Gareth Harrison

Got back home on Saturday afternoon after spending just over a week in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland.

We left Manchester on New Year’s Day and drove down to Folkestone where we got on a coach which took us through the channel tunnel, then across France, and into Switzerland to our final destination of Lauterbrunnen which is a village just above Interlaken… it was a horrific journey – we were on the coach for over 18 hours, and I hardly got any sleep because there wasn’t really that much room to do anything!

Anyway, our first day skiing saw me get left behind by my lesson group on the side of a mountain, which wasn’t really the best of starts to be honest! I had to clambour back up through some pretty deep snow, and by the time I got back up to the top, I wasn’t really in the mood to do much more skiing that day!

Day two wasn’t too bad… until the end of it. After my lesson in the morning, I went and did a blue run with Fiona (who’s a pretty good skier, so was able to advise me a lot of the time!), and even though it was really hard work, and quite stressful at times, I had a real sense of achievement when I’d done it. However, whilst I was doing this, I fell awkwardly at one point and I felt my knee go as my ski (which hadn’t come off when I went over) twisted round the opposite way to my body. Anyway, it didn’t feel too bad at the time, apart from a little bit of pain across the back of my right leg), but by the next morning, I couldn’t even walk properly without my knee giving way whenever I put pressure on the leg.

So basically I wasn’t able to ski for the rest of the week, and had to buy a sports bandage for my knee – which would normally cost less than a tenner in the UK, but when you’re up in the mountains in one of Europe’s most expensive countries, that price rises to about £25!! Athough compared to Jamie, my injury wasn’t too bad – on the Thursday, he was off doing some snowboarding and fell back after doing a jump – dislocating his shoulder!! So rather than come back on the coach, he had to fly back to the UK, so it wasn’t all bad!!

You can see photos from the holiday here.

Just a quick update… had a ski lesson down at the Snowdome last week, which was pretty smart! It was really hard work, but I did end up being able to do a snowplough!! I drove back up to Manchester after my lesson, and had to go straight to work to do the final edit of MUTV’s Christmas TV commercial, and ended up staying in the office until 4am because of the amount of stuff that needed doing! When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t move a muscle – my calves were really sore, and I was struggling to walk!! If that’s what I’m like after two hours of skiing, I dread to think what it’ll be like after 6 days of it!!!

Not much new to report really – except that I’ve decided to bite the bullet and said I’ll go on the ski holiday to Switzerland in the New Year! I’m hoping to get some lessons in before I go, so that I’m not totally rubbish when I get there!

Had quite a good night out on Saturday. Went into town with Sarah, Emma and some other guys to see a band called Stoney Lacuna at a bar in the Northern Quarter. There was a pretty good crowd there, and the place was pretty packed. I hadn’t been to anything like that for absolutely ages, but I really enjoyed it.

Oh and it’s my birthday today… which is a bit of a non-event considering I’ll be working late tonight!

Thought it was about time I did another update! Not much has really happened in the last few weeks, apart from doing a few odd jobs on the house! Did my first bit of tiling in my kitchen on Saturday which was a learning experience! I’ll be discovering the joys of grouting later this week! I’ve also replaced some of the end panels in there, and painted all the cupboard doors white, which makes it look cleaner and bigger! Now in the process of ripping the wallpaper down so I can give the whole room a lick of paint! I suppose I should also do something about getting my other downstairs rooms finished, considering I started them about a year ago, and they’re in a very unfinished state!!

Sarah and Emma came round for some food on Thursday night, which tested my culinary skills ever so slightly!! I thought I’d try and cook something that I hadn’t done before, so I found a couple of recipes that required me making my own herby breadcrumbs and marinating vegetables in olive oil, garlic and herbs!! I actually surprised myself because it tasted pretty good!! Makes a change from the usual meals I end up having!

Also, some of the guys from Reach are talking about going skiing in the New Year, and I’m kind of tempted to go too. I’ve never skied in my life before, so that could be quite difficult, but I reckon it could be quite a laugh. The only things I need to look at is getting the time off work, and also whether I can afford it ‘cos it’s slightly more expensive that the holidays I usually go on! I think I’ll try and make a decision sometime this week.

I’m off down to Tamworth for the day tomorrow – mainly for a dental appointment (arrggghhh!!) – but it’s quite good timing ‘cos it’s Vikky’s birthday on Wednesday, so I’ll be able to see her when I’m down there. The only downside is that my appointment is at ten past nine, so I’m going to have to leave Manchester at about 6am! I think I need to try and get an early night tonight!

Got back from Soul Survivor at 3.30 this morning, so have spent most of today asleep! I’ve just been living in a tent for 14 days, so it’s so nice to be able to get back into my own bed!

