Recently in Travel Category

I fancied writing this down. I'm not the kind of person who believes in or does new year resolutions, but rather I prefer to think of things that I would like to achieve at some point in the year, new year or not. I'll break this down into categories, and bear in mind that this will not only be the good/interesting/fun things that I want to do, but also a few predictions.

Degree
I have a set goal with my degree: to finish it, and get a proper job. I know, easier said than done I am sure. Within the calendar year of 2009, I will have sampled three seperate courses. There's AA100 which I started in October 2008. Then there's A210 which begins in February 2009. And then in October 2009 I will start U211. Three seperate courses in one year. Beyond that, there's only two more courses to do. The realisation of that is quite a strange one, because it feels as though I have only just begun and that I have a very long way to go. In truth, I don't. It's not that far away, and graduation should be in the summer of 2011. What a strange feeling. I hope to meander my way through A210 to the best of my ability - I am sure it is not as difficult as the rather threatening material makes it look.

Books
Last year I made a book list that I intended to get through. No such luck. I sucked in every attempt that I made, and judging by my previous entry about my reading in 2008, I wasn't anywhere near as erudite as I wished to be in my literary choices. This year, I hope to change my piss poor attempt into a much better one. It's only 5th January, but I am coming towards the end of the most recent book that I purchased, which is 600 pages. I am hopeful that I will read more this year. I am also hopeful that I will read better stuff too. As I have two books by Ayn Rand, a number of romantic writings, and the complete works of William Shakespeare to get through, I think I am on a much better path than 2008.

Work
With one of our guys off for the long haul, I fear and very much feel that we were going to get heavily rammed. Arse. With The Boss being forced to take two weeks worth of holiday this month, there will only be two of us in the department, and with me only being a part-timer, for half of the time there will only be one person. Not looking good. Our problem is not the work and the stuff that we are required to do, it is other people and their lack of tact as well as their impatience. I will definately not resolve to be nicer to people because most people that I come across that I have to work with don't deserve it because of their bad attitude towards us. It's going to be a difficult start to the year and I hope it doesn't last too long.

Learning for Learning's sake
I like learning. I'm one of these people who can put the Discovery channel on and watch it all day. I love learning solely for the sake of learning new stuff. I think that we are a rare breed of people and it saddens me that there are not more of us. Anyway, this year, my challenge is to start learning a new language. I've mentioned it before - Russian. I am under no illusions that I can learn much of a language with a Cyrillic alphabet within the space of one calendar year. However, I simply wish to start learning as we all have to start somewhere, and I really want the challenge.

Games/Consoles/Computers
We have rather neglected our xBox recently. That must change. Not only that, but I have been seriously neglecting the games that I used to play on this machine. Since installing a new Razer gaming mouse last week, I have started playing Day of Defeat: Source again. It is fun, and I think that I had forgotten that. It's nice to be back, even if I do suck at it. I do resolve to do one thing: take better care of this machine. It was running hot recently (35ºC immediately after being turned on, and 55ºC while playing games), and today I hoovered it out. Now it's 10-15ºC lower which can only be good, surely? You should have seen the disgusting amounts of dust in there, especially under the CPU fan. There's a lesson for you - hoover out your PC every few months, it can make a massive difference. On one more unrelated note, for as long as EA keep advertisements and spyware in their new release of The Sims 3, I am not buying it. Sorry EA, but you've just lost yourself a very loyal customer of 8 years.

Life in General
On the morning after our second anniversary, The Boss and I were sat having breakfast in the hotel in London. The Boss could see a family behind me and he was annoyed by the behaviour of the children. We then started talking about children. After a short pause, he said "One of us should get sterilised", or words to that effect. I agree, at least one of us should get neutered. I may only be in my early twenties and he in his mid-twenties, but we know that children aren't for us. We're more the work focussed type. We don't want interruptions or to have to take time out for someone else. I also don't want to ruin my relatively nice body - I'm very happy with the way it looks now. In 40 years time, I want to look like Helen Mirren in a Bikini, not like a lot of these women you see on things like Embarrassing Illnesses with massive amounts of stretch marks and extra skin. Nah, not for me. In 2009 one of us will probably be neutered, which one is yet to be decided. As I have had abdominal surgery before, I need to see a gynaecologist first (I hate the word gynaecologist, it makes me want to hurl). As shallow as we may seem, the choice to remain without children is a more difficult one than to blindly follow society and have some because "everyone does it".

