Morocco!

So. Morocco. Was good, if cold at night! Really had a good time exploring Marrakesh, and I enjoyed the trip we took despite it being a lot of driving. Trip over the Atlas mountains was cool, although fairly hair-raising on the way back, with snow causing a lot of traffic & other problems, and coping with it in the dark.

The Todra Gorge was really amazing, and riding camels through dunes to the camp for the night was pretty amazing. The tour was worth it for the stars that we could see that night, in a perfectly clear wide-open sky.

Enjoyed bargaining too, and wondering round the souks. I'm happy with what I ended up buying, especially my little hand-sewn camel and of course, my rug. The spice souk was interesting to walk round too, and I'm glad I didn't bring back mint tea in the end; had enough of that stuff by then! The Palace Bahia was a good trip too, despite having to eavesdrop on a tour to find out some interesting snippets about the place (no idea how we could have booked one ourselves as there was no info on it around) and the Tombs not quite worth it, but still interesting.

Djemma al Fna was also a sight to see, and hear, and taste. The square at night was a brilliant space to be dropped right into on our first night (more or less) and was completely alive. Food wasn't too bad either, and fairly cheap really.

Loved the riad we stayed in the first night, Riad Ghallia. Gorgeous rooms, and Thierry was nice enough to be up at stupid-o-clock (before 6 I think it was) to get us some breakfast before we had to go on the tour. The camp was fun, and the hostel, Casa de la Sol, was really good too. Only down-point being the cold hotel in the Dades Gorge on Sunday night. Least the water was hot, and we weren't staying any longer.

I would recommend anyone else to go though! We covered enough of Marrakesh itself in a day, so only a few days can be quite a good trip. I'd recommend going on a tour to Essouria though, as it's closer than all the way to Merzouga! It's what I'd do if I ever go back.

Playing at Robin Hood.. and Singing in the Rain

or at least Maid Marion. You know she kicked butt.

Anyway.. Just got back from meeting Archery people. Found through John at Cern, his mate Rob used to be a member when they were here as Technical Students two years back. Have to say, the setup couldn't be more perfect!

1. 10 mins drive from work (especially now I know where to go, only 2 detours earlier).
2. I can borrow equipment, but so I keep a bow myself and give it back when I leave, so I can essentially keep the same stuff.
3. I can go along to the range and shoot whenever I fancy. Pretty much any time, as it's open till 10 in the week and 8 on weekends.
4. The room they have is amazing, perfect for it, with a wall at the back of the hall of packed straw you can pin a target to where you want, and shoot from the line you want.

The people who do this at uni would be very jealous! I'm so glad I've found this club now, and for 10 francs a month - about a fiver - I'm not arguing!

The singing thing; also found a group, Geneva Amateur Operatics Society, which is an English-based group doing a production of Aladdin for Christmas. When I looked them up, I found they're doing Chess as their next show - they do one per quarter of the year - so am auditioning on the 8th Dec for a part in the Chorus and hopefully as a dancer too. Seens as I've done this one before, it's a perfect opportunity, with added bonus of having 2 separate show weekends instead of a full show week, which suits me much better with a full-time job!!

Plus I know the words and music already to some degree. Been listening to it for the past two days, and more and more comes back to me, which is a definite advantage.

So. Marrakesh in 2 days. EXCITED! and Christmas coming up, although I've not done any shopping yet, a Secret Santa with my friends here will make the process so much easier than it would have been otherwise. All so much to look forward to, and take me through the quieter winter months in Geneva (as I don't ski, or intend to, there's generally not much going on compared to the festivals and such all summer). Fun times ahead!

Because I do love Wispa's...

Can't wait to see how this turns out!!

Oh, and Stomp were awesome! :)

Marrakesh Plan part b. & Mogwai/STOMP

We've booked another riad now for the last two nights! Only cost us 13EUR per person a night, for the 4 of us in a 4-bed dorm room. So a perfect find by Michi just as we were about to book a different, slightly more expensive one with 4 of us in a 6-bed dorm. For the tour and both riads; costs are around (but less than) 150 EUR. Not bad!!

Been looking up places we could visit in Marrakesh itself, there's a palace and some botanical gardens but for me I'd love to see the souks more. The way I saw it, it seems there's an anvenue/area per trade, so I'd personally like to see the jewellers souk at least. Of course, Djamaa el Fna is going to be a thing to see!

We were all getting a little too excited earlier about it, now that everything's booked! Bring on the 29th November!

In other news; I drove up to Fribourg (further into Switzerland, towards Bern) last night with Daniel, Ben, Nina and Merlin. Went to see Mogwai. That was one of the songs played as an encore, and they get louder through the overall gig, and my favourite one they played. Have to say, it was LOUD, but amazing! Also very glad I grabbed a pair of ear plugs off the bar. The support band, The Twilight Sad, were also fairly good for a band no-ones ever heard of.

Off to see STOMP tomorrow night too ^_^ busy busy!

Car update and Marrakesh plan.

So, this weekend, finally made it out to Annemasse. Tried to get there Tues afternoon, but got lost a bit, and got there too late. The guy didn't have my spare car key, but directed me to Mr Minit at Geant, a big supermarket nearby. Also the equivalent of Halfords for my wipers, called Feu Vert or something. Bloke in Mr Minit told me 80 EUR for a new key, but was able to tell me there was another one in Balexert. Driving home, stopped there for a wander, and got it for 80 CHF instead, which is about 50 EUR for comparison..!

Car nearly sorted then. Only change of address for the registration to figure out, which at least I now know is somewhere in this region, and I don't have to drive all the way out to Thonon. Think I'll ask the landlord, he might know, or Samir to help me look on the internet at the French sites explaining what I have to do.

While I was in Annemasse, went into a sports shop (no idea why) but found some archery stuff, so think I will look for a club round here where I could go. Couldn't find anything so far on any expat websites, or even the Geneva ones, but will try again.

Also caught up on a load of French homework, which is good, but I still actually have clothes in my suitcase (hangers aren't the best) and a stack of finance stuff to sort out. Maybe by next weekend, that'll all be sorted.

On the Marrakesh side of things; Daniel's pulled out, so now there's the 4 of us. We've got the first 3 nights sorted at least. Get there on Saturday to stay at Riad Ghallia and then we go Sunday morning on a 3 day, 2 night trip out to the desert, to Merzouga and a few more sight-seeing places on the way. Still to confirm the last 2 nights in a hostel we contacted. At least we're more organised then we were a week ago, even though it's been left late. Can't wait though! ^_^

Apologies for the long ramble there, but realised I hadn't updated in a while so thought I should put something.

Back from England..

..and much more settled into my new place. Robert's gone now, as he stayed extra couple nights, and goes back to Munich tonight.

As for the time at home; was good to be back in Birmingham, and see Noel Fielding from the Mighty Boosh in Waterstone's!! Went up to town with Mum on the train, and had a really good afternoon. Bought some fluffy material to make cat ears and a tail when I'm back at Christmas, and have found some really good ideas on the internet for them.

Also managed not to buy loads of manga/books from Nostalgia and Borders, which was actually a good thing. It was nice to spend the evening at home, watching Strictly Come Dancing and then the Count of Monte Cristo.

Sunday, went to see the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, which I quite liked, but only on reflection; where was the gadgets and Q??? Still, it was better than Casino Royale, and I'm really liking Daniel Craig more now as Bond. Saw some fireworks, although not amazing, at the Orange Tree in Chadwick End. Got a tad muddy, but was good to see Uncle Steve, Sam and Lucy and a sort-of bonfire.

And then back before I know it. Work was ok yesterday, catching up in French wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared. Was looking forward to a lecture today, but felt dreadful this morning so emailed in sick and went back to bed. Feeling much better now though! :)

Ooh, and I really don't know why I can't write emails from Hotmail anymore. It's all greyed out and won't let me! Stupid bloody thing upgraded itself to Windows Live, so assuming it's something to do with that. Will sort it out soon enough anyway. Sorted!! Thanks to some hints from people on the Ubuntu forums!

Spotted this on a facebook update..

Thrill the world. Nice.

2 days 1 day till moving! Back in England on Saturday; woo!

edit:Latest episode of House was amazing. They're really back on form!!

Also getting addicted to the anime Bleach. After watching Avatar, its a different kind of awesome, and I like getting longer story arches over a couple of episodes. Has a really cool soundtrack too.. Doesn't beat the concept of Avatar though which is much more fantasy and comedy related instead of supernatural. It's also nice that Avatar was rounded off after 3 seasons, whereas I know there are nearly 200 ep's of Bleach and I've only watched the first 14.

Chucking it down again.

Spent a total of 2 hours and 40 mins in the car today. I'm so glad I only have to do this trip a couple more times on a daily basis. Traffic was a nightmare, weather was dreadful. Just a whole lot of not-fun. Yay.

Otherwise, today managed to mess up PHP and get it working again, but still haven't got the scripts working that I was trying to do in the first place. It's meant to generate reports on activity of streams (that's what I work on!!), but at the moment just shows me the loading image without actually generating anything. Useful.

Still, was able to fix the problem with PHP really quickly, and I knew where to look for clues as to what was going pear-shaped, which is a vast improvement on before.

Oooh, and update on the car;
That 5th thing was that the spare key I was given at the garage initially.. isn't for my car. Really crazy how I just picked up the right key in the first place, and the 2nd had to be moved off the drawers because the cleaning lady kept re-shuffling everything so I forgot all about it as it was no longer there as a reminder. So another trip back to Annemasse.

Need new wipers anyway (and still haven't figured out what the hell the equivalent of Halford's is round here) and the guy there can probably help with pointing me in the right direction. And check the oil leak.

*sigh* million things to think about with moving too. Thank God for Outlook Calendars, the To Do Lists that go with it and Gina Trapani.

About those tyres..

um, well cost me 360chf for 4 new winter tyres. not too bad, but still not cheap. good thing is I got paid today so it's all fine!

still, looking forward to moving to St Genis now; meeting the landlord on Monday to sort some paperwork, have to change my address at the bank etc. tomorrow morning and we're well away, no worries.

ah, only thing is the 2 summer tyres I was told were ok before, well.. the guy at the tyre place said they had about 3 months in 'em, so looking like I'll have to buy another full set come spring. oh well, even if I keep my car, I'll sell the winter tyres as a set when I leave so will get something back from it.

ooh and petrol's dropped even more dramatically. looking at <1.70chf/litre now. that's crazy! (but useful!)

Stuff to make my car a happier soul.

The list kept getting bigger.

1. Winter Tyres; especially as I'm now running on the spare of my summer ones and the other back tyre could go any time too, after the blow-out on the way to work this morning. I changed a tyre!! woo go me! I'm glad I had help though, as I wasn't strong enough to get the actual bolts undone but at least I knew what I was doing! ^_^

2. New wipers; the squeaking gets annoying, and it rains more these days.

3. Water + wash-stuff for said wipers.

4. Check the 'minor oil leak' isn't going to take out the engine or something. Stitch in time and all that..

5. there was something else. but I've forgotten. probably crucial.

6. Better spacial awareness; very nearly went into a Merc earlier - I'm talking centimetres - (reversing out the full car park and it wasn't in a proper space..) and took me ages to parrallel park as I haven't practised it from the wrong side of the car apart from my pathetic attempt earlier.

Least it's not too expensive, apart from the tires, obviously. Petrol cost me 48 CHF for 28 litres earlier! - Mum, it's around 85p/litre here now, especially if you know where to go..

Ramble a.

Been thinking.. I really wish I'd done this sooner, and actually got my camera working. Had a really good summer, with a fantastic group of people, and really haven't much to show for everything apart from photo's nabbed off Nina!! (they're on facebook anyway) :D

Still, I think the highlights were Lake Parade; getting totally drenched but still was a blast; Fete de Geneve, especially the absolutely awe-inspiring fireworks, but the festival itself was just buzzing for the two weeks! Top of the list would have to be Paleo Festival in Nyon though. Just seeing Massive Attack like that was brilliant and I had a really good time that night; it was worth the exhaustion the next day dealing with my broken down car! Thanks go to Didi for helping me out there!!

Have to admit; summer in Geneva is amazing for all the events going on every weekend - and the sun for weeks at a time was a wonderful change! Definitely hanging around next year for it.. but roll on winter I guess. First snow appeared on the top of the Jura's this week; the nearest mountains to Cern. Quite exciting but the cold is really starting to make itself felt, especially in the mornings before it really warms up in the afternoon. ^_^ just have to wait and see how winter goes really - although minus the skiing..

Hmm.. I really do like this blog-thing. I can see why people get addicted to writing them very easily, and why there's so many new blogs a day.

Just to get me started!

Well.. looks like the Stuttgart trip has been pushed back a weekend, but that's alright by me. The Volksfest is still running at least, and looks to be really good fun!

Otherwise, I'm going to use this blog as a catch-up on what I've been up to these last couple of months, and upload a few pics from the places I've visited so far and where I'm living now. I will hopefully continue as and when I visit more! Then, more or less it will be a diary for family and friends back home. You lucky lot..

So far then, that's Paris and Zermatt (the Matterhorn) to revisit before Stuttgart next weekend and Marrakesh (!!) at the end of November..

On with the show!