Home again!

I decided that just because I’m home there is no reason not to keep up with doing this. So here’s what I have been up to since I left my new home and returned to my old one.

Its lovely to be home but its also very weird. Homes much bigger than Uni but there are many less people. I don’t miss my friends much yet but I’m sure that I will soon! Its been nice just hanging out with Mum and Ruth in the living room or just having the what has become a luxury of a bath or lying on a sofa. The oddest thing about being home is one that I did not see coming, I’m finding my bed too big! It affected my sleeping a bit when I first got back, just like my single bed at Uni did when I first got there but I am getting used to it again.

Its also nice to catch up with old friends, I went to see David on Sunday, played with Izzy all day on Monday when Becky came to visit and am off to the pub with some college friends this evening, then I guess it is almost Christmas!

I'm Alive

I’m Alive; I’ve been not very well and hence the complete lack of contact with the outside world, in fact I have had very little contact with my housemates as I have just been feeling rotten and they have been very nice and checked on me occasionally but on the whole left me to sleep. And sleep I did, I lost the whole of Sunday, which has screwed me over royally in a body clock kinda way, and I generally have not been very well.

I am better now so no worries but am deeply ensconced in the hells of revision as well as the whole saying goodbye to friends as people leave for the holidays so expect contact to be sporadic till Saturday evening or so.

But I put it in the drier!

My room looks ridiculous at the time of writing this. I did my laundry and then paid a pound to have it dried. An hour later I return to find all my clothes are still wet. Now I’m not going to pay another pound and have the same thing possibly happen to me again. So now all my wet clothes are hanging around my room, hanging off open doors, my shelves, my curtain rail, my radiator and pinned by their labels to my notice board. So it’s like a clothes jungle in here, and it smells slightly damp, which is sad :(

In slightly less wet news I had a nice week and feel semi-prepared for my exam as I have now seen a practice paper and it’s not as scary as I thought. My last lecture for the term is tomorrow then it is off into town to finish my Christmas shopping!

A Quiet Weekend.

It’s been a quiet weekend this weekend. I took it off as I had already written it off from my schedule as I was unsure whether or not I would be in Scotland with Ben Lairig. So I had a free weekend and rather than using it to revise, as I have another 2 weeks to do that, I decided to chill.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited out to lunch with my friend Laurence and his Mum, who was up shopping in York. We ate in the Café Rouge and it was really nice and good to get to know a bit more about a friend. We then came back home about 4 o’clock and I had a bit of a quiet afternoon reading a book and catching up with my e-mails. Then at 6.30 Rob knocked my door and declared that he ‘couldn’t be arsed to cook’ and knowing that I ‘was never arsed to cook’ would I like to go out to a pub for a bit of good food. So the six of us (we found some others) decamped to the Punch Bowl for a meal as I like to drink there and the food is meant to be good.

It probably is good, as the place was absolutely rammed with people, but we didn’t get to find out, as the place was rammed with people. So we went out in the town and once again ‘My Knowledge of Pubs’ was called upon once more. Unfortunately my knowledge is pretty limited when it comes to ‘not drinking’ and more ‘eating’ in them. Luckily I remembered that the Old White Swan did Sausages at the very least. As we had been in the cold for a while by that point we went there. And they did nice food, and good beer and it was warm. We then decamped back to the same Beer Festival that caused my Hangover/Red Bull Death but lesson learnt I drank in moderation and a good time was had by all. There was live music that night as it was the end of the beer festival and so we rung up the rest of our friends and settled in for the night.

I woke up at about 12.45 the next morning and went straight to the canteen for a carvery with some of my housemates (still not arsed to cook and also wanting a good meal). It was very nice and we chatted over a good roast beef dinner. I then came home after a good feed and slept again….till 6.30 were upon I then got up and made a spaghetti bolognaise before going to see The Matrix at the student cinema.

An unproductive but great weekend!

Wired!

