Secured a move to Barcelona.....though not in the same sense as Cesc Fabregas or Thierry Henry, more in the sense of 2 and a half days!
Going with a group of friends, there are 5 of us going on a cheap Ryanair flight and some dodgy hostel to satisfy our needs. We fly out in the morning at 6:40 and arrive back on Saturday just before midday.
As far as plans go, i don't think there are any yet, or maybe some that i don't know of, but i've been before so i'm not too worried about not seeing the sights and ending up drinking copious amounts of beer! With that all in mind, deciding how much to take was quite tricky, though accommodation is yet to be paid for (around £9) and we need to get a bus to Barcelona from the airport (23 Euros-ish return) so that's just over 30 gone already (flights were £36 return). I'm taking £144 worth of euros (160 Euros) so i think i'm left with around £55 a day, lets see how far that goes....!
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Giving blood!
I am due to give blood for the 2nd time now. I am blood type A+ (which is 1 in 3 i think) and i managed to fill the bag in around 7 minutes on my first go several months ago. The nurse was very happy with my veins haha so i'm a little worried if i have an accident and start bleeding, i don't think i will have long to be saved haha!
The first time i gave blood was back in September I think and it was prompted by my mum's experience whereby a simple everyday operation went wrong and almost cost her her life :(. Booking it in was a pain as i went through a host of problems from being too late because i couldn't find the place, my name wasn't on the list and on the final attempt i had missed a message (as my voicemail hadn't come through) cancelling my appointment. Lucky as i explained to the guy on the desk about the bad luck i'd been having he managed to wangle me in and i went ahead with it.
It was an odd feeling but a feeling i expected. I felt uncomfortable with it but thought i was fine until the nurses view differed and she called over for help and they raised my legs and put a cold flannel on my head claiming i went green. Slightly embarrassing, especially as i was with my friend Fi at the time who tried to get hers done (but they had cancelled all appointments for the day due to staff shortages). Anyway, got it done and now i've got to do it again!
The first time i gave blood was back in September I think and it was prompted by my mum's experience whereby a simple everyday operation went wrong and almost cost her her life :(. Booking it in was a pain as i went through a host of problems from being too late because i couldn't find the place, my name wasn't on the list and on the final attempt i had missed a message (as my voicemail hadn't come through) cancelling my appointment. Lucky as i explained to the guy on the desk about the bad luck i'd been having he managed to wangle me in and i went ahead with it.
It was an odd feeling but a feeling i expected. I felt uncomfortable with it but thought i was fine until the nurses view differed and she called over for help and they raised my legs and put a cold flannel on my head claiming i went green. Slightly embarrassing, especially as i was with my friend Fi at the time who tried to get hers done (but they had cancelled all appointments for the day due to staff shortages). Anyway, got it done and now i've got to do it again!
Moving Home......
I have been looking at houses now for much of the past week or so with Catherine and it looks like we have chosen the area of Withington to live. With my current house contract due to run out on the 31st of this month and Catherine due to start her new job on the 16th, it is a convenient time to move and to choose somewhere bigger.
Living in Chorlton has been good but its a bit quiet in terms of who i know and much of my activities in Manchester circulate further east. The buses from Withington are excellent as they get the Fallowfield student buses which go every few minutes, but it doesn't retain the student stigma of Fallowfield, more so the upmarket area of Didsbury the same distance the other way. So convenient for town, friends and a good mix of places nearby to cater for all my 'moods' makes it ideal. It's also technically closer to work (in Openshaw) but in terms of time to get there it is much the same due to the odd road systems and the traffic in Longsight. Finding a quick way through is a small challenge over the coming weeks!
We've looked at around 10 houses altogether including some in Chorlton and Salford before we chose Withington but at the start of the week we made our decision and subsequently focused our efforts there seeing at least 5 properties. The one we have gone for is £650 rent a month (split between 2 is much cheaper than my current £375 for 1) and we actually saw it on Tuesday night with the tennants showing us round. Tennants being the 'salespeople' is certainly a big plus as they are under no pressure to lie and have the actual experience of living in the property. As they hadn't had any more viewings booked until next week so far, we saw it an educated risk to leave it one more day and look round the 4 we had planned on Wednesday (yesterday), as the tennant would have to have been given at least 24 hours notice prior to a viewing so we at east knew we had that.
