Let Us Be Thankful!

I had Thanksgiving with my housemates today and it was really lovely. Brittney, who lives across from me, is an American and she was feeling really homesick in the run up to it so we had the idea that we would have our own version. We couldn’t get a turkey so we made do with two chickens instead and Rob cooked it all with a bit of help on the whole veg peeling side from all of us. Then we all got dressed up and sat down to eat in Laura’s room, which was a double room and thus is massive. We had to borrow a table from the other kitchen as well but having 20 people round the table and eating together and giving thanks was really nice and Brittney seemed to really appreciate it. When it came round to her giving thanks she teared up and just told us all how lovely we were, which was nice and it earnt Rob (who cooked and is also her boyfriend) some major brownie points. I found it a bit scary carving two chickens for 20 people but I made a good go of it and much fun was had by all so thanks for teaching me how Mum and Chris!

It was really nice to share in what is essentially another culture, as well as making a good friend feel more at home and getting to eat all sitting round one table (well 3 pushed in an L shape) was just brill.

In other, unrelated news I donated blood today and was told my veins and blood count and general health mean that I can platelet donate from now on!

SNOW-donia

I apologise right now for the awful ‘pun’ or whatever it would be called in the title but if I had to sum up the trip concisely (which I won’t be doing as it is just not my style) that would do nicely. I went away with the guys and gals from Ben Lairig again last weekend to the wilds of Wales. It was a really nice trip as they are all people that I have walked with before and have been hanging out with on Wednesday nights since the start of the term so we are all comfortable with each other and get on really well. We left Uni at about ten past six, cursing the Lacrosse team to the skies as they had run off with the keys to the joint stores that we share and thus we were down one tent and two stoves. We drove to Snowdonia and set up camp in the rain as usual and it was decided that sleeping two members in a car would be better than ramming the tents full as that would lead to a huge build up of condensation etc.

So Matt and I spent another weekend sleeping in a car meaning that I have actually yet to camp on a Ben Lairig trip in the purest sense of the world but at that point I couldn’t care less as we had just discovered how ludicrously comfy Jamie’s car was! We rose the next morning and cooked breakfast while exclaiming how much Snow there was on Snowdon already and how that would be a great walk to do. And it was, we did about half the ascent before we hit the snow on the ground and just as we did fresh snow began to fall, and fast. However we took it slow and the more experienced members of our group took the lead and the tail of the group and taught us how to check our footing etc. We made it to the top and sat in a shelter and had lunch were we all discovered how much of our equipment had frozen. My glasses, camera and the outside of my coat had frozen but I hadn’t noticed, proving how warm my coat was on the inside. We made a slow and carful descent with no mishaps at all. Once we were off the mountain proper and the ice I almost immediately fell over as I had stopped concentrating and got careless, nothing was hurt but my pride but it proves how much you need to concentrate at all times, no matter what the conditions are.

We then went gear shopping as the pub near the campsite was expensive and as it gets dark so early you end up spending upwards of 7 hours there if you head to a pub straight after a walk, the Langdale walk of two weeks ago being a case in point, in the end we didn’t go to that pub at all and instead walked 2 miles (what we do best) down the road to a much better one!

The next day we were all knackered so we didn’t actually set off on our walk till 12.20 leaving us with only 4 hours of tangible daylight to play with. We climbed a mountain that I can’t remember what it was called (Its called Moel Siabod). It was wonderful walk as the mountain had been quarried to death a long time ago leaving a steep but well worn path up to a good scrambling face as well as a long river running through 3 lakes. We took what the mountain had given us and decided that a good bit of scrambling would get us to the top the quickest. So we climbed up slowly but surely and reached the top by about 3 were we found that this too had frozen and had snow, we just hadn’t been able to see it from the ground. A quick lunch stop in the shelter at the top and then a slow but smooth descent down the ‘tourist’ side of the mountain saw us down in an hour just as it began to get dark and rain meaning that the walk was timed near perfectly. We had a drink of hot chocolate in the pub to warm up and pay for the parking and then we drove home listening to Abba and stopping at a service station for a dubious sandwich. I returned home to my house mates who, having checked the weather on the news were I was out decided that I was both mad and ‘way hard-core’ once more

A great weekend!

Life goes on!

Just a quick post, done to get across two things. One that, I can have a responsible night out and also that I am off to climb Snowdon this weekend. One the night out front it was one of my housemates birthday last night (Adam turned 19!) And it fell to my less than capable feet to organise a night out for him because and I quote. "Rob you know loads of pubs" And so I did, and it wasn't willy-nilly and was properly planned with the right balance between price/distance and the right pub and bar mix. However, bar a few exceptions, none of my housemates had been to any of the places that we were about to go off to. So I drunk responsibly he whole night and lead a pretty damn good crawl. And the night was a success!

On the Snowdonia front we have decided to actually climb Snowdon because it’s well known and decently populated by otter walkers and as the forecast is bloody cold with the possibility of Snow this seems like a good idea. Should stay reasonably rain dry though, just snow which is easier to stay dry from. Expect piccies!

The Adventure Revealed.

If someone was to glance at my Facebook status they would notice that it said that I had been on a grand adventure. Now this phrase is vague and confusing so I will clarify.

