Category : Random

In my last blog I said that the actual transition to a new place is the hardest part. That for sure is definitely true. Many emotional goodbyes all on one Thursday night and then the actual moving, the packing, the driving. It must be said that without my dad coming up to Bradford to help me get my stuff back down to Farnborough (my home town) I am not quite sure whether I would have managed. A week at home and a rather nice 2.5hr drive passing stonehenge and I arrived in Exeter.

The thing about moving to new places is that it is a completely fresh start, a blank page, which is both good and bad. Take for instance the exciting task of exploring, seeing new things, for once actually ending up in a very nice city. Then offset that against having to start from scratch in meeting people. What I am trying to say is that it is a mixed bag – albeit an exciting one. Exeter does not yet feel like home. Sounds a bit stupid to say considering I have only been here for a week and a half but perhaps that is to come. Luckily I have been put up by Dan for a little while until I am in a position to move to my own place in Exeter. Hopefully by then I will have settled down and built up a group of friends to pop down to the pub with!

Cycling into work is… a challenge!!! Small hill then downhill all the way to the office but coming back it’s quite a long up-hill cycle. Considering I have not really been that good with exercise ever and I am not the smallest chap in the world I am actually doing quite good. 5th day of cycling today, 4th this week, 2 times I have made it all the way home in one slog. Legs are absolutely tired today though so the car will be used tomorrow!! I have been told that this will get easier but for now I am not quite so sure!

Right I am sitting at my desk at work so need to get back on with things. Looking forward to Spain with the parentals in the next couple of weeks. It’s really busy here so by then I will need the R&R. I will start posting more regularly soon as the Samsung products come through for Samsung Mobilers 2011… watch this space… err I mean blog!

There have been several moments in my life where I have moved on to pastures new and I am now fast approaching the next upheaval. It’s always sad to leave friends behind and always difficult to move to a new place where you have to start a fresh, meet new people and ultimately build a new life. Perhaps the hardest part is preparing for the move and by that I refer to the emotional endings as well as the hard graft. Moving is the easy part, you’re on your way, but I’m in that waiting for the ending stage. What doesn’t help is that I am not exactly where I should be with my research. What is even more frustrating is when your broadband provider Sky cuts your broadband and phone line 14 days earlier than they are supposed to.

I cannot help but be annoyed, and quite frankly shocked at such appalling customer service. A cancellation date of 28 June has been ignored and instead some dumb ass has switched off the lot on the 14th. What follows is perhaps a classic example of really bad customer service. “We can reactivate your line but it would take 15 days and you would have to sign up to a 12 month contract”. Then comes the ‘lets make it difficult to complain’ part of the story. “You have to email or write complaints to our complaints department”. Email?!!! Email??!! Without internet? What about making it easy to speak to someone who can actually do something about a bad situation. Well the end of the whole story is Sky have gone, I have written a complaint, and the Galaxy S II on the Three network is tethering internet to my PC at speeds between 4mbps and 7mbps. Thank god for mobile broadband!! I look forward to receiving a response to my email which will more than likely take them a ridiculous amount of time to come up with some rubbish, poor excuse for a response.

So back to talking about new pastures. It doesn’t really feel like I am actually leaving in just over a week’s time. It still feels like normal. Another normal, same shit different day in Bradford. That’s the problem! I have come used to a city and a lifestyle which has been far from productive. It’s habitual. The all consuming nature of the PhD is something that I cannot always cope with. I need distraction, variety, grounding and this I hope will come from starting to work for my company, SwankyApple, on a part-time basis. I will soon be in a place where I don’t have to sit on my own in a flat all day but can mix the PhD with a job I truly enjoy. I am however not looking forward to leaving my friends two of whom I have just said goodbye to. On Thursday comes the final goodbye and I have a strong feeling that it will be very sad and highly emotional. Sure, exciting times are ahead but close friends who I have known for years will be left behind and I will miss their company very much.

Exeter promises a lot of excitement over the coming months. SwankyApple is growing and we are moving into a new office which shall soon have a rather lovely water cooler! Something that started out as just the two of us is now a strong three. John joins us on Monday and I am really looking forward to working with him. With John’s expertise and our current knowledge SwankyApple’s future is looking very bright. We’re gaining more and more clients and we hope to expand our busy team in the not too distant future. I am looking forward to exploring a new city. I do hope that I get on with Dan as I shall be crashing at his house for a number of weeks as we get things settled down and firmly into fifth gear. I’m planning to bribe him with pizza and my awesome pasta bakes! My new purchase of a bed height air bed with electric pump sure shall make things a bit more comfortable so perhaps we’re already onto a winning streak.

On Sunday the first major packing effort starts. The end of an era is finally here. My next blog post will likely be from home, or from Exeter itself. On Thursday I am likely to do the thing I always do when I am emotional – try and make a laugh and joke about the situation. To all my friends who read this blog post let me say this now in case I don’t manage to say it on Thursday… these years really have been some of the best of my life so far. Thank you so much for making Bradford and the PhD survivable. Without your friendship, distraction, and support I would have not got this far. I am lucky to have so many good friends and I look forward to seeing you all again at my new home in Exeter. Thanks for all the good times. I will miss you all.

“Andrew, welcome! Have you got something to share with the group?” Yes. I reply. I have a mild case of Chocoholicitis. That’s what I am guessing my introduction would sound like to Chocoholicitises Anonymous. Yes of course the phrase is made up but for some reason I have had what can only be described as a bit of a chocolate craving problem over the last couple of weeks. It’s not even like I don’t like the alternatives – lots of lovely strawberries, raspberries and blueberries which I am scoffing at perhaps an equally impressive rate are just fabulous, fabulous darling. There’s just something about chocolate. It’s all a mental thing – a false view that this rather unhealthy but oh so good treat is a comforting bar of goodness. It’s not necessarily the chocolate I crave as I can easily go without. It’s the habbit, sucumbing to the urge perhaps mainly due to procrastination. So I have done it… I have gone cold turkey.

I have now officially gone without buying chocolate for a massive three days and have only eaten a single rolo shaped solid cadbury chocolate in that time. Sure it’s only a couple of days but sometimes we all have to stand back and readjust. I definately don’t need the extra calories and I definately end up eating it so regularly in a short period of time that the enjoyment diminishes. Just for the record we are talking a standard bar max in a day policy here and not my entire body weight in chocolate… which would be amazing.

I have always considered chocolate to be a little curse. This is proved none better by the popping candy Terry’s Chocolate Orange that I was bought just after Christmas. The initial strategy was simple. Four segments, every night till it had gone. The first night started well, four segments on my lap I watched TV. As soon as the last segment was in my mouth I started to hear a little voice coming from inside the cupboard, behind the coffee jar and behind the tea bags that were behind the coffee jar and from inside this round orange wrapper. Of course the voice wasn’t real but I had to investigate at which point another three segments jumped into my mouth before I had chance to breathe. Thinking that was a bit naughty but not too bad I went to sleep. The following evening comes and it is carnage. Four segments eaten and the Terry’s Chocolate Orange which by this time is hidden behind the coffee jar thats infront of the tea bags which is infront of the sugar which is hiding the chocolate is on the sofa as I now sit, enjoy and quietly admit defeat. Suffice to say hiding chocolate is futile and that’s why no chocolate is currently in my flat!