Some of the properties came close, you can see that it is very competitive in this area as they were all at generally a good standard so it was the little things that made the winner the winner. The agency fees were paid today, a rip off at £200 as they aren't even managing the property, they are just advertising it but we felt we had to really. All of our viewings are with agencies as we don't know any landlords and £100 each is about average :(.
We will see how the move will come along in the next few weeks as the tennants move out on the 28th and we need to get the paperwork sorted! Catherine has decided to film some bits of it too which will be interesting......
.....oh yeah i think i forgot to say, its a 2 bedroom flat!
Living in Chorlton has been good but its a bit quiet in terms of who i know and much of my activities in Manchester circulate further east. The buses from Withington are excellent as they get the Fallowfield student buses which go every few minutes, but it doesn't retain the student stigma of Fallowfield, more so the upmarket area of Didsbury the same distance the other way. So convenient for town, friends and a good mix of places nearby to cater for all my 'moods' makes it ideal. It's also technically closer to work (in Openshaw) but in terms of time to get there it is much the same due to the odd road systems and the traffic in Longsight. Finding a quick way through is a small challenge over the coming weeks!
We've looked at around 10 houses altogether including some in Chorlton and Salford before we chose Withington but at the start of the week we made our decision and subsequently focused our efforts there seeing at least 5 properties. The one we have gone for is £650 rent a month (split between 2 is much cheaper than my current £375 for 1) and we actually saw it on Tuesday night with the tennants showing us round. Tennants being the 'salespeople' is certainly a big plus as they are under no pressure to lie and have the actual experience of living in the property. As they hadn't had any more viewings booked until next week so far, we saw it an educated risk to leave it one more day and look round the 4 we had planned on Wednesday (yesterday), as the tennant would have to have been given at least 24 hours notice prior to a viewing so we at east knew we had that.
Some of the properties came close, you can see that it is very competitive in this area as they were all at generally a good standard so it was the little things that made the winner the winner. The agency fees were paid today, a rip off at £200 as they aren't even managing the property, they are just advertising it but we felt we had to really. All of our viewings are with agencies as we don't know any landlords and £100 each is about average :(.
We will see how the move will come along in the next few weeks as the tennants move out on the 28th and we need to get the paperwork sorted! Catherine has decided to film some bits of it too which will be interesting......
.....oh yeah i think i forgot to say, its a 2 bedroom flat!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
The Return of Titi!
Ok Henry is back and played his first game in 2 years for us to commence his 2 month loan from New York Red Bulls in the FA Cup aagainst Leeds. I didn't see the game but saw the winning goal (1-0), scored by the man himself and at 34 years old, you wouldn't have thought he had degraded at all!
Apparently 'not the same player', as he describes, he doesn't take players on as much which is understandable but the goal was a pure lesson in striking masterclass. Surrounded by completely bewildered and unaware defenders he lurked along the defensive line then Alex Song played a perfect pinpoint pass to his feet just as he begins his run into space. Controlled beautifully and finished with class, typical Henry low in the opposite corner across the keeper, defence were no where.
Great win,great start back for Arsenal (227th goal) - even if it was only against Championship opposition.
Welcome back Thierry!
Apparently 'not the same player', as he describes, he doesn't take players on as much which is understandable but the goal was a pure lesson in striking masterclass. Surrounded by completely bewildered and unaware defenders he lurked along the defensive line then Alex Song played a perfect pinpoint pass to his feet just as he begins his run into space. Controlled beautifully and finished with class, typical Henry low in the opposite corner across the keeper, defence were no where.
Great win,great start back for Arsenal (227th goal) - even if it was only against Championship opposition.
Welcome back Thierry!
Xmas 2011
Overdue on many things!
