Maniacal Laugh…

Hi! Life here continues to be relaxing and not that exciting. It’s nice not having a lot to do but I wish I could be going out into the great outdoors doing things a bit more. Unfortunately the recent weather here has prevented me from doing such things. Despite it being the height of summer, at least it should be, the last few weeks have seen pretty much non-stop rain. In some parts of the country there have been floods and we’ve had some pretty severe storms here too. This is one of the few times that the South of England is having worse weather than most of the country. I find it really frustrating that it’s too wet to go out and do fun things.

Still, I made use of one afternoon where the rain subsided and went on a long walk. And I mean long, I walked nearly ten miles in only a couple of hours. I was exhausted by the time I got home and one of the muscles in my legs really hurt the next day. It was a great walk though and I saw loads of wildlife which was great. I worked out I saw 20 different species of bird, including Bullfinches for the very first time and a Grey Heron really up close.  I walked around a corner and there was this heron right at the edge of the lake near the path and it flew off when it saw me. It was only a few feet away from me at most and it was great to see a big and shy bird up so close. I also saw some deer and was only about a hundred metres away from one knocking me over and it came hurtling across the footpath in front of me at great speed. As usual I took lots of photos so here’s the best of those:

^{There are lots of foxgloves around at the moment and they look stunning. They are one of my favourite flowers due to their great shape and vibrant colour.}

^{This is evidence of all the rain we’ve been having. The river has burst it’s banks and you can’t really tell where it normally runs. The flood plains look fantastic though and the birds are loving it.}

^{I love pine forests. They look so formal and awesome. The other forests must look up to them like people look up to the Queen.}

^{One of my favourite sights of my town. The church can be seen from a great distance away and it’s the first thing I see of the town when I come home after being away. It’s also kind of special cos it’s where my Mum and Dad got married over twenty years ago.}

I also recorded a video whilst I was on this walk which is a combination of me being the world’s worst wildlife cameraman and doing random crazy stuff. It’s kind of embarrassing but I will upload it if people want to see it so let me know if you do.

It’s all go in the football world at the moment as the Euro’s are on. I’m not really a big enough fan of football to be watching every match but I’ve caught bits here and there and shall be watching all the England matches as I love supporting my country. Our first match of the tournament was against France and it was really close. We ended up drawing one all which was probably a good result in the end. We’re going to need to do well against Sweden and the Ukraine though if we’ve any hope of qualifying for the next round.

^{Lescott celebrates his first international goal. Nice work Joleon!}

I’ve been spending lots of time watching things over the last week. I feel I might as well seeing as there’s not much else to be doing. This has mostly been me continuing my mission to watch all the classic episodes of Doctor Who. I’ve got to 1971, 8 years into the show, but I’ve got a long, long way to go. I’m very much enjoying the adventures of the Third Doctor exiled on Earth and working for UNIT, especially now that I’ve got to the stage where the Master has turned up. I write up my thoughts on each story here so go and check them out if you fancy.

I have also watched The Muppets, which has finally arrived at my house in the form of blu-ray. I shouldn’t have been as excited as I was when I picked it up of the doormat but I couldn’t help it. I loved the new film and was desperate to watch it again. Which I did and then watched most of the special features and had a good laugh and the world seemed a better place. The Muppets have this effect. (By the way, the title of this post is a quote from the film). My current Facebook Cover Photo is a fantastic combination of this and the football:

^{(From The Muppets UK Facebook Page)}

Things are going to liven up a little bit over the next few weeks. Next week I am helping out in a nursery for the week so I can find out about the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) for my course and get a little experience in it. It’ll be a bit out of my comfort zone working with children so young but it should be fun. I’m also excited for various other things that are coming up over the Summer, including a research project climbing mountains in Wales, lots of work with disabled and special needs children and a week at the Edinburgh Festival. Plus I’m sure loads of other crazy things will be happening!