We might travel a little. Apparently I would like Prague.

We might get a dog. Rescue dog of course - what breed and age we do not know, but it is something that comes up in conversation quite regularly.

Beyond all of that, there really is little to talk about. I hope that 2009 won't be terribly exciting in a bad way, but I also hope that the world doesn't come to an end. I'm not ready for that yet. Are you?

So, I spent a nice weekend in London, and I wish to pass on some advice for people not familiar with the most beautiful city in the world. They are general tips and suggestions for places to go, and even behaviour.

1) If you wish to go somewhere in London, then decide before you get there. Once you get to London, your ability to access the internet will be severely hampered. It is far better to decide before you arrive in our wonderful city. Also, if you don't decide, you'll only wake up one morning, and if you're crazy enough to have brought children to the city you will only end up having some blazing row and eventually going nowhere because both you and the kids are fed up of arguing.

My advice for one visit to London? Go to the Wellcome Collection. If you can get there before 15 February 2009, then it is worth going to see the War and Medicine exhibition. What they did with plastic surgery in the aftermath of WWI was truly amazing. The image of the radiographer will probably stay with you for the rest of your life.

2) Stay somewhere really nice. We do. The Royal Garden Hotel has rates to make your eyes water, but beds that simply comfort you to sleep. The bathrooms have this nifty function whereby it pipes the sound from the television in there so that you don't really miss anything. Great for catching up with the days news while you shower. Not to mention that the food is simply divine. Okay, pause for a second there woman. I cannot believe you just said divine. I mean to say that the food is very nice. Breakfast is particularly good. You'll not find service like it anywhere else - the staff are genuinely friendly and very helpful.

3) Don't get caught up in a Protest. We didn't. We wandered out of the High Street Kensington Tube station, saw lots of blue lights, thought "Oh Fuck", and kept walking. As we got closer, we could see placards. We asked a nice policeman whether we'd be able to get to the hotel as the protest was immediately outside it. The answer was..."Nah. Give it a while. Go for a meal or something and come back in a couple of hours". It was freezing, but we did bugger off for a couple of hours, mainly riding around on the tube and when we came back they were gone, leaving us free to get to bed by the start of The 39 Steps. Advice is to avoid these protests as best you can. They're not worth getting caught up in. Unfortunately, the Israeli Embassy is immediately next door to the hotel. But if you see lots of people and blue lights, do an about turn back to that tube station and go elsewhere for a while.

4) Behaviour Tip: Have your tickets ready before you get to the barriers. Nothing pisses me off more than getting out of a tube train at Liverpool Street, being pushed through the tunnels, getting to the ticket barriers, identifying a clear one and then some retard of tourist barges in front of me, realises that they need their ticket and proceeds to stand immediately in front of the barrier blocking access for everyone else while they fumble about in their bag for ten minutes. Christ.

When you're on a tube train, you know that at some point you're going to have to get off, yes? So why not have your ticket ready before you get to the station at which you're alighting? It's not difficult really, is it? Or is it? I always seem to have my OysterCard ready for use, so why can't other people? Is it really too taxing even for tourists to realise that if you get on a tube train, you have to get off again at some point? Is there anything more frustrating than being pushed by others to the ticket barriers, only to be pushed into some retard who is just standing around fumbling? Or maybe they're not fumbling in their pockets for their tickets at all? Maybe they're a sex offender?

Based upon my experiences at various stations, I have made two diagrams.

The incorrect way to behave at ticket barriers.

The correct way to behave at ticket barriers.

Understandable? You fuck off to one side when you get to the barriers, if you have not already got your ticket out. If you don't move to one side, you'll just get sworn at by someone like me, calling you a stupid fucktard for getting in the way, while you fail to notice the sheer tsunami of commuters and regular tube users surging towards you. Remember, we won't take a second look at you as you are trampled underfoot by people in black suits swearing that you should have your ticket ready.

Got it now? Don't stand in the way of the ticket barriers if you at all value your life.

That goes for British people too. Read up on a little Tube Etiquette before going to London. There's nothing worse than being sworn at by me because you've never been to a 'big city' before. Get over yourself.

Yeah, well, I've been away. Here's a quick overview of what we got up to.

Monday
Travelled to Norfolk, not leaving until almost 3pm. Cool by us - we couldn't arrive at the cottage until after 4:30pm. We arrived at the Cottage, unpacked, looked around. Very nice cottage, would most definately stay again.