Ok i have several things i was meaning to blog about but just haven't had the time!
First, xmas review; it was good, had plenty of time to see family and friends back in Hereford (almost 2 weeks).....ahhh to not work in retail!
Highlights; presents-wise i got some cool stuff. Originally i was quite adament and stubborn that i did not want anything and most importantly JUNK, i was hit by a barrage of 'but i need to get you something.....' and so i had to take matters into my on hands and make a list. After scraping the barrel i found a few things i wanted and so overall i got some good stuff; trainers, NHL11, an iron, Casio scientific calculator and a sick Gerber multitool!
oh, and this.......
Got one at work and it is awesome, makes washing up so easy so i had to get one! At first my mum didn't believe me, i sent her my list with links on and she sent this link back with the comment 'are you sure about this?' thinking i had supplied the wrong link and meant something else haha!
Anyway, caught up with some old local school/college mates which was good, ended up playing football for the first time in a long while as i've hardly played at all since i've been in Manchester :( so was knackered fairly easily after that! But let me tell you.....the magic is still there (haha)!
The local pub also reopened in my village (The Volunteer). I had probably only been to it around twice before in my life but now that's doubled as we ended up there for a few drinks one night and the family went there for one on Xmas Eve. Overall its done nicely, hopefully it can stay for a good while!
Had to go to Chester for the 28th as Cat was working her last 2 days of work at HBOS and would subsequently be on her own for New Years eve. We ended up spending time with mates from Uni and New Years actually turned into a decent night, despite the bright idea to go to Wetherspoons just before midnight as it was dead and we could get to the bar. Little did we know it was due to shut bang on 12 and the New Year was greeted by a bouncer tapping me on the shoulder and saying 'drink up, we're closed!' (as i'm downing the rest of my bottle of Koppaberg). Then headed to Havanas, it was free in and not ridiculously busy considering the occasion which seemed to round it off fairly decently.
Overall, a good and constructive holiday period!
(the location of the post is Marden but im actually in Manchester cause i'm late with this post.....)
Ok i have several things i was meaning to blog about but just haven't had the time!
First, xmas review; it was good, had plenty of time to see family and friends back in Hereford (almost 2 weeks).....ahhh to not work in retail!
Highlights; presents-wise i got some cool stuff. Originally i was quite adament and stubborn that i did not want anything and most importantly JUNK, i was hit by a barrage of 'but i need to get you something.....' and so i had to take matters into my on hands and make a list. After scraping the barrel i found a few things i wanted and so overall i got some good stuff; trainers, NHL11, an iron, Casio scientific calculator and a sick Gerber multitool!
oh, and this.......
Got one at work and it is awesome, makes washing up so easy so i had to get one! At first my mum didn't believe me, i sent her my list with links on and she sent this link back with the comment 'are you sure about this?' thinking i had supplied the wrong link and meant something else haha!
Anyway, caught up with some old local school/college mates which was good, ended up playing football for the first time in a long while as i've hardly played at all since i've been in Manchester :( so was knackered fairly easily after that! But let me tell you.....the magic is still there (haha)!
The local pub also reopened in my village (The Volunteer). I had probably only been to it around twice before in my life but now that's doubled as we ended up there for a few drinks one night and the family went there for one on Xmas Eve. Overall its done nicely, hopefully it can stay for a good while!
Had to go to Chester for the 28th as Cat was working her last 2 days of work at HBOS and would subsequently be on her own for New Years eve. We ended up spending time with mates from Uni and New Years actually turned into a decent night, despite the bright idea to go to Wetherspoons just before midnight as it was dead and we could get to the bar. Little did we know it was due to shut bang on 12 and the New Year was greeted by a bouncer tapping me on the shoulder and saying 'drink up, we're closed!' (as i'm downing the rest of my bottle of Koppaberg). Then headed to Havanas, it was free in and not ridiculously busy considering the occasion which seemed to round it off fairly decently.
Overall, a good and constructive holiday period!
(the location of the post is Marden but im actually in Manchester cause i'm late with this post.....)
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