Where flowers grew and the sun shone still.

So I’m coming to the end of my first term of University and I’ll be going home tomorrow for a few weeks, or maybe a few weeks and a bit depending on when my knee operation comes through and all that so yes, let’s do a retrospective of the last four months.

Firstly, it feels a lot longer than four months; it feels like I’ve been doing this all along. By that I mean living alone and looking after myself, cooking, cleaning and buying my own things for my own needs. It’s quite a freeing experience. I had an element of freedom when I had my job last year, money will always do that, it opens up all sorts of doors. But I’d always come home and my dinner would always be on the table for me and my bed would usually be made. I became lazy and self satisfied with the situation.

When I moved to university in September I was cripplingly home sick, I missed everything about home so much it made me all weepy and things out of my eyes for the first few nights. I think it didn’t help that the week before I’d just come back off holiday with Nathalie, so I’d moved to new place, essentially left home and left Nathalie all in one go. For the entirety of Fresher’s week I walked around in a drunken haze because that was easier than letting my mind rest on anything, I went to everything offered and did anything I could so as not to be on my own in my little room with no internet or television.

Some things improved my situation greatly. Firstly I put up my wall collage of posters and things, made it feel less like I were in prison, secondly I got the internet and then a tv, so interaction with the outside world was found. And I also set about making friends, or at least acquaintances. I get on with my flat mates and that’s a start, through shared love of anything remotely to do with Football with Jo and Oli to the point where we’ve gone to the pub solely to watch the Cardiff Vs Coventry game. But I think I’ve made one proper friend so far, which is amazing for me. Met through wonderfully silly circumstances of queuing to get into the Fresher’s Karaoke night with my flat mates, they all deciding they didn’t want to go anymore, me joining them and only getting 50 foot before realising...hmm lets widen my friends options. Even then it took the kindly group of people in the queue next to me to make conversation. I find this skill inherently difficult with people I don’t adformentionally know, I don’t know what to say, worried that what I will say will make me either sound stupid or pretentious. Cause well...the things I like aren’t in the normal channels...I like other things, but not as much as I like my little niche bands and films, so whenever I talk about other things I just sound un-interested and bored, so people think...hmm weirdo. But if I were to talk about the things I like the high percentage of people would then think...hmm bit up himself. Luckily I found someone who understood who the Decemberists were and even liked them more than me, a striking situation to be in ten minutes into a conversation.

So yes, and from then a friendship was born, I don’t count friendships lightly, unlike some, not everyone you meet on the way to the shops can be counted as a friend in my book, and I’m totally amazed I’ve managed to gain one in the first term of university, and with any luck we should all be living together next year, long as there’s room, if not I’ll weep.

And then we have my course, which has been patchy if I’m being honest so far, but will indefinably pick up come January. Currently I’m stuck doing little ‘tasters’ of all the wonderful things English has to offer, only I don’t care, I want to do English Literature, so as of January that’s what I’ll be doing, no more Language, Drama and Cultures of the Everyday for me, oh no oh my no oh no. Seeing as the last one was practically social studies. Über weak. But hurrah, soon I shall be running around the pages of great Victorian novels and post war fiction, I really can’t wait.

And that’s not without even mentioning Christmas, that’s the beauty of finishing so early, it’s practically Christmas as of this weekend, last year while working I remember it wasn’t Christmas till Christmas eve, and then it was over by the day after boxing day, this year I’m totally regressing and have less money for presents but are seemingly on course to be spending more than ever, but there we go, I’m silly and I love wrapping things up, and this year I seem to have a lot of things to be wrapping up, I’d make a great elf for father Christmas, no doubt no diggity.

Alright then kids, I’m happy, hopefully you’re happy and I’ll be seeing you soon. If you’re not happy and in a relationship watch love actually, if you’re not in a relationship don’t watch that you’ll want to end it all and cry into your pillow asking why you’re not as happy as those happy bastards in snowy London, a snowy London being an even more unlikely prospect than Hugh Grant really being Prime Minister. To you I’d suggest It’s A Wonderful Life, it’s long but it’s blooming great and a proper happy film...well it warms up to it anyway, like all the best happy films.

I’m currently listening to Nick Drake, it’s a shame he died completely unknown, he was wonderful.

Have a listen,

Nick Drake - Fly

Goodnight kisses.