Friday, October 03, 2008
Graduation
Graduation day saw Mum and Dad come up from Bracknell and Alex dash up after half a day at work for a late afternoon ceremony. We were lucky with the weather, since the preceeding and following days were very wet but the sun appeared for the occasion. It was quite a long ceremony with the chancellor, Chris Patten, having a chat with quite a few of us in the process of conferring our degrees. The day was topped off with a really nice meal in a fish restaurant on the quayside at North Shields
Summer 2008
The summer seems to have flown by and before we knew it I had started work
We managed to spend to spend a week in Turkey straight after finishing exams. We hired a car for the week and managed to get out and about visiting lots of interesting places as well as managing to sample the local sea food and relay (briefly!) on the beach!!!
We managed to spend to spend a week in Turkey straight after finishing exams. We hired a car for the week and managed to get out and about visiting lots of interesting places as well as managing to sample the local sea food and relay (briefly!) on the beach!!!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The end of Medical School!!!!!!
Exams finally came to an end on the 10th of June with a fairly horrendous final clinical exam. However, the elation of finishing was increased by Alex's impromptu visit to Newcastle, bearing Champagne and dinner. Having already made plans for the evening, we went out to meet lots of my course mates in Jesmond. Its a good job that Claires husband Morrow was also out to entertain Alex, since there was a lot of swapping of exam horror stories!
We didn't have to wait long for results, although the 11th of June has to be one of the longest days of my life. Unable to bear the prospect of sitting at home waiting for results, Claire and I went for the shop till you drop approach and went off into town in search of bikini's, shorts, ball dresses, wedding dresses - you name it we looked at it!!!! By 1 o'clock the nerves had well and truly set in. The results were due at 2 - and still they weren't out...but by 3 it was finally over. Our 4 years at Medical school were finally over. All my friends were safely through too. The distinction was just the icing on the cake!!
Most of the 12th of June was taken up with graduation ball preparation - nothing like leaving it to the last minute to buy a dress Claire - although we did bump into alot of the graduating medics in the metro centre that morning!!!
Graduation ball was an ace evening. It was held in Hardwick Hall, about 45 minutes away in County Durham. It was an excellent evening of wining, dinning, dancing....... and playing on the dodgems!!! The presence of the later definitely won the evening over for Alex. He now wants to investigate how much dodgems would cost to have at the wedding - wishful thinking i 'd say!!!
We didn't have to wait long for results, although the 11th of June has to be one of the longest days of my life. Unable to bear the prospect of sitting at home waiting for results, Claire and I went for the shop till you drop approach and went off into town in search of bikini's, shorts, ball dresses, wedding dresses - you name it we looked at it!!!! By 1 o'clock the nerves had well and truly set in. The results were due at 2 - and still they weren't out...but by 3 it was finally over. Our 4 years at Medical school were finally over. All my friends were safely through too. The distinction was just the icing on the cake!!
Most of the 12th of June was taken up with graduation ball preparation - nothing like leaving it to the last minute to buy a dress Claire - although we did bump into alot of the graduating medics in the metro centre that morning!!!
Graduation ball was an ace evening. It was held in Hardwick Hall, about 45 minutes away in County Durham. It was an excellent evening of wining, dinning, dancing....... and playing on the dodgems!!! The presence of the later definitely won the evening over for Alex. He now wants to investigate how much dodgems would cost to have at the wedding - wishful thinking i 'd say!!!
May 2008
With finals looming, a majority of May was taken up studying while trying to retain my sanity at the weekends. The month started with a mass invasion of Newcastle for May day bank holiday. Anna and Ben, Tom and Gareth and Suzy and Harry all arrived in Newcastle on the Friday night, surprisingly early considering it was both a bank holiday weekend and a long way (Oxford, North wales ......). We went off to Kielder biking on Saturday. It was an excellent ride with both Suzy and Anna demonstrating acrobatic falling off. The trip was ended by an impromptu trip north to Scotland since Tom and Gareth had landed themselves in the middle of nowhere without considering the need for petrol to get them back again. Even getting to this northerly petrol station was a tight call!!! Cath and Alex arrived after a days DIY in Sheffield and we all went out to china town for a fab meal! On Sunday, not really feeling i could justify a whole weekend without revision, I packed them all off for a days riding at Innerleithen. I felt quite pleased with my decision to stay behind while i was working/ watching the rain lash down outside, until they came home with tales of glorious sunshine in Scotland!!!! We rounded off the weekend with a trip to Hamsterley on the Monday. A fun trip round the black run was rounded off nicely with dinner in the pub!
Most of the rest of May consisted of revision with the odd day off here and there. Alex's parents came to visit. They spent half the day exploring Newcastle with Alex before i picked them up form town and we all headed off to the coast near south Shields for a beautiful walk encountering the coast line, lighthouses, wind mills and spectacular views across the countryside, enhanced by the flowering rape seed crops.
Most of the rest of May consisted of revision with the odd day off here and there. Alex's parents came to visit. They spent half the day exploring Newcastle with Alex before i picked them up form town and we all headed off to the coast near south Shields for a beautiful walk encountering the coast line, lighthouses, wind mills and spectacular views across the countryside, enhanced by the flowering rape seed crops.
On bank holiday weekend, Alex went karting for Billy's birthday. A good day was had by all, although Alex was some what put out not to have won the race. We finished the day with a brief outing to the pub and birthday cake. We also went up to Northumberland on the Sunday with Billy and Lou to explore the Couquet gorge. It was a fun walk, although i did get quite a lot of abuse for not reading the guide book before setting off rather than just looking at the location - not only did we end up fording a river which was somewhat less than empty but also ended up walking across a firing range while the red flags were flying!!!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
April 08
April has certainly had a marital feel to it this year. It started off with us finally setting a date for our wedding, June 09.
The first weekend, Alex headed off with the boys for Marcus's stag weekend. A fun weekend was had by all, with paintballing, football, cricket and quite a few gallons of ale.
The second weekend in April, we headed down to Cotswold's on the Friday night to have a very fine birthday dinner with Jenny at her parents house. After all the abuse I get when i go to Scotland for feeding Sam random tip bits, Jenny really has no leg to stand on with the amount of food her parents dogs were given from the table!!!!! We then headed down to Bristol for James Ho and Sam's wedding. It was held in a very pretty house overlooking the Severn estuary and welsh hills. It was lovely to catch up with people that we hadn't seen for ages, as well as meet the new arrivals (Ger and Sarah's son Thomas). It was a very fun evening of dancing (despite the fact Alex kept on claiming to be too young to know half the music - clearly lying!!!) and the Chinese lanterns that were sent off across Bristol were very pretty!
By the third weekend, it was time for some more DIY in Newcastle. We spent the weekend finishing off lots of bits and pieces that needed doing. Although, we never seem to get quite as much done as hope and Sarah then spent most of the following week finishing stuff off ready to get the house valued. Thankfully its now on the market so just hoping that someone wants to buy it.
The last weekend in April, we headed off to the south coast, near Eastbourne, for Emma and Marcus's wedding. It was in a beautiful barn near the sea. Marcus's emotions got the better of him throughout the service (and we all thought it would be Emma in tears!!!). The weather was amazing throughout the day so we were able to sit out in the sun, drinking champagne and catching up with friends since most of the Sheffield Uni canoe club oldies were there!!!!! There was an amazing BBQ dinner before 3 hours of hours of energetic barn dancing. Since there was an outdoor swimming door just outside the barn, it was hardly surprising that a few people ended up in the pool towards the end of the night. Nor was it surprising that it was Alex that initiated such antics!!!!
On Sunday, we cleared the hall and packed away an impressive amount of left over alcohol. We then went for a walk along the cliff tops before starting the trek back to Sheffield/Newcastle.
The first weekend, Alex headed off with the boys for Marcus's stag weekend. A fun weekend was had by all, with paintballing, football, cricket and quite a few gallons of ale.
The second weekend in April, we headed down to Cotswold's on the Friday night to have a very fine birthday dinner with Jenny at her parents house. After all the abuse I get when i go to Scotland for feeding Sam random tip bits, Jenny really has no leg to stand on with the amount of food her parents dogs were given from the table!!!!! We then headed down to Bristol for James Ho and Sam's wedding. It was held in a very pretty house overlooking the Severn estuary and welsh hills. It was lovely to catch up with people that we hadn't seen for ages, as well as meet the new arrivals (Ger and Sarah's son Thomas). It was a very fun evening of dancing (despite the fact Alex kept on claiming to be too young to know half the music - clearly lying!!!) and the Chinese lanterns that were sent off across Bristol were very pretty!
By the third weekend, it was time for some more DIY in Newcastle. We spent the weekend finishing off lots of bits and pieces that needed doing. Although, we never seem to get quite as much done as hope and Sarah then spent most of the following week finishing stuff off ready to get the house valued. Thankfully its now on the market so just hoping that someone wants to buy it.
The last weekend in April, we headed off to the south coast, near Eastbourne, for Emma and Marcus's wedding. It was in a beautiful barn near the sea. Marcus's emotions got the better of him throughout the service (and we all thought it would be Emma in tears!!!). The weather was amazing throughout the day so we were able to sit out in the sun, drinking champagne and catching up with friends since most of the Sheffield Uni canoe club oldies were there!!!!! There was an amazing BBQ dinner before 3 hours of hours of energetic barn dancing. Since there was an outdoor swimming door just outside the barn, it was hardly surprising that a few people ended up in the pool towards the end of the night. Nor was it surprising that it was Alex that initiated such antics!!!!
On Sunday, we cleared the hall and packed away an impressive amount of left over alcohol. We then went for a walk along the cliff tops before starting the trek back to Sheffield/Newcastle.
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