Palm Trees and Seagulls

So I spent the week in Penzance with Paul and his mum. I am now feeling much more chilled out. It's unbelievable how quiet it is down there. Even with all the tourists around you can wander down to the sea front and it's totally peaceful and quiet. I took lots of pictures of sea and boats and things but haven't had time to upload them all yet. Here's one:



I made friends with Paul's cat who was kind enough to sit still for me to take some photos:

This reminded me of how much I like cats. I will get a cat one day. Hopefully it won't be because I have no other companion!


There really are seagulls everywhere but being woken up by them in the morning is a nice change from waking up to city noises.
We went to see 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' performed by a youth theatre group which was fairly entertaining. I also went along to the choir rehearsal Paul was accompanying and had a lovely time singing and talking to the nice old ladies in the choir!
On Friday we did 'touristy things' like visiting Lands End and other such pretty places. I felt it was necessary to take the ultimate tourist photo:

On Friday evening we went out for dinner with some of Paul's friends. I was a bit scared but they were all lovely and it was a really enjoyable evening :)
The traffic on the way back to Cardiff wasn't wonderful. It wasn't quite nightmarish but it was certainly heading that way. I drove past 6 miles of queuing tourists going the other way and laughed and gloated only to spend over an hour getting from the 'Exeter 22 miles' sign to Exeter. That'll teach me to gloat I suppose!


I'm going to Soul Survivor this afternoon now that I am refreshed, less stressed and slightly more awake. I'm stewarding for week B and then going to momentum with apparently quite a few people. It should all be lovely. There is apparently football on at the Millennium Stadium today. This often means the traffic is insane but I'm hoping that if I leave during the match it won't be too bad *fingers crossed*

Penzance

So instead of going to Soul Survivor tomorrow morning I'm going to Penzance.
Why? I hear you ask.
Well the short version goes something like: I was planning to go visit Paul to relax but then various things meant I couldn't so I didn't. Then last night I got very stressed and realised that i really really needed to relax. So I talked to Paul and he was awesome and told me to go to Cornwall and chill out. So that's what I'm doing. Then I'm going to Soul Survivor for the other two weeks on sunday.


I've had a nice productive day today packing and organizing things. It's been wonderful.


Mini shout out to Kat and Claire who are both nice and lovely. Just kidding. They are clever, caring, kind, considerate and wonderful.


I haven't uploaded any new pictures today so instead i'll post this lovely picture of Emma from the other day:

Fun

Well I've had a lovely time over the last few days. Following the relaxing trip to Caerphilly I have enjoyed the following:

1. Arranging lots of pictures of people on my wall.
2. Going to see Kat play in the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra concert.

3. Going to look at the fairground that's all around the area by city hall and the museum. There are also bands playing on a big stage which is all rather exciting. Emma, Rich and I are going back there this evening and hopefully will get to see Cerys Matthews.
I also saw what the builders are doing to the front of the music department:

They have got rid of the wall and are moving it over to provide better access to the building. I am all for imporved access but it's quite frustrating that we won't be able to sit out there and chat so conveniently. This may, of course, be a good thing and cause more work to be done but we'll see about that!
Although I made a list and have gathered together a few things I still haven't packed for Soul Survivor properly. I keep thinking that I ought to and then reminding myself that it is still another 48 hours away and I don't really need to pack just yet!
I'll make sure to re-read this post on tuesday morning when I haven't packed and can't find the things I need.
I am looking forward to Soul Survivor but every so often I find myself just a little concerned about sleeping in a tent for 15 nights. It will be fine if the weather is quite warm and dry but any adverse weather will make it all rather difficult. I'm sure it will be much fun whatever happens.

As always for more of my photos see my flickr photostream

Castle

Today Emma and I went to Caerphilly Castle. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and warm sunshine. We wandered round the castle and then into the town to get ice cream. The castle doesn't have a coffee shop or even an ice cream shop. Disgraceful!
They were offering really cheap student membership of CADW which is the Welsh equivalent of English Heritage so we joined. We can get into all the castles and things in Wales for free for a year. Even if we only go to a couple we can still make back the cost of the membership. We spent half of the afternoon sitting on a grass bank looking at the castle and it was so relaxing. I'm not sure I've been that chilled out for ages and I think it probably did me some good.
This evening I've watched The Whole Nine Yards and the only logical thing to do after that was to watch the sequel so I am current midway through The Whole Ten Yards. They are really very amusing films. I love Matthew Perry's acting and Bruce Willis is a great comic partner.
Speaking of Matthew Perry I watched, via the wonder that is youtube.com, the pilot episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip this afternoon. If you haven't seen it yet I strongly recommend watching it. It's written by Aaron Sorkin, who wrote The West Wing and stars Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford who starred in The West Wing. I've been excited about this show for about a year so I'm really glad to have finally seen the pilot. It was fantastic and I can't wait for the series to start properly!

My First Blog

I haven't bothered to update a blog for about a year. I love my flickr photo page but in a real blog I can actually write about things. I probably don't have time to blog properly but it's good to be able to write down irrelevant things every so often. Otherwise I'll spend the whole of next year writing my dissertation and loads of essays and forget how to write about real things!
I'm sure hardly anyone will read this but if you do I hope you enjoy it!