Day 189 - 30th September 2007

So here I am; university at last! My room is pretty cool and I’ve made friends with everyone on my floor, we get on like a house on fire! The trip up went well but unloading was horrible, truly tiring work.

I don’t want to go on for too long as it’s rather late; safety talks and course registration take place tomorrow so it’s an early start! Looking forward to meeting more people, but I’m already starting to struggle with all the hundreds of new names and faces! So I’ve got no money, but I think I can survive; I’ve got quite a lot of food to keep me going!

Day 188 - 29th September 2007

For the first time ever in my whole life, the CD rack sits bare. My collection, along with pretty much everything else I own, has been packed up ready to go to Lancaster tomorrow morning; the university adventure starts here.

My worries about not having enough money have inexplicably disappeared, even though the problem hasn't; I'll cross that bridge when I come to it I suppose! Right now I've never been happier about going, which is lucky because it happens tomorrow!

So yes, the day was spent packing; I was going to watch the F1 qualifying as a break, it's in Japan so I had to tape it. This poses a problem as I seem to have recorded something on CITV with 'wacky' people doing 'crazy' things. As it happens, Hamilton finished pole; which can only be a good thing.

In other sporting news, Fiji knocked Wales out of the rugby 38-34 in a very close match whilst Scotland beat Italy by two points to go through to the quarters. This pales into insignificance when Stoke City comes into the spotlight; the potters drew 1-1 away to Leicester, a pretty dull result.

Who knows what lies ahead of me know, like they say; this shit just got real.

Day 187 - 28th September 2007

Is it a good idea to label everything you own? Who cares when it's this fun! I got myself a label machine thingy that speaks out the letter you press; an ingenious contraption!

England beat Tonga today in what was a good game on our side, maybe we stand a chance versus Australia now; doubtful, but who knows what can happen?

Personally, I didn't get up to much at all apart from spending the afternoon playing on the playstation; maybe the last time for a very long time I guess!

Today was of no real interest to me, and therefore even less to you; I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I can't wait until Sunday when I finally go to meet bankruptcy at university.

Day 186 - 27th September 2007

Although the process of getting ready for university has left me broke and unsure of how long I'll last, at least it means I have accomplished one of my lifelong dreams; to own a mini-fridge. Ever since I was little I have wanted one but my room was always too small, and to stop me from getting traumatised I used to just say to myself 'one day...'.

That day has come, which brings me to another problem other than cash. The truth is, I'm starting to run out of life ambitions to fulfill; when I was small I made a list of stuff I wanted to do in life and slowly but surely they're disappearing!

I've been to Loch Lomond, I've visited the world's smallest distillery, I've been to Rome, Florence, Madrid and London, I've even spat off the Eiffel tower and now with the advent of this mini-fridge, what's left? Well I really want to tour America, as in a road trip, and I wouldn't mind getting a job in TV or radio one day. That's about it, which is rather sad, I know, but hey; what can be done? I bet I'll come up with some new ambitions one day, then all will be well.

Day 185 - 26th September 2007

Not being the kind of person to snoop on the neighbours or anything, I was surprised at my own annoyance with what was going on next door. From eight in the morning until six at night, I could only hear the shouting, screaming and worst of all; the huge great big bloody engines that these workmen are using to dig up the front lawn.

Looks like there's more to come too, by last few days on holiday could be ended like this, not being able to hear myself think!

I got another nasty surprise as I found out that the office had paid me my salary again; luckily I was ready for it this time so it didn't come as too much of a shock! Still, the lack of money is starting to bug me now...

Nothing, and I mean nothing, was on TV of any interest to me tonight. This is a sad state of affairs really, and it's making me wonder whether or not to pay my license fee at uni; I will do of course, but do I really need a TV? What am I? I really need a TV!

Day 184 - 25th September 2007

Uni looms and the afternoon was spent in Tesco's stocking up on food supplies, gracefully paid for by my lovely mother. I've got enough to sink three armadas!

Sadly, a huge financial blow was received despite this generous giving; the office I worked with in the summer have paid me twice by accident and I didn't notice. I was only supposed to get paid for the month I worked, but the accountants there thought that I was a permanent fixture!

Like I said, I hadn't really noticed, and now I'm not so financially stable as I'd hoped to be! It' gonna be a case of beg, steal or borrow for me now; oh, and a case of saving up as much as possible. This means I REALLY can't go drinking all through freshers week now, not that I wanted to anyway!

