Monday the 15th October 2007
Before I kick off with Exmoor,years of being trained to look at the floor when I'm walking have finally paid off.Less then four hours ago I found five pounds on the floor. Being as poor as I am this is pretty exciting and deserves a mention.
So too does the fact I paid my dentist the sum of £15.90 to literally open my mouth look in for 14 seconds and then say my teeth were fine. I have to work for 2 hrs 30 to make that sort of cash. Despite this my dentist always looks shabby...possibly because he's Scottish. He even wore a skirt/kilt instead of a suit to his own wedding. Assistant is still fit tho.
(Just thinking if I have any Scottish friends at this point... I hope not)
On another note cheers for all the positive responses to the last post - you wont get anything that private again probably. Or as long. And I'm not depressed,I just need to clarify that. My dad read it and was a bit worried. When I came back from Exmoor I did notice several sharp objects were missing.
Speaking of the Exmoor field trip ....
Monday Oct 1st
First day at Bristol Uni - Introductions and so on.Plan is to have a talk from the MA head and then register at the uni at 1pm. Train and taxi cost me a total of £15. When you consider that I could have seen a gig for that price then the poor bloke who had to talk about the uni for 20 mins had a lot to live up too. I end up drawing up a shopping list while pretending to write notes.
Takes me 45 mins to walk half a mile using the university's map.Get stressed,blame the map and start to miss Southampton where the building weren't spread so far away. On the plus side,there is a Starbucks nearby. Drink coffee,back to normal - continue to deny I have a caffeine addiction. You cant be addicted to a product with a nice friendly warm name like 'Kenco'....
Forced to que up to register due to map antics. The smug git in front of me is reading 'Moby Dick'. It's like a watered down version of Jaws,and I think secretly he knew this.
My ID card hasn't arrived yet. I'm asked if I sent it at least two weeks ago. I feel three days is enough to sort me out a card and so I lie and say yes.
Check email,apparently I'm going to Exmoor on a field trip tomorrow. As I haven't been given details,I wander down to the department to get details. There I'm told I should have been emailed everything and that I've missed on a group meeting,an outline of the entire year and more disappointing - sandwiches.
After given information I splash out a further £1.20 for the bus home. Decide I'm going to need entertainment for tomorrow and that I'm mature enough for a new MP3 player and that this one probably wont fall in the sink while I'm washing up.
Pack but decide I'm too tired to carry on and will finish at 6am when I wake up promptly.
Tuesday Oct 2nd
6AM - Turn off alarm
Wake up at 7 and shove everything in a bag. Doesn't fit so swear and repack.Everything goes in once I fold it up but cant shake the niggly feeling I've forgotten something. Double check and realise it's my camera charger. As I'm doing a photo based project for the whole week I'm incredibly grateful that I've recalled this as without it I only have my camera for about 2 hours.
Arrive at Bristol and decide to go in a jeep with the person who looks most like me on the basis he probably will be like me. Look around for the second best looking guy in the group who doesn't really look like me but who does....
Probably the very definition of awkwardness is being driven to Exmoor with 7 other strangers cramped in a jeep like some kind of prisoner of war. To cap it off,I receive a text from my dad halfway there,apparently I've left my digital camera on the shelf...
On the bright side however the guy who I've chummed up with likes the same stuff as me and is easy t talk to. He can also reel off Partridge quotes which we do for the entire 2 hour trip there and thus proving my theory of relativity correct.
After unpacking at the hostel I walk to the village shop to buy a disposable camera. There's an awful lot of postcards on hunting,horse riding,dogs ripping foxes apart... probably not the sort of material you'd send to your Gran from holiday. (Unless she's Margaret Thatcher...)
It's not till I go to the pub that it sinks in how much of a country place this is. There's foxes heads on the wall,deer antlers... about 100 years of local fox hunting photos on the wall.
This creates a dilemma to me as a person who's morally quite strong on anti hunting. I've got strong ethic morals (which have cost me about £10 as I buy free range eggs instead of the ridiculously cheap Tesco value ones) and so I wonder if I can stay here and eat. This dilemma is resolved when I'm reminded that the Uni is footing the food bill. The steak was lovely and at £12 means I've just got to make £7793 back before I've broke even with the Uni for this year.
Wednesday Oct 3rd
Driven down to Minehead to start our project where I'm introduced formally to the rest of my group. Theres 7 of us and 5 are American which seems quite strange.It also shows how unique this course must be.
We're given sound recorders and told to go out and start working and that we have 6 hours to get information on the area. The unsociable part of me immediately wants to go to the local library and tourist centre on my own but I soon get chatting in the group and as we eat Fish and Chips by the beach I realised there's a big culture difference between us. This soon makes me turn into a child when I realise the stuff they dont have over there such as chips and curry sauce (which was appreciated) and I end up asking them if they have Cadburys,Thomas the Tank Engine,doors and windows etc. As a bonus the fish and chip shop also still does battered Mars bars which I haven't found since I watched Reading play away at Wolverhampton three years ago (We lost 4-0,literally like setting fire to £40). I'm also reliably informed that the shop has also closed down meaning this treat is even rarer now.
After food we walk past some tourist shops where someone in the group points out a strange object in a shop window. As I lean closer I actually cant believe in horror what I see staring back at me.
Next entry - Butlins, Plate spinning, Old people in wheelchairs, lost in Exmoor, a strange gardener, Spin the Bottle, 10 postgraduate international students Vs Chris Tarrant and more supposedly banned toys of racism....
Before I kick off with Exmoor,years of being trained to look at the floor when I'm walking have finally paid off.Less then four hours ago I found five pounds on the floor. Being as poor as I am this is pretty exciting and deserves a mention.