We (that is to say Ben Lairig) played Pub Golf last night, it was fast and furious and I won! We then moved on to Reflex were we stayed till about closing. I was really not operating on all cylinders at this point and the only explanation for what happened next is that I turned right leaving the bar instead of left.....and kept on walking......and walking......and walking. I won’t bore you with the details of the actual trek but it’s safe to say that I was very lost. I eventually found my way back to Uni at about 5 in the morning. When I checked the route I must have taken (as I remember passing the archbishop of York junior school) it turned out I had walked over 9 miles and had ended up in not the next village but the village 2 over from York..... How I got so lost, or got so far before I realised I was lost, or how I managed to cross the A64 twice without realising it will remain a mystery to me. But Mum there was no injuries or danger so no needs to worry :)

So I am tired and havevnow reached legendary status both with my housemates and with Ben Lairig (unfortuantly as a massive waster but a legend none the less!)

Shoot that fruit!

I'm spurned to write this as a rebuttal of kinds against what Ruth wrote in her blog, or at least as a clarification of what a 'fruit shoot escapades' actually is.

We went out to the Charles again last night as a corridor and much merriment was had by all and many beverages were consumed. We then adjourned back to the kitchen after last orders were called and a fair few of us stayed up and continued the evening along the same lines. It was decided by upstairs Jon (guess were he lives!) that he really needed to do his weekly shop, we checker our watches and it was 1.45 so Tesco’s as our only option!
Then as they say in the movies..... Reel Missing

I woke up the next morning with 72 bottles of Fruit Shoot in my cupboard, a quick check of my wallet reassured me that this only cost me £18, which is a saving on what it would have been had I got them separate and to be honest it sorts me till the rest of term.

The moral of this story children, don’t drink and shop

Thank you and have a safe night!

Settled

As I shake off the usual post Ben Lairig night haze I decided to sit down and blog. I love university and I love York, in a way that I didn’t think that I would, at least not so quickly. I've had good days and bad days here obviously but these past 5 weeks have been among the best in my life and have gone by so fast as well. When I was away for the weekend, up on a mountain in the cold I found myself missing home a bit, but this wasn’t me missing 47 Lyndon Rd (although I do sometimes mum!) this was me missing C block, my room and the people that I am lucky enough to live with.

On slightly less schmaltzy news I got 72 out of 100 on my first essay, which translates very loosely as being a first, while this is obviously only the first in a long line of essays I’m very pleased with both my result and the praise that I was given for it, so yaaay.

Oh and for the record of cool but odd places in York, the willow is a Chinese restaurant with a disco in it, free prawn crackers while you boogie!

Man Up!

I went to the Lake District this weekend with the guys and gals from Ben Lairig (the University of York Hill Walking club). Let me get this point across straight away. The weekend was amazing, it was great fun with a group I am fast considering real friends, a real challenge as well as being a complete change to the usual slog of Uni, a lot of my housemates went home for the weekend, I was away too but doing something really out there and different to the norm.

We arrived late on the Friday night as I was in the group that had late lectures and Adams car has just come back from having his tires replaced!, We had a bit of trouble getting there and the weather was already setting in on us, after finding out that the lakes town of Settle seemingly shuts down at 9pm and thus there were no takeaways to be had we finally arrived at the camp site at 10.45 pm in the pouring rain. The others had arrived a good 2 hours before us but had not set up the extra tents as they were in our car, also they had been in the pub and were about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. So Adam and I slept in his car and Trish and Bance slept in Bance’s Merc. A reasonably comfortable (but dry!) night and the weather didn’t look much better, in fact if anything it was worse…..

But the Ben Lairig catchphrase is Man Up (goes for girls as well) and Man Up we did, and climbed, and walked, and scrambled. In the torrential rain and gale force winds, and these are not Fishermans terms, the weather was bloody awful. I got soaked to the skin through 5 layers, 2 of them supposedly water proof. There were honestly times that I wanted to give up and go home, I’m a reasonably experienced walker but I’m used to doing one peak a day or so, on that day, in those conditions we did 4 peaks (not sure which ones exactly but it was in the Langdale region and one of them was Crinkle Crags) and it took us seven hours. As long as that sounds as we were up so early having deposited our wet clothes in the Campsites drying room (a great idea, you could tell it was a walkers campsite) were in the pub by half 4. And we stayed till last orders at 11.30, memory is hazy of what went on at this point but it was warm and dry and fun. Needless to say we were a bit worse for wear by closing, couldn’t set up the tents again so again I slept in the car.

Colder and stiffer came the next morning (Sunday), but with it a break in the weather and a bacon breakfast was had all-round! We drove to the region of Coniston and decided that after the day we had been subjected to before we would not push our luck and stay lower so we decided to do the horseshoe walk of Helm Crag ending up at the Lion of the Lamb. Staying lower meant that we did have good weather (for the most part when it wasn’t hailing or snowing!) And I managed to take some photos and a better day was had by all. 2 main peaks were bagged with a 5 hour walk done in all, so more flat than the day before and snow aside the weather was really with us, my bottom layer even stayed dry, making for a pleasant trip home stopping in Penrith for a fish and chips on the way home and my housemates buying me a beer when I got back for being ‘way hardcore’. After that though I ‘way hardcored’ myself to bed at 10pm and slept and slept till 11 the next day!

A Quiet Night In

It’s been a nice quiet weekend here in York, I went to see my uncle Atty and cousin Alistair on the Friday night, I had a nice meal with them and a bath and we talked about politics round the fire and our subjects and generally caught up. Then I had a lovely nights sleep in a huge feather bed, bliss.

I came home on the Saturday morning, and that’s what it was. When I pulled into York station I really felt like I was coming home, and the feeling only intensified as I made it back to Goodricke. So I have really settled in.

A quiet night at the Charles (the local pub) on the Saturday and then films in my room tonight, we are watching Sin City as I type this, so a lovely, quiet and ultimately cheap weekend. A seminar presentation tomorrow and a bit of shopping are the only thing on the cards. As well as some reading and organising.