Otherwise, the hair finally got cut off; makes my eyebrows look less bushy don't you think? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though...

Day 183 - 24th September 2007

Some serious packing and sorting out was in need today and that's exactly what I did. The pile of books pictured is what I could just about take to uni, you should see the pile I had to pitch out! I still haven't waded through anything that isn't a book yet either!

As ever, visiting the bank took up a long part of the day too and I suppose meeting up with mum in a cafe for lunch took a fair chunk out. Otherwise I don't know where the day went really!

I saw my best friend for the last time today too, he leaves on Thursday so we went to the pub for one final goodbye; him being the only person I was really desperate to catch up with after the holiday for one final time before we go our separate ways to university. Let's not forget that keeping in touch is so easy that, considering I haven't been here for nearly three months, I don't think much will change; instant messaging and facebook have become my principle means of communication now!

I said I needed to do some serious packing, well tomorrow it's going to be a huge food shop, then more importantly a serious haircut. I can't believe how much my hair has grown; it's been such a long time since I went to the barber, all summer in fact. I feel like I've got a woolly hat on my head! That might not be such a bad thing though, I can't help but notice that the days are really getting quite cold now...

Day 182 - 23rd September 2007

I'm back in the UK after a horrible flight, and in exactly a week I'll be moving in to Lancaster university; finally! Upon arrival I noticed that so much has changed at home, mostly for the better although with all the tidying going on no one knows where to find stuff anymore!

This afternoon I relaxed and watched Hot Fuzz; fantastic! I found it so funny, it was almost a joke per line until the shootout at the end!

It's Sunday which means I spent my last evening at Market Drayton Methodist Church (www.mdmc.org.uk); this was a rather sad occasion as it is a place where I have made many friends and I am sorry to leave it.

Tonight we had a small leaving party for me and my mate, who is also leaving, and we played giant Jenga; one of the best games ever invented. We then made them into dominoes for some reason...

Day 181 - 22nd September 2007

It is, I think, somewhat ironic that on the last day of my huge stay here in France I finally see a frog! You'll be pleased to hear that I didn't touch it at all and the people I was with barely noticed it (it was just after dinner so they weren't interested). I wonder if camera flash blinds them, I hope not...

So yes, it's home time tomorrow, I've been here in France for nearly three months now; let's face it I can't wait to go home! Of course next week I'll be in Lancaster, I'm really desperately hoping money isn't going to be too tight; I'm having to pass up on a lot of stuff, it just all seems to be pay, pay, pay! I can't afford to go drinking every night on the first week like they suggest, I'll starve to death afterwards!

Anyway, today I watched the greatest game in the rugby world cup so far, South Africa vs Tonga. We were all so sure of the result but the Tongans weren't and they just kept on fighting, hard as ever! The final score was 30-25 to the South Africans, which is a close score; especially considering the referee blew the final whistle when Tonga got a line out about three feet from the try line! It was a shame they lost, but morally they were the winners and at the end of the game, they were the ones who walked out with heads held high, not the South Africans.

England beat Samoa rather unconvincingly too, but managed to scrape the offensive bonus point; this keeps our hopes of staying in the cup alive. The team had better be bloody scared when they face Tonga in the decider; those hard tackling South Africans were laid out K.O by their opponents! To be honest, if we lose our place in the quarter finals to Tonga, then it won't be too shameful; after a show of bravery like today's they deserve to go through way more than we do!

Day 180 - 21st September 2007

France have just beaten Ireland by a pretty good score, they had to win else they'd have been out of the cup. This, I would have thought, would make everybody happy, and it has, but I had never realised before just how smug the French can be!

The knowing looks and patronising smiles are really quite hypocritical considering that this is nation that was so sure of losing; you'd think they'd be breathing a sigh of relief!

Ireland played quite well, but the French were on form and the best team won. Otherwise, nothing much else happened today; Friday is barely a half day in France so work wasn't exactly strenuous.

Day 179 - 20th September 2007

The sun must have been shining in just the right place this morning, or maybe I was in an unusual frame of mind; but I suddenly realised that I was practically swimming in bottles. This is why I have made a bottle sculpture, using a fag lighter as my welding torch. I donned the sunglasses and off I went, not that there were many sparks at all! This is the result; the picture is taken at a nice angle, the bottle I am holding is full of twix wrappers I forgot to remove which make a rather ugly sight.

I think this particular work of art shall be baptised 'Pilkoj'; which is Esperanto for 'Bollocks'.

