What's up?

It's so strange how your perspective can change in a matter of days. My last blog was the day before the first lot of explosions in London. Thank fuck I am not living there... but it's still weird that I am living in the same country as this sort of thing and the way that it changed my view on so many things - some seemingly unrelated.
First of all a quick run down on what happened. I think it was 7 'explosions' from what was first reported, now they seem to say 4. Anyway what they are now saying is 4 explosions or bombs going off from 'terrorist' or organisations who are as yet conconfirmed (as far as I know) in central London. Bighton station near where I worked also closed for the day - who knows why, we're over an hour from where things were going on, maybe they felt left out, or they fancied the day off. All the same though it was pretty scary and it's weird the reactions.

When it was happening I was at work, logging in, making a cuppa, and starting my day. 1st thing I knew was an email from a mate asking if I was ok. And then it unfolded from there, trains in the underground exploding, busses exploding and a whole lot of speulation. One Israeli paper was saying straight off that it was suicide bombers, the London police were calling it an electrical fault, some were saying it was linked to G8, and then the ever present Al Quaeda, Jihad group reason. Either way it was a horrible thing to have happened, lots of people were killed and the rest of us were in a weird kind of shock. At leat I was.

I have never lived in a country where explosions, our what has now been confirmed/admitted, bombs going off. Emails from my Aussie mates were all about when they are going home and telling their parents they were alive. Reactions from UK work people were a little different. One guy I work with said something like 'Well I lived in London when the IRA were bombing, life goes on doesn't it?' The most extreem comment was 'It's a little bit unsetteling don't you think?'
Unsetteling? Life goes on? I want to go home even..... It's all just a bit mad, but then mad things happen every day, in so many places, constantly, and multipuly (is that a word?) so why should we be shocked and afronted when it happens near us, or on our door step?
And at the same time as saying that, what if you were living in a place where these things were a part of the course of life? Do you then have any more or less reason to be affronted and alarmed, does being de-sensitised to things like this make it better or easier to deal with when you see it?
It's all a bit strange and hard to get my head around - take me back to being 12 in Australia!

Anyway, back to Thursday, Brighton station closed to have a controlled explosion - probably some old ladies shopping, a bag found unowned on a platform. Fortunately it opened again before the end of the day and I was able to go home! Not the bag, the train station...

Things around the station were closed, or like our ofice, had the blinds closed and people were staying away from the windows which should be closed. It was this air of calm panic, I felt alternatetly like throwing up and crying. Definitely a weird experience. But then it wasn't really near me, if I lived in years way gone by, I may not have even known that it happened days, months or ever after it. So does the information make my life better or worse.

Since then life went back to pretty near normal - aside from there now being coppers with machine guns at the train station (makes me feel even more vulnerable than simply knowing I may explode at any given moment..) And then last Thursday it was happening all over again.... Still at least I am not in the city where it seems to be contained to, and with all the IRA problems England has had in the past I guess this country is one of the better western ones for reacting to this type of terrorist behaviour.

Well I caught my train in time and it's now a few days later, I'm at home so I have a bit of time to catch you up on what's been going on and there is lots of good stuff to relate!!
Where do I start though? I suppose with last week when I tried to blog with only 10 or so minutes to spare...

Last week I booked three days and three nights to Amsterdam for my birthday! So I'll be off and away on a plane to Amsterdam on Friday the 29th, and waking on my 29th birthday (oh Gawd I'm getting old!!) to Amsterdams' sunshine. I can't wait I've always wanted to go there and check it out - the museums and galleries, canals and old buildings. Mark is coming with me too, so we'll probably head out clubbing on the Saturday night to celebrate my near ancient age, and then we still have another two days to check things out there and just chill out. So looking forward to getting on a plane again and heading somewhere new and exciting.

Also last week I talked to my boss Mathew about doing a multimedia course through work at Hastings College, which he seemed pretty keen about me doing - always a good start! He said he needed to pass it with our department boss, but in the meantime I was to check out a few things with the college, like how they would like work to pay for it, etc. So I did, and this week it looks 99.9% sure that I will be starting this course in September. I just need to get some paperwork signed off and send in my enrolment forms. It's only 10 weeks, one night a week, but covers digital photography, Photoshop, web page design, internet research and getting my work on the web. So when that's all done I'll have to let you know my new web site address - if I get one. It's accredited - being through the college, but doesn't give me an actual qualification. Not to worry though it's still a chance to get the old grey matter working again and should help a lot with what they have been getting me to do as part of my job. So another thing to be looking forward to!

So last week was pretty good, the trip to Amsterdam, getting approval for work to pay for a course I want to do, plus it was pretty hectic at work with getting some new pages on the web, keeping up with general admin work and following up on the work done by the work experience kid we had in the week before. Nice kid, and after a week we had built up a bit of a rapport, only to have him leave, never to be seen by me again. Such is the way of work experience I guess.

This week Em and I have been organising a long weekend away in August to St. Malo - France for a music festival. The Cure and Sonic Youth are on the line up for the days, amongst other bands, and then at night a bit of a club scene with some banging house. Sounds like it'll be fun, and not a bad deal that we got either - £90 which includes the festival, the ferry to France and our camping costs while we're away. Absolutely brilliant. I tell you the sunshine (what little there is at the moment) and summertime has spurred me into action and I am finally starting to organise a few trips away here and there. It'll be great to spend some time with Em and her man Aaron, and of course the lovely Mark. The festival is on the beach as well, so cross your fingers that we have good weather!


At the end of August Mark and I are hoping to take a week off and go somewhere warm, with a beach and not much else to do. You know I have been back at work for less than a year after tripping around SE Asia, and already I could take a load more time off and go away somewhere to forget about the worries of life and the world. I guess anyone could hey? I definitely work to live, not the other way around!

Anyway, aside from that not much else has been going on. Mark was away last week camping and looking for fossils with a friend of his in Lyme Regis, so I had the flat to myself which was nice. Time and space to myself for doing mainly nothing and having a think about whatever popped into my head. He found a few good ones and now has the task ahead of trying to get them out of the rock in one piece... Ha ha, better him than me!

It was a reasonably quiet weekend - the last show of my favorite Friday night TV, some quiet celebrations of such a good week and a result with the course I want to do and then out drinking on Saturday night around the old town. Checked out a few new bars and then headed home with a wannabe souvlaki in hand. Mind you that pictured is a proper souvlaki, not like the try hard stuff they give you here... You'd think they weren't Greek - and actually maybe they're not.

I suppose I should give you a quick update on the English weather as well. It's July - supposed to be summer, yes? Well June was pretty lovely, I even began to get a bit of a tan! There were picnics outside, lazing about in the sunshine and generally enjoying the warmth and light after about 4 months of dark, cold and wet. The dark is the worst bit by the way - the cold and wet, well you can deal with that can't you?
Anyway for the last week and a half or so it's turned back to almost winter weather - but with more daylight. It's been windy rainy and cold, and I'm told this is supposed to be the middle, or near to, of summer! Gawd, no wonder there are so many pale misserable Poms! They're being deprived of their vitamin D from the sunshine! Hopefully it will pick up again, even if it was just another week - or couple of weekends I'd be happy. But if it doesn't I have France to look forward to, and that week away to the as yet undetermined destination that promises warmth and sun!