Bakewell September 2017

As a treat for both the help she gave me over the past academic year and for her return to Nottingham for the new one, I took a university friend to Bakewell for the day. Said friend is a fellow mature student (significantly older) and half of her course is English, as is half of mine. In addition to having a pleasant walk up there, we had lunch - fish and chips, in fact - as then paid a short visit to Matlock Bath on the way back.

When classes start back next week, we're in a meeting together on Wednesday and in a class together on Friday.

Caramel Irish cream

A few months ago, a friend of mine from one of the other houses at my accommodation gave me a bottle of salted caramel Irish cream. The drink was highly delicious and when I mentioned it to my mother, she liked the sound of it and wanted to try it at some point.

As a gift for her and my brother, I purchased a bottle of it the other day and will be presenting it to them next time I'm at their house. Salted caramel Irish cream - the Tesco Finest brand - is deeply tasty and for anyone who is a fan of Irish cream and salted caramel, I recommend it, regardless of brand.

From one to the other

So, this morning I woke up early to move. Boxes needed to be carried, various items packed, belongings carefully placed on the other side - all that good stuff.

But...it wasn't me moving! No, not this time. A university friend was moving to a different part of her building and required some help, for she had only two hours to move all her belongings before
starting work. As I was free this morning, I was more than happy to wake and leave early to help her.

The hard part now for my friend, assuming she hasn't already finished it, is sorting out the mess we left her new place in from hurriedly taking her belongings there. This isn't really a task I can help with since people have their own arrangements when it comes to where they live.

Lea & Perrins

Years ago, whenever Dad had tinned fish on toast, he would mix Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce into any particular fish mix. Before I left my accommodation a few weeks ago, I'd re-discovered Worcestershire by mixing it in with tinned fish to then put in salad.

The primary purpose of Worcestershire sauce is to enhance the flavour of any food it is mixed into; in some cases, such as tinned tuna, it can be used to moisten a particular food. It is especially effective when adding to casseroles and some pies.

I re-discovered it because I had some tins of tuna to eat but the tuna was all dry; as such, I remembered what Dad used to put in his tinned fish.

The new bath mat

At my accommodation last year, it quickly became necessary for me to purchase a bath mat, for there was none outside the shower and when the floor became wet, it became dangerous as it would be easy to slip on.

Unfortunately, I accidentally left the bath mat in the house and during the maintenance period it was seemingly removed. Fortunately, this after I went out I purchased a new bath mat. It was either buy a new one or go stick to trying to not slip on the wet floor. I prefer the former.

So, for the second year in a row, I have a new bath mat!

Liveland History: 25th September 2017

Three years ago, I shared my baking in Pre-Access

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/sharing-baking.html

I ended up starting a trend by doing so, although the reason I brought brownies in the first place was because another classmate had brought store-bought muffins in on the preceding Thursday. After our contributions, people would bring in baked or bought goods to class on a Thursday and the tradition lasted until almost the end of the year.

Housemates 2017

My accommodation fits five people. While inductions are next week - many beginning on Monday - so far my house only has four of its intended five occupants. There is a fifth person scheduled to arrive but they have yet to make an appearance. My hope is that they have a reason to have not moved in on the standard move-in days and that they are merely delayed for whatever reason.

If they don't show, I'll only have three housemates this year unless a replacement is found. I expect the person will show, however. As for my current housemates, I'm again sharing with the year's Resident Assistant and he's been doing a good job so far with his role, meeting whoever has moved in and offering to help them. There is a man from Malawi in the house this year and a woman from Doncaster.

So far, everyone seem friendly. May it be kept that way.

Back to my accommodation (3)

And it's done. I'm fully back in my accommodation. My aunt and uncle from the East of England came over, helped me transport my belongings to my accommodation, helped me unpack my items into my room and they did a small shop for me at Morrison's - the same as they did last year.

Next week is welcome week but that's for new students, not second years like myself. My classes do not begin until Monday the 2nd of October.

Back to my accommodation (2)

I'm now officially back at my accommodation. I went over to my campus in the morning to ensure I was enrolled again and then I picked up my key to my old room. Once at the house, I met my new Resident Assistant; this RA will be in the same house as me, same as the previous one.

While I'm staying at my accommodation tonight, I've only brought a few items with me. As my uncle is coming tomorrow, there wasn't any need to bring loads of stuff over.