Otherwise, I've only been up to the usual; working and worrying about university... In the news however, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has, in a final surprise move, left the club. Famed for his 'outlandish' comments, odd publicity stunts and general arrogance, Mourinho was a winner and Chelsea shall have a hard time finding someone to replace him.

Day 178 - 19th September 2007

Anyone who has visited France will know of the local game called boules. Well, a variation of this, petanque, is what gets played here in the south and today I managed to find an instruction video in the office.

As you can see, it's a glamorous sport; cool, modern, cutting edge, definitely one for the kids. If you have kids with heavily bejewelled fingers and rainbow T-shirts you handed down to them from 1979. Let's not forget the other element, the mullet lurking in there; it may not seem 100% mullety in the picture, but believe me this man has a great one on him. This serves to shield his neck from the sun.

I was wondering who the hell would watch such a man on TV when I noticed that this particular cassette was still wrapped, dating back from 1988; no one has watched it since I was born! Anyway, it was back to the office today, and back to the boredom of filing plans. Tomorrow, who knows what will happen?

Day 177 - 18th September 2007

I had the day off today, to keep an eye on the recently pumped out plumbing of the house. This suits me fine, I get to do nothing whilst making sure no stray turds come floating down the corridor. Luckily they didn't and later on I went to the seaside, which had a surprisingly high crowd considering the holidays finished ages ago.

I do wonder sometimes about the amount of people out and about during work hours, the beaches and supermarkets are packed all day long here; no one must do any work!

Anyway, nothing much else went on really, there were some champions league games and that was about it. Tomorrow it's back to work but I'm beginning to wonder if there is anything left for me to do there, there's only so much filing that can be done...

Day 176 - 17th September 2007

This is a pretty poor picture for a reason. I'm not sure if you can make out the long pipe trailing from the back end of a lorry; but you might be able to recognise what it is. That's right, the septic tank got emptied today; and the smell of human excrement still lingers in my nostrils.

I didn't want anything too gross as a picture, so I went for this one; one of the better ones. I felt an unprecedented sympathy for the six men that do this day-in day-out in the blazing sun for a living; someone out there must really hate them.

Otherwise, France kicked some Namibian backside last night in the rugby; rather unsurprisingly I thought, but they seemed overjoyed about it. The celebrations seemed somewhat strange to me, Namibia are one of the worst, if not the worst side in the cup and they went down to 14 men after only 10 minutes; why are the French so happy they managed to win?

Mosquitoes are still rife tonight yet sleeping with the window closed is not an option; this means I have to stop typing, I am being eaten alive!

Day 175 - 16th September 2007

Today's entry is dedicated to the life of Colin McCrae MBE, tragically killed in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon. The news has only spread when I woke up this morning and I found it hard to believe that the life of such a great man, a legend, could be so violently and prematurely ended.

An inspiration to us all, the world champion rally driver was my childhood hero and was undoubtedly the most spectacular British driver to have ever lived. His son was killed in the accident along with two others; may they all be laid to rest in peace.

Spookily, the ex-head of McCrae's team, Dave Richards, survived a helicopter crash today on his way home from the Belgian grand prix; just one day after the fatal accident in Lanarkshire.

On a larger scale, there was a plane crash in Thailand today; killing more than 80 people. When so many terrible things happen in one day; it would be simply rude to talk about the inane events of my day.

Day 174 - 15th September 2007

Some relatives visited today and I went on a walk; that is until they saw how far away the sea was and we turned back! I know you can see me in the picture but I was a but fed up so I didn't take to many.

Otherwise, there's been a party going on for a solid 24 hours now and I've got a headache, so I don't want to type much at all.

A good night's sleep always does a world of good, although I won't sleep easy until I get paid for my office work; I really need the money for uni!

Day 173 - 14th September 2007

My day at work was spent printing stuff out, using the plotter that I got a picture of. It's Friday, and in France that unofficially means that it's OK to leave at lunchtime to go home.

This means that I watched a lot of pre match build up for the important England game versus South Africa. I had settled on the typical cynical conclusion that we would lose, with the hope that I would be proved wrong. Sadly, I wasn't; the score was 33-0 to them. Not a good day for the rugby then, I didn't think they'd be incapable of scoring points a least, but it really was a thrashing. Oh well, if we go through, it'll almost certainly be in second place now then, which would mean we get Australia next round. Plus, Robinson got injured; he's the only one who played but an apparent hamstring injury seems to have ended his world cup.

