a lucky bastard, but you only live once and if life gives you lemons and all you did was sit there and watch them rot, then you missed out on a fantastic pancake filling!

Next week is another boat trip, this time with my housemates for next year… I’m certain all the compulsory boat banter will ensue! After that the rest of April is set to fly by just as quickly as March with more Switzerland (currently booked up until the 20th May) and a birthday party or two.

Before you know it we’ll be at the end of May! Where is this year going?!

• Happiness. 11 out of 10 (I honestly can’t fault it)
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5 (I spent all of Sunday sleeping……)
• Free Time. 1 out of 5 (if it wasn’t for yesterday’s sleep this would be 0)
• Last Meal. Pizza! And long may it continue :P
• Song of the day. Hellogoodbye – Oh, It is love
• Another Song of the day. Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes
• Thought for the day. “I love my dreams, I wouldn't change them for the world”
• What I’m Doing Now. Trying to calm down… this post has way to much enthusiasm for life to be healthy…

Near Life Experience

I’m having a brilliant time at work at the moment. Lots of responsibility and lots to do. Not to mention lots of Switzerland action!

This week there wasn’t a day when I didn’t finish work after 9pm, it got to one point where all the restaurants were closed and we had to resort to a Burger King! And when you’re in Switzerland, that’s not the cheap option either… £25 for 2 large meals :S

There are brilliant moments that life throws at you, and I’ve used this blog many times to re-live those. But right now there are no moments. Every day is like living a dream. OK, over-exaggeration points, but who can’t smile at this sight every morning:

Sure, there are things that bug me, things that sometimes play with my mind or make me wonder why I even bother. But the key is to not take life too seriously, take it in your stride and ride the wave.

Today my workmate and I missed our flight back to the UK by 1 minute. We started twigging that we might be up the infamous creek without a paddle when we’d been stuck in a VERY long line of traffic for over 20 minutes and had barely moved :S

When we finally got to the airport, which can be best described as a big house (for those that think of Heathrow when I say the word airport), we had to wait a couple hours before our next flight which meant spending a couple more hours in the glorious Swiss sunshine, watching the sun glisten off the local stream and sample another 1/2 of the best beer around. Worst day of my life…

All this work in Switzerland has meant quite a dramatic change in lifestyle from what I’m used to. Here are a few statistics from my 2011 so far:

• Days spent in Switzerland: 41 out of 77 (53%)
• Days spent in Guildford: 25 out of 77 (32%)
• Days in the Sony Office: 9 out of a possible 53 (17%)
• Number of flights taken: 34
• Amount of Chocolate bought: NONE!

And Cardiff, Weymouth and London on my travels! I’m off to Amsterdam next weekend with a few mates from university to see how much of it we can paint red (I hear that some of it is already sorted…if you know what I mean :P)

• Happiness. 9 out of 10 (let’s not get carried away)
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Free Time. 2 out of 5 (but not up to much this weekend)
• Last Meal. Toast and a beer
• Song of the day. Lifehouse - Everything
• Thought for the day. Leave more time to get to the airport!
• What I’m Doing Now. Sat on a plane… number 34!

PS promise I won’t leave it as long before the next post :S

Raising the Bar of Life

It seems like the last few weeks of good times are set to continue for a while… which leads me to question my definition of “good times”. Is the bar too low??

I love life, I love the small things that make me smile, like a few free chocolates from a certain airline company :P

I’m very excited about everything happening at work at the moment, especially the next few weeks which are the start of the next phase, bringing more geeky goodies :)

This last weekend was awesome, all of it. From the hours of chilling in Guildford Wetherspoons on Friday, to a fantastic day in London visiting an all you can eat vegan restaurant, Covent Garden shopping (and seeing cousin Beth!), Camden browsing and then a Lifehouse gig at the Roundhouse before going to see my sister in the evening! Such a good day :o)

There’s a lot to look forward too in the next few weeks too:

• 4th March – Off to Weymouth for the weekend for sea and cider :)
• 11th March – Jake comes to Guildford! Good times ensue… guaranteed :)
• 25th March – Amsterdam?! Maybe…
• 8th April – Another boat trip is on the cards… :)

Let the good times roll on and on!

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5
• Free Time. 1 out of 5
• Last Meal. Chicago Town pizza, back to cooking for myself… for 2 days anyway lol
• Song of the day. Lifehouse – Falling In
• Thought for the day. “Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity." — Gilda Radner
• What I’m Doing Now. Booked the day off on Friday, 3-day weekend win!