From Left to Right Sarah,Helen,JP and Rich 

Thursday the 25th of November

5 Months ago...

"Exams are over at last and so I have no excuse not to update the blog. I apoligise for how long it's taken and now we're in summer and I'm doing nothing for a large amount of time I can hopefully update more"

Yeah well...we all make mistakes.I kept meaning to update this after oliver,before exam results,after exam results but have simply been too busy. I'm meant to be working now reading up for my essay "Antiquarinism is Archaeology.Discuss" but its like 5 books and i genuinly cant be bothered.

'Oliver' was ages ago now but makes sense to write up about it now. As a rule I told myself I'd never do a musical at Clarendon.Never ever. If I hadnt have had Vicky and my mum going "Well,you'll regret it" (I hate that so much.How the hell do people know what your going to regret. Good example is when I put a bet on a football game.

Steve (the father) "Well you'll regret it,thats all I will say"

Yeah I was gutted when I came back with an extra £10 in my pocket.Good hindsight there)

The other major factor was Luke doing it and to be honest if he hadnt I probably would have quit. It meant I had someone to wind people up with.

Some classic examples

1.The role swap
We joke to some of the younger girls that we are going to swap roles and not tell anyone until we're on stage. Within the hour the entire group knows and are asking us about it.

2.The coffin
In one of the scenes Oliver is pushed into a coffin. Obviously this had potential and we joke about what could be put in there.One of those compressed skeletons that would pop up when it was open was a popular option,as was either me or luke being in there and jumping out onto stage. Needless to say everyone found out about this as well.

3.The dance
Two days before the first showing,Aidon gets a brilliant idea to dance at the end. Its a great idea apart from two factors.
1.None of the males could dance
2.None of the males could dance

I repeated that because its such an important factor to grasp. Of course all the girls were fine with it and had learned it in seconds. After three attempts every male gave up and didnt bother on the night.
(The males cant dance thing does not apply to Matt Hatt - Technically he is a female!)

However by now Ali and Aidon are stressed and call everyone in for the emergency meeting where they tell us that the only way to make this show professional is by not mucking about while starng at me and Luke the whole time. We are on the floor in laughter at this point. Both teachers look stressed.

So at the end of the show,no guys are actually dancing,making it impossible for the girls to dance.Great stuff. None of the audience care,they are all drunk on Nigel Smiths bargain £2 a glass tesco value wine from the interval. We are meant to keep our hands up for 5 seconds,then bring them down and walk off in unison. Thats simple enough and would have been fine but again when joking about it me and Luke wonder how long we can keep them up for. In the end its about 12 seconds which is quite a long time. If you can picture it everyone leaves the stage apart from us two,side by side standing straight with our arms in the air. Try doing that for 12 seconds,you'll look like a bit of a prat.

Ali and Aidon dont like this one bit and tell us to stop it during make upthe next night. Matt Hatt also attempts to tell us what to do.
"It just doesnt look professional and ruined the show"

Tit

Everything runs fine until the last show,where of course we do muck about. Not only do we keep the hands up in the air for about 15 seconds,both myself and Luke decide to take another bow after everyone left. We had deserved it after all.
Oliver was probably one of the most funniest things I've ever been involved with in my life. Memories of reading Chat,Take a Break etc while drinking proper coffee with the guys will stay with me forever,as will Kate yelling at the kids.Quality stuff.

One of the main reasons I didnt post up was I was in work pretty much everyday. Im glad I was now,you spend too much at uni but bit of a waste of the summer. Theres only really one story to write about and thats my last shift.
I'm stuck in PC World in Bath (Like you do) and its obvious I will be late for work. Now I'm meant to ring up a number on the back of my work card to tell a manager I will be late but I dont have it on me. Instead I ring up the main reception and tell the boss I will be late. He's fine with it and I turn up 15 mins late and get on with my shift.
The managers switch before the end to someone else who I can not stand. I get ready at 20.10 to go when she comes over.

Manager> What time are you going?
Me>20.15
Manager>Yes,but you were late so what time are you going
Me>20.15
Manager>You have to make the time up so your staying till half past.

Note: If she had said "can you stay" till half past,I would have stayed,it's only fair.It's the way they try to boss you about and it was my last shift so I couldn't be bothered to stay

Me>Well I cant,sorry.I'm going in 5

By now my que of 3 people are looking on. Standard OAP's who enjoy any form of entertainment.

