Josh's Blog

Well, it’s the end of a bank holiday weekend for me, the end of the summer holidays for Jennie (and the day before her very first day as a real-life primary school teacher!)

We had a great weekend, all things considered – Jennie found herself a new flat and signed the lease on Saturday morning (no need to panic – we’ve decided to live apart before the wedding, which is still very much on, etc etc.) I had a nice lie in while she was off in Darlington getting that done. When she got back (and I got a healthy dose of eggs and bacon down the hatch) we tootled off to the local sailing club‘s open day; we went up to the club about a month ago to have a look around, and found out about the open day and a potential special offer on membership. It looked absolutely fantastic then, and did again on Saturday, and I was convinced to join, and sign up for an RYA level 1 dinghy sailing course, as a birthday present from mum and dad, and in the diary for the 10th and 17th of October. It seemed a really friendly and active club, so I’m going to be going up there quite a bit – the aim is to crew for someone who knows what they’re doing for a while before I buy a boat of my own… maybe a Topper or a Laser, but who knows?

Sunday was Jennie’s mum’s birthday, so we spent the day over there – all good fun. Before we left Langley Park, though, we were racking our brains for ideas of what to do on the Bank Holiday Monday; we wanted to go away, but we’re feeling a bit poor right now. We were just writing off the youth hostel idea when Jennie(!) suggested camping… after her previous suspicion and unenthusiastic feelings for it (especially after I bought a new tent in July), I jumped right on that, so we chucked everything we needed (and far more besides that) in the back of her car. A brief successful shopping trip later, we had a new roll mat, some pillows, a folding chair and a nice stove (all end of season bargains) and were ready to rough it on Sunday night. We booked in to a little campsite between York and Harrowgate “just off the A59″ – and it meant it, we had about 6 metres and a hedge between us and the road, which wasn’t great – no sleep for me, but Jennie was out like a light. That combined with putting up a tent in the rain, and there wasn’t a single moan from her (though possibly one or two from me!)

All in all, a successful first camping trip, getting rid of the dread that Girlguiding camps instilled – we were planning the next trip over breakfast!

We rounded it all off with a couple of hours at Fountains Abbey, probably our favourite National Trust site up here – taking photos, flying mini kites, and napping on the lawn: very pheasant! We’re rounding the whole thing off tonight with some celebratory end-of-holidays steak for tea, red wine, and possibly a silly film.

Oops, it seems I’ve not posted for about a month. Well, it’s been a busy time, so I don’t feel too bad about it, and from now on I should have more time to do it: I got one of these little 3 Mobile Broadband things, so I can apply for jobs and keep up to date on the train, which is cool. No jobs to go for at the moment though, applied for everything interestings over the weekend.

The main highlight of the month has been, of course, our amazing holiday to France in the first week of September. Went with Vickie, Kieran, Lucy, Ben, Louise, Sam, Jez, Patrick, Simon, Mark, Matt, and Magz; we stayed in a converted water mill in the Vendée. It was a fantastic week, and everyone had a great time eating lots of cheese, drinking lots of wine, swimming (brr) and sunning, with a few trips to explore the area (Luçon, Rue de Vin, La Rochelle) thrown in for good measure. Verdict: success, and must do again some time.

The drive (as a navigator, of course) wasn’t too bad, but was probably the limit in terms of distance (500 miles door to door from Guildford) with only one driver per car, but next time I think we’ll try and get more than one per car anyway, it would be far better if people could get some sleep on the road. The eurotunnel was great, but we might look at ferries that take us a little closer booking them way ahead of time so they aren’t to expensive. Might not work, but it’s worth a go.

France was a good lot of fun and games really. A great bunch of people (I love you guys!) with some I see a lot, some I see less, and a few I’d not really met at all before, which is always good. I’m keen on the idea of upping the numbers to twenty or so, and getting a chateau – that would be awesome, but so would doing the same thing again next year.

In other news, it looks like I’m going to party conference! Very exciting, though I don’t have the pass yet so anything could happen. We are all working on the assumption that I’m coming, which is encouraging… I’ll be doing lots of video work, of interviews of ministers, Q&A sessions, and the responses to video questions posed by people on the website. The internship has picked up a lot recently, and I’m doing interesting work now that we’re coming to the end of recess – a shame I only have about two weeks left, but there we are.

My driving’s coming along well now too – I tend to do all the driving for the family right now, as long as it doesn’t involve motorways (because it’s illegal to, not because I can’t. Managed the A3 in rush hour on Thursday, which is a motorway in all but classification. Some muppet in a white van wouldn’t let me on, which was a bit hairy for a second, but managed to get on behind him, without crashing at all. Go me!) I don’t think I’m doing too badly, given that before the holiday I was on the industrial estate – something about being driven around France made me better by proxy! I’ve just got to take my theory and find an instructor, and I can start looking towards a test – it shouldn’t be long now, which is a nice prospect.

Anyway, getting towards my station now, so Ciao people!