Back to my accommodation

Tonight will be my last night in my mother and brother's house before I return to my accommodation. Tomorrow, I'll be registering for Year 2 of university, picking up the key to my accommodation and moving a few items over. My East of England uncle will be here on Saturday to help me move the rest of my belongings over.

Summer is over. Fall starts along with the new university academic year. Hard to believe that nearly four months ago I'd finished my sole exam of Year 1.

"Something in the Way You Move" - Ellie Goulding

This is by far my song of choice at the moment - most addictive track I've heard in a long time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_GWTy9FEM

It's "Something in the Way You Move" by Ellie Goulding, taken from Delirium (2015), her third studio album. While it is possible I might have heard it on a radio somewhere, my first confirmed hearing of "Something in the Way You Move" was a few days away when my brother and I were listening to the deluxe edition of Delirium. A day later, I heard it in the city centre when I was out with a friend and since then, I've listened to it every day so far.

Beyond that, I'd say that it's Goulding's best song to date, beating "I Need Your Love", which was a collaboration of hers with Calvin Harris.

The identical dresses

Here's a light-hearted piece from the news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41321595

Seeing five identical but accidental outfits at an event like a wedding would be hilarious! At least the women involved here saw it that way. For men, we're uniformly in suits at formal occasions so we're all dressed identically by default.

Walk interrupted

My intended walk this afternoon was Clifton-Ruddington-Wilford-City Centre via the tram walkways. When I stepped outside, it looked as though it was going to be cool but otherwise dry, although just in case I had brought my umbrella.

After I walk out of Ruddington, I notice a massive black cloud hovering over the region. I expected that it wouldn't be long before it would unleash its contents onto the fully-suspecting ground below. Not to be disappointed, as I approached Wilford, the rain fell upon the land, going from a light shower to a downpour in seemingly no time at all.

The rain was so heavy that my umbrella was overwhelmed; as such, I ran to the upcoming bus stop and took the 3 route, thus ending my walk until I returned to Clifton, when the rain had stopped and I walked back to my mother's and brother's house.

Cash and the teacher

I was out with someone this afternoon and one of the places we went to was the Arboretum part of Nottingham. While there, we encountered a pro-environment festival that was being held; I had read the other day that it was on but I forgot about it.

Two odd events occurred: The first was that I found a £10 note on the floor. I didn't want to keep it but at the same time, if I reported it as missing, there was too high a chance that someone who never owned it would claim it. As such, I gave it to one of the charities at the festival. I didn't want it so why not give it to charity? At least the money will benefit someone by my giving it away.

The second was that I encountered my old mathematics teacher from Pre-Access! I saw him at a distance as he walked towards us and when he became close to us, I recognised him as my teacher. He was with his other half and did not appear to see me. Not a big deal - I hope he had an enjoyable afternoon, too.

Family fun event

This afternoon, I returned to, for the first time since I moved out, the Clifton campus. My reason for being there was to attend a family-friendly event, designed for mature students to meet other mature students; however, I had not realised exactly what "family-friendly" entailed.

I had expected it to be an event that students with young children would be welcome at in addition to those who don't yet have kids. Instead, it catered primarily to those with kids so that parents could network. As a result, there wasn't really much for me to do there and it wasn't really possible to involve myself in conversation when children were the link. The three main people I spoke to were an existing friend, one of her friends and a member of the Welcome Team.

While this particular event wasn't of much use to me, I nevertheless support events like it. Mature students with children are increasingly going to university and it is deeply important that they be made to feel included and welcomed.

A missed post

After many years of blogging, despite many close shaves in that time, I'd never missed a day of posting. Then came yesterday - the first day since I started on which I did not post. What happened?

Nothing terribly serious. I was with a college friend in the morning and with another college friend in the afternoon. The latter friend is going to Lincoln University this weekend, so to celebrate we went to the new Krispy Kreme donut shop in the Victoria Centre and after that, we went to the pub for drinks. The sugar from the hot chocolate I had in the morning, plus the donuts plus the cocktails combined with my lack of a proper lunch and enough water caused me to have a headache. When I got home, I rested and ate but then went to bed, thus missing making a post.

So, yeah, I was out celebrating and then had a headache. Not too much of a big deal; the headache, which I overcame fairly quickly, was a small nuisance given that I'd had a great day preceding it.

Bernie and Hillary supporters

The presidential primaries that the Democrats in the United States held last year ended well over a year ago. Yet, despite this, hardcore and/or bitter supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders still insist on arguing about the final result of the election.

