Drawing to an end

IT HAS BEEN a while since I last updated my blog, but now Uni for the year is drawing to an end. Scarily it is now two weeks since I finished all my work for the year! I have been keeping myself busy though. Last week I helped out with ITN with ITV News election coverage, which was really interesting and great experience! As well as this I have been sorting out lots of other bits and pieces, as well as my new job presenting on tynefm.com. You can listen to me on weekdays between 4 and 6pm!

The weekend before last weekend was rather dull, as everyone went home in the flat! At least it gave me time to sort some more on my trip to Australia sorted though, I am off in just over two weeks now, so excited!

I have recently been making up for all the hard work though the year, starting with last Sunday when we went to Alton Towers. Then on Monday we went to Kiss at the MEN Arena, which was pretty cool! Taking Dawn where supporting and they were good too.

Then today I have been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and on all the rides! All of us from my flat went so was really good day. Nathan doesn’t really like rollercoaster’s or rides in general; however we got him on a few things! Despite numerous attempts though we didn’t get him on Pepsi max, which was probably my favourite ride.

Pic thanks to FishyFish

When Nathan went home as usual last weekend he decided, as Ben had his girlfriend over which can cause trouble that he had better padlock his cupboard. I think it was probably a good idea, though Ben did attempt to burn the padlock for a while. It didn’t really achieve much though other than a boiling hot padlock and a smouldered cupboard!

I will be sad when the uni year is over as had a really good set of flat mates and another great year! Only around two weeks left now until we all move out and then I will be back here again next September! At least I have my auss trip to look forward too! :-)

Uni done for another year!

WELL IT HAS been a busy few days and a good weekend but now all my uni work is in for another year! Apart from the work I have also been up quite a few other bits and bobs!

We had a nice BBQ on Saturday which was rather nice. Think with the nice weather suddenly a lot of people thought it was a good idea, as we weren’t on our own! Anyway after it slowly got started it was reasonably successful and we cooked a good load of food.

Then last night we went for Frankie and Bennie Monday Madness, 25% of your bill brilliant! Still not the cheapest but we had really nice meal, we were all really stuffed after that! I convinced Nathan to buy a 15” pizza which was meant to be for families, but he didn’t read that bit. Unsurprisingly he didn’t finish it, but it was a laugh.

And with the end of my work handed in there are only a few weeks until I move out for the summer! Then the new term is in sight and I will be a third year and then before I know it, it will be this time next year and I will be getting a proper job!

Pretty much done for another year!

WELL I HAVE been so busy getting the end of this work done for University this year! So pretty much finished for this year now. Also excitingly only a few weeks left until I am of to Australia.

With all the work though I am looking forward to going out for my friend’s birthday tomorrow night! Well I have been thinking back through the highlights off going out this year! Obviously the ultimate has to be when Nathan got brought back in handcuffs! I wasn’t actually around as I was doing Panto, but I have defiantly heard a lot about it. There was a call out in the LRV, the club at Uni, saying that could anyone who knows Nathan please go to the front. Ben went and found bouncers around Nathan, who was insisting he was all right, and kept trying to get up only to be pushed back over. Eventually when he was chucked out him and Ben started walking home only for Nathan to put to hands on a fence and decide he wasn’t moving any further.

Well after an hour or so Ben decided to get security from where we live to come. After a while of being abusive and Nathan telling them “f**k of yellow coats” they managed to just start to get him to move. However then University security from the other site rolled up telling our security, it wasn’t their patch, but Nathan knew the security from our side. Anyway at this time Nathan firmly held back on to the fence and the police where promptly called. Nathan was again abusive and told them they couldn’t tell him what to do and as such they decided to handcuff him behind his back. They then spoke to Ben deciding he wasn’t too drunk; before they marched Nathan home and Ben had to sign to be legally responsible for him! In the morning Nathan wondered why he had marks around his wrists, because he had tried to break of the handcuffs. The other amusing thing was that it was Nathans aunt who sent the police out, as she works in the control centre, so when she put two and two together she rolled up at whatever time it was in the morning to see Nathan in such a state. Following this incident Ben create a Facebook group saying Nathan should not drink!

Just another, but rather interesting day at Uni! Other than this day however there have been many more eventful nights. Nathan is usually the worst when we go out, often collapsing in the hallway, although I am often not too far behind him!

All fat and fed!