It seemed like I was there for ages… technically it was for three Soul Survivor weeks, so it appeared to be longer than a fortnight. During my first week there, I spent a lot of my time working with 29th Chapter in the Pulse dance venue because I’ve produced visuals to run with all their tracks, so was dealing with all the technical hassles backstage during their performances! I also got chatting with the guys from bandwithnoname who were also in the Pulse that week, and gave them my card in case they ever want any visuals doing for their shows, because they’re based nearby to where I live. It’s funny ‘cos in one of my first posts in this blog, I mentioned that I was at their launch night, and that I wasn’t really into their music, but now I really do like it! My musical tastes must have changed a bit over the last eighteen months!

The second week at Soul Survivor allowed me to relax a bit more… I spent a lot of the time hanging out with a load of guys I know from Tamworth who were camping there that week. I hadn’t seen any of them since last summer so it was cool catching up with what everyone had been doing. What was a bit of a shock was finding that Matt Passey has got engaged to a girl called Amy, and also that Rob Steward has got engaged as well!

And then for the final week, I had to move my tent to yet another pitch, but this time I was camping with Sarah from lifegroup and her friend Emma. Also there were another couple of their friends – Caroline and Colin – but they were staying in a local B&B because Caroline’s going to be having a baby in less than 5 weeks!

It was a really nice few days to end the holiday, but I was really feeling tired as it drew to a close, and I seem to have picked up a bit of a throat infection or something whilst being there! Or it might be something to do with the fact I’ve just eaten junk for the last 14 days!!

Check out my massive collection of photos from this year’s Soul Survivor here.

I bumped into quite a few people who I hadn’t seen in a long time whilst I was there… on the first week, I saw Fiona Bailey from uni who was there with some friends, and then Ali came down from Bristol on three of the days with a couple of girls who live nearby to her. And then, in the second week, I saw Michyla Hickling (also from when I was in Birmingham) and spent some time catching up on what people have been up to over the last few years! Someone who I was surprised to see was Rob Davies who I lived with in Kings Heath just before I moved permanently to Manchester – I’d not heard from Rob since ‘cos he moved back to Wales when we all moved out of the house. Oh, and quite weird was on the penultimate night, after the main meeting, someone came up to me and asked if they knew me. I looked at her for a few seconds knowing that I recognised her, and then suddenly realised that it was Chris Thomas who was my smallgroup leader when I was at Riverside! It’s mad the amount of people you’ve lost touch with that you bump into at events like this!

First day back at work after getting back from stewarding at Spring Harvest, and I really didn’t feel like doing any work at all! It was a really tiring week over in Skegness – we were having to get up at 6am and finished at about 1am, with only half an hour break in the day to get lunch! It was a really good group of guys there this year, and I’m going to try and keep in touch with some of them… although I am the worst for keeping up-to-date with emails and stuff!

I got back to Manchester on Tuesday night, and was in bed by eight o’clock… the earliest for a very long time! And I didn’t get up until Wednesday lunchtime! I think I’ve just about got over the lack of sleep now.

I’ve just arranged to get a broadband connection fitted next month (although it’s got to wait until I’ve got the living room sorted) so it should be easier updating my websites and all that. I’ve got to update the Skeggy Stewards site soon with all the photos from this year’s event – I’ve just taken my photos in for developing so will probably scan them at the weekend.

Well what a month it’s been…

Exchanged contracts for the house yesterday and hopefully should be able to move in sometime next week. I guess I was too optimistic expecting everything to go to plan, ‘cos at the last minute it all looked like it was going to go pear-shaped!! There was a bit of a problem with the house that Jeb & Nicky are buying, and it looked like they might lose it which would have meant a major delay for me. But it all got resolved last weekend so we’re into the final straight!! Hooray!

Got back from Soul Survivor on Tuesday, I had a really good first week, but had a bit of a rollercoaster of a time on the second week I went on, but it was good catching up with all the guys from back in Tamworth. I’ve put my photos from the week up here.

Right… quick update on what’s happening in my life!

I moved out of my house a week ago, which was an absolute nightmare! All my stuff is now spread about at my mum and dad’s garage, my grandparents’ spare bedroom, Cathy’s cellar, Sarah’s garage, Jeb & Nicky’s back room and a storage unit in a warehouse in Stockport! I’m also currently renting a room in Emma’s house in Levenshulme with a girl from Spain and a guy who’s up in Manchester as a volunteer in the Commonwealth Games. It’s a pretty small room, with quite a lot of my things in it(!), but hopefully it should be just for a few weeks.

Actually, we’re looking to exchange contracts and have completion for around the 20th August, so that’s only a couple of weeks away. It’s worked out quite well (I hope!), ‘cos if it does get sorted that week, then I’ll be at Soul Survivor for week A – be back in Manchester during week B, which is when I should get the house – and then be back down to Soul Survivor for week C. I was originally planning on being there for week B as well, but Chris had problems booking, and by the time he applied, week B was totally full, so all the Coton Green guys are going on C.

I got into the spirit of the Commonwealth Games on Saturday – there was a spare ticket available to go and see the Rugby Sevens Quarter Finals at the City Of Manchester Stadium, so I ended up going to that. It was really cool… I thought I might not enjoy it ‘cos i’m not particularly interested in rugby, but I really got into it, and the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing! I even ended up watching the semi-finals and final on