If I'm being honest, it's not actually 2008 anymore, as I'm writing this after midnight - Happy New Year then.
As you can see I'm looking over-fucking-joyed at having to stay up until some godforsaken hour talking about speed cameras and mobile phone rates. I need to go to bed.
I went to the bar where they offer the sole internet connection for miles this morning, only to find that they've switched it off - seemingly for good. That's a bugger.
Anyway, this afternoon I went to get some new shoes, as sadly my old ones had finally worn out to the point of falling apart which is a shame - they were good. Ever a struggle, finding another pair just as good took time, but it was worth it, and I'm now no longer shoeless.
Today's picture is of the lamppost outside my window which is all nice and Christmassy, but keeps me up all the bloody night.
The more I gaze at today's picture, the more I fall in love with it.
It's only a quick snapshot taken from the car window coming back from Spain and it didn't seem much at the time, but when I got it on the computer and sorted out the white balance - it seems simply magical.
Snow didn't come today as promised and although it did snow in Spain, by the time I got there it was simply raining. Outside I can hear the wind howling, so with some luck it's coming from Spain and bringing the white stuff with it.
As you may have gathered we did head into Spain today then as planned, but not for long as the weather conditions were foul on the other side of the tunnel, as is so often the case.
This morning I awoke in a wonderful white winter wonderland.
There's snow on the peaks, but none on the ground yet - just sparkly frost covering everything with its lustrous pearly sheen.
Tomorrow we plan to head into northern Spain, my favourite part of the country, although that might get called off for one brilliant reason - snow. I hope it snows, we haven't had any back home and I know that we'll probably get some in March or whatever but it's so much better over the Christmas break; sure it's a pain in the arse, but at least when it snows on new year's day it's a big magical pain the arse.
My pig headedness with my passport meant we left at 0630 am to go to Lancaster, get it, then head off to Birmingham International to set off to France.
Fortunately (or not as the case may be), this early stint wasn't the worst part of the day, as we had to not only change planes is Paris, but also change airports. I won't go into too much detail as I want to go to bed soon but in short, it was hell on earth.
Anyway, I'm in the Pyrenees now, usually a favourable position to be in and the stars are quite literally shining in the sky - so there it is, the first picture of stars I've taken for picture of the day. It's been slightly enhanced, I haven't added anything but my camera only allows me a ten second exposure, so I just brightened it up a little to make it more like the actual view from the window.
That's all technical stuff though, I might point out here that you can see Orion's belt quite clearly - any astronomers might know other constellations too.
Today's trip to the fens was made worse by two things, the absence of my mother due to illness and the slight problem of me forgetting my passport at uni.
That wouldn't be a problem at all unless I happened to be going to France the next day - needless to say that our departure time has been somewhat brought forward thanks to my absent mindedness, and tomorrow we'll be effecting an impromptu trip to Lancaster to fetch it, before doubling back on ourselves and heading off to Birmingham to catch a plane.
Thanks to this, I should really be heading off to bed now. Oh cock.
IT'S CHRIIISTMAAAAASSSSS!!!
The words of Noddy Holder couldn't be more appropriate for today because, well, because it is in fact Christmas.
For about a month now we've been building up to this one day - it has come. I've been reading up on this very day for this time last year - I was in France then, and it all makes for rather depressing reading.
Not today. So my mother was so ill that she couldn't have any Christmas dinner, and maybe I ended up feeling somewhat stereotyped with all the Guinness goods and wacky instruments I received, but that's not what it's all about, it was essentially quite fun.
We watched Doctor Who, and just as a new Wallace and Gromit was about to come on, we were hit by a power cut - Christmas evening in the dark then. Good job I had a cowbell and a kazoo to play then.
Christmas is always an anticlimax, but today it was nowhere near as bad as it could've been; tomorrow we head off to East Anglia to have a Christmas lunch with the grandparents - that'll be worse, for sure.
It'll be Christmas in about 20 minutes from now. What more do you want me to say?
Christmas is coming soon, and I've decided to try out something new.
That something is perhaps somewhat nerdy, but something that has long interested me - linux.
I've installed it alongside windows, with the intention of perhaps replacing it - who knows. Anyway, that and eating mince pies are currently dominating my life. I'm writing this in windows mind you...
Today marks my parent's 13th wedding anniversary, so congratulations to them for that.
They went out today to commemorate this, so the house has been pretty quiet all day. Can't say much has been going on - looks like it won't snow on Christmas day now, rarely does anyway...
Nice sunset today though - I think it's the shortest day of the year today, could've been yesterday, whatever - the days can only get longer now.
I've just watched WALL-E with my family, and today's picture is of my iPod speakers which I think look like his eyes.
I can't help but love that film - little significant dialogue, yet sheer brilliance. There's not been much else going on during the day, which explains the slightly dull and contrived picture - as Christmas approaches something might just come up, who knows.
Blackburn Rovers have a new manager, and today they got off to a perfect start - sadly it was 3-0 against Stoke.
Otherwise, X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing have now both mercifully ended, having been on the air for far too long. Nothing else to mention I suppose - Christmas is near and everything's looking good.
I went on a walk today, albeit a short one, then I went to the shop. Both were equally as dull, but I suppose a picture of a canal and a tree is better than a picture of Waitrose.
Tonight, my plan was to head off to a carol concert put on by my old choir. Now, as much as I dislike carols I was rather looking forward to catching up with old friends over a mince pie. Sadly, my mother's been called out on an emergency for her work, and my dad has had to dash out to help her out just now - rendering me stranded at home at the last minute. Looks like it'll be a night in.
It was Tesco who let me down the other day, today it's Next's turn. Thanks to these chumps who promised me they had hundreds of the pair of trousers I wanted, I now have one pair of trousers in the world.
All my others wore out at the same time, so I went to get some more and found a pair I liked in Next, but they only had one pair left and so very kindly ordered me some more - they then sent me a notice saying the order is delayed, followed by a phone call cancelling the lot. The guy in the shop said hundreds! Bollocks.
The family and I went Christmas shopping today, something I had been wanting to get done for a while in Manchester - I settled with Shrewsbury, a lovely place, but with admittedly less choice.
Nevertheless I got what I wanted, and that's a Christmas chore out of the way. Christmas shopping always leaves me slightly dismayed; I always thought that if I had loads more money, then I could get people what I think they would like, instead of what I can just about afford to get them - one of the few benefits of wealth I suppose.
So it's been another lazy day in today, meaning nothing much going on worth getting pictures of.
My dad has bought my mother an iPod nano for Christmas, but panic not, she knows about this already, and I spent a long time putting stuff onto it for her, in time for Christmas day.
Time to put up some decorations today, something which is generally a pain in the arse. Sure, it seems fun, but you end up with dust and tinsel all over the bloody place, and a whole load of tasteless shite on the walls.
Happily, we managed not to cross the line between taste and tack this year - and it all looks rather cosy. Nice.
Today's picture is of nothing. Well, not nothing, but nothing interesting.
We had more guests round today, albeit friendly relatives this time, but they did stay from lunch until this evening, which was ages. Having compared yesterday with today, I think I like being with the strangers more than the relatives, nice as they were, because you know nothing about strangers - which gives you all the more to talk about.
So, not wanting to put up dodgy pictures of my poor family members, I took no picture because nothing else happened - I hope it's not the end of the world.
The Stoke vs. Fulham match I went to was predictably dull today, the final result being a 0-0 draw - it did make for a nice day out though.
Apart from having met a couple of new friends for lunch today, which was lovely, I can't say much else happened really. Anyway, the match tired me out quite a bit - but it's been a nice full first day back home.
Tesco has let us down today - fairly big time. My mother ordered an online shop this evening and upon arrival, half the goods were missing. The driver had gone before we noticed, so we called them up.
I've 'phoned again - no sign of any food. We were rather relying on them to deliver here, as there are guests arriving for lunch tomorrow and the day after.
So, as you can tell, it's been a stressful first day back home - I'm off to see Stoke tomorrow after lunch with the guests, we're at home to Fulham, at least it's a game we can win...
The fridge is empty, which, being the end of term, can only be a good thing. Sadly though, it meant I had to drink all the cans I had left over in there - oh what a shame.
So, I'm probably not quite as 'with it' as I might usually be tonight - I'd better go to bed before I say something stupid.
French and Spanish are now both over for the year - only Italian left to go tomorrow and Friday, then it's home time.
I don't want to talk too long - like I said yesterday, those early starts are really taking their toll, and I should get to bed soon...
The term is slowly but surely drawing to a close - today marked the last oral classes of 2008, along with the last Italian grammar classes, and the last ever Architecture lesson of the year.
Three days remain until the end of term, they can't come quickly enough; frankly - I'm tired.
The picture says it all really. What you can see there really is as exciting as it sounds.
Spooks finished tonight though - now that was exciting, bloody exciting in fact. Can't talk about it though, I really must crack on with some 'Independent Spanish Grammar Revision'...
Aside from the slight sense of panic that there's a bit of work that hasn't been done for the next day - Sundays are generally fairly sedate, which probably isn't a bad thing.
However, as I have probably mentioned before - relaxed days don't make for great pictures. Oh well, it's Christmas so I thought I might get a shot of my hat.
Today was filled with just tying up various odds and ends. Fairly dull then.
Talking of dull, I thought I should get a shot of the advent calendar on a day like today (where there's no better picture to take), to show quite how boring that is. There are no pictures, the chocolates are all the same and the little bit of text behind the door tells the story painfully slowly. Today's read 'Although many people were Jewish, they were governed by the Romans.' Fascinating.
This, as obsessive readers will know, is not the view from my window - I get to stare at a wall all day, no; this is the view from a room on the other side of the building, just so that you know what I'm missing out on every night.
Seriously though, I was in there, looking out as the sun went down and there it was - what a sight; a perfect picture of the day by all means.
A fortunate turn of events has meant that I only had one oral exam today -now I'm free until Monday. That's nice.
So, I thought I'd don the whole santa suit -I won't be going out so why not?
I've just spent a couple of hours trying to get my head around a story in this Italian book, and I was going to talk about it for a while; now I have a massive headache, and I think I should stop staring at the screen and go to bed.
Apologies for my brevity.
Carrying on from yesterday's Christmas theme, I had mentioned that we put the tree up yesterday - well today someone decorated it. Still not sure who, but it works in the sense that it's not one bit tacky. So well done, you know who you are (even if I don't).
I'm typing this up in a santa suit, but that doesn't really make up for the shite day I've had. There was melted hail on the ground this morning which acted like ball bearings on the floor. After lasts night's ball, I wasn't running on full steam and, not realising the ice on the ground, I slipped and fell with a crunch outside my door. This was not to be the last time this was to happen today.
A million other things, plus the fact that I'm still aching, have made this the most miserable, unfortunate day of the year so far. Who cares though, it's Christmas!
For me, the start of December marks the start of Christmas - it's as simple as that.
The Christmas songs have been loaded onto the iPod, I have started wearing a santa suit around the house and today - we put the tree up.
More prominent though was the college Christmas ball in Blackpool. The venue was good, the imperial hotel, but I just don't give two shits about my college. I couldn't help but groan when the awards ceremony started just after dinner then - knowing that high class awards such as 'rear of the year' and 'best Cartmelian' were going to go to people with the most mates.
The food was OK though, and luckily the bar stocked Highland Park, so I just sat in a winged chair talking to various people who dared come near, sipping away until home time. 'Ball' isn't the word I would have chosen, it was just a glorified disco, but hey - at least I wasn't all tucked up in bed sleeping or anything!
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