Tomorrow is Saturday, who knows what the weekend will bring? The locals are praying for rain, not a drop has fallen since May and stuff is catching fire quite easily now.

Day 172 - 13th September 2007

All this work is so dull that my head actually exploded today. Not that anyone would have noticed this as I was allocated an office of my own, which is nice but somewhat isolated. I must really make sure that whatever I do in life, it's more interesting than this; it just sucks the life out of you.

Tomorrow England play the Springboks in the rugby world cup, good luck to them then; they'll need it, I saw the last South Africa game and they were bloody good!

Friday tomorrow and I'll be glad of the weekend afterwards; my flight home is booked for a week on Sunday.

Day 171 - 12th September 2007

First day at the engineer's office today, the work was dull but I had a great time anyway. More importantly, I am writing so late because I have been witnessing Scotland beat France by one goal; in France!

Of course I am all for Scotland when they play, but England beat Russia 3-0 with two goals from Owen and a scorcher from Ferdinand. At least, I think it was a scorcher, the game isn't on sodding French TV till two O'clock! Oh well, good to see them keeping up the good form anyway; it's not every day you get two great performances from England in a row!

Day 170 - 11th September 2007

It's exactly six years ago from today that the horrific terrorist attacks occurred on the world trade centre in New York. Although in France there is no protocol when it comes to giving two minutes silence, I did at eleven O'clock, like we do in Britain.

After lunch I went on a huge walk along the coast, and took a picture at my destination, Sausset-les-pins. The picture is not an accurate one; the port there is much bigger than it seems in my photo.

Tomorrow I start work, sorting out files on a computer system at my Dad's office, dull but worth it I suppose; money is starting to become an issue for uni now and I'm slightly worried. Not that I ever worry about anything in too much depth, last time I did I could almost feel the sense of nervousness and panic eating away at me; consuming my mind. As a result, I try not to worry; it's usually pretty pointless, life tends to sort itself out.

Day 169 - 10th September 2007

More university papers arrived today in a completely shredded envelope held together by elastic bands. It included a note in French saying "sorry about the damage, the contents are OK." Well the contents were OK and I spent all day filling them in.

I saw some American Football today, actually it was 'soccer', it was an LA Galaxy match but Beckham wasn't playing; they'd been pushing it all week on TV and he was still injured! Oh dear, it was quite dull, I'm watching Men In Black II now; much better.

Day 168 - 9th September 2007

When you find that a brand new species of creature had evolved in your swimming pool, I think it's a sign that summer is now over. The weather was nice today however, and it was extremely hot.

My Uncle invited me to his house for lunch today which was nice; but nothing much else happened really. The rugby continues, and what with all the bloody adverts on TV over here harping on about it I'm already fed up with it all.

Oh yeah, Lewis Hamilton finished second to Alonso at Monza today, closing the gap to two points between them now; Lewis still being ahead of course. With only four or so races to go, it's getting serious now; Hamilton has got a huge chance of winning!

Day 167 - 8th September 2007

Behold, my day's work; badly photographed at night. I spent the day chopping down the vegetation right back until what you can see, letting light onto the terrace once again.

England rejoices today, an expected victory against the USA rugby team was accompanied by a fantastic performance from the footballers who beat Isreal 3-0! Great goals by Wright-Philips, Richards and best of all Michael Owen all helped to make my day. I hear we won the cricket too.

I also watched the All Blacks murder Italy by some ridiculous score and then the Australians do the same to the Japanese, only even worse; they scored nearly 100!

I keep forgetting to mention that Pavarotti died the other day, which means that the number of opera singers I know of has gone down by a third. He was the most famous one ever ever ever, so I thought I'd give it a mention.

Day 166 - 7th September 2007

Oh dear France. Oh dear oh dear. What a rubbish start to the world cup; losing to Argentina! I laughed out loud when the final whistle blew, and France had lost the opener on their own turf. Argentina were good, if not brilliant, but France need to be able to beat them else they'll do turd against bigger sides. Alas, it wasn't to be for France today as England gear up towards their normally easy encounter against the USA.

I hope, and I assume we shall win this, but it's still not so sure against Israel in the football. Gerrard is back in, but it's a case of one step forward, two steps back for England these days. I think it really is going to take a wonder goal to win it, but most of our wonder players are missing!

