Any Colour You Like

I have now got a nice piece of glass fibre on my desk. Things are looking up

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!

I went to an espresso cup museum yesterday. Yes that is correct. Illy are a brand of espresso bean accredited with introducing the italian espresso concept to the rest of Europe in the early thirties and since then they have been making a very distinctive shape of espresso cup that is used in countless cafes around the world. Every year they send a box of these cups to an artist and see what they get back – it is usually something pretty wacky. These creations are then put on sale in strictly limited editions for sale to the public. I have the 2002 year cups in pride of place back home. Here are two of the coolest out of the hundreds we saw yesterday:

Woop, I have finally got a job. After a mere 45mins discussion at Vestas they have offered me a full time job in the Blade Design department of the R&D Technology Centre on the Isle of Wight. Not sure of my start date yet but it is probably pretty soon. Need to get down there fast and find myself a flat in Southampton.

They have even put a season ticket for the RedJet in the post!!

RedJet from Southampton to Cowes IoW

Elley only gets a few days off this year cause she is in such very high demand, so we wanted somewhere that didn’t feel at all like London for a few days off. I was already in Southampton so we decided to head down to the New Forest for a bit of cycling and a four day adventure.

The roads and tracks were spectacular

Through the New Forest

Cycling

And there were loads of wild horses

Can you see the resemblance in hair style?

And we visited the National Motor Museam (!)

Captivated

XK150 and DeLorean

Pea Car

And all in all it was very picturesque and relaxing

Bucklers Hard

Amongst many other comings and goings I went to the Isle of Wight fora job interview last Friday. Vestas, the wind turbine manufacturers are rapidly expanding their R&D presence on the island and they are very much in need of composites engineers which I am hoping is me. On top of the worlds coolest commute on a jet catamaran and a water taxi, I would also get to work in a hangar adorned with the world’s largest union jack!

Venture Quays

Unfortunately you don’t get a mortar board at Bristol, but it was great to finally get to prance around in the Bristol colours.

Outside Wills Memorial Building

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…

I have such epic back and neck ache from leaning over a desk and writing with pencil and paper. I know computers are bad on your eyes and there are plenty of ways of getting RSI from them but I had no idea the old fashioned way of working was so painful. At least with computers your head is up and your back is straight.

Physical pain coulpled with mental strain and the fact I have postponed all exercise except for 1 hr per week mean revision is really taking it out of me. I don’t know if I can handle another 20 and a half days of this!