So too does the fact I paid my dentist the sum of £15.90 to literally open my mouth look in for 14 seconds and then say my teeth were fine. I have to work for 2 hrs 30 to make that sort of cash. Despite this my dentist always looks shabby...possibly because he's Scottish. He even wore a skirt/kilt instead of a suit to his own wedding. Assistant is still fit tho.
(Just thinking if I have any Scottish friends at this point... I hope not)
On another note cheers for all the positive responses to the last post - you wont get anything that private again probably. Or as long. And I'm not depressed,I just need to clarify that. My dad read it and was a bit worried. When I came back from Exmoor I did notice several sharp objects were missing.
Speaking of the Exmoor field trip ....
Monday Oct 1st
First day at Bristol Uni - Introductions and so on.Plan is to have a talk from the MA head and then register at the uni at 1pm. Train and taxi cost me a total of £15. When you consider that I could have seen a gig for that price then the poor bloke who had to talk about the uni for 20 mins had a lot to live up too. I end up drawing up a shopping list while pretending to write notes.
Takes me 45 mins to walk half a mile using the university's map.Get stressed,blame the map and start to miss Southampton where the building weren't spread so far away. On the plus side,there is a Starbucks nearby. Drink coffee,back to normal - continue to deny I have a caffeine addiction. You cant be addicted to a product with a nice friendly warm name like 'Kenco'....
Forced to que up to register due to map antics. The smug git in front of me is reading 'Moby Dick'. It's like a watered down version of Jaws,and I think secretly he knew this.
My ID card hasn't arrived yet. I'm asked if I sent it at least two weeks ago. I feel three days is enough to sort me out a card and so I lie and say yes.
Check email,apparently I'm going to Exmoor on a field trip tomorrow. As I haven't been given details,I wander down to the department to get details. There I'm told I should have been emailed everything and that I've missed on a group meeting,an outline of the entire year and more disappointing - sandwiches.
After given information I splash out a further £1.20 for the bus home. Decide I'm going to need entertainment for tomorrow and that I'm mature enough for a new MP3 player and that this one probably wont fall in the sink while I'm washing up.
Pack but decide I'm too tired to carry on and will finish at 6am when I wake up promptly.
Tuesday Oct 2nd
6AM - Turn off alarm
Wake up at 7 and shove everything in a bag. Doesn't fit so swear and repack.Everything goes in once I fold it up but cant shake the niggly feeling I've forgotten something. Double check and realise it's my camera charger. As I'm doing a photo based project for the whole week I'm incredibly grateful that I've recalled this as without it I only have my camera for about 2 hours.
Arrive at Bristol and decide to go in a jeep with the person who looks most like me on the basis he probably will be like me. Look around for the second best looking guy in the group who doesn't really look like me but who does....
Probably the very definition of awkwardness is being driven to Exmoor with 7 other strangers cramped in a jeep like some kind of prisoner of war. To cap it off,I receive a text from my dad halfway there,apparently I've left my digital camera on the shelf...
On the bright side however the guy who I've chummed up with likes the same stuff as me and is easy t talk to. He can also reel off Partridge quotes which we do for the entire 2 hour trip there and thus proving my theory of relativity correct.
After unpacking at the hostel I walk to the village shop to buy a disposable camera. There's an awful lot of postcards on hunting,horse riding,dogs ripping foxes apart... probably not the sort of material you'd send to your Gran from holiday. (Unless she's Margaret Thatcher...)
It's not till I go to the pub that it sinks in how much of a country place this is. There's foxes heads on the wall,deer antlers... about 100 years of local fox hunting photos on the wall.
This creates a dilemma to me as a person who's morally quite strong on anti hunting. I've got strong ethic morals (which have cost me about £10 as I buy free range eggs instead of the ridiculously cheap Tesco value ones) and so I wonder if I can stay here and eat. This dilemma is resolved when I'm reminded that the Uni is footing the food bill. The steak was lovely and at £12 means I've just got to make £7793 back before I've broke even with the Uni for this year.
Wednesday Oct 3rd
Driven down to Minehead to start our project where I'm introduced formally to the rest of my group. Theres 7 of us and 5 are American which seems quite strange.It also shows how unique this course must be.
We're given sound recorders and told to go out and start working and that we have 6 hours to get information on the area. The unsociable part of me immediately wants to go to the local library and tourist centre on my own but I soon get chatting in the group and as we eat Fish and Chips by the beach I realised there's a big culture difference between us. This soon makes me turn into a child when I realise the stuff they dont have over there such as chips and curry sauce (which was appreciated) and I end up asking them if they have Cadburys,Thomas the Tank Engine,doors and windows etc. As a bonus the fish and chip shop also still does battered Mars bars which I haven't found since I watched Reading play away at Wolverhampton three years ago (We lost 4-0,literally like setting fire to £40). I'm also reliably informed that the shop has also closed down meaning this treat is even rarer now.
After food we walk past some tourist shops where someone in the group points out a strange object in a shop window. As I lean closer I actually cant believe in horror what I see staring back at me.
Next entry - Butlins, Plate spinning, Old people in wheelchairs, lost in Exmoor, a strange gardener, Spin the Bottle, 10 postgraduate international students Vs Chris Tarrant and more supposedly banned toys of racism....
posted by Gareth @ Monday, October 15, 2007
3 Comments:
At 9:57 pm,
Anonymous said…
It was 4-1 you fool!
At 5:14 pm,
Anonymous said…
Not trying to criticise becuase once again an awesome post! but... you missed out the o in to! sorry lol.
sounded like funnn tho!!
Sarah
x
At 10:50 pm,
Anonymous said…
another good blog altho how can ur life b much more wittier than mine??!!?? lol
cant wait to hear next post...especially if it involves more 'gollywogs'!!! lol
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