Day 165 - 6th September 2007

Today was pretty dull until this afternoon, where I got a call from my parents telling me that there was a message from the university saying that they had not received my deposit for my room, and that my accommodation was under jeopardy.

So, right up until now I've been frantically trying to sort it out using just a pen and a computer. Tomorrow I shall phone her and get it all over and done with.

Right now, I have just finished watching eyes wide shut with Tom Cruise; Kubrik's last film, and a good one too.

Day 164 - 5th September 2007

On my walk out to the coast today I realised that I seem to love what the locals hate; the wind. Of course, here in Provence the mistral winds are known all over the world (sort of) and mainly serve the purpose of blowing forest fires out of control and turning the area into a towering inferno.

However, there's nothing quite like standing on top of a headland with the sun shining and the wind blowing; with a view for miles and miles along the coast.

What I particularly love about a large headland is that, if there are two beaches either side, you can see two lots of people doing different things; so close, yet completely unaware of each other.

That got me thinking... When I am on the beach down below, I can't see what the other people are doing on the other side; I might not know they even exist, so what they do doesn't matter at all. On the other hand those people have the same perspective as I do, so what I do doesn't matter to them at all. If what I do doesn't matter; then why do I bother doing anything when people who are just a lump of rock away will never know about it?

It's all bollocks I know, but I haven't got much else to talk about! I'm fearing the Euro qualifier on Saturday where England face Israel; with Rooney injured, Crouch suspended, Lampard injured, Gerrard unavailable and, bummer of all bummers, Beckham injured it's not looking good. We need to win this or else we are in deep trouble, a draw will keep us just in; I daren't even think about what happens if we lose. Come on England!

Day 163 - 4th September 2007

Getting through about three tons of paper all to do with one subject is never the nicest way to spend the day, but university beckons; and so does its paperwork.

I got some passport photos done, checked all my details, and sent the forms straight back to where they came from; neatly filled in of course. Then what? That took me most of the day but in the evening; Facebook.

Yes I'm really getting into this Facebook malarkey, I've found all my friends on there and even some old ones that I really didn't think I'd see ever again. In fact, I wonder what's happened since I last checked...

Day 162 - 3rd September 2007

Going out on a walk was not an option today, when I arrived at my favourite spot a barrier was closed with a sign attached telling me not to enter until further notice due to forest fires in the area. Bummer.

When you try your best to make a day interesting and even then, going to the shops is the height of it all, then you know you've had a pretty disappointing day, just like I did.

Otherwise, in my time I started a facebook page today, which is apart from the rather ironic MySpace "Artiste" one. Facebook, as I found out, is actually for real people with real friends, and is not just about bands whoring themselves; there's so many less adverts too. I'll keep on with the MySpace, but I can't help thinking that one day it will just end, people will just get fed up with all the glitches. I'm living proof, I never wanted to make a profile about me on anything, until I saw this; I think it'll be great for when I get to uni, and for keeping in touch with some old friends.

I have been informed of a mountain of university paperwork that is on it's way to me now; so I'm looking forward to wading through that lot and sending back! I suppose it's something to do, I can only start work next week...

Day 161 - 2nd September 2007

Coming back to Provence has made me think long and hard about these holidays. I've been away for such a long time now, it'll be over two months in total and I'm starting to wish it would end sooner.

Yes, I'll find a job here for a month and earn some cash, but what I really want is for uni to start right now. Every year I would have been back at school by now, I've still got a month to go yet and I'm quite bored now; it's all starting to get rather beyond enjoyment.

Anyway, I took the picture at the service station on the way back from the Pyrenees; looks great doesn't it? Shame that it's actually really horrid, you're lucky I didn't take a picture of the numerous turds grazing on the toilet floor. That's a pretty nasty note to end on, but I've got a throbbing headache and right now I feel just like a turd myself; hopefully bed will be the cure. Goodnight.

Day 160 - 1st September 2007

I didn’t get up to much today at all except that I have just finished watching “Castaway” with Tom Hanks, which was quite good. I also managed to drink my way through this eight litre bottle of water, in fact; I could just do with nipping to the loo right now…

Tomorrow I go back to Provence and then I don’t know what I’m going to do; so it’s a case of wait and see. September has arrived extremely quickly; I still have a month before university starts though, so I can’t complain really! Anyway, there’s nothing to talk about and I’ve got a early start tomorrow for the long journey ahead, it’s already far too late; watching British TV here is all very nice but everything happens an hour late, castaway finished at 1200 am!