Wow. Another 2 months have whizzed by without an update. Hopefully my forthcoming increase in “free” time will improve that (more later.. oh the suspense)

Been reet busy of late. Lots of walking about. We did a big tour of the “unknown” Sheffield. Things like castle market, park hill flats, the cholera monumnet, antique shops, Bragazzis and a load of pubs. Ok so not quite unknown but keeping out of the usual central haunts.

Also took a trip to Thurlby with the Harcourt lads, WAGS and kids for a weekend in Thurlby Youth Hostel
. A weekend of fine food, drink and games was enjoyed by all! Some more than others judging by some of the hangovers on the Sunday morning 😉

We also went to see one of (if not THE) biggest Oak trees in Britain, the Manthorpe Oak. It’s hard to see the scale on the photo but it’s enormous and you could get a few people INSIDE IT easily.

I was also enough to get a ticket to go and see Al Gore do his “Inconvenient Truth” speech at Sheffield University. Although I’ve seen the film twice, it was incredible to see him talking through the points. There were also a few other “famous” political faces there including Prescott and Senator George Mitchell.

It also snowed (finally) for a couple of days and we had a little trouble getting outside (not really)

Have also been in Manchester (lots!), Leeds, Liverpool. Doing this and that but I don’t really want to just this blog into a diary. Things are gonna change around here!

I suppose that brings me onto the news that I only have 10 weeks left in my current job at the University. I have decided to become free of the shackles of work until my money runs out… Actually I’ll be taking a long summer break to do some festivals, European travelling (SONAR! YEH!), volunteering and lounging around in the sun hopefully. Then come September I’ll be heading off to do my course full-time until next Summer. And then who knows….

So the countdown is on both to the Summer and a time when I’m not looking out of the window thinking how boring office work is and getting out there and doing something! Hurrah!

WWOOF has been joined, dates of festivals put into the diary and there is also a huge pile of books just waiting to be read.

Talking of books, I feel like a salesman for this book but if you do buy one book this year, make it “How to be free” by Tom Hodkinson of The Idler fame. It’s great. I’m not telling you what it’s about – just go and read it 😉

Life is Absurd. Be merry. Be free