Trains and Tribulations

Yet another lapse in posts. No excuse other than that I've not had much to write about. Even this is scraping the barrel. 

I've recently started an internship in London, which involves around 3 hours of commuting a day. This is probably a lot less than many people but having spent my 3 years in Reading having to walk for no more than 15 minutes to get to lectures it has come as quite a shock to the system! I seem to spend much of these three hours thinking about how tired I am, reading the Metro, avoiding awkward eye-contact with other passengers, watching as they scramble for seats and marvelling at how much of a rush they all seem to be in. These suited and booted, briefcase wielding fellow commuters walk faster than I can run, and yet it seems so effortless. I have yet to master this art, with my morning power walk to the station tending to leave me looking far less cool and with a massive stitch. It's my aim, in time, to get from the train to the tube in 4 minutes flat, with not a hair out of place and still possessing the ability to breathe.

One of the sights to be seen on public transport.

The downsides of using public transport are well documented but it is excellent for people watching, a luxury you don't get if you're driving. So far in the past week I've seen various lookalikes, including Matthew Kelly, my dissertation supervisor and Don Gilet. Another of my favourite activities is guessing people's professions: today I saw a Youth Worker (grown man wearing a back to front baseball cap) and Mancini's right-hand man (a fairly large man wearing a MCFC jacket). Both of which I feel are almost certainly correct. I'm hoping one day I see an actual celebrity or at least something interesting but in the meantime I'll stick to entertaining myself with these pointless activities. Or, maybe I'll actually remember my book in future!

Probably recommended by Richard and/or Judy.

London's Burning

Warning: the following post is my attempt at being an actual journalist. Feel free to stop reading now!

In Croydon, the mayhem of Monday night has been replaced by a strange silence. People are gathering by police cordons looking on at the rubble that were once buildings. The normally bustling streets are now empty of cars and shoppers, instead occupied by police and road sweepers, debris still littering the pavements. At Reeves Corner, the scene of the fire whose image has become synonymous with the riots, forensic officers are hard at work and behind the cordons cameras from the country’s media stand in a line.

Smoke could be seen from our road. 

The source of all the smoke.

On the tram home from my little excursion one passenger regaled the rest of the carriage with stories of looting, including how she saw a boy run down the street with a flat screen TV under each arm, bump into a lamppost and fall over, smashing the TVs. Karma?! But this sharing of stories shows that most people here, decent people, cannot understand the mindless criminality that took place in our town on Monday night. Obviously Croydon has a reputation for being a bit stabby and both my dad and I remarked earlier that day that it wouldn’t be long before Croydon got in on the act. However, I don't think anyone could have predicted that it would be to such a great extent. All a bit scary, really! Anyway, the clean up of Croydon has now begun, but it'll take a long time for the damage to be repaired. I'm hoping that the repairs miraculously turn the town into a place of beauty. Doubtful. So, instead I'll be trying to persuade my parents to move, preferably to Dorset where they can set up a little tea room - an idea inspired by a recent visit to the area with friends. 

The landlord of this pub was on Sky News and now has an appreciation society on Facebook. I think he's the man in blue.

In other news, today, when not pretending to be a journalist, I made a cheesecake! The recipe told me to put 900g of cream cheese in it, but that much cheese scared me so I made up my own recipe. Fortunately, it turned out nicely (surprisingly) and went down well at the weekly Buckley family dinner!

Slice of cheesecake - in case it wasn't already clear...

Hopefully my next post won't be quite as riot-y!

Careers, Crafts and Cakes!

This week I had my first interview for a proper grown-up job. Unfortunately the interview was different from what I had expected, lasting an hour and consisting of psychoanalysis tests and a numerical and verbal reasoning test. Seeing as I often do word games for fun it shouldn’t have been too difficult, however, it was. I think it’s probably safe to say that the job hunt continues. So, to save myself from spiralling out of control and into a pit of drinking, gambling and unsuitable men, which is apparently what happens to the unemployed (see Jeremy Kyle), I have been keeping myself busy with baking and making stuff in the hope that I stumble across something that I’m actually good at and can make a career out of. I've not yet found what that thing is but I'm confident it's only a matter of time...

Wall hangings: easily mistaken for the works of a 10 year old.

Luckily July is quite a big one for family birthdays so the cakes I've been making haven't been a complete waste. They have also prompted my sister to ask me to make her wedding cake. It's quite a compliment but I'm thinking that as it gets closer to the time she'll change her mind.

 An attempt at some manly looking blue cakes.

Anyway, fingers crossed I find a job soon because at this rate it won't be long till I'm obese.

Graduation

Since my last post I have moved home, decorated my room, embraced the daytime t.v watching lifestyle of an unemployed person and, most recently, graduated! If I’m honest graduation wasn’t really something I’d ever thought about until recently, which was maybe a bit stupid seeing as it was the whole point of going to University. Anyway, I can honestly say that Wednesday was one of the top 10 days of my life so far, at least. In the run up to the day I decided that in order to avoid nerves I’d treat it as though I was going to somebody’s wedding, which worked surprisingly well. All in all it was a lovely day and it was really nice to see friends again and to have all my family together, as I realised that the only time the 6 of us go out together nowadays tends to be for weddings and funerals...

Definitely adding Painter/Decorator Extraordinaire to my CV.

Even though the day marked the end of my formal education, I realised that the day was an education in itself. 