In the evening, we had to get some food, and thus we ended up at The Lawns, for a very nice meal. We went back to said cottage, and eventually to bed.

Tuesday
Tuesday, we went on the North Norfolk Railway from Holt to Sheringham. It was a steam day, so we were hauled by a steam train. Sheringham is probably the strangest place I have ever been to. It is seriously weird.

Foodies that evening was pasta and butter, made by us, bought from a very overpriced Spar in Holt.

Wednesday
Wednesday we went to Titchwell Marsh. Did we see a varied number of birds? We saw a few, but it was the wrong time of the year - this is when they all migrate south. We did see a lot of geese, some Avocets and Oystercatchers. We also saw a lot of middle aged or really old people with huge digiscopes. I think that they outnumbered the birds.

For food this evening, I believe we ended up going to Wells-Next-The-Sea and attempting to get food. The first place we got to was fully booked. The second place we got to had stopped serving by 8pm. Yeah. Chock full of oldies, is Norfolk. Eventually we went to Tescos at Fakenham (about 25 miles from where we were staying) and got some food, as all other shops were closed too.

Thursday
Thursday didn't start off well. The Boss spent half of the day working remotely as there was a problem at work, and of course he was the only person who could fix it. It wasn't until almost midday that we left to go to the RADAR Museum. We had originally planned to go to the Norfolk Aviation Museum too, but we didn't have time.

Nom for Thursday evening was taken at The Red Lion in Stiffkey. No, that's not really "Stiffkey", it's actually pronounced "Stoo-key". I suppose it's a bit like "Haysborough", which is actually spelt "Happisburgh". Nom was on nom, as was the beer.

Friday
Leaving in the morning, we went to visit some friends in Lincolnshire. Got shown around that town, had a nice lunch with them, it was nice to see them. Then we had to go to Oxfordshire. We were a bit later than planned after some traffic delays, but we eventually arrived there a bit after 5pm.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to Legoland. I got very wet on a few of the rides. It was a good time out - shame that there had to be badly behaved children, and even worse parents there.

Sunday
And Sunday was taken up with a visit to the Cotswold Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre. We left to come home after 10pm. By the time we got home we had gone through 10 counties in 7 days.

We arrived home at about quarter to one this morning. Yeah. I was useful at work today. So much so that The Boss told me to come home and work from here instead. That I am kind of doing...

Sometimes I sit, in my lonliness and ennui and feel as though time is sliding by veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy sssssllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwlllllllllyyyyyyyyyy. Today is one of those times, probably because I spent the morning reading about the theories of knowledge, especially medical knowledge, for the latest part of DD100. What a way to waste a morning. Time does not fly when you are not having fun. Time in general goes really slowly.

I stand rebuked.

One whole year ago...366 days ago...on this day, 7th April 2007...I was standing on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Fuck me. ONE WHOLE YEAR AGO. Where has that year gone? What have I done in the year since? What mistake have I made? What achievements have I made? What have I done that is of importance? What interesting events have occured in my family? Do I know people now that I did not know then? How have my opinions changed? How have my perceptions of the world change? How have my tastes in music, television and movies changed?

If anyone thinks for a single second (I just wrote "sectioned" there, instead of second. Freudian Slip?) that I am actually going to answer those questions right now, then they are out of their mind. Truly. I may be bored as fuck at this moment, but with my own personal new xBox Live account, I won't be bored for long. I wish to highlight again, the fact that I was in New York City a year ago. How fucked up is that? I truly cannot believe it has been a year.

A year since caught a glimpse of Fifth Avenue. A year since I stood on the 35th floor of the hotel we were staying in and realised it was a looooong way down. A year since we went out onto the streets of New York City and realised that we had brought the wrong clothes because it was freezing. A year since I took in a little bit of American culture that felt almost exactly the same as the London culture. A year since I fell in love with a city 3,500 miles away.

The song, "Moving to New York" which talks about moving to New York because he has issues with his sleep is quite interesting. I slept better in New York than I do at home. Who knows whether that was to do with the higher level of noise (silence makes me go physically and mentally insane), or just because I was doing more?

I adored New York, and I still cannot believe that it is a year since we were there. That means that it is also a year since it was Easter 2007. How time flies when you can't really tell whether you're having fun. A whole god damn motherfucking year.

And from exactly a year ago, here is an image, taken on Fifth Avenue. Click on it to make it larger. Ah the humour of the New Yorkers.