Its Midnight as I write this and I Can’t sleep. Normally I wouldn’t be thinking of sleep for at least another few hours, but I know it will be hard to come by tonight and I am honest to god tired as well. Unfortunately I am also wired in the mind as well and have a case of the jitters a junkie would be proud of. How did I reach this most in-between and odd of states is a tale of its own.

Wednesday nights are always lively for me as anyone who has ever had more than a cursory glance at this blog has probably worked out for themselves. That is the day that I go out with the guys and gals from Ben Lairig the uni’s hill walking club. This Wednesday was no different; we set off from campus with the idea of sampling a few pubs before going on to a bar were some friends were playing a charity gig in aid of Asian bears or something.

We got to our usual first stop, the Rook and Gaskill just outside of the city walls and then didn’t leave it till the gig started at 11, all other thoughts of moving on having fled from our minds when we discovered that they were in the midst of a real-ale festival and had a boggling 30 beers on offer. However the star of the evening was a lethal cider called Moonshine that was about 7.5% but tasted like apple juice, no hint of its true nature and a warning on its pump to boot! So things got lively….again and we went to see some quality local bands then we all stumbled home. (I almost got lost again but managed to turn round within the city walls this time so there is proof that I had learnt a lesson there)

A lesson I seemed doomed to never learn however is that a lot of alcohol means a hangover and I woke up with one of near biblical proportions this morning. I dragged myself to my pre-paid breakfast and while it didn’t hurt it certainly didn’t help either. Then out of nowhere my phone alerted me to a text “Red Bull 30p with today’s telegraph it proclaimed” So off I ran to the Uni shop and got 3 telegraphs (we are going to use them to wrap our presents in) The 3 I had over the hour took the edge off of my headache but also skewed my decision making process as when my friends got back and found out about the offer they ran off to get some too. And so did I, 4 in fact with the mistaken belief that if 3 Red Bulls made me feel a bit better then 4 more should ‘cure me’

They did.

But they also gave me the jitters and affected me to the point were they seemed to slow down time and I am also wired more than I have ever been. And it seems there is no near end in site. My body is exhausted but as the length of this shows my mind is no were near ready for bed. Another lesson learned I guess! Never buy lots of Red Bull just because it’s free with the 30p telegraph. And if you do there’s no rule that says you have to drink it all at once.

It Is Indeed That Time

In response to Ruth's Christmas Spirit:

I brought a Tree on Monday evening.

It cost a pound and is really nice.

That is all.

It’s Blog Time!!!

A non-specific update this time round, there has been no one single event worthy of noting down but I looked over my activities on the weekend and realised that I have indeed been up to a fair amount of stuff.

Well, kind off, Saturday was a bit of a write off if I’m being honest as I didn’t get up in the day at all, I stayed up late the Friday night sorting out who I was going to live with next year and generally talking to my mates and did not get to bed till 7am Saturday morning. I then slept right through till 3.45pm in the afternoon, meaning that I hadn’t really seen the sun. I spent the rest of the day generally having a ‘duvet day’ and not getting up to much.

On the Sunday however I went on a 7 mile walk through ‘heartbeat country’ with my mate Laurence and it was a really nice day. We were out with the rest of the college but found them to slow to be honest and after a long time of being at the front without trying we asked what our end destination and departure time were and struck off on our own.

Today (Monday) it turned out that I had handed in the wrong essay by mistake and that my essay was technically ‘late’ however the nice lady on the reception was on my side and said she would see that I wasn’t penalised for ‘stupidity’ which was nice! It had turned out I had signed the sign in sheet and then left the newly marked Accessing Archaeology essay that I had JUST picked up on her desk on the Friday instead of my newest one, which explained why I had found it in my bag on the Saturday night. Lesson learned there!

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.

Touching base!

Just a quick note to say that I am alive and still loving it. Well into the work side of things now with a full set of lectures and seminars under my belt as well as my essay almost done (I’m putting off the last 250 words to write this now). The Mesolithic is really exciting to me, which is odd as it was earlier than i was interested in before, so much so i have volunteered to help sort the finds from the latest excavation at Star Carr (big famous site, doing my essay on it) so a good foot in the door to the department proper.

I've also finally got my room just how I wanted it, having finally built the 'chest of draws' into a TV stand (mad DIY skillz) and we christened it by having 8 people crammed into my room to watch V for Vendetta (yes Ruth I took it with me, you can have it from Christmas :P) which was nice as other people have entertained me in their rooms and it was nice to repay them in kind. Also some cheaper nights in recently, some for free as I had beer left over so things are settling in to a nice routine.

Out with the guys from Ben Lairig again on Wednesday, a great bunch of guys and all from the years above as no regular fresher’s yet apart from me but I will see who comes to the next meet.

Well a quick note has turned into over the 250 words I would have needed to finish my essay, funny how some things are easier to write than others

I love My Princess

I brought a bike 2 days ago, for £7. Its a 1983 Dawes Princess, a bike older than me built for a little girl. But it rides and it has 'character' and even with a few repairs that i will eventually get round to doing it will have cost me less than £20.

I rode it to York and back yesterday and it was fine, if a little uncomfortable, Princess may need a new seat but what can you do.

A quiter day today, hopefully i can break the back of my essay as i have a busy day tomorrow and saturday with trips out and about to the surronding area and beyond.

What a week it's been!

I write this on Monday morning of week two. That’s right I have been here a week and the time for all night pub crawls, staying up in the kitchen till 5 am and generally having fun must come to an end. The real work must now begin and this is demonstrated in no better way than the fact that I have my first proper lecture in just over an hour.

But what a week it has been, thrown in at the deep-end and put in as an inmate in cell block C things should have been awful, especially if the rest of campus is to be believed. However I live with a bunch of people who have bonded. I have some good friends here already but more importantly there is honestly no-one that I live with that I do not like. I have found people to eat with, people to go out with, people to do laundry with and most importantly people who know when you need time to sit alone in your room. Like when I want to blog for instance.

I hope that this easy freindship and the fun we have had this week passes long past freshers, which is now officially over. Time will tell but I like to think that it will.

I have found my temple

We went on a bar crawl last night and in between all the cheesy 80's disco bars and the jazz club which would have been really nice if the staff didn't break bottles every 5 minutes a real gem stood out.

Parish is a bar that sits in the guts of an old church in York city centre and it is so realistic that we passed it twice before we worked out that there was indeed a bar in there. Inside they still have the old bells and stained glass windows, the comfiest sofas known to man and a very generous student discount. We will be going back.

The hard works starts on Monday so expect this blog to maybe feature somthing other than the places i have had a pint (or 2) in!

Freshers Ball!

Just got back from the fresher’s ball and am off to bed in a mo. But only one word to describe it really, IMMENSE.

Good bands, great music from the Jazz and Swing Society and a great show from Me Get Your Own Back Mr Dave Benson Phillips. Not only did he do an updated for Uni version of his hit 90's show (a definite nostalgia hit) but he was also kind enough to sign some stuff and pose for a photo while 'bigging up' Goodricke Block C (check flickr for details).

A great evening spent with my new friends. The weekend was fun but was defiantly everyone getting to know one another whereas this felt natural and fun.

A great evening!

First Days Done

I moved into York University this weekend. On my Birthday. And I was first to arrive.

Brilliant I thought, one birthday washout coming up. But i was to be more than presently suprised by my snazzy new housemates (all 20 of them!) Having known me for less than 5 hours they clubbed together for cake, candles and a banner and then kept me busy while they dolled up the kitchen. There really are worse ways to turn 19!

So i'm now a proud member of Goodricke College, more importantly staying on the ground floor of 'Cell Block C'. Its not that bad but not brilliant either. Luckily everyone is in the same boat and there is a great sense of comunity, even if the kitchen is really too small to fit us all in at the same time. First impressions of the people and the place are good. Freshers ball tomorrow DAVE BENSON PHILIPS AND HIS GUNGE TANK presiding. Then i guess the real work starts!