Five days in Newark

I shall be spending today until the 24th of December at my girlfriend's house in Newark. She and her mother wanted me over for some of the winter break and so that's where I will be travelling to after we meet up for an event in Nottingham's city centre.

Winter break 2017

As term 1 ended yesterday, students at NTU again have a month-long break, spanning exactly from the 8th of December until the 8th of January. Last winter break, I didn't have a lot to do; my assignments weren't terribly complicated and many of the plans I'd made that month were cancelled when people annoyingly backed out.

This year, it will be different. The biggest change is my girlfriend, as I will be spending quite a bit of it with her; both of us want to spend time with each other over the break. The other difference is that while my essays aren't much more complicated, they are larger, which will mean I will need to complete some of them during this break.

Another term ends

And so, another academic term ends. My fourth term at university has finished and the winter break begins; as of this writing, I have completed ten terms of education in the United Kingdom. My university course has five more terms until its completion.

Classes do not resume until January 8th but I'll be working on existing assignments before then; if I don't, I'll have too much to do in January and that would not be productive.

Onto the next university term

It can safely be declared that the winter break is now over. Tomorrow, classes will resume at their usual times. I have an assignment to hand in for the 19th while on the 16th, there is a "class test" for one of my media modules. Out of the two, I'm currently more optimistic about the test than the assignment but all that might change after tomorrow's tutorial and subsequent lecture with regards to the test!

Winter 2016-2017

Winter of 2016-2017 has arrived. For now, it's not been so different from the mid-to-late fall: Cold but nothing serious like snow or thick ice. Evidently, that could change later in the month or next month but for now, it's just cold!

I visited my grandparents today. I was over at their's for a late birthday meal, to pick a few more items of mine and because I wanted to see them. My grandfather brought me back to Clifton before the day became dark; it's the shortest day of the year but from here until mid-June, the days will start to lengthen again.

Pre-winter break assignment

The winter break will begin after this week. From now until then, however, I have an assignment to work on. I was writing some of it today but nowhere near the amount I wanted to (and should have done). Fortunately, I have most of Wednesday, much of Thursday and - if necessary - Friday after my last lecture of the term to complete it.

Term 1, year 1 close approaching

This week marks the start of the second-to-last week of my first-ever term at university. Yep - my first term at NTU is about two months, down from the 3-3 1/2 months my two first-terms at Central were in duration. While I've so far received fewer assignments, on the other side of the winter break, more assignments and also assessments will be on their way. The break will allow for some reading necessary to complete upcoming tasks.

Re-visiting "The college interview"

One year has passed since my college interview:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-college-interview.html

Funny...I said back then that I was going to make the decision in the "coming weeks" but I think I had already decided back then that I wanted to embark on the courses. Looking back, it was a wise choice.

The campus at which my interview took place has since been closed. I'm actually pleased that my course's location wasn't at that site because it would have far more difficult to reach that campus (the bus would have covered less of the journey and in the winter I'd have had multiple dark streets to traverse) than my current one.

Winter barbecue

Dad pulled off a winter barbecue this afternoon. He had decided to do one more barbecue this year, with today being the perfect day to do it; the sun shone all day and there was no threat of rain. Wonderful walking weather, too.

Why did he want to barbecue? Well, he wanted some barbecued meat and likes to barbecue. What did he barbecue? Chicken, sausages and salmon. Those meats, combined with the remaining Christmas turkey, mean that we have leftovers for the next week! Not that leftovers are a problem, of course; leftovers often make the tastiest meals. They also come with the added benefit of helping you save money.

Start of winter 2013/14

The next winter has begun, or maybe, is it really summer now and winter just ended? Back in Oregon, we had a friend who joked that the start of winter was actually the beginning of summer. Why did he think that? Because it's the shortest day of the year and the days get longer after that until the 21st of June, when the days start to decline in length. Did he also joke about that particular date being the start of winter? He certainly did!

It's felt like winter here for the past few days, anyway, so the official change of season is just a formality at this point.

On another note, it's now slightly over three days until Christmas!

Cold right now

It has been an incredibly cold day! At least, it has been to me, anyway. It's been the first time in ages that I've had to wear three layers of clothing to keep warm. Perhaps the worst part has been my cold hands. My hands are usually fairly cold but when the weather itself feels as though it's freezing...well, my hands become even colder and it can be tough to typ.

With the cold temperatures - combined with strong winds and heavy rain - today has definitely felt like a winter day rather than a misplaced fall day. Fortunately, my brother and I are doing something tomorrow that should warm me up: the next baking batch! I'm looking forward to it; I'll be sure to take some pictures of the baked goods.

