4 headed sheep, near nuclear power station, Wales
4 headed sheep, near nuclear power station, Wales
  • resurrection
    • 30/07/2012
Well not exactly. But the Apple store gave me a new one for $60, which is less than it would have cost me to buy a new hard drive off ebay and mess about with it.
Hohum. It'll take a week to reload all the music mind!

I'm on a day off in Boston, just going to chill out in the park/sunshine and read a book. Somehow camp seems nearly over already, just two weeks left, and this coming week I only have six hours of teaching at archery due to a multitude of trips.

Olympic coverage here is limited to America winning things.

Annnnd, oh yes, Saturday was the staff "world cup" soccer game. After a much hyped build up it was a tense affair. I hit a post, missed another easy chance and then after the Americans got a last minute equalizer I missed my penalty in the shoot out. All looked lost but our keeper made a sucession of great stops and saved the day. So we won but I still felt like crap. Just one of those days, and at least it provided plenty of entertainment for the kids!
  • back on the roundabout
    • 17/06/2012
yesterday literally. and the swings! yay for playparks. boo for nannys giving you strange looks.

So i just landed back in the States, no hassle at immigration which was a nice relief.

The last couple of weeks at home have been fun (apart from the hayfever or whatever allergy i have), and catching up with everybody whom i havent seen for a year was really great.

A big thank you to everyone for looking pleased to see me, giving me places to sleep etc!

It's comforting to know that other people haven't undergone huge transformational changes in my absence - in fact i think i would get a lot more homesick if i felt like i couldn't just come home and drop back into things as i left them. Obviously things have changed, people have gone through various traumas and successes, and hearing about them i do feel sad that i wasn't there. I guess i want to have my cake and eat it too.
However i can't help feeling that given how easy i found it to leave those stresses behind, i can't understand why other people continue to put up with them.

And England's green and pleasant lands never looked more vibrant and homely - a quick whirlwind tour of the peak district, cambridge, london parks, nottingham and home in yorkshire confirms that this country does have something special about it that far flung corners of the earth lack. A well worn in reliability, like your favourite shoes.

Two months of summer camp coming up, forcing myself out of bed at 7am, and doing something approaching work will be a bit of a shock. OK yes, perspective, no i'm not complaining lol

The other news is that i got a job for the winter as a "Chalet Assistant" in the french Alps (Tignes). Lots of hoovering, serving meals, washing up and shovelling snow. But also i get to go skiing every day for FIVE MONTHS. yay for me!

Anyway, enough self congratulation.
Back to the bar. Sam Adams have produced a nice cherry wheat ale...
  • Bye bye Boston, boring bus
    • 17/08/2011
bored on the bus on the way to the big apple. Just had my last day in Boston. Went to Harvard uni and drank my first ever cup of tea. It was ok, but I can't see what all the fuss is about. At least this bus has WiFi but sure ain't comfortable!
on the road againmy first ever cup of teaharvard uni libraryharvardHarvard yard. old buildingslooking downtown boston
oh and I'm patting myself on the back again for making this blog so easy to update from my phone. I rock.
  • New photos uploaded
    • 15/08/2011
danger dangerfenway park at nightbig fat caterpillar
  • Summer camp is over...
    • 14/08/2011
So camp is over. nearly. I'm on the bus to Logan airport with some international kids.

hasn't really hit me despite the last two days being devoted to kids packing, 60 year tradition camp fires with ceremonial flag burning and loads.of tearful kids.

for some its their last year and you could.see.what a.big part of.their lives it has been. excuse me hitting full.stop instead of the space bar!

fat thumbs and phone keyboard! But thus morning they were shovelled onto buses before I had finished my toast so I missed a fair fee goodbyes, whilst other kids and staff have melted away while is was stuck cleaning the bathroom.

didn't get any goodbye with camp or programme directors which was a shame. and not really saying goodbye to.my best friends here yet.as we're all going to hang out in Boston and new York together.

Also the rise of facebook since I.was last at camp seems to have negated much of the address and details swapping since everyone is connected in the big virtual spider web.

Damn traffic jam. Damn me agreeing to chaperone instead of taking the staff bus and being free in the pub by 3pm. hanging out at an airport for 4 hours is bad enough when you're waiting for your own flight!

I feel unsure. I'm not sure how I feel. I have to start paying for food and lodging now which sucks. I'm free! but aimless. as always in my life.

uni was a path. then I was clueless. accounting qualification was a path, used up a good five years but it was just a cop out, defaulting to the easiest course like water in a river, until it reaches a big flat boring sea stretching away to nothingness.

so I broke out of the mould for this exciting year of self discovery. but summer camp was another crutch, everything organised and scheduled. great fun, very rewarding meeting people and teaching, and seeing the crazy imaginative things that kids do every day, even if they do revert to computer games whenever its too dark too hot too rainy.

and working outside, my own boss on the archery range, no. computers or stressful deadlines or late requests. no store target amendments (shudder). definitely a step in the right direction.

but now what? weeks of nothing planned, but I'm out in the real world where you need to reserve accomodation etc in advance. sounds like a recipe for disaster.

would I come back next year? camp wasn't perfect, but my only real complaint was the frequency of archery lessons. I can't imagine a more chilled out summer whilst actually getting paid! so yes, if I can. but who knows what will happen in the next 9 months, never mind organising a visa from Thailand or wherever it is I think I'm going.

but based on past form i won't make any other earth shattering, life changing decisions. then there's. the next few weeks could be interesting!

oh and I feel like listening to grandaddy or mogwai. which I will now do... mogwai-take me somewhere nice..... grandaddy-"summer its gone" seems to fit.

tomorrow I will buy a netbook computer which will make life easier typing this stuff and processing photos AND stop me worrying about viruses etc since my magic portable apps usb stick broke. still haven't got that new camera, but with all my pay for the summer in cash I really need to spend a load!



on the road... I love all these European place names jumbled up next to each other and totally different sizes to the original. Boston lincolnshire, a small non consequential town (no offence), here a major city next to Portsmouth, within an hours drive of the village of nottingham (yay), Durham, Milan and Berlin.



also I like that each state in the us issues its own carl number plates with their state motto on.

new Hampshire has "live free or die", which I can't decide if its an inspiring libertarian cry or a thinly veiled threat- about sums the place up. we do what we want, and you can too... but if what you want encroaches on what we want then expect a shotgun in your face



still its better than most other states... "the vacation state" = lame.


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