Somewhere Else

http://www.somewhereelse.co.uk/

This time last year I just wanted to be somewhere else. I’d been in my job for two and a half years, hated my boss and felt stuck in a rut. I didn’t really care which direction my life took, as long as it went somewhere else and didn’t just stay where it was.
In May I took my little sister’s hand, a deep breath and a huge leap of faith, as we both launched ourselves into unemployment via a trip to Lanzarote.
Since then I have done work experience in London, written for various national publications, set myself up as a private tutor, been considered for jobs in education, charity, youth work and publishing in London, Bath, Bristol and Peru, and although I haven’t actually ended up somewhere else, I’ve discovered much of Cornwall, London, Brighton, Somerset, Edinburgh, Lanzarote, Wales and Leeds.
I’ve gained inspiration seeing Lucy’s positive outlook take her to Berlin, Livvy’s hard work result in some great events, Matt’s kindness get him recognition, and Poppy’s intrepidness offer kids a helping hand in Uganda. Positivity, hard work, kindness and intrepidness may not have got me literally very far this year, but I have come a long way.
As I enter the New Year, I have a new job, new ideas, plans for travel, and pride in my 25 French and Spanish A Level students who did tremendously well in their exams.
And as I shared a fabulous meal thanks to Matt and Livvy last night, I realised that this time last year I didn’t even know these incredible people. Where was I? In a wonderful venue in snowy Cirencester, I was Somewhere Else.

Chipping Sodbury

It's -4C outside. A great day for a walk.
Joe and I chose Chipping Sodbury, as it is close to Bristol and we found a walk which should take no longer than the remaining hours of sunlight.
It is very pretty, especially when frosted. Be sure to go when the ground is hard and unyielding, the grass crunchy and the puddles turned to ice.
We passed three very old churches, dating from 13th century, many farms and three Sodburys: Chipping Sodbury, Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury, ambling through fields, passing frozen cows, sheep and horses; arriving back just as the light was fading from the day. It didn't have far to fade, as all day the sky was as white as the grass, tree branches and nettles.
With muted tones, rolling hills and church spires, time seemed suspended for a while. It was hard to find signs to indicate which period we were living in.
A lovely escape from the city.

Dirty Thirty

On Friday Emma and I set off for Leeds in Emma's car. We left at about 5pm, just as it started to snow, and battling blizzards, traffic jams and bad directions, finally arrived at 10pm-ish, joining Bex's other friends from around the country. We were there to celebrate her 30th.
This involved eating fajitas and drinking wine on Friday night, hitting the German market on Saturday, which smells better than it tastes, and heading back to Bex's house in the afternoon to dress up. Bex had decided to embrace the northern spirit, and we had been told to dress in 'Hollyoaks Glamour'. Cue the leopard print, fake eyelashes, hair extensions, false nails, fake tan, high heels and bling! A few hours and bottles of bubbly later, we no longer resembled our former selves, and some even found new voices and personalities to go with their dress.
We had dinner at Pizza Express, then went to Boutique, where we blended in a treat, sipping cocktails and strutting our stuff on the dancefloor. Though the DJ did ask us to tone it down as we were knocking his equipment off his table in our vigour! We ended the night in a nearby bar, where things went very WAG for a while - lost girls, upset girls, drunk girls and some boys...
It was a fun weekend, but as the taxi refused to take us up the icy hill, and we found ourselves tottering through the snow in our high heels, I felt relieved that I would never have to go through all this hassle for a night out again!

Cross country

In a week, I have travelled from Penzance, to Bristol, to London, to Brighton, and back to Bristol. During this week I saw my parents, sister and nephews in Penzance, where I babysat, stayed awake as children coughed, hunted bears and caught up with friends. I also briefly saw my boyfriend, who was visiting his sister, niece and nephew in Cornwall, made invitations for my mum's birthday, helped develop a plotline for a new novel and had a Skype interview for a job in a place I love: Peru.
Then I had a brief stop in Bristol where I changed beds (having left in a rush after entertaining visitors the previous weekend), washed clothes, applied for jobs, had meetings and supported a hardworking artist on a deadline. I also learned I had passed the interview and was on to round two, and prepared the tasks set for it.
I then headed to London, where I saw two more sisters, a niece and my mum again, played a lot of 'row row row your boat', and ate a birthday tea. I also saw my best friend for birthday lunch and visited the V and A museum with her, went to a party and caught up with two more precious friends, and worried about whether I even wanted the job.
Then I went to Brighton. In Brighton I waited for my boyfriend, shopped, ate lovely food, walked a lot, relaxed in my favourite flat in the world, and attended the round two interview.
I'm now back in Bristol. It has been a busy week. One in which I feel I've fulfilled my sister/ aunty/ friend/ girlfriend duties well. I've also come to some important decisions about where I want to be heading. It's not to Peru, unbelievably. But when my life is so rich with people here, I just can't see myself leaving again.
So, despite leaving the sunny East of the country and returning once more to the windy West, for now, I'm sticking to Bristol.

