London

This 360 image was captured at the top of the Shard London Bridge, 310m above London,
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Firstly, check the link, this is just awesome and beautiful. I'm not massively into photography, but I do have a lot of appreciation for it.

I've always had mixed feelings about London. Being from the south of England everyone instantly assumes you must be within spitting distance of it and think its the best place in the world. Well in truth I'm 45 minutes from it and apart from travelling through it between Uni and Home I've not been to London that many times really. However if I had to give my honest opinion of it I would say its far too crowded and most of it isn't that special and very overrated. I think every other town and city in Britain is also amazing and beautiful in its way and London is just the tip of the iceberg of all the wonders of Britain.

All this being said there is something amazing about London and their are parts of it that feel like nowhere else and as a bit of a patriot (as if you didn't already notice) I definitely have a spot in my heart for my countries capital.

Pål's Birthday

Today is Pål's birthday, he is Mariannes, sisters boyfriend, and a legend of a bloke. This gives me a nice excuse to finally move onto something Norwegian, after all that is meant to be the point.


Pål's name (the Norwegian equivalent to Paul) was one of my first introductions to the strange world of the Norwegian alphabet. Well not that strange its only an extra three letters but to me a man who cant speak a double figure amount of words in any language but his own it was a bit of a mind melt. The letter Å/å is not a natural sound to make for an Englishman and something I had to practice an embarrassing amount. Not to mention the almost overwhelming desire to just say 'Pal' as that would be a pretty awesome name if you ask me. A phrase book I found months later described the sound as like the 'o' in lord, which is close but still a fair bit off the money especially in my southern accent
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I believe my past and current struggle with the Norwegian language will take up a large proportion of this blog as it is my main concern on a daily basis. For now I will just end by saying, I am trying hard and learning slowly, one badly pronounced word at a time.


Hadet Bra
(Goodbye)

Back on the road

Turned a mates garage into a workshop and assisted my Dad over two days to put a new engine in my bike. I ride a Yamaha XJ600 Diversion. Its my first proper bike and after a passed my direct access and got my full licence a few months ago. The new engine was essentially the same but in better condition. Was so so stressful and it was very clear that I know nothing about mechanics but thankfully my Dad is very experienced and its running like a dream and really looking forward to my first big cruise.

Still haven't taken my dear lady for a trip on it yet either, I think she trusts me, we shall soon see.

The old man's coming to visit

Me and the old man (Dad aka Chris). He is coming up to visit tomorrow, mainly to fit a new engine to my motorbike which I' ll talk more about tomorrow but I'm also hoping to have a good laugh as we usually do. Feeling quite excited as after 3 years living with 5 other guys in horrible old student houses full of mess and mould. I am really looking forward to showing him my nice clean modern apartment. Very aware that a lot of the a for mentioned mess was mine but seriously these places were basically lost causes, cleaning them felt like trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose. A little rewarding but ultimately futile

Spent a while cleaning today. Never really known what house pride was until I moved here, how scarily mature of me.

Me and my girlfriend Marianne at Chester Zoo April 2011

This trip to Chester Zoo was my first in the 3 years I'd lived in the city, it was Marianne's 4th in her 6 months. Really enjoyed the day and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Although once every few years is enough in my opinion, Marianne is a special case.

Prologue

So lets start with the obvious;
Hi I'm Bobby. I'm 22 and live in an apartment in Chester with my girlfriend Marianne and my friend and fellow waiter Andy. I hope you enjoy my first attempt to enter the world of blogging.

I will avoid the temptation to rample to give lots of background and instead hopefully over time build a nice picture of who I am and the trials, tribulations and fears I have about emigrating, as that is what I want this blog to really be about. It might help someone else, find someone who could help me, or maybe just make me feel a little better by getting the thoughts in my head down in black and white.

I will also have random posts on other interests of mine to mix it up, these will probably include; food, alcohol, movies, motorbike, poker, sport and anything else that might randomly catch my eye.