An update, since i've been so rubbish at regualr posting...

Ok... not doing so good with the whole, keeping up-to-date thing... but a quick resume of what i've been doing recently...

well, working figures quite a lot, but that's good, i need money.

then there's driving - now that was interesting...

Decided that now i have time after exams, i'd do pass plus, then insure mum's car for a week and go places... so i did pass plus and went on the scary scary motorways :) and insured mums car. The first thing we did was for me to drive mum up to stratford, so that i could get used to the car and because we'd got cheap seats for The Comedy of Errors (which i might post a review of at some point, if i get around to it). The drive there was fine - i could actually drive!! I was quite pleasantly surprised really :D We got there in great time and saw the play, and it too was excellent - it has confirmed my thoughts that it's a really good season - so hopefully i'll persuade dad to take me to see the other two at some point.
Anywayz, driving back home and we'd nearly got to mum's flat (about 10 minutes away) and then discover that the raod's closed because of an accident - so on my first time driving a car without my intructor i got to do a turn in the road on the A46, which i don't think is something many can claim... Anywayz, we turned down some single track country lane (in the dark, at midnight, on my first long drive...) which mum hoped went in the right general direction. Got to the end of the lane fine, but it was a really really steep hill start onto the next road - so i put the hand break on - and guess what - it had snapped!!! *eek* so, um... then we wondered what do do... but eventually i reversed it down the hill a bit and rested it on the verge so it couldn't keep rolling downwards... To cut a long story short, the frindly police man that was there (because it was the other end of the road closure) stopped the traffic for us so we could just not stopped at the top of the hill junction and keep going - we did get home eventually...

Next day, we got the hand brake fixed, so i was going to drive back to cheltenham. Got half way up the hill and the power started cutting out... so i changed down a gear into first and still had no power, which was more than slightly worrying - so i stopped and swapped with mum, and it happened to her too, so i was reassured that it wasn't simply my driving... but it did mean that the car was really ****ed... so we called the break down people and i got the bus home - woohoo! this was not quite how i meant the week to turn out - although i am now well practiced in 'what to do when your car breaks down'/'you have no handbreak and are stopped on a steep hill'...

1 week later...

cars fixed!! so i insured it again and took jaunts to bath, bristol (M5, M4 and M32!!!), tewksbury and oxford, with various people, and thus, it was fun :)

apart from all the car excitement, i've been working, quitting my job and writing my CV, oh and looking up trusts that'll give me money for my gap year - there's sooo much money out there if you fit all the right catagories (which i mostly don't...)

hohum... edinburgh soon - yay!!!!

Going to the Fair!

Hey there! Ok, well it's been a whole five days since i wrote, so i thought i'd better check in again, before i forget about it and the whole idea slowly dies a painful death... right...

Anywayz, Tuesday was all good. i was going to walk to Gloucester - since i feel a gap year is to do things you've always wanted to do, and i've always wondered how long it would take - as you do... So i was all booted and coated etc and then it chucked it down with rain... so, instead i waited a while, walked to the Shurdington road, todays excerise quota... ::) and got the bus to Claire's house for pizza, sweets, ice cream films and generally have fun.

And it was fun, and before we knew it it was Wednesday and the birds were singing and we were chattering and then, maybe about 5am, we finally fell asleep watching muppets... so having got some sleep and got mightily confused as to where to get off the bus, me and Elmo walked back home across the fields, just in time for me to make some lunch and drink some tea in an attempt to NOT fall asleep while spending two hours driving (Pass Plus - car in two weeks baby!!! woohoo!). So all was well and i discovered, much to my delight, that after nearly 7 months of car-less-ness i could indeed still drive :D Then i came back home and sorted a three foot pile of paper in to subjects with a view to filing them sensibly - but i never got that far, i fell asleep, so now they're all becoming one pile on my floor again... oops... ooo and i cut the grass as well, so the garden smelt (smelled?) cool.

As for Thursday - it was pretty much a write off because i spent 5 hours in the middle of the day at work, so i didn't do anything much before and couldn't be bothered to work, so i cycled instead. Then after work i was tired, so i wrote an interesting to-do list and went to bed, having stayed up rather to late doing nothing very much, but then, i guess doing nothing was pretty much the plan this week, whereas working wasn't...

Today i was in a great deal of pain when i woke up, so i curled up in a ball and fell asleep again. Since i didn't feel like risking making myself feel worse i stayed in bed and read Harry Potter #1, just 4 more to go in the next week! (think i might not be doing anything else in the next week...). After that i felt i ought to eat something, so i made some lunch and ate about a third of it... yeah, so that was worth it... then i remembered i was supposed to be going to the fair and walking into town. nearly didn't go, but thought i ought to get out the house. So all drugged up i wandered slowly into town with Jen, and met Jennie, KT, and then Ollie, Elmo and her brother. Fairs=ridiculously expensive, but it was very fun all the same and i won loads on the penny falls first time, but then i had loads of coins that wouldn't fit in my purse... so i had to spend them... hehehe... and then we shared candy floss and went on some rides, and it made me happy - even moreso, because the co-op now have 'robot tills', which are hilarious...

Then wandered back home again past Jen's house - really nice night altogether, glad i went out. I'm not doing very well at the whole saving thing... but nevermind - having fun :)

Tomorrow, working, then Shoots house for food with music people - so it's all good... :D

peace xxx

There and back again - a sheeps tale...

Hello! Welcome to my new blog - place of all things travelling and fun :D

Thought it might be fun to record my gap year online, so anyone that wants to can read about all the exciting things i'm doing while they're stuck in university, in Britain, in the cold... and i'm enjoying warm tropical waters, and all things sunny! (or jungly, or mountainy etc...).

Plus, i figure it'll probably be easier to keep semi regularly than a paper journal (which i'm sure i'll do aswell), given the prevalence of internet cafes absolulety everywhere all over the world!

Anywayz, guess i should outline my rough plans for the year.

Atm i've just finished my A Levels - as of last Thursday infact - and am currently enjoying doing absolutely nothing (relatively speaking) and not feeling guilty that i'm not working... After this short hiatus, i intend to work full time and save every penny i can, so as i can strech out the travelling bit as long as possible! I'm also hoping to hop up to the Edinurgh Festival in August for a few days, 'cos it's just soo cool (plus, it'll be an opportunity to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company's new play :D ).

Travel wise, i'm slightly undecided right now - there's just soo many things i'd love to do, i'm just not sure how i'm going to fit them all in or finance them all... Current plan is to set of around January. I'd really like to do a project with Trekforce, involving 2 months conservation in the Malaysian (Borneo) jungle living in hammocks and getting eaten by leeches etc... After that, i'm hoping to travel around SE Asia including Nepal, Thailand, Vietman and Cambodia, amoungst others.

If i've still time and money, i'd also love to visit Equador, Peru and Chile in S America. As well as visiting the USA and/or Canada - though that's not looking too likely atm - but then there's always university summers!

So, um, to sum up my travel pans - i wanna go everywhere! (apart from africa, apparently... i already have plans to inter-rail around Europe in a couple of summers time...)

Over the next few months i'll hopely keep up to date with my plans and fundraising, and generally all the interesting (or not so...) things happening :D

oh yeah, and whilst i remember, for anyone interested - after my gap year, providing i get the grades this summer, i'm off to study Philosophy in Cambridge. That or i'll change my mind completely and apply to do Stage Management and Technical Theatre ;) - can't you just see the similarities?!

anywayz, enough of that,

Hope you enjoy the tales of a wandering lost sheep :D

peace
Rachael