Good old guildford

Well the wander has returned. And what a lot of wandering I did too. I saw sooo many people it was great. Helen acted as my own little personal secretary and organised my days for me, arranging meetings with various people and generally taking care of me. So now every body take a deep breath and prepare for a mammoth post!

Thursday

So Thursday evening after a dinner of coq au vin (chicken in wine) that turned out to have been made from pork- the foyer cooking is such an interesting experience, I wandered down to the bus station. On boarding the bus I was so nervous about having the right bus and everything that I completely forgot to tell the driver where I wanted to go, I just said 'One journey please' luckily for me the vast cast told him where I was going.
On arriving at the bus stop in Ouistreham I trekked the 5 or 10 mins to the ferry terminal, got my boarding card and settled down for the two hour wait I had before boarding started (and before you ask this was not as a result of me being stupidly early for fear of being late, but because the last bus from Caen to the port was that early).
Finally we boarded and I found me seat. It was already 23:30 local time so I settled down for the night. Now reclining seats really are not that comfortable and after being woken up by a screaming child after about an hour I took my lead from fellow passengers and moved to the floor. This was fine, with my bag as a pillow and wrapped up in my sleeping bag I was fine.
I then woke up about 5 in the morning really needing the loo, so got up to find one. Now if you have ever been on a boat you know that it can take a while to get you 'sea legs'. Well I hadn't done any walking so had no balance at all. I was wandering all over the place. I also notice how choppy it really was. So after grabbing a handful of seasickness bags (which luckily I didn't use so are now destined for the LINKS first aid kits) I took a travel pill and settled down again.

Friday

At six am British time the boat pinged into life. The lights flicked on in the reclining seat area and the messages began about breakfast in the various restaurants. Half an hour later I still didn't feel like eating as the ferry pulled into Portsmouth harbour. So I went out on deck and tried, in the light of the just rising sun, so see how many battle ships I could count. Although battle ship grey is very distinctive in the day time (especially among all the sleek white ferries) in the dark, or near dark, it is not so obvious. So my game became see how many ships I can see that I think are battle ships due to the extraordinary number of radar and communications bits and bobs it had silhouetted on top (I think I got to 11).

Once we had arrived, docked and disembarked it was time to find transport to Guilford. It turned out that there is a national express coach that runs from Portsmouth to London via Guildford. So I waited around for the coach to see if they had any spaces. (I had time to spare and it was much less of a walk). Unfortunately they didn't have space, so I along with a very tearful lady were left standing in the cold. This poor lady had forgotten forgotten that by booking an overnight ferry the date of travel changed halfway, so had booked her coach for the same date as the ferry. Eventually I left her to try to use her expired ticket on the next coach and headed for the train station.

After getting myself a good old cuppa from the station cafe I jumped on the 8:40 to London Waterloo. I half expected myself to sit glued to the window watching good old English countryside wizz past. But I didn't. Instead I sat and read my book- "A year in Provence". The book is about a couple who go to live in Provence and the guy has written about their experiences. It is hilarious especially because I can relate and understand much of it from my own experiences.

On finishing both my book and the train journey it was off to Helen's for a shower. Having slept in my clothes and been on the go for over 24 hours it was the best shower ever!

After a shower and change of clothes, Helen began to take up her role as my personal secretary. She had organised meetings and get together with all kinds of people.
First in was coffee with Helen Cooper in Roots. With all the chatting her hour break kind of turned into a three hour break and a trip to McDs for dinner.
On our return to campus Helen and I (Helen Brookes this is) headed back to Roots to see Shane from our course.
Eventually we quit Roots for the day and headed back to Helen's house to get ready for a night on the town (well a night in the union anyway).
Once ready my housemate from last year- Tom came round for a few drinks before Tony came, picked us all up and deposited us all safety in senate carpark. As we got near the doors Helen spied Ben and asked if she could get in free as she did duty on Wednesday. I then smiled sweetly and asked if I could have the same privilege "What are you doing here?" was his lovely hello, but he still let me in so I'm not complaining.

So once at the union I got to see loads of people (and very sorry if I miss anyone out). First aiders: Adam, Emily, Tony (again), Paul (new guy), Hom (sp new guy). Punters: Julie, Brains, Lucky, Nicole, Nicole’s very loud friends. And of course Phil doing Teas and coffees.

