Any Colour You Like

I have just finished my third day and all is good. I still don’t really know what I will be up to in terms of project but there is so much going on that there will be no time for boring menial tasks. Vestas seem to really focus on looking after new starters and there is a very elaborate five week training scheme that I am currently working through. It consists of a lot of very well designed flash animation based training (big budget clearly), followed by initial short term projects (which start tomorrow), hands on composite laminating course in Denmark (1 week long I think), visits to production abroad somewhere followed by ansys and ProE training. After all that I finally get to find out what my real long term project will be!

They really care about their employees too. There is fantastic free local organic food for lunch, free tickets for the ferry and water taxi, a terrible HTC phone for business and personal use at home or abroad, table football, free sailing lessons on Tuesdays, football on Wednesdays, a great mentoring scheme, laptop, credit card and a hefty relocation bonus. Anyone else want a job btw? They desperately want people that know what a wind turbine is

Everyone is really friendly and most people seem pretty new to the company. I will be working long and hard and it is going to be very challenging but very rewarding!

Ok so I still don’t have internet, but I am being harassed to such a degree that I have decided to upload these photos from work. The flat is pretty small but quite cheap, is close to the ferry and has both free gym (which I need to start frequenting) and a locked cycle store. If anyone wants to visit they will have to sleep in the kitchen though!

Well, it has been a while. I used to have the excuse for not writing here when I was busy organising kitesurfing trips last autumn, doing my project work this spring and studying for exams this summer. It has now finally sunk in that all that is over and I am now happily homeless and unemployed and a the proud owner of a shiny 2.1 in Masters Engineering Design

Luckily I haven’t had a chance to get bored yet what with moving all my stuff out of my house, going to various end of uni parties and watching England play abysmal football.

This last week I have been up in Scotland visiting my grandparents, and amongst the numerous scones and tea there has been time for lots of mountain climbing,

nature watching,

barbecuing,

and I am now busy fixing things around the house. Tomorrow I am back to London to be house husband for a bit and then on the 12th it is graduation. I feel so duped that we don’t even get a mortarboard because Bristol is ‘reformist’. I haven’t worked hard for five years for them to skimp at the end! Still, before then there are lots of jobs that need applying to pronto…

It is -10ºC and a brand new year. A brand new decade and so much is going to be new this coming year. Different, scary, exciting, a good mixture I hope…

My five years at uni are quickly running out (less than half a year to go!) and I can’t believe dad is already discussing graduation plans and dates. I am also going to break my longest standing principle at Easter by prioritising work over a holiday. I have never ever ever done that before, and it is going to break my heart sending twelve eager souls off to Tarifa South Spain for the annual kitesurfing trip with out being one of them. A few weeks from now I will be handing over my society presidency for the same reason. But at least it is one of the things I am most proud of from my years at university. I am pretty sure I have sacrificed the odd percent of a grade here and there for my society involvement but it has been worth it several times over. Incidentally, not dancing this year has been killing me slowly and painfully so I have decided to pass on the kitsurfing but take on some kind of dance class one night a week. I am feeling so stale these days without enough regular sport. I also hope to practice with Sammy again a bit next term and enter an open ballroom competition for a bit of fun before the deadlines come crashing down.

Did I say I was skipping holidays? Well that is a lie because in a few hours I am leaving for Austria will Elley and her parents and sister and sister’s fiancé. The snow isn’t great but it hopefully will be by the time we get there. Europes biggest interconnected ski resort – bring it on!

And then when I get back it is jobs. I have a visit to DCA design to prepare myself for an interview and I need to ring up GE Research in Munich and ask them to get a move on and make a decision. I also hope to be able to approach a product design agency in london with an offer from DCA in hand and try and bribe them into hiring me. All of this whilst doing my IEE and project work. It is going to be busy… especially since I will be visiting Elley in London lots. And especially now she has a tea pot!

Happy New Year everyone =)

Back in Bristol means back to the flat antics. Everyone has not always been around but there has been enough coming and going to make for a very interesting few days. It seems we have now found a final two people to fill the house too.

First things: Josh seems to have passed his resits which is a big relief. As a consequence he has been going hyper with planning fun things for us. It seems I will be going canoeing/camping for a few days and then going to Amsterdam with the electrical engineering crew plus flatmates past and present. Somewhere in amongst all of that I need to go to London and see Orsi’s and Dave’s new place. And I need to organise my kite society for next year. And I need to get a significant amount of work done.

There has been lots of flat cooking which has been fun and very much missed over the last three weeks – Josh’s orange curry is still legendary and Laurence pulled out the most epic pie in the world three days ago. I don’t know where he got his housewife streak from but it was an epic 2.5hr effort!

Also had dinner plus banter with the 5th year EngDes people which was great fun. Some brilliant stories about engines falling out of cars and adventures in Italy and the annoyances of my course. There has been ice skating and there has been the ‘Propaganda Mini Festival’ at Syndicate. There has been Terry Pratchett movie watching (I didn’t even know there were any!), and there have been a few episodes of tying teddy bears to kites. And it has been fantastic.

Probably best if term doesn’t start tooo soon =)

It was really good =) Riddled with love interest, smooching and teenager intrigue, but really good. It will seem a bit random at times if you haven’t read the book, but if you have then your brain will fill in the gaps nicely. Go see it. Soon.

My mate Adam’s new band had their first concert at Thekla. They are an eerie sounding post-rock band with some great dynamics and a lot of electronic trickery. Have a listen here:

http://www.myspace.com/normalstateband

I’m done I’m done I’m done I’m on holiday!! Ok so actually that is slightly old news but I’m still loving it. Such a relief to be finished with this year – it has been really tough but easily my most fun year at uni so far. Loads of stuff happened and I hope I will get up to loads over this very long and sunny summer break. I promise I will get back to keeping you all updated on here.

End of exam celebrations involved this sizable effort:

Caipirinhas at Las Iguanas happy hour =)

It was made all the more difficult because they kept clearing up our glasses as we finished them so we had to resort to hiding the empties under a chair. And yes there were only two of us.

I have also been generally enjoying the fantastic weather we have been having and have broken out in a multitude of freckles whilst sitting in the park and reading books – I had forgotten how much fun fiction can be! I saw Claire’s musical on Wednesday which was fantastic, great singing, lots of jokes and as lead ‘soiled dove’ I thought she did an awesome job. Finally I have also started booking up summer things like a few days in Cornwall and a week in Edinburgh to see my dad and grandparents. London people shouldn’t worry I will be coming to see you soon =)

I do still exist =)

Will get back to you all with updates in two weeks…

We’ve communally bought a big oil drum bbq from sainbury’s for £50. Yesterday if got its first trial of the year =)

Lots of things were great: The food was tasty, the cider was cold, the house didn’t burn down and everyone was on their best behaviour (mostly) and got on well with Claire…

I am looking forward to our next communal purchase which will be beer brewing equipment. Then we can have the two in combo!