Blogs from Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

This morning we filled the car to the brim with luggage for four before heading to The Kitchen in Keighley to have breakfast with Janet and Jill’s Aunty Kathleen. Janet and Jill are looking forward to going home, but will miss their family in Yorkshire very much. With several visits to this area under her belt, Janet drew on her local knowledge to suggest a couple of interesting things for us to see on the way back to Manchester. From Keighley we drove south on the A629 to Halifax to visit The Piece Hall. The Piece Hall was built as a venue for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth ‘pieces’ they produced.It opened on 1 January 1779 and featured 315 separate rooms, around a central open courtyard, in which the cloth merchants could store their ... read more

So, on the 19th March after weeks of hedging towards mum and dad to ensure they'd still speak to me afterwards, I went to my kiwi travel advisor to book my flights. It turned into an experience more than anything as I got lost on my way to the bank to withdraw the money.. I got lost in the town I have lived in for the past 18 years.. it dawned on me that I'd need to seriously get my head in gear in the coming months to possibly be ready for backpacking. Anyway, fast forward two months and I finally turn 18, and on the 24th May I dragged my very hungover self out of bed (maybe going the day after my last ever day of school wasn't the wisest idea I've ever had) and ... read more

As I said in my previous post and from the beginning of the blog, nothing and I mean nothing is ever simple. I don't really see that as a bad thing mind, I also believe that everything happens for a reason and you've just got to get on with things. This week my parents have arrived back in the country and after conversations with my sister it has emerged that they are a completely skint, this is due to the house that they have here being unoccupied, prior to my first working venture abroad I'd been renting from them since the day they left, this was convenient for both of us but I'd maintained more so for them, as financially speaking it was hindering me so badly, I was paying £400 a month for a 3 ... read more

Well somehow despite having money in the bank I've managed to stay in this weekend, not spent a penny either other than putting the lottery on in which I got the usual 0 out of 6 numbers!! Can't say it's been easy to be honest, Friday was hard because there was confusion on whether it was mad Friday but I refrained, then Saturday I was tempted into going to a friends at the very least but was too tight to pay £13 in travel costs there and back so stayed in, the weekend was made easier by the fact my mates weren't going out. The thing is though, whilst I've done well staying in and I would have saved about £100 this weekend instead this has to go on christmas presents, sods law really. Last night ... read more

Some people think I'm bonkers, But I just think I'm free. Sooo, when I first told people (mainly good mates) that I'm putting myself forward for a medical trial a bit of disgust, confusion and even fear swept across there faces. I guess for your everyday content person who accepts societies recognition of what deems an acceptable path in life, doing obscure things to obtain money to enable you to flee your country of birth is bound to be considered out there, whereas for me it's just another way of getting things done faster (back to the I want it now generation), don't get me wrong I did have a little think about it before volunteering however I quickly realised that the benefits far far outweighed the potential problems that could occur. So I got my ... read more