Such Great Heights

Greetings all in blogland, we're on blog number three now and still going! Wonder how long I'll manage to keep this up...?

I'm writing today from the lovely Welsh city of Cardiff! How did I end up here you ask? Well, you probably didn't ask or even care - but if you're reading this you apparantly have nothing better to do, so I may as well tell you! It's been an interesting week, better than the last at least so I suppose that's a good thing. So let's get going with this weeks top ten moments! Well, three.

A little while after posting last weeks blog, I went off to watch a brand spanking new episode of Doctor Who, and I figure everyone must have seen it by now so I can talk about it. If not, stop now and go find it on iPlayer, then come back. It's called "Waters on Mars" or something. You can't miss it. Go on, we'll wait for you. Done? Excellent, I can carry on! All I'm going to say is...oh good Lord of all that is holy, evil David Tennant! Ahh! Now I don't swing that way, but still, I like evil Doctor! I think it's nice to see a vulnerability in his character, makes a nice change. Now I absolutely can't wait until the Christmas special...

In other news, I have recently aquired a new addition to my bodily decoration. That's right kids, I got a new tattoo! I payed £100 to have a needle dragged painfully through my leg for half an hour, yep I'm clever. My saving grace is that it looks absolutely brilliant, at least I think so. I won't tell you what it is, merely that it's the title of a song by a certain band that I may or may not have a mild or strong obsession with. It's still healing, and that patch on my leg is still hairless which is a very odd sensation, but give it a couple of weeks. I'm really pleased with it, and glad I got it done. I've wanted it for a while, and I just felt that now is as good a time as any. I think it's also that I feel like I'm expressing myself, which makes me feel a little less insane. Usually a plus!

The final fantastically wonderful event that I'm going to share with you lovely people is how I arrived in Cardiff. A friend of mine goes to university here, and invited me for a visit. The ticket was expensive, but I thought why not, let's go to Cardiff! And now I'm extremely hungover, hurray. Worth it though, I had a great night, it was nice to just get away from everything for a little while. The journey up was rather eventful in itself, but I won't bore you with all the details. One thing in particular really stood out in my memory though. I understand that people have bad days, and don't always want to be friendly, but I think a little effort can go a long way to making others feel comfortable. I'm talking about one of the conductors on one of my trains. Some people love their jobs, and this man was clearly among their number! He was just kind and friendly, and what really amused me was when he peppered his announcements with interesting additions. For instance, rather than saying "We'll shortly be arriving at Bristol", instead he said "Welcome to Brunel's marvellous creation, the bustling metropolis of Bristol!". This and the other things he said really struck me; he didn't have to say them, but he put in a little extra effort with huge results!

So whatever your name is Mr Conductor man, I tip my hat to you! Thank you for making my journey much more bearable, and cheering me up with your amusing banter. Anyway I think that's all from me for today, so I guess all that's left is to leave you with a little thought. There is a special type of mitten you can get that's designed for two people to hold hands inside: they're called smittens. I think that's lovely.

Have a good week everyone!
~ Toby