Michael:
Time has flown since I've posted my last blog. I've been up to Birmingham once more. No adventuruous bike rides this time though, only a lot of work and not that much play. We did make it out on Saturday to the park for a nice walk. The rest of the past two weeks has been filled with work. Its to the point in the semester that sometimes they call 'crunch time'. We've got a lot of assignments, readings, exams coming up, ect. So the mood in the flat here is pretty subdued. A lot of people are going home on the weekends to try to get a break and relax for a bit. We've now been living together for 6 weeks and true personalities are coming out. We've discovered we've had a food thief, some pretty loud people at night, and general complaints about our flat like our radiators dont work, toilet doesnt flush, blinds fall off the wall...this makes it seem pretty bad living conditions, but really its not so bad. Our freezer doesnt freeze b/c the seal is broken and our fridge collects water at the bottom of it...hehe-nice reminder in the morning if you walk into the kitchen with socks on and they in turn are thus wet. Hehe...
Wales is really nice this time of year. I honestly expected weather much like Vancouver where it rains all the time. I've only biked to school in the rain twice so far. I've got fancy waterproof trousers & jacket though so it doesnt bother me. However, what i have come to realize is that my brakes dont work in the rain! The first time i couldn't break was pretty scary--i didnt know if i should jump off the bike and let it crash or should I crash with the bike? Also, I'm realizing that people dont have respect for bikers here (not that they have much respect in Vancouver either). I was almost jammed between two cars by an ediot teenage driver who didnt give me right of way (which I had because i was ahead of him on the road).
Another thing I discover biking around in Cardiff is that I still dont know the city very well at all. There are so many little roads, alleys, and I cant seem to work out where they all connect. Instead of the typical grid: N, S, E, W the roads are in all kinds of directions and not very helpful when you're lost. Also, I think only in Wales can you bike to school and see tractors on the roads next to fancy BMWs and Range Rovers. There aren't many mornings when I dont pass a farm vehicle.
I am officially 20 today and it doesnt really feel like it. I dont think 20 is a big one...there isnt much to celebrate. Except the end of being a teenager!!! Yipee! I dressed up in an interesting outfit for Halloween and made sure to enjoy it b/c it was the last time I could pass it off as being a teenager! Tonight i'm going out to dinner with my flatmates and school friends and tomorrow I'm going on a hike with Mike a hour north of here in Brecon National Park. I'm looking forward to it. I'll make sure to post pictures from the hike on the blog.
And finally, just for general knowledge, who knew that printers could be regionalized just like DVD's?!? I went to go buy new ink for my printer here and on the box it says its compatible with my printer. However, upon sticking the ink in it turns out that its no good. So I called HP and they told me i have to regionalize my printer to UK standards. Who knew? Stupid,eh?
Park in birmingham:
Mike & his flatmate, Andy cleaning their, oh so clean house:
