Christmas!

Quiet Christmas holiday with family. Full house and all brothers and sisters at home. It doesn't happen often nowadays.

I also had the MOT just after Christmas and the car obviously failed. Furthermore, I was not so happy when I found out that the winter tyres I got when I purchased my car didn't fit (they had a 5-lug fit instead of the normal VOLVO 4-lug). I have never been at home with the car in winter before so have never tried to fit them. Surprise.

SNOW!

This was the perfect weekend to travel to Sweden on. On the Friday, same day as I left, northern Europe was covered in thick snow. From Basingstoke all the way to Margate (the ferry port) and snow was lying thick all the way through Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany. Driving in those conditions just makes it extra difficult. And moreover, it was very cold and I could not stop at many of the places I had planned to see because I was freezing too much outside the car. I only took some breaks in Luxemburg and Copenhagen before crossing the Öresund Bridge to Malmö, Sweden.

Southern Sweden was chaotic when I arrived with enormous amounts of snowfall last night. Many villages were isolated for hours, ambulances could not reach rural areas and they were instead driving tracked vehicles around with rescue personnel. Fortunately, all the motorways were held open at all times and I could finally cross the country, although with some difficulty from not using winter tyres(!).

My Last Day

This title (and content too by all means!) sounds like a Scrubs-episode or something but it definitely isn’t.

My last day in the office was not so relaxing as I had thought. It started in the morning: the car was covered in 20cm snow. I started packing the last items and cleaning the house out early in the morning. Unfortunately my car didn’t start and I had to get help from a guy with jumper cables. After an extra lap on the ring road to charge up the battery, I arrived to the office at 10:00.

It didn’t become better of the fact that one of the models I've written during the past few weeks had bugs in it and I had to fix it before lunch (I only had a half day). I also suffered through an embarrassing leaving presentation and was given a gift I've already downloaded on the Pirate Bay. Perfect. I hurried to the bookshop to return it and just about finished my work before having to depart for the ferry. I may have forgotten a dozen things and didn't have time to clear out my desk properly but hopefully there is nothing valuable left in there.

South America

So now I also figured out what to do in January. I will go to South America for a while and I have found a bargain-ticket to Lima, Peru. Compared to my last trip, this will also be much more economic and thought-through. Now I also know what to see and do and how to avoid the tourist traps.

Arriving and departing from the same airport also saves hundreds of pounds so I will travel a shorter circuit. I also found a cheaper way to get to Madrid than using Ryan Air so now I am really happy. Instead of 15kg luggage for £10 I can now bring 25kg for free with Iberia. I wish Ireland, the country where Ryan Air was born, all misfortune in the world.

Well done Henry with your hand-ball.

The Mess

I have created the worst mess ever. First I sent a message to my landlord telling them I was moving out.

They replied asking me if there was something they needed to address. I said all was fine, only sometimes people didn’t clean up after themselves in the kitchen. Which is true.

My landlord then mistakenly thought (or played on that by purpose, which I don’t know) that I was moving out only because of the mess in the kitchen. He then sent a text message to my other three housemates

saying she would send a cleaner and charge it from the deposit. The girl I was sharing with thought

it was unreasonable (which it was!) and immediately submitted her notice, intending to move in with a friend and refusing to pay anything. Another housemate called them up and was very rude on the phone. My landlord apparently didn't accept that tone and immediately gave him notice to move out. After a week he moved into a colleague’s house.

The third and last housemate knew he could not move out as he only planned to stay in Basingstoke another couple of months and moving house normally involves signing up for at least six months. He rode the storm out and suddenly was the only one left in the house. As no one else would move in before Christmas, he is now bound to pay for internet, TV, phone and gas himself, costing him at least £20 extra per week.

But what do I care?

Quitted

So now I have official quit my job. I think they were a bit surprised and so was I. I came to the conclusion that if I don't quit now, will there ever ever be anything that will make me quit? Probably not. Carpe diem.