The heat

While I am pleased about the summer weather, especially after the extended winter, the current high temperatures do bother me. Well, perhaps not so much the heat itself as how we can deal with it: the vast majority of houses in the United Kingdom do not have air conditioning; additionally, most of them are not fitted with any window screens, either. The latter is especially annoying because I have to keep my windows closed most of them time as to not let in insects and spiders, of which I've already had to evict several.

I don't want the winter weather to return just yet, of course...it's summer, after all; for now, more breezes like the ones that were present this evening would be welcome; the day itself was a scorcher, but the evening was cool and pleasant because of the breezes.

The cold winds

Just when we thought we'd seen the last of this winter's snow...it comes back! For each of the past couple of days we've had around an inch of fast-melting snow; last week's warm weather has vanished. We've barely seen the Sun in the past 60 hours, and whenever it has made an appearance the clouds have quickly covered it back up again.

This recent batch of snow hasn't been too much of a bother by itself; the problem has been the bone-freezing winds. I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, but I cut it short after the cold and powerful winds caused my face to feel as though I had placed a mask of ice over it. I achieved a normal-length walk today, but the winds were as cold (albeit not as strong) as they were yesterday.

Bring on spring! It's just over a week away!

The lengthening days

Spring and summer are on their way. The days are undeniably longer than they were a month or even a week ago, with there still being a large amount of daylight available at 5:20pm; it's another twenty-five minutes after then when it becomes dark. It won't be long before both warm weather and evening walks in the light return.

The clocks in the United Kingdom go forward on the last Sunday in March, extending the days even further; this will occur on the 31st of that month for 2013, and by then we'll have entered spring. With it snowing again, I'm sure many people are looking forward to the end of winter!

A stream in January

I took these pictures of a stream, located by one of the many paths around my town. The stream usually runs in winter, but it can run in summer if there is enough rain:

Both of these were done with my phone.

White field

The field I photographed and wrote about for yesterday's post? Here it is from two days ago, which is how it looked again today - significant snowfall:

Any melting that took place yesterday has been reversed from the weather throughout the night and all of today. It's now nighttime and it's still snowing, albeit not at the level it was this afternoon.

As an aside, I hope no one minds the sudden rush of winter-related posts. The amount of snowfall we've had has been too good to not write about and post pictures.

Hosepipe ban

Tomorrow, we will be under what is called a "hosepipe ban". Essentially, this means we will officially be under restrictions on how we use water: we will have to keep an eye on how much water we use when doing something that requires the use of water, such as dishes or having a shower (and we can save water by making efficient use of left over water from dishes and timing our showers).

Among the things we will not be able to use a hosepipe for include: watering our lawns/gardens, filling up a personal pond/water feature, washing home walls and windows; and cleaning cars or boats. There are exceptions to these: giving animals water (livestock, fish in a personal pond), and washing away health hazards and graffiti are exempt; and as far as I know we will still be able to clean windows and outside furniture by using a bucket and sponge rather than hosing them down. Anybody who has a pipe connected to a personal water source or rainwater instead of through the mains is also exempt from the ban.

I expect the ban to remain in place from now to throughout the summer, unless we somehow get massive amounts of rain all over the country during the next two months. I am not familiar with how long these normally last, but I do not anticipate it being lifted until fall or winter.

The part of this I find hilarious is that for the last couple of days, including today, we have had rain! Unfortunately, as said just above it will not end the hosepipe ban before it even starts, but I do appreciate the irony in it raining when the ban is about to take effect.

A local pond

When going for a walk a few days ago, I took a new picture of a pond in a local park, as it is the winter and the scenery is different. This was taken with my phone:

The first picture I took of the pond can be found here; it was taken during the summer with my main camera.

Better health

Nope, this is not another complaint about the cold I have had recently...it is a post to say that I am recovering well from it! My nose is no longer blocked, my throat is clearing, and I have had plenty of sleep since that night where I got hardly any rest at all. The only issue is that it still hurts to cough, but I fully expect that to clear in a day or too.

Hopefully no one will catch any more colds before the winter ends. My parents have had two colds in the last two months...I doubt they will want a third.

August 31st

I am amazed at how fast August appears to have gone, for in a few hours it will be September. Still, I should not be surprised as it has been an active and exciting month, with the trip to Nottingham and all that: to think that a mere three weeks ago we were bowling, and four weeks ago I had beaten my brother in an incredibly close game of Run Off.

Summer is not quite over, but it feels like it came and went ages ago: the majority of our really warm weather took place back in spring, and summer's weather has mainly been what we are used to from about this time of the year to October (cloudy, rainy, and/or windy). Last winter was very cold even by British standards, so I am curious to see just how cold this winter will be too, but before then, we now have autumn to look forward to after this fall-like summer.

Oh, a little off-topic, but remember the rafting trip I mentioned a couple of months ago? I checked, and that adventure took place exactly eight years ago to the date.