A reminder of how much I love British Public Transport

I popped home at the weekend to visit my family back in England. Actually, the word 'popped' seems inappropriately light considering the effort it took to get there for such a short space of time. My journey started on Saturday morning and after travelling by train, plane, bus, another train, another bus, another train then a car I finally managed to get to Portsmouth during the late afternoon. Only to turn around and fly back again less than 24 hours later. Why do I always choose weekends when they're doing maintenance on the railway lines to visit England? Or are they doing this every weekend these days?

A place just for me

It's official - I will get the keys to my new apartment before Easter.
I can't even begin to convey just how excited I am at the prospect of moving in. It's been a long wait during some tough months and it seems like moving day will give me the fresh start I crave. This little flat is more than bricks and mortar. After more than fifteen years of paying rent to various landlords I actually get to invest in my own property - and along with it goes sole use of the fridge, total control of the remote, glorious peace and quiet, and the option to paint the walls whatever colour I desire. A place I can quite literally call my own.... and I plan to relish every moment.

Skinless Wonder

It's been too long since I blogged.
Since then there's been Christmas, New Year, a ski trip, a weekend in Edinburgh, countless days in Hoofddorp (waiting, waiting, waiting for those keys...) snow, speed-dating, weird-dating, pancake-making, corpse-viewing (yes really), excessive chocolate eating (then many hours of training to get rid of the results), hip-hop dancing, bad-taste parties, and all manner of weird and wonderful things that have all gone unrecorded.

I'm not even going to attempt to tackle the whole list, but I will mention a little about those corpses! It's a strange way to spend a Saturday night, but me and my friend Elise went to see the 'Bodies' Exhibition in Amsterdam last weekend. For those who haven't heard of this, it's a display of dead bodies that have been plasticised and preserved for the 'entertainment' and education of the public. When I put it like this, it sounds pretty sick, but it was incredible to see the layers of the body peeled away. I have always been fascinated by muscles and bones, but I did feel sorry for the poor guy that ended up being posed in the undignified role of 'skinless darts player'. I'm not sure I'd want to donate my body to medical science only to be stuck eternally trying to hit a bullseye. All he needed was a pint of beer and the effect would be complete.