January 2012
1 post
9 tags
A small update
To be honest, since my last Christmas updates I haven’t really been up to much. I’ve been working quite a bit and frisbee just getting back to full steam but things have been quiet over the last few weeks. For me this has meant a lot of time spent on the internet. It’s been the usual stuff mostly (a lot of Cracked.com) but I thought I’d share a few of my new internet...
December 2011
6 posts
3 tags
Looking back - Settling In
This will be the last of my little updates. I dare say that I’ll do something like this again but I’m not sure when or if I will have anything interesting to say. I guess that is what this post is about. I’m really settling into Melbourne life and as such life is becoming routine (not a bad thing, my routine is awesome). I really don’t want to be blogging about everyday...
2 tags
Looking back - The New Flat
Wow, 5 posts in one day with another planned. All on Christmas Day too! As you can all imagine, today hasn’t been the most eventful Christmas Day for me. The 2 high points of today have been finding a place that’s still open so I could get some coffee in the morning and being called by one of our customers because something had gone wrong. Sounds a bit lonely but it was necessary to...
6 tags
Looking back - Frisbee
I’m going to say this upfront. For the majority of people reading this (I’m assuming that only my family and maybe like 2 others read this), this post is likely to be the least interesting for you whilst being the most interesting for me to write. There will be some pictures in this one too though so if you don’t even bother reading, at least one of the pictures will be slightly...
4 tags
Looking back - Finding a New Home
Part 3 already! I’m impressed with my own ability to aimlessly type so much. I was given months of free accommodation in Freshwater Place by the company. I’m on a relocation scheme whereas all the other guys I work with here were on an “extended overseas assignment” which meant that they have been living in places like Freshwater for over a year. Free accommodation and...
5 tags
Looking back - Exploring
Here is the second part of my recap on my short time in Melbourne. This time I’m going to talk a bit more about the things I have seen whilst here. Once again I have chosen four pictures out of the pile of photos that I have taken (both with my camera and with my phone). I’m likely to be rambling (just like the last post) but it’s Christmas Day and I can’t be bothered to...
5 tags
Looking back - First Impressions
Hey all, I know I have been really bad at blogging since I got to Australia but it has been a busy time! I know some of my family like to read this to see how I am getting on out here in Oz. Because of that, I’ve decided to do a few entries over the next 2 days. In all honesty, I am probably going to write them all in one go and let the blog post them itself over the 2 days (the wonders of...
October 2011
14 posts
6 tags
Seaside living - Sat 22/Sun 23 Oct 11
Saturday
Waking up at 8am after going out and knowing that you’ve got to be out of the house very soon is not a good feeling. Nonetheless, I dragged myself out of bed (earlier than usual for some reason) and hopped in the shower. I think showers are the greatest cure for hangovers, it is just that building up the courage to stand up for any length of time when hungover is a big deal.
I...
7 tags
Domesticated and intoxicated - Thur 20/Fri 21 Oct...
Thursday
Not much really happened on Thursday at work apart from the fact that we had a team meeting. The guys have a meeting every week to talk about the projects that they are doing and how things are going. Oh, and there is cake. The best thing about there being cake is that it is home-made every week. These guys actually have a cake baking schedule! This is just another of the great things...
2 tags
Ultimate: The Greatest Sport Ever Invented By Man...
As I said in my last post, I wanted to try and keep things current so that I can talk about stuff that I am doing now (yesterday).
Work was work. I found out that I am getting an office, however. I know right? To be honest I am not too keen on the idea, it is already difficult integrating myself into a team that has been a close knit group for over a year. Moving into an office is going to cut me...
3 tags
Fast forward
If you have been keeping up with this blog and you know me then you will know that I am actually a week behind with my posts. That was mainly due to China being mental and me being slightly exhausted. What I’m going to do is actually condense the week that I am late by into this single post. My reasoning for this is that I want to make the blog more current and that in the last week, not a...
4 tags
Fortress of Brolitude
Got off the plane in Sydney and was then shepherded into a huge passport control queue. I was a bit weary that I only had 2 hours until I had to board my flight and the queue was barely moving. The queue was huge with 10 zig-zag with each one holding about 50 people. So that’s 500 people all being served by a grand total of 3 people.
There was a shortcut queue for people with e-passports....
6 tags
Goodbyes, MagLev and more flying
It seems that everything is ‘e-something’ now-a-days. This means that I had an e-ticket and e-boarding-pass for my flight to Australia. This posed a problem for me; Ben or no one else that he lived with had a printer. Because of this I arranged with him to meet for lunch one more time and he would print my boarding pass for me back at the office.
While waiting for it to be lunch time,...
5 tags
Tourist fail, getting beaten up and ultimate in...
As I said in my last post, I’d arranged to go for coffee in the morning. I woke up at around 9 and grabbed a shower and thought that I was running late as me and Jesse had arranged to go at 9. There was no sign of Jesse so I thought that maybe he’d already gone as I was running late. I waited around until about 10am just to make sure and just as I was gathering my stuff to head out and...
4 tags
Guns don't kill people, scooters do
Warning: compared to the previous entry, this one is going to be mighty boring. After Xiao Bing’s it was obviously going to be a late wake up with me and Ben heading out to get some food at around 3pm. We headed to City Shop because after over-indulging on Chinese food and alcohol a nice boring sandwich is always good.
As I know that you are all terribly interested in what I eat, I had a...
5 tags
Xiao Bing
This post doesn’t have an attempt at a witty title because it doesn’t need one.
Me and Ben got up early (before midday) and decided to to just have a look around Shanghai and take some pictures.
First we went to the Science and Technology museum (we didn’t go inside). The area around the museum is really cool as it is just one big piazza and there is a (huge) bridge leading off...
8 tags
Ow, I've been shot! Can everyone stop gettin'...
So after all of the car crash mess the next day can’t be much worse, right? Sorry to disappoint, it wasn’t. In fact, it was pretty awesome.
A few days ago Kris (Swedish, not me) and Ben had decided that the plan for Friday day time was to go paint-balling. This would be my first paint-balling experience due to me generally avoiding things that cause me pain. We all arranged to meet at...
3 tags
Crash Bandicoot
After getting at 9am it is only natural to wake up at 3pm right? me and Ben both woke up around the same time feeling exactly the same; like death. It was one of those situations where just the idea of being vertical just makes you feel queasy.
We eventually did get up and just stayed in for a while, feeling like death and complaining about it. Hannah came over, also feeling a little worse for...
7 tags
Phoebe is my least favourite person in the world
Time to reveal what the cliffhanger at the end of the last post was. As I said, I was asleep on Ben’s living room floor. Still half asleep (it was only midday), I heard the key turn in the door and thought nothing of it. Next thing I know is that there is a Chinese lady just looking at me and wondering why there is a guy passed out on the floor, all I’ve got to say is “well, this...
6 tags
First day in Shanghai
Just in case you were wondering, the landing was super smooth. I was reading the plane catalogue and we were suddenly on the floor. Good stuff. Pu Dong Airport is the weirdest airport I have ever been in. Heathrow T5 has 66 gates and requires a train to get between them all. Pu Dong has around 80 gates (from what I saw) and I didn’t see another person (excluding the people who were on my...
3 tags
Terminal 5 and a lot of Boeing 777
I’ll have to make this quick as we will be landing in Shanghai soon, in fact I think we are on the final approach before the seatbelt signs come on.
Where to start? So far everything has been fairly uneventful (in a good way). Packing, planning and then getting to the airport were painless. From the time I got onto the train at Newport with an emotional mum waving me off to the time I am...