* Location: Bedroom (as ever)
* Mood: Pretty normal
* Listening to: XFM
* Reading: CompTIA Network+ and Plans for Chaos by John Wyndham
* Eating: Yogurts and grapes
* Drinking: Gallons of water
Hi everyone!
I can't believe it's been since last April since I posted a blog on here. I've neglected the internet, and this site, in favour of Twitter.
What a year this has been! I've been on plenty of adventures, still got a couple to go, and it's only September! I'll do it in chronological order (because I like order) and I'll provide a warning: It's a serious photofest.
January
I went on my annual snowboarding trip with Chris to Le Trois Valles. I always forget how much I enjoy snowboarding, one day I'll give up the day job and move to France or the US for a season. I'd snowboard all day and work at the bar all night. I bought myself a little helmet to match my outfit because I wanted to have a go at the jumps in the snowpark. I'm glad I did because I did hit my head! I didn't realise how big the jumps were until I got too close to them without being able to stop...
February
Our holiday days are from May - April at my work place, and as April was drawing near and I still had lots of holiday to take, on a whim I decided I was sick of being cold and wet and booked a return flight to Amman in Jordan. By myself. I'd never been to the Middle East before.
A few days later I took the tube to Heathrow and flew out. Amman wasn't a particular forgiving place to be a woman on your own, I found it very difficult to go out by myself to find food the night I arrived. I had to turn back and go back to my hostel as I was too frightened. That's the only time I've ever been too scared to do something I want! Luckily I found myself a bakery just round the corner from my hotel and bought some bread to last me til morning.
So at six o'clock I got the bus to Petra (I was the last person to get on the bus!)
Much like the Grand Canyon, nothing can prepare you for the spectacular first glimpse of the Treasury when you come to the end of the Siq:
Before I went I ignorantly assumed was just the Treasury, the famous bit from Indiana Jones, but Petra was in fact an ancient city, and a city it was. I originally planned to spend one day there, but I stayed for two. Really, two days wasn't enough to see everything. I managed to get all the hot spots in. At times you'd be struggling to wade through the crowds of people, and then you go off the main path and you don't come across a single soul for half an hour.
I made friends with some people from the hostel and we went to see Petra by Night, an extra 12 dinar, to listen to traditional music in front of the T reasury by candlelight. It was spectacular, except for the bit where my parents phoned me to check I was okay as they hadn't heard from me that day!
After meeting my new friends, I decided to cancel my original plans and travel round with them. It was definitely the right thing to do. We headed to Wadi Rum to stay at a Bedouin camp. It was incredible, completely humbling to be such a tiny being in such a vast and hostile place.
So after six days in the Middle East I returned home with a new visa stamped in my passport, a Bedouin headscarf and a whole load of memories for me to cherish forever.
March
Another month? Another adventure! My mum and I headed off to Romania for a super-long weekend. We stayed in the old centre of Bucharest which is very similar to how I imagine Havana to look. Lots of beautiful buildings in such a state of decay. It's beautiful. I was surprised at how Italian it seemed, the Romanians love their caf culture as there was a place to drink on every street corner. I don't have any photographs to show you, but it was a great trip. Mum and I got the train to Brasov in Transylvannia. It was an old Soviet style train and had 6 seat compartments with a door. Beautiful! The old centre of Brasov is a lovely city (not the gulag like blocks you see when you come out of the train station). Here's a photograph from the internet to show you what the main square is like:
April
April was a lovely month. I spent Easter in Essex taking pictures of sheep and nuclear power stations, playing cricket and spending time with my family. I always spend Easter in the same manner and I never get bored of it.
This month my eldest brother got married in London. It was such a lovely day! They had their ceremony at the town hall and then we all went to the pub for food, a pub quiz and some dancing later on. Here's a photograph I've stolen off somebody from Facebook:
I cat sitted for their kittens whilst they were on honeymoon. I miss them waking me up everymorning and coming over to say hi:
Orlando wondering what the hell I'm doing with my Arduino:
And dear Othello hiding against the window pane as we watch Lord of the Rings (again):
I also discovered the wonders of lens-whacking, so I tried it myself, wandering around my home town. I don't have any proper video editing software *cough*Window Movie Maker *COUGH*, but here it is anyway. It appears the artistic director of Nikon liked the music so much he decided to use it for the new Nikon adverts!
May passed without much going on. In June I went to Devon to stay in a Mongolian yurt for my other brother's wife-to-be's hen do. We went surfing and drank a lot round a campfire. I went to Cornwall for a couple of days a week later with my friends. We went for a long walk from St Michael's Mount to St Ives over the hills. What a day out! I'm glad we did that:
July
My other brother got married! The second wedding of the year. It was a fantastic day. I'll let the pics do the talking:
I wish every day could be like that.
August
August was filled mostly with the Olympics. I didn't actually go to any of the events, but I did watch a hell of a lot of them on TV or on the super slow computers if I was at work. I was doing stupidly early shifts at work so I left at 1pm every day to watch the sport. Towards the end, I couldn't tell you how many times I cried at various montages of Olympic events.
I also went to the Lake District with Chris. It was such a beautiful break! We climbed Scafell Pike and went skinny dipping at Tongue Pot on the way down, went for a 50km bike ride in the beautiful sunshine and went swimming and canoeing on Derwentwater. I only have the one picture on my computer at the moment:
Now we're in September, finally, my fingers are requesting a break from the keyboard. My final (and youngest) brother got married, too. I know, three weddings in a year! I don't have any photographs from this one as they requested nobody took any. But it was a wonderful day. I was a bridesmaid and got my hair done properly (by a professional!). It took place in an old manor house and there was a magician, caricature artist and jazz band providing entertainment. The food was a great mix of British and Iranian (yum!) as my new sister-in-law is Iranian. I tried my hand at Iranian dancing too, but I found it quite difficult to get all the moves right. It was fun trying, though!
It was my birthday last week and I had a bbq drink-a-thon at my brother's house (he'd gone away for the weekend and told me I should have a party, so I did!). Here's a piece of evidence of our drinking:
I've had a kidney infection for the past week, so I've been pretty much bedbound, but I'm almost all better. Off to work tomorrow - back the normal Liney life!
Next month I'm off to Chicago for a week to visit my friend who's been living out there to help out on the Obama campaign. I'll be off to help (or drink whilst she works) and do my bit for American politics.
Time for another cup of tea now,
Snowy x
I'm not sure when they will be published but it will either be early march or early april I would imagine/hope. I'll be posting about it when it's out no doubt.
How are you?