Despite the bad music I had a really good time. Though it was really bizarre. I was at the union often twice a week every week last year, so I got to recognise the faces of the regular union goers. On Friday however I only saw a handful of faces that I actually recognised. It was strange. All evening Tom kept commenting on how young they all looked (most of them obviously being freshers) and the really sad thing is that I had to agree with him. They did all look really young. There’s only a couple of years between us! When did we become such old foggies? LOL

At the end of the evening Helen and I indulged in an old tradition- Pizza man. I’ve never had a pizza from there but the combo starter is great. It also gives you the incentive to get home- the need to walk off all the calories!! Hee hee.

Saturday

Saturday dawned bright, but we of course didn’t see if for many hours as we slept off our nights partying. Eventually I managed to drag myself out of bed long enough to switch on the TV and watch a few Saturday morning kids cartoons. Then it was off into town with Jon.

We mooched for DVDs (I finally got the Indiana Jones box set), lunched in the friary food court, which I found out do jacket potatoes- very yummy, and saw the new Zorro film. It was so nice to have a chat face to face, as a pose to the millions of e-mails we have been sending, and moan about the amazingly annoying kids who sat behind us in the cinema, and trust me both of us were ready to hit them by the end. They just kept kicking the chairs and throwing pop corn and talking the whole way though (and not cinema voice whispered talking, but full loud conversations). It was a good film though, with some comic moments, and the cutest little kid. I think I prefer the first one though Jon disagreed and though the new one was better.
After the film we headed out to Hazel farm to visit Tim (Jon’s old housemate and a member of our cell) for a cup of tea and chat- very nice.

Finally it was home time, so Jon left for Horsham and Helen and I settled down to watch the princess diaries before turning in for the night.

Sunday

Neither Helen nor I were very effective at getting up on Sunday morning so the shopping trip Helen had decided we would have became a pop into New look (to get me some shoes) and then lunch. But hey lunch was Nandos so it was worth the trip into town just for that!

In the afternoon we headed back onto campus, Helen to do some work and me to go and have a bounce, bounce, bounce. I used to do trampolining at school for PE and was not bad at it, but by the time I got to uni I had lost it all so had to start from the beginning again. I was determined that no matter what I wasn’t going to be scared of doing my moves, I wouldn’t loose all that I had learnt. So I jumped straight into it (excuse the pun). As a result I got a rather flattened nose by landing a front drop wrong! But there was no obvious blood so I picked myself up, went a bit slower and managed a few good ones before I quit. I’m really glad I went, not just because I got to bounce but I also got to see more people: my twin Helen (yes I know it’s another Helen but this one is Helen Clark and everyone thinks we look alike), Ben, Graham, Lucy, Spider man, Emma, Emily, Penny, and some new people as well.

After bouncing it was back to Helen’s for pizza. Tom and Mark came round so although we sorely missed Chris and the cat it was like a little Maydene re-union. Man I miss that house (even though the boys were the messiest people in the world!). Then it was my last nigh on Helen’s sofa. I had thought that I wouldn’t sleep that well on the sofa considering it was about a foot too short for me, but I was so knackered I slept like a log. Also the fact that I curl up in my sleep must have helped.

Monday

Monday was my lest productive day. Helen and I sat and watch ‘This morning’ on TV then Helen had to go to a lecture. So I packed my bags, said my good byes and made my trip to Tesco. It was weird. I’m used to being able to go in and know exactly where I needed to go to get what I needed. However the store is currently undergoing a refurbishment. Now as it is a 24hour store they are moving sections as you shop and fixing the new bits up while you are there. But I got my squash and Suzanne’s Hob nobs, so it’s all good.

I then headed to town for a spot of shopping. I got a couple of DVDs and a copy of empire from HMV, a couple of tops from the sale rail in New look and treated myself to another of those yummy jacket potatoes. Unfortunately there is only so much shopping you can do with a suitcase and by about 4 I was done. I could shop no more. So I jumped on a train to Portsmouth. I had arrived by about half 6 and was at the ferry port by 7. Now I know I like being early (just in case) but this was a record even for me. I was there four hours before the ferry was due to leave! So I can safely say I have read almost every single word that was printed in this months Empire.
Once we had finally boarded I found my seat, organised my stuff, made up my little bed in a corner and this time I slept right through the entire voyage. I even learn a lesson from the last time and didn’t get up when they turned on the lights, but snatched another half hour of sleep.

Tuesday

Once back on French soil I was chuffer driven back to Caen. Well not quite but all but. There was a shuttle bus running from the port to town and I was the only person on the bus, so it did feel a bit like it.
I was back in my room by about half 8, had a wash, changed my clothes and headed out to work.

Man what a weekend!

Huge thank you to everyone that I saw while I was over. I had a fabulous time and it’s all thanks to you guys- you rock!. Extra special thank you to Helen for the loan of your sofa and your fantastic secretarial skills :)