"Bernie would have won, Hillary cheated!" the hardcore Bernie supporters yell

"Bernie shouldn't have run, he made Hillary lose!" the Hillary supporters shout back.

This continued back and forth, while being spouted by a minority on either side, achieves nothing. Continuing to divide the Democratic Party as they are doing will only serve to give the current president another term in office in 2020. That must not be allowed to happen. Re-living the 2016 Democratic primaries over and over again is destructive.

Mexican aid

Mexico has withdrawn its offer of help to the United States for the latter country's recovery from the ongoing hurricanes and storms:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mexico-earthquake-us-hurricane-aid-withdraw-donald-trump-condoloences-harvey-irma-houston-texas-a7942626.html

Why has Mexico done this? The largest reason is because a massive earthquake has hit that country and it needs to focus on sorting out damage within its own borders. The other reason is because the current President of the United States not only failed to accept aid from Mexico but also failed to send condolences to them for when the earthquake hit.

The faces

This afternoon, I walked to Ruddington and from there, I rode the 10 bus to the city centre. On its own, this isn't worth of noting here; however, the events on the bus and afterwards are.

Shortly after the bus passed the former site of Central's West Bridgford campus, it stopped to pick up two people; to my surprise, one of these people was a friend of a cousin of mine. My brother and I met this person in passing during our visit to Drayton Manor over six years ago. I did not acknowledge her, on the basis that it was a brief meeting years and because it was unlikely she would have recognised me, given my appearance changes since then.

The second familiar face was towards the county hall stop in West Bridgford. At this point, a librarian who helped process me when my progression advisor encouraged me to undertake an assessment back when I first visited Central then boarded the bus. I have seen him since then to speak to and he acknowledged/spoke to me when we departed the bus.

The final familiar face was in the Victoria Centre. I saw in there a coursemate from the Media side of my university course. The last few times I've seen her have either been in the city centre or on board South Notts 1. Since she lives in London, I wasn't expecting to see her around again until later this month, at least. She and I did acknowledge each other.

So, plenty of familiar faces this afternoon!

The confined room

At my university accommodation, I had a large room, which easily accommodated my belongings and any boxes/suitcases they all came with me in. At my mother's house, however, the room is not at all large enough to fit in many of my belongings; most are in the storage areas of the house.

Even so, a large amount of my belongings are in the room I have here and the limited space there was before is even more limited now. To be able to sleep, I have to move excess belongings from my bed to my chair and if I want to use my laptop, the reverse becomes true.

To be fair, however, this is a temporary arrangement; I'll have my big room back soon. This post isn't a complaint - merely a small window into where I'm currently living.

The new Mainline

I travelled to Bingham this afternoon to attend the rebranding/relaunch event of the Rushcliffe Mainline, which involved it becoming just the "Mainline" as well as new buses being introduced to replace those that have been in service for years. In fact, the event was all about the new Mainline fleet - two of the new buses were on display.

Both buses were open to public viewing. One of the new features of these buses compared to the old ones were the USB chargers, which I had been expecting; another were the skylights, which I'd read about in advance. More surprising, however, were the lights along the floor, the non-slip floor, the "mood lighting", the enhanced display panel for the upcoming stop and the removal of the aisle-facing seats. What can I say? These new Mainline buses are vastly superior to the old ones - they almost rival Red Arrow, in some respect.

I couldn't help but be impressed by the new Mainline bus fleet. I definitely want to ride on one soon; they will be put into official service tomorrow.

The leafblower

At my grandparents' house this afternoon, the work there included mowing the lawn, finishing cutting down the rotten plum tree and...using the leafblower.

When my family and I lived in Oregon, we owned a leafblower, although we mostly used it in reverse mode, which meant it sucked leaves up and mulched them. In blowing mode, however, while it wasn't a weak blower it wasn't an overpowered one, either.

Now, my grandfather's leafblower...that one is a beast of a machine. When I turned it on, I was not only surprised by how far it blew the leaves but also by how much of a recoil there was! Never before had I felt such a strong recoil on a leafblower. Once I overcame the surprise, however, I immediately hopped in to the joy of blowing the leaves into a large pile, which I then scooped up and took around the back to use as fertilizer.

So yes, this afternoon I had fun using a powerful leafblower. It wasn't as taxing as cutting down the plum tree but it was still intense in its own way.

Two years since the start of Access

Two years ago, my Access course at Central began:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/second-course-first-day.html

Yep, two years since that epic academic year began. It got off to a bit of a tough start, what with having to adjust to not only a new group of people but a large group, at that, given that Pre-Access had shrunk to eleven people by the time it concluded. Yes, Access became a stellar academic year, indeed.

The squat slug

This afternoon, I went outside to the back yard to do some weed clearing for my mother; I had promised some garden work to her during my stay. While clearing near a strawberry bush, I encountered an enormous slug.

Now, this slug wasn't enormous in length - in fact, it was shorter than many of the slugs I've seen around here and in Northamptonshire. No, this slug was wide. It was at least an inch thick and couldn't have been much more than two inches in length. Never before can I recall seeing a slug with such short length in proportion to its width.

As for what I did to the slug, I left it alone. I moved away from that area of the yard so that the slug would not be disturbed any further.

"Yesterday, When I Was Mad" - Pet Shop Boys

Time for a song that I have loved since the 1990s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBHjVq3SUXk

It's "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" by the Pet Shop Boys, taken from their album Very. This version of "Yesterday, When I Wad Mad" is the album version of the song, for the video version is significantly different in sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS0fsoyrFg4

It wasn't until 2005 when Dad, my brother and I heard the video version but we'd all heard the album version many years before then. We used to play Very a lot when we lived at our second house in California, quite often when certain friends were over to visit.

"Yesterday, When I Was Mad" it not only one of my favourite Pet Shop Boys songs but also remains one of my favourite songs overall. Very itself is probably my favourite album overall, given that I have highly positive impressions of every one of the songs it contains.

Liveland History: 4th September 2014

Three years ago today, I had my second-ever class at Central College Nottingham, during my Pre-Access course:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/second-class.html

It was the first Sociology lesson of the year. The teacher of that class went on to be my course leader for Access as well as the teacher I had the best interactions with. Even now, she and I still communicate with each other, mostly via text.

In that lesson, I spoke up somewhat in the group I was with and during the brief induction, I had ruled out the Poland trip for that year. In retrospect, that was a good decision and at any rate, I travelled to Poland the following year and enjoyed it far more than I would have done if I'd gone in 2015.

Matlock Bath and Matlock 2017

My best friend and I spent the day in Matlock Bath this afternoon. As she will be heading off to university later this month, I treated her to a trip up there as a gift before she leaves. As per my recent visits to the Peak District, we travelled via Red Arrow to Derby and then the Sixes 6.1 to Matlock Bath.

Once in Matlock Bath we climbed the mountain, via its footpaths, that faces the Heights of Abraham. We did not visit the Heights of Abraham itself because the cable car ride up was too expensive for us; however, the view of the Heights from the opposite side was just as worthy. We walked along the mountaintop paths and exited in the town of Matlock itself before walking back to Matlock Bath.

We had a fantastic day out in the Peak District and I wish my friend the best for her upcoming journey through university.

Tram path walk

There are four major routes I take to walk from Clifton to the city centre of Nottingham:

1. Clifton - Wilford - Ruddington - West Bridgford - the city centre

2. Clifton - Wilford - down a footpath close to the river - the tram path via The Meadows part of Nottingham - the city centre

3. Long way via Clifton - Ruddington - West Bridgford (via the route of the 10) - the city centre

4. Direct to the city centre via the footpath by the tram tracks

Recently, I've been walking on that last one, the footpath via the tram tracks. This is easily the most direct way into the city centre from Clifton, as it is a mostly straight route, in addition to avoiding much of the traffic. A modified version of this walk is to take it all the way to the bridge over the Trent but to then turn right and go via West Bridgford, which is what I did today as it adds some extra distance to the walk.

The rotten plum tree

For much of today, I was over at my grandparents' house, completing more garden work for them. Today's biggest task was cutting down the nearly-dead plum tree near their back shed. My grandfather said that the tree died to a lack of sunlight, as caused by the trees around it in other yards growing. A few years ago, the tree produced these delicious plums - now, it can only manage a few scattered leaves.

The tree has been dying for a while, for when I cut into some of the branches, they were thoroughly rotten. In some cases, I didn't even need to use any sort of tool to cut the tree because the branches would snap once enough pressure was applied.

This is at least the second time I can recall cutting down a major tree. The first was when a willow tree on our property back in Oregon died in 2009; Mum and Dad asked me to cut it down and I did.