Odd jobs and BBC

My task this week was to learn odd jobs and assorted skills that frankly every man should possess. I won't lie, Youtube has been even more of a friend in this than usual. Aside from that I also enlisted the help of my aptly named book which  you can see below. For some reason, this is in mirror writing so, to translate - 'How to Fix Everything For Dummies'.

I am now fully versed in the workings of most home boilers and plumbing systems as well as being a dab hand at dealing with faulty electrical appliances. If you need your radiator bleeding then look no further. I now roll like this...

So as well as the task, this week also saw the last days of BBC Television Centre. It is a place that conjured up many aspirations as I was growing up and I thank myself lucky that I have been able to walk past it most days this year before it is mercilessly ripped down to make way for flats and a new cinema (of which there are two a mere 5 minute walk away). It's closure marks the end of my dream to one day go there in some shape or form, perhaps as part of one of the large charity events such as Children In Need, and seduce Fearne Cotton in those hallowed corridors. Of course, the end of that dream more likely came about when she married the son of a Rolling Stone and subsequently bore his child.

On Friday you may or may no know that the occasion was being marked with a gig by Madness. I was going past at that time anyway and so I thought I'd hop off the tube to see if anything was going on and this is what I saw.

Pretty cool eh? It was quite a site to behold and I felt pretty privileged to be witnessing it all. Something which all seems to be happening with a bit of a whimper and far less fanfare than the occasion deserves in my opinion. And although it looked good from the outside, Madness?! They were almost literally rubbish. Maybe they've not heard of a small band called Gun Hill Riffs. 

In other events, I attended a rather nice gin bar in central London even though, despite the best efforts in the past of one person in particular, which I appreciate, I still don't actually like gin. It insists upon itself. In a separate event, I believe I saw the tallest man I have ever seen walking around the shops. He can't have been shorter than 7 foot so I followed him for a little while just so I could look at him. Phenomenal.

So, I must sign off the usual blogs for around a month now, as I am about to embark upon a rather lengthy trip over to North America. As a rough outline, I will be hitting Calgary, Banff (snowboarding!), Vancouver, Tofino (?surfing), Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Yosemite, Coastal Redwoods (where they filmed the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi), LA and Vegas. Should be alright. I will of course bring some holiday blogs to the table and keep it all updated with how I'm getting on. Normal service shall resume on my return. Until then...

                                                                                                                                  W

Unicycling!

So my weekly task was to learn how to unicycle. Quickly, it has become apparent that it's well hard and as such the task has now changed to 'beginning to learn' how to unicycle. At this, I have excelled. The video below shows some of my trials and errors before the best run I've had towards the end. Tremendous fun!

The unicycle is a peculiar piece of kit. As I continuously fell off it, I wondered who it was invented by and why they invented it. Surely, someone capable of inventing such a thing lacks any sort of common sense or strength of mind. I have been unable to find the exact inventor of the unicycle but some say that it evolved when people riding penny farthings would lean forward and found that they didn't need their back wheel. Clearly these people were idiots. Nevertheless, I'll see where it takes me for the rest of the year.

 Amongst other activities, I attended a personal training session this week at a full on proper gymnastics gym in my quest to learn a back flip. It was a tough session, not least because of the warm up that I was given - to do a 4 length scramble through a massive foam pit. This genuinely almost killed me.Still, great fun and a proper big time gym. See below!

 

At this stage I can achieve half a back flip. For obvious reasons, this is not particularly useful and so I am returning next week to continue.

In other news, I spent most of Tuesday walking around with my flies wide open and on Wednesday I witnessed one man on the tube virtually inhaling an entire pack of ready salted Pringles. It was truly a site to behold.  

So next week will see a continuation of back flips and the task will be to educate myself on some general odd jobs that all men should know. Should be a goodun!
W

Periodic Table

I've had a good week this week. Done a bit of work and earned some money, which is always helpful. February has been reasonably good to me and after a long drawn out process of interviews and exams (that have, frankly got in the way of a lot of fun to be honest!) I have learned that I have a job on the GP training program come August in Oxford deanery. I guess in a world in which one has to make a living by working, that's good news and a weight off the old shoulders.

So, that done, time for full concentration on the final half of my year out. It's been a great first half and I sense the second will be at least as good! I feel I have achieved a lot although I did go to a rather random but quite awesome evening at a central London pub. It was one of those pubs in which you could imagine epic 19th century expedition to deepest darkest Peru being conceived and planned. The night I went, it was hosting a night of talks from various adventurers who were telling us all about their escapades. One girl was telling us all about how she had become the first woman to have run across the entire north American continent, running 45 miles a day in the process. Whilst I sat there listening and sipping down several pints, I thought about how I have been scaling staircases like a penguin for 2 weeks after running 13 miles. I guess some people are just in a different league!

Either way, my task was to learn the entire periodic table this week. Now learning the periodic table in spare moments on a night shift is rather tedious I must say, and more than a little tiring, but I got it done. Hopefully it shall be useful in the future although how, I have no idea. Interestingly it was devised in 1889 by the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleyev, who was able to predict the existence of elements that had yet to be discovered because of the gaps that occurred. So don't say I never teach anyone anything. Take a look below.

Having purchased a unicycle, I can't wait any longer so next week's task shall be to learn the unicycle to a respectable level. Hopefully I don't break my leg.
W