Manager (Now trying to show her power)>If you dont stay,you will be disciplined in a attendence meeting.

Me>You do know this is my last shift dont you.

Que laugh
Manger(embarressed) > Well..you will still need a meeting

Me>When,Im leaving in 2 minutes

Manager walks off,myself and the que laugh.

Exams - I finally got into Southampton Uni thanks to me getting 104/120 for my coursework on my grandad's campaign in Italy during World War two,despite only reading 2 books when your meant to read 6-10.
If I hadnt of got so high,theres no way I could have got my place here. I'd like to think he's watching me.Im trying to think of something funny to put and there isnt. I've never been so scared opening up that envelope in my life and I'm so glad the work I put in paid off.
But the downside is because it did I had to end my relationship with Kate before I left like we agreed in May. Unlike Vicky,this was a proper relationship which I loved but I didnt want Kate to risk getting anything less then her potential by coming to Southampton every so often or worrying about me and she felt the same. Again nothing really funny to put there.

But it did all lead to my leavers night,a joint affair with Jenny where all my best mates were in JD for one final drink together. Highlights include the team effort on "Who wants to be a Millionaire",taking £4 out of Tarrants back pocket,before blowing in total about £15 of my cash.
Without a shadow of doubt tho,the best part ws at Chicago Rock when from out of nowhere the Trowbridge Rugby team started a fight. About 10 of htem and htey were big lads so the doorman could not handle it,police are called,people are screaming. Under the pressure I did what any man would have done. I took a photo of it kicking off,cheered and watched from the window as all of Wiltshire police were needed to control the fiasco. Obviously all 30 police officers loved it,it was the first time they got to use the tear gasand started shaking it and reading the instructions on the back like you do with aerosols. Luke loved it a little less then most,he was giving first aid and was tear gassed more then the actual criminals. He may never walk again

After an emotional night I siad my goodbyes until Christmas to the guys and walked home on my own for some quiet reflection. I tend to do that a lot when im drunk. However by the time I got home my mind was clear and I decided I did prefer John Smiths to Fosters.

Saying goodbye to people was stupidly hard,luckily I still keep in contact with nearly everyone and am able to see some on a regular basis, eg going all over the UK with Swade to watch reading. Im also in the same building with Jenny which is incredibly cool.She the girl I get on with best in the world and I think that showed in our Senior Student results last year where no one else apart from us achieved anything,a mixture of them being USELESS and us being "WINNERS" :D It also means that "Lad" aka Justin comes up on a regular basis which cant be a bad thing.

Everyone says "Have you made any new friends" to me. The truth is I have but I cannot remember their naames. I swear people shoud have to wear name badges for the first three weeks. However my flatmates are amazing and deserve some recogniton here.

JP- The first thing you realise is he looks like Adrian Wiessenbruch,the irony being Adrian was 5ft and Jp is 6ft 5" ! Then you realise he looks liek Blowers and it's just like living with Aidon in his uni days.JP is probably the leader of the flat if we had oneand studies sports science.He's now dating...

Sarah or Sarah-Bear as I call her.These two are proper proper soulmates and we all knew the'd get it together.Sarah does archaeology with me and there is nothing funnier then flirting with her all day long on a Tuesday and winding her up.

Helen - Hell's Bells does Crime in psychology and lives in Southampton which means she should know her way around. We quickly learned on the first nght she doesnt. Luckily for us Helen entertains us with the losers shes dated and does most of the cleaning and is not afraid to tell us she has.It doesnt achieve anything but she still tells us!

Rich - Rich is very similair to me,we're both too lazy to go out and d our work when the others usually go to get pissed. Rich has just turned 18 and was moved up a year in secondary school which is pretty amazing as you cant tell at all! Outo f the group he's probably the smartest.

I cant be bothred to write down everything i've been up to so far with them since ive been here,but here's a quick list

Tablecloth Wars
Having to wear pink to the prom
The "Lisa" saga
Space Hopper races
Stealing two council bins - Bin Nicked and Bin Stolen
And the traffic signs as well
JP bringing back a stupid amount of booze from Cornwall,leading us to have pretty much our own bar now.

Great stuff!

Anyway I have to work now and cant think of anything else to write about

Word of the Day - Antiquarianism