The Heart of Bristol

I had three friends visiting, and needed to entertain them, but I knew that the combination of Halloween weekend and living in Bristol would work out well. Friday night saw endless rounds of veggie chilli as various friends dropped by to see me or my visitors. We watched Night of The Living Dead to get us in the mood as Bex was determined that on Saturday we should join Bristol's famous Zombie Walk.
So we got up on Saturday morning and hit the charity shops, emerging with pretty black dresses, blood and plenty of talcum powder. We ate the rest of the chilli for lunch then popped open some sparkling wine and dressed ourselves down, messing our hair, faces and clothes up until we looked dead. By 3ish we were on our way to College Green, joining thousands of other zombies, including dead Jedward, Ronald McDonald and Michael Jackson. It was too much fun, as zombies aren't supposed to smile, so when we caught sight of a camera we tried to pose as dead...
By 6pm were were well into the cider and Jagerbombs at the Canteen, dancing, chatting and zombie spotting the evening away. Food in Biblos, an X Factor break at mine and we were off again to a short shorts party...
Not a bad Halloween... I think my guests were suitably entertained.

The wonderful Quantocks

Another sunny Sunday! This time to the Quantocks, the glorious Quantocks in Somerset. I didn't know it was possible to drive less than an hour from Bristol, park just off the motorway and find yourself in the countryside. We walked up a big hill, and surrounded by gorse, heather and cows, sat in the sunlight and silence, eating scrummy salads. I love feeling this far from the city when I have a lot on my mind, because as much as I love Bristol, I can't find any part of it that is really quiet and free from traffic noise.
But knowing that the days are getting shorter, I dragged myself to my feet again, to make the most of the light and get walking. We headed down the other side of the hill into a valley of oak trees, and meandered through the dappled light and cobwebs. As we stopped to inspect a feather on the floor, we heard a loud noise in the woods beside us, and caught a glimpse of a wild grouse and heard the stamping of deer running away. We'd obviously scared the deer, who had then scared the grouse.
We walked along the river back to the car, and ended the day near Kilve Beach, which is a crazy place. I've never seen anything like it, except maybe at Giant's Causeway, but these weird rock formations go on for miles, and there are many fossils to be found amongst them. It was such a bright, calm day, the beach looked really beautiful and eery.
Somerset is such a surprising and pleasant place.

Burnham-on-Sea

Burnham-on-Sea. That's misleading. It's actually Burnham-on-Bristol Channel, or Burnham-on-Estuary. But the truth would not be flattering.
It's a nice place though. After a heavy Saturday night we were broken, but the sun defied our hangovers and enticed us outside. Sunny days in October are precious and we felt compelled to embrace the light and warmth, so off to Burnham-on-Sea we drove.
In the car I felt so rough I was variously moaning, complaining or sleeping, and could not imagine the exercise I was about to undergo.
We parked near the golf course and followed the footpath to the 'beach'. It's a strange old place this Bristol channel, as beaches can go on for miles and mud masquerades as sand. The tide was out, but we stuck to the very top of beach, as this is where the treasure could be found, and the ground would be less likely to claim us.
Treasure in Burnham-on-Sea takes various forms. Plastic bottles, glass bottles, over-worn shoes, bouncy balls, string and lots of wood. Almost a wood in fact. I wonder how so many trees and logs find their way up here? The amount of rubbish washed up is incredible, and I became aware that for each bottle top there was a bottle still in the ocean somewhere. It occurred to me that for every floatable, non-biodegradable piece of junk that can be seen on the shore, there must be lots more junk, that didn't survive it's seafaring experience and is destined to eternal life on the sea floor. How depressing.
Despite the rubbish and the amazing quantities of sandhoppers, jumping their frenzied way to nowhere, we were content to wander along the huge expanse of beach, as the sun setting cast a romantic light on our surreal surroundings. So content in fact, that we didn't realise how far we'd come, or how quickly the sun was setting until we decided to turn around. On the return, we chose to walk a little further down the beach, less heavily populated by sandhoppers. This worked out well. Although we now had the beach to ourselves, we could see the footprints of past walkers and felt relatively sure we wouldn't sink in the darkness before reaching the car again.
But then I felt my foot sinking, and we found that the footprints had run out, and it really was getting darker. We'd come too far and needed to cross the wet muddy bit and get back up the beach. Not a problem, as we could just retrace our footsteps until the end of the mud, but this added quite a bit to our return journey. As the sun was fast disappearing, we had to walk quickly, but we made it.
By the time we reached the car I'd power walked quite a distance, and my hangover was cured!