Black and White Wednesday

Last Wednesday I managed to drag myself out of the comatose state of exhaustion I have spent most of my recent days off in, for long enough to get out into the countryside for a walk. It has been too long. Too long without hearing birds, and feeling mud underneath my feet and TOO LONG WITHOUT TAKING PHOTOS!

So what that it was raining and cloudy and dark…that just gives an excuse to take some photos in black and white!

 

I’m thinking of entering this next photo into Wildlife Photographer of the year…

 

I mean, if this photo can win because it ‘captures the essence of the hare’ could you say that I was capturing the essence of the pheasant?! (image from here)

Growing up

When was the first time you truly felt like an adult?

A couple of weeks ago I was in a Mediterranean restaurant with about twenty of our friends for a birthday celebration. During the evening I gazed around as people relaxed round two huge circular dining tables, pouring wine, mixing up dressing from the bottles of Spanish vinegar and oil and laughingly passing round olives and crusty bread.

It suddenly struck me that I am an ADULT. No one organised for me to be there. I wasn’t just tagging along with my parents. I was there because I was part of a group of intelligent, engaging people who liked me for who I am.

Now, this might seem a little random and I’m certainly not saying I feel immature or out of my depth. It was just one of those light bulb moments where you feel how did this happen? When did I make the transformation from gawky teenager, to shy student to happy-as-I-am adult. Weird.

I guess all of this has been going round in my head because we are making some big decisions at the moment. In the next couple of weeks we will be taking another step towards our future, and will be finding out whether the door we’re pushing is going to be opened wider or slammed in our faces.

We’ve also recently found that a couple of our close friends are having a baby. They are the first in our close friendship group and it just makes you realise that we are getting to the age where loads of our friends seem to getting married and having babies.

 I wonder if people look at Josh and I and think we have it all together? I’ve already made the link between ‘growing up’ and ‘getting married’ – and we’ve been married for over two years. While, I’m not saying I feel immature (in fact Josh and I have had to deal with lots of situations that you could say are beyond our years), I’m not saying I feel like I have it all together either…

 I’ve got a feeling that becoming an adult is one of those mythical statuses that you aim to achieve as a child. Like turning 16 or 18…when you actually get there it doesn’t feel any different.

 So…a question for you. When was the first time that you felt like a real adult?

Listen up!

We’re going to be live on the radio tomorrow!

Listen out at 8.10am (GMT) on Radio 4…Josh is playing the drums!

BBC Radio 4 92-95FM or listen online here

(and be glad that you don’t have to be in your seat by 7.30am after doing NightLight!)

Welcome our new addition

I would like to introduce a new addition to our family.

Meet Ieuan (pronounced Yay-an) the Syrian Hamster.

Ieuan joined the family a week ago. He wasn’t really planned, but we had been thinking about getting a pet for a while. I didn’t really want any pet other than a dog, and Josh wanted a fish, so we went for a compromise and got a hamster instead.

Last Wednesday we moseyed down to the pet shop and Ieuan was the first hamster to run up to the bars of the cage to say hello. In hindsight maybe we should have realised that it would be a mistake to take the most energetic, lively hamster there. The first thing he did when the shopkeeper opened the cage was to fling himself into the wild beyond off her hands and land on his back on the floor. Then later when Josh was holding him he made another break for it. Unfortunately Josh was talking to the shop keeper at the time so I put my hands out to try and stop him escaping. Josh assumed I wanted to hold him and so let him go. By which time Ieuan was off like a shot, clawing his way all over me before, again, shooting off into the wild blue yonder and landing on his back on the floor.

So…maybe not the best of starts. But as we had already nearly killed him twice we felt an obligation to take him home. Ieuan has settled into his new home well (which by the way is proportionally bigger to Ieuan than our own flat is to us – such luxury!) and we’ve been handling him daily and he has calmed down a lot.

I really wasn’t sure about getting a pet. I mean, small animals don’t do a lot and you just have to clean then out and feed them. But my affection for him is growing daily. Josh is out so much that it’s nice to have Ieuan out running in his ball while I sit reading on the sofa at night. He already recognises the sound of our voices and comes out of his bed to say hello when we get back from work, and he loves being groomed (which he needs because he has funky hair which sticks up in all directions!).

So, until we live somewhere we can have a dog, Ieuan is the next best thing. Welcome to the family!

Aberystwyth NightLight Video

A good Anglican Three Pointer

I am very surprised that you guys are still reading my blog, considering I haven’t written anything decent for about a month.

So, if you’re still reading…well done, I’m sorry I have failed at blogging for the last little while.

I am currently lying on my sofa, tucked up in my ‘mum-made’ quilt, still in my PJs at 12.11pm, with wires trailing all over the room, feeling ill. I have had an excessively busy and stressful couple of weeks and now I have actually stopped rushing around for my day off my body is rebelling. It’s good to have a quilt day every so often though so I’m not complaining

Firstly, why haven’t I been blogging?
I would like to say it is because I have been jetting off to exotic places and doing lots of exciting things, but it wouldn’t be strictly true. We have done a few nice things but mostly life has involved rushing around, organising meetings and presentations, coordinating volunteers and just conducting boring real life.

Josh is working quite a lot of evenings and night shifts so we are hardly seeing each other which is weird and difficult. But I mustn’t complain because we are both really happy that he has a job that he loves. However, it does mean that when I get back from work I am less inclined to sit on the computer and instead try and escape a quiet and empty house by reading a book or watching a film.

Secondly, what’s the news?
NightLight is going through a ridiculously busy time at the moment (why do things always come at once?). We have been preparing for a big conference which takes place this Saturday (keep your eyes peeled for the new NightLight video which I should be posting soon and am excessively happy about), but have also been trying to coordinate volunteers to go out Thursday – Saturday of this week to look after any student freshers’ who drink so much that they can’t look after themselves.

I feels strange that it is that time of year again. The population of Aberystwyth has doubled in size since the students have got back, and it completely changes the feel of the town. Not necessarily a bad change, but something to get used to nevertheless. 

We’ve also started our Welsh classes again which is fun, but means that I have to make up five extra hours of work during the week.
Hmmm….I thought this blog was meant to be about striving for a simple life?!

Thirdly…The most memorable thing from the last few weeks was a trip to the nearby sand dunes for a friend’s birthday. I had to take my car because lots of people went. You have to drive out on the sand to park (…those of you who know me will know how thrilled I was about that. I hate driving). What I didn’t realise it that tide comes in ridiculously quickly. One moment the tide was right out and night was falling, the next moment we realised a van and horse box some way along the beach had got trapped by the incoming tide. Within ten minutes our cars were nearly cut off by the tide and we had to quickly move them.
Rather bizarrely there were about 30 chavs all driving around as I was trying to manoeuvre out which brought me MUCH joy.

Right, Josh has just got back from a meeting in Lampeter so I’m going to go and make the most of the rest of my day off.

Sorry this isn’t an interesting, intelligent or witty post, but don’t complain – It’s better than nothing!

Support my crazy friend

My friend Sam (from redwelly fame) is currently attempting to unicycle from Lands End to John O’Groats in 6 1/2 days in order to break the current world record and raise money for a Ugandan charity which helps improve lives in the village of Kikobero.

Go check out his website and sponser his craziness!

Milk and no sugar?