09-NOV-24 / Home and my Cardiff trip / tags: friends, holiday, travel

I took a little holiday at the end of my first half term of 2nd year to go home fora while and then to Cardiff! I needed to go home for some medical things and I got to hop over to Liverpool for a birthday before spending a few days in the south of Wales. The first night I was home, I was blessed by the presence of my cat Boy. He slept on my bed as I did. I went to the ortho dontists and I have the date for when my braces are coming off!! And on Sunday the 3rd I got a train with Jono and Jess to her university gaff.

I've not been to Liverpool in my concious life so it was so lovely to experience the city with my friends, even if it was only for a few hours. We got into the 'pool at 16:30ish and headed straight to Lidl for some food shopping for Jess. Then to her beautiful flat! It felt so homely, all the decor was very her and her cool friends (one of which I went to primary school with - Lala). We went to a restaurant called Bundobust which served Indian street food. The 8 of us at my end of the table ordered the whole menu to share. It was annoying not knowing what any of the goodness was! But all was mostly lovely (some a little to spicy).

It was nice to sit across from Jasper and Conner. Jasper and I had a heated conversation about Saltburn at one point that Conner mediated very well lol. I feel greatful that most of my friends are able to travel to events like this. University semesters feel so long and these people mean so much to me. It's crazy we're becoming 20! I hope Jess had a wonderful birthday. We headed back to hers then Conner, Jono, and I got the 21:15~ train back to Manchester.

It's ironic that I'd be seeing these two in less than a week in their university city Cardiff! It was good to sort out last minute logistics on the train. So on Wednesday I hoped on the 9am train to the 'Diff. I was a sweat drenched dog by the time we got to their house, so I showered (a disaster story too long to tell here) before I got to meet the infamous Daisy! Jono and Conner live together with one other housemate, Daisy. It was so cool to meet her, she's a very needed decisive voice in their house /lh. That evening was chill, as Conner was out seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. But Thurdsay was my tour of the town!

We walked all the way to the Bay where I got to see the Torchwood entrance and Ianto's shrine. As a Doctor Who fan it was very cool to be in Cardiff. Next time I gotta take a trip to Wolf Studio Wales. I love the shrine's unabashed expression of fandom. It is a wonderful and very specific time and genre capsule. We had a wonderful lunch, then got the bus in to the city centre. We bumped into about 6 of Conner and Jono's friends whilst they took my round. It was cool to see how much community there is in Cardiff. All the independent businesses were so cute! We went to a record shop, a vintage hall, and the market! Should've bought some Welsh cakes. That evening we got a classic uni take away, and watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer together

On Friday, after finishing Season 2 of Buffy the previous evening, Conner and Jono were a little busy so Conner walked me to a local cafe so I could do some work. I had an essay due the following Tuesday so had some time to lock in. After his appointment, Conner joined me and we did some work alongside each other before going to Lidl. We acquired the ingredients needed for the chilli and rice, a powerful meal before a night of clubbing. We got back, the three of us chilled out, then got on with the meal! I was definately a bit forceful in running the opperation... But I needed to be, as these silly geese had never made rice before! Daisy is equally horrofied at this. The rice was perfect might I ad. The chilli was sub par, but a good base for some drinks. I took a more successful shower, and we all got ready to head to the Alternate Music Societies main house.

It was super cool to meet Jono and Conner's AMS friends - who I had heard a lot about - as they were all as awesome as one would imagine. After pres we walked into town to Clwb Ifor Bach, which was playing post-punk. Compared to Hull, the clubbing was pretty tame, but it was nice to head "out" with people I love. Conenr took some cool pics on his camera I'd love to share at some point. We headed home about 1:30-2ish, Conner got some cheesy chips on the journey and I explained chip spice to them.

On Saturday, I was up after only 4hrs of sleep to get myself ready to go. Jono wasn't feeling great after the club's jager bombs so Conner walked my back to the station via Greggs. The Christmas baguette was so(!) good. Despite the train disaters back to Hull (it took me 7hrs from getting on my first train), I feel really fortunate to have been welcomed into my friends uni sphere. I miss all my friends dearly, so it's been great to spend time with a couple of them in their element. Maybe they'll take the dreaded trip to Hull one day.

02-SEP-24 / Slaidburn group trip / tags: friends, holiday

This is my first blog post and it's to commemorate the amazing trip I had with my awesome friends. It's the third annual trip that I've been to of with this swag group and the second where we've been in a building - I definitely prefer it to camping! There was 25 of us this year in the tiny village of Slaidburn (there was probably as many buildings as us) which although the YHA was great it was a little to sleepy for us. This is of the first evening:

We got settled in and chose the rooms, which were mostly 4 beds, and I as someone who normally goes to bed at 21:30/22 I may have made a mistake as leaving the light on until 4:30 was not ideal but I'm glad people had a good time. A walk to the church occured before getting on with tea! We had Costco pizza followed by numerous baked goods made by those in the bake off. I could make a whole post on them, it was all so(!) good and so different. Ha leftovers the next morning for breakfast.

The first full day we went for a hike. Those up early enough had breakfast and second breakfast (an almost full english) before leaving at 13~ and doing a 10.5km walk! Henry took many "money shots" of us all and it was nice to take our time on our first full group activity.

The were all very exhausted but Theo and Jono and Gruff made us a wonderful Curry then Logan hosted a cocktail night! My friends without benefits was superb I'm glad I didn't have any alcohol (or grog) as some had some interesting hangovers the next day. Gruff cured his by vomming after being in the boot of Dave's car... Also played the best card game ever, Mao!!!

I got up in good time as I was determined to wild swim which we did after a slow morning. I spent the trip reading The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and it was always lovely to sit in the living room and read alongside the other readers - some smut was about - and gamers. It was very healing to be frozen by the Ribble River but the water quality was not good ;_;

The weather was finally lovely and so wild swimming wasn't too bad. There was a big dead tree that was climbed and used to get Sam on top of Gruff on top of Max. We wrapped up and got back for showers and pasta. Both the veggie bolognese and pesto was to die for. Connie had made us a pub quiz which was really fun and wide enough that I think most people were happy! (apart from the special rounds which were very divisive lol) Needing to be out by 10 the next day didn't mean an earlier night and I'm glad for it. The trip went by quickly but it was wonderful. I'm looking forward to next year!