Things I learnt from Graduation Day:

• Throwing a mortarboard in the air is more fun than you’d imagine;
• My sisters are massive stalkers shown by their impressive knowledge of who everyone was without ever having met them;
• My sisters are shorter than they look in photos (according to one Mr Low);
• It is possible to get through a day without falling over or hurting myself in some way (I recently had a spate of kitchen related injuries, including potato peeler-ing my nail...);
• Not everyone appreciates being serenaded with ‘Lady in Red’;
• Along with ‘proud-parents’ there is such a thing as a ‘proud-friend’, i.e: me watching my friends go up and shake hands with the important looking man;
• Always take a younger sibling around to act as your own personal photographer - who needs Mario Testino?!
• Some of my lecturers still have no idea who I am;
• Smiling all day results in an achy jaw;
• With about 10 cameras taking photos at once it’s hard to decide where to look and somehow I never manage to look at the right one;
•  I’m never going to become a Doctor or Professor, purely because the outfit is ridiculous;
• There’s something about a middle-aged man wandering around in the rain that reminds me of Heathcliff wandering the moors;
• Applying for a job in Rochester based purely on the hope of meeting a Mr Rochester figure (minus the disfigurement) is not the best idea;
• Everything is much more exciting when you look like you’ve just stepped out of Hogwarts;
• And, It’s o.k to like Jim from The Apprentice again!

Out in force for Graduation.

 

Reading

I’m currently sitting in my room, having spent my last evening in Reading with my best friend; seeing as we met on the very first day of University (a story she delights in telling people after a drink or two) it seemed only right. Much of today has involved taking things off walls and packing away clothes whilst wondering how on Earth I’ve managed to accumulate so much junk in the past 9 months! But, being the sentimental idiot that I am, I can’t seem to throw any of it away. Should be fun getting it all in the car! Unable to just get on with the task in hand I thought this was the perfect opportunity for a stock take, the findings of which were that I have 38 dresses and 21 cardigans –  which might explain where my Student Loan disappeared to. Although I still have a lot left to pack I decided it is much more important to do one last post from Reading. I’m clearly very good at prioritising.

Considering I had my heart set on going to University in Brighton I wasn’t really looking forward to starting at Reading. Despite this, I can honestly say that my four years here have been more than I could have ever hoped for. Tomorrow (well, technically today), I won’t only be leaving Reading with a 2:1 in French and English (yay!) but I’ll also go with some wonderful friends and amazing memories. Given the chance I don’t think I’d really change anything from the past four years – apart from I maybe would tell my Second Year self that Port Challenge is never a good idea...  Either way, as this post suggests I’m a little sad to leave; looks like now I’m actually going to have to start being a proper adult. Bit scary, really!

Campus during spring and daffodil watch. Surprisingly they are now dead. 

22 Going On 70

Since finishing my degree I seem to have jumped straight from being a student to acting like an OAP. I feel like I now have a pretty good idea of what retirement will be like, that’s if I actually find a job from which to retire! Today, I have trawled a charity shop for books, done a few crosswords and baked some meringues. I may have to lie down in a bit to recover from all the excitement!

Meringues - the ones that tuned out nicely. Decoration added by Jess! 

When I’ve not been acting like an old person I have been looking for jobs but at the moment nobody seems willing to employ me, something I fear will only get worse once I’ve got my results - which happens to be in the next few days, eek! I’ve been careful not to disclose when they come out, mainly because I’m not entirely sure myself, it all seems fairly disorganised! Once again I’ve been having the familiar pre-results nightmares, one of which saw me crying and eating Weetabix in the Union shop. Strange. These fears were not allayed yesterday when I saw my tutor and she asked if I wanted a meeting about my results; considering I don’t yet know what they are I’m thinking this could be a cause for concern. However, I am still holding out hope that I will eventually find a job, I’ve been toying with the idea of applying to teach English in a faraway land, although this is likely to be another of my plans which never actually happens. I’m also researching to see if there are any jobs which involve the making or solving of anagrams. Apparently there aren’t many of them around! Ultimately, I think as long as I get a decent-ish job, in which I don’t have to wear a tabard, I’ll be happy. Hopefully I can then start saving for my cottage, yay!

Freedom

Sorry about the gap between posts, life has been pretty busy since exams finished! Right now I’m back in Croydon for a few days of home comforts before returning to Reading for the final week or two. I quite like coming home as I can always rely on nothing having changed no matter how stressful the past few weeks of revision and exams have been. True to form, in the last few days my parents have been trying to fatten me up for Christmas, stocking up the fridge with 8 different types of cheese, a crate of Diet Coke and ridiculous amounts of chocolate, and keeping me up-to-date with any recent neighbourhood developments. At the moment there are a few electricity company vans stationed down the road and despite much not-so-covert surveillance on my dad’s part we are still unsure what they’re doing here. It seems that the requirements to live in our area are that you either have to be over 80 years of age or a compulsive dog walker, therefore the sudden appearance of 5 (yes, 5!) vans and a digger is quite exciting! It’s also one of the reasons that I have decided that moving out as soon as possible is probably a good idea...

In other news, after finishing exams I went to see QI being filmed in London. I was fairly hungover but after eating what felt like an entire loaf of bread for lunch I began to feel much more human and so Janine and I joined the queue for QI. Although the queue was fairly lengthy we were too excited to really care, the pique of excitement being when we saw what looked like Joan Collins pass by in a car. We don’t know whether or not it was in fact her, however we are maintaining that it was. Anyway, the actual filming of the programme was really fun and we got to see Sean Lock, Bill Bailey and Nina Conti, a fairly unknown ventriloquist who was actually quite good. Of course, Stephen Fry was there, along with Alan Davies, who was the main reason I wanted to go really, as I've loved him ever since the age of 8, when I first set eyes on him in Jonathan Creek. Probably not something I should really admit to but I'm sure my loyal readers (Janine and Jess) already know this. So, all in all it was a good day out, one that I’d recommend, so much so that I’ve applied for more tickets, although I feel like I might be pushing my luck a bit on this one!

Stamp, just to prove that we did go.