YUM, ALL FAT AND FED and also good is that I have now managed to finish most of my work! Ben made his Spaghetti bolognaise for dinner which was rather good! I brought a cake tin whilst I was at home so decided to put it to good use and make a cake. I decided on making an Apple and Cinnamon cake so got going, whilst Ben was making dinner.

First problem I realised was of course no scales and I am not the best at judging amounts. Ben suggested I used my digital bathroom scales, so I tried them however they were not accurate enough, not even recognising when we put the entire bag of flour on them.

The next problem was that we didn’t have enough self raising flour, however with a quick trip around to next door that was quickly sorted. The next thing was that I didn’t have any caster sugar so Ben suggested I ground down the granulated sugar. Not having a pestel and morta I ground it down using the back of a meat tenderiser. After that I then set about adding my ingredients, I was a bit worried as it originally turned out more like dough but with a big of a extra milk it was all right. So I poured in into the tin and shoved it in the oven. Meanwhile I began to clear up as I had made rather a lot of mess!

An hour or so later it was ready and we all tried some. It tasted pretty good, considering I had guessed the amounts, I was pretty impressed. It didn’t taste quite right though, I think there was probably not enough sugar in it. But all in all was pretty impressed and even Nathan tried some as he had just got back!

Nathan managed to miss his train, so instead got a lift back with his Dad; sure he was happy with that! Ben decided to yet again wrestle him, trying to get into Nathans room. It lasted quite a while, backwards and forward with Nathan stronger but Ben kept getting his arm or leg jammed in the door. Eventually a knackered Ben gave up, allowing Nathan to quickly lock his door shut. Ben’s arm is now nicely grazed and he it knackered, but I suppose that’s what he deserved really!

First hand in!

NOTHING TO EXCITING happened today, handed in my first piece of Uni work this semester which was good! My brother left off to Derby to go and do his training weekend for Amazon.

Nathan has gone home for a long weekend, so Ben is busy planning what surprise he can have ready for him when he returns! Tried to upgrade my phone, as I am due an upgrade, but was a bit expensive for the Nokia N86 that I decided I wanted!...Oh well have decided to have a think on it but at least the nice people at T-Mobile gave me £5 of my bill whilst I decide! That’s about it other than that, just work, work and work!

Curry Times!

HAD A BUSY DAY doing work before we went to the pub! We where live on Midlands today, talking ahead of the election debate. Then after we did that we headed off to Weather spoons of course being a Thursday it was curry night! So we all had a nice curry and a drink which was nice, even if I did attract one weirdo!

Then went back to the pub and watched the election debate, with Ben trying to sit on Simons lap and feel his leg throughout. It does remind you that although Ben is the oldest in the flat, he is probably the most childish!

Anyway after that BBC Midlands did enough live links on how a few of us there found it. Now just chilling at home with my brother before he leaves tomorrow. So all in all was a pretty all right day and to top it all of the sun has been shinning! :-)

Back to Uni!

SORRY FOR THE slight neglect of my blog, been busy with the family over Easter. Had a good couple of weeks and am now back to Uni and work, work, work to do. My brother has come up with me from Cornwall for a few days too so have some company too!

Been busy with some of my course work today, as well as a trip into town for some shopping! Everyone is back in the flat now; I was the last to arrive yesterday night. Went on a quick Tesco trip to stock up my bare cupboard with food. Nathan came along too.

Probably a bad move no sooner had we got through the door than Ben started antanginising. First chucking Nathans shopping at him, before attempting to yet again peel the labels off the cans. He then found out that Nathan has a slight blockage in his shower and that a porter was coming round to fix it. Bad move, as Ben quickly slipped into Nathans room switching the shower on full, quickly filling the shower tray to the brim. Ben was wresting Nathan to stop him switching it off as it slower got fuller and fuller. Nathan managed to turn it off a couple of times, however Ben would keep turning it back on. Eventually Nathan managed to lock Ben out of door however by then the water had gone over and although his bathroom was slightly flooded, though not badly.

Nathan was none to impressed with Ben for this, although harsh it was slightly amusing even if was taken too far! Good news though Nathan showers has now been fixed.

It is nice to be back in the flat though with everyone, so keep looking back here for more antics!

Alton Towers Th13teen!

SORRY FOR MY slight neglect for a couple of days of not posting, but Uni work has been keeping me very busy!

Ben cooked last night and I tell you he does make a nice spag bowl! Had a good morning at Alton Towers filming yesterday, the new ride Thirteen! Then we had to return to the newsroom and edit it ready for the bulletin.

Here is package we made.

Work, work work!

A FAIRLY UNEVENTFUL weekend with just work, work, work! However only a week until Easter holiday now!

Made a surprise discovery yesterday evening after trying to contact Australia to arrange a trip I want to do out there! I battled with my landline and the extension for dialing a different country. I then decided to use the other option the tour operator gave me to contact them! I downloaded and installed Skype and dialed through with it. First time no answer, second time I was forwarded and somebody answered! I was already to use instant messenger however to my shock my computer had a microphone, which I had never known about and they could hear me and before I knew it I was having a conversation. On further investigation I found out my webcam which I have never really used has the microphone within. Anyway that was my first Skype Experience!

Was not impressed with Bens cooking technique last night, he microwaved a piece of delicious salmon and then splashed it with water after he cooked it to had some moisture! Not how I would cook salmon!

Another day done ...

PRETTY STRESSFUL DAY today with one of the modules deadline suddenly changing, anyway it is better now! ...Enjoyed a nice wrestling match between Ben and Simon yesterday, was interesting though I think I did the wise thing and kept out the way. Eventually though Simon wrestled Ben out of his room and managed to lock it, before strolling out to his party! At least that was Ben knackered for the night.



Had a really nice Chinese all you can eat this evening, which was lush! Feeling bit stuffed now though to be completely honest, I do have the old problem of having eyes bigger than my belly! I had some lychees as I love them, but we kind of convinced Nathan they where kangaroo testicals. Perhaps unsurprisingly he turned down us trying to persuade him to try them and looked rather confused as I gobbled a load down!


Ben ate a stupid amount of cake, he took three big pieces of cake, one with profiteroles on and another was gateau and the last was chocolate cake, needless to say they where rather rich. It made us feel sick just sat there watching him eat them, swallowing big chunks in a go. The cake did beat him, he did leave a little tiny bit! I think though we all safely got our money’s worth!

Dont get yourself locked out!

LAST NIGHT THERE was some knocking at the flat door, which I vaguely heard Ben and Simon answer. They sorted them out and the noise went away, but a bit later there was more wild banging on the door. The buzzer was also going off, saying someone wanted to get let in. I ignored it as I was doing work and thought it was just people being idiots. It carried on for a while I shouted through to Nathan through the wall and he said was he going to get it. Anyway the noise then stopped, but we both came out of our rooms to see if anyone was about.

As there was no one there we didn’t think too much of it, having a quick chat in the corridor. However the next minute security came around, Ben and Simon had managed to get themselves locked out of the flat! They had gone out too see people mucking about outside and managed to let go of the door, then realising neither of them had keys, and me and Nathan hadn’t let them back in!

The other day Ben heard the distinctive noise of tape being put down outside his door, thinking we were having fun and taping up his door he yelled out. He then came to his door only to discover two porters, now not looking so impressed, tapping the carpet back down. He has now just drunk a whole bottle of Gin straight down, so I won’t be impressed if he wakes me up tonight crashing around!

Busy Day!

WELL ANOTHER REALLY busy day but just time to squeeze a quick blog post in before I finish my work and then bed! Had a Newsday today, didn’t go the best but still was good effort from everyone, the first two bulletins went really well though! Got to pick our options for next year now too, just brings home how close we are to being in our third and final year! But for now there are essays and assignments to be worked upon!

Somebody managed to leave the cooker on all night in the flat last night! Consequently on getting up this morning bright and early and stumbling into the kitchen it was rather shall we say on the warm side! The heat made me want to just back to sleep! Now we have some nice heat marks up the cupboard as well.

Ben also decided to try and put his mouldy bread in the hallway ceiling tiles, instead of throwing it away. Nathan tried to retrieve it however was too short but with Simons backup they managed to retrieve it and put it in the bin!

At dinner Ben some how got Chilli Con Carnie delivered to his door, I didn’t get any though!! Nathan came in and quickly warmed up another tin curry. I somehow managed to shoot part of his dinner across him, with the balloon pump, oops! Anyway after Ben had finished eating his food he quickly started hurling insults at Nathan. After he eventually got bored with that he set about trying to soft boil and egg. With asking a few people for advice he set about cooking his egg. We don’t have any egg cups, so instead he used a Shot Glass to sit the egg in. After all the effort apparently it was slightly “hard”. He also managed to tip salt in Nathans and then Simon’s hair, Simon wasn’t too amused when it was his salt he was wasting!

Busy Day ...

BUSY DAY AT work today but now a weekend to look forward to ish. Well sorting out my room and uni work stuff tomorrow but then Milton Keynes skiing on Sunday! :-) Surprisingly Nathan has not gone home this weekend and is staying here, but Simon went home today so it is still not a full flat this weekend!

Nice bit of wrestling in kitchen between Ben and Nathan earlier, as we were trying to tie Nathan up outside, we did eventually manage to do it however it wasn’t too successful as he resisted too much and it was rather loose! Ben has previously managed to nick half of Nathans dinner, eating half of his chips! ... However being the big and strong man I am I fiercely protected my tuna pasta bake that I had made, he wernt getting any of that!

Nathan still has quite a lot of balloons left in his room from the other day! This is what it looks like now!

I went to see the Youth Political Hustings last night, at the Victoria Hall it was pretty good and of course Mick was on top form, battering the Labour representative! Was interesting evening, though did kind of make you feel Stoke-on-Trent has no future.

Well nice lay in tomorrow hopefully if my body clock isn’t too set on getting up early and then I will get all the jobs done I need too!

Last Evenings Antics...

WELL LAST NIGHT Nathan left his room unlock so of course we had to have some fun! Ok I may of had something to do with him leaving it unlocked by refusing to move from his room, but anyway that’s not the point, he left his room unlocked!

So after deliberation we decided the most appropriate thing to do would be to fill his room with balloons! .... After going to Tesco’s and deciding £1 for 10 was just not going to the job we headed to the wholesaler round the corner. We then talked our way in, gaining a temporary day pass, allowing us to buy the goods.

Anyway after a few minutes of starting to blow up the balloons we decided this just was just a too bigger task for the few of us and as such we need reinforcements so our next door neighbours came along to give a helping hand! With half of us two weedy to blow the balloons up or too clumsy to be able to knot them going was still relatively slow. Also didn’t help we brought two balloons pumps to help with the task however one didn’t work at all and the other wasn’t amazingly effective. Anyway a couple of hours later two hundred and fifty balloons down and quite a few puffed out and knackered people later this is how Nathans small room appeared!

Of course we were slightly worried all our hard work would be spoilt by him simply popping all of the balloons! So for a bit of added excitement we filled a few of the balloons with flour, water and also one with an egg! Though at least then if he popped them all it would be make quite a bit of mess! In typical Ben style he took it one stage further and filled a condom with water and put that in the middle of the balloons, just for added effect.

Later on in the evening Nathan returned to his room, swiftly exclaiming loudly before coming to find us chilling in the kitchen. It then became a who dunnit mystery; however he seemed to think that the two balloons pumps on the kitchen table were a bit of a give away! He went to his room for a bit but when we all joined him, with a few extra spectators, a few of the filled balloons burst leaving a slightly wet mess, ok they may have had a little assistance!

I also somehow managed to pop one of the balloons which had some flour and water in it over his head! Oops! ... Didn’t make too much mess as wasn’t much in it, but made enough. The flaw was that I also managed to cover myself in the process!

Well a number of the balloons were popped however there was still a lot left later when Nathan decided he wanted to go to bed. He decided to bag them up and decided when he had filled three bin bags up it was good enough he could get to his bed! So now in his room he has three bin bags of balloons and a lot of spare ones still floating around.... not sure what he is going to do with them!

Happy!

CURSING AND SWEARING noises seeping through my thin walls! Can mean only mean one thing, Nathan has work to do or has yet again missed another deadline. It is quite amusing really him talking to himself and swearing at his computer! ... Put a smile on my face, not that I needed it today as I was already happy!



Had a good news day today and I was presenter so loved it! We had a story about eggs today so of course all the eggtastic puns came out! I enjoyed it though and everyone did well!



Ben ate his huge melon earlier, shame really as I had drawn up the top 5 things I could have done with it. At five was play a game of football with it at 4 smash it and make pretty pictures with the juice at 3 draw a happy face on it 2 Was microwave it and see what happened and at one freeze it! Might have done this last one but couldn’t fit it in the freezer!

Weekend is Here

THE WEEKEND IS here and both Ben and Nathan have retreated home, so maybe a quiet weekend! So probably not much excitement around the flat! Nathan is practicing cooking chilli con carnie whilst he is at home to cook it for us all next week. So sure that will be interesting, especially if you bear in mind the culinary skills he has previously demonstrated! :) Look forward to it though, hopefully it’s tasty.

Anyway I have had a busy day and am knackered so am leaving it at a short post for now!

Settled back to week of work

AFTER AN EXCITING weekend the week has settled back down to work and lectures. Nathan enjoyed another tinned meal last night! .... The only problem with Nathan’s tins are that they all have somehow had their labels taken off, wouldn’t like to say who had anything to do with that! .... Well it makes it quite interesting with half a dozen or so unlabeled cans, it is always good seeing what he is going to get to eat! He shakes them and feels the weight of all of them all in an attempt to work out what is what, all very amusing. Disappointingly, or luckily for him, he has always managed to open the one which he is after! There are still a few unlabeled cans left though, still waiting to be opened!

Ben has finally with a few words from Simon eventually decided to clean the blood off from the bottom of the fridge at last, nice! ... Well it is lucky he decided to clean up as he went back to his home today and is not back until next week so I didn’t really fancy it being left there or having to clean it myself.

It will be quiet in the flat this weekend, with just me and Simon as Nathan is going home too! Well surprise, surprise Nathan always goes home. We say this is his third home, after his parent’s house and the library! He says he has moved out from home however consider this; he goes home every weekend, pretty much, leaving Friday coming back late Sunday. He also goes to his aunts at least one evening a week to be fed and also his gran’s once a week. So all in all he cooks his main meal, well heats a tin up, twice a week! Of course he also has no need to do his laundry as he always takes it home with him. Most of the time he doesn’t even have to get the train home, dad’s taxi picks him up!! So do you really think he has moved out from home?

Shopping and other fun!

HAD ANOTHER GOOD evening last night, went to see the Circus of Horrors at the Victoria Hall, was good show! My flat mate Ben flooded the kitchen too, he defrosted the freezer by switching it off and putting boiling pans of water in it. Consequently the kitchen became a “wellie only zone”.

Not the only thing Ben did today, he also managed to just shove his beef joint in the fridge to defrost without putting it in a bowl. Consequently we had a nice dribble of blood all inside the fridge with a nice pond at the bottom. He vaguely wiped it up however the bottom of the fridge is really in need of a good clean now! .... When we asked Ben to clean it up properly and said it was disgusting he said “It’s only blood and what should I know about food hygiene, I work at Mc. Donolds!

Today we also set about re-filling the freezer with another mammoth Tesco’s trip! As often happens we brought too much so the discussion turned to who should make the long walk home. After a bit of bustling however we managed to jam my little car full of the four of us and all our shopping!

One of my other flat mates, Simon, also made a nice Banana cake today. It wasn’t a shock as Simon is very clearly the “cook” in the flat! We had a problem though as with a badly equipped student kitchen we did not have a cake tin to cook it in! Well this left us to have to use one of the cheap pans the University gave us, which the handle had now broken off of as our cake tin. Needless to say it was very interesting getting it out of the pan!

Dinner!

WELL TONIGHT'S DINNER, contrasted nicely between the four of us who live in the flat. I decided in my wisdom I would make a nice fish pie for everyone. Naturally two of my flatmates, Simon and Ben were keen to accept this offer, the idea of not needing to cook but still getting a nice meal would please any of us. My third flat mate, Nathan was not in at the time but anyway it is not like him to eat much that doesn’t come out of a tin or with lots of plastic packaging!





Anyway I eagerly started cooking my fish pie, reasonably successfully until I got distracted by Facebook! On returning to the kitchen I had manage to over boil fishy milk across the hobs, which had burnt on so consequently rather smelt! Apart from that slight hitch however the fish pie turned out to go pretty well and I was feeling pretty pleased as I loaded my creation into the oven.





At that time Nathan returned and after asking what was in the oven I told him. Naturally I had made too much so kindly offered him some “proper food” and to have some of my fish pie. He swiftly rejected preferring his delightful feast he had brought with him.
The four of us sat down to eat, three of us with a nice fish pie and Nathan with a polystyrene box filled with fat filled chips and greasy donner meat! Also his £3 odd for his delightful meal was almost as much as the fish pie cost for all of us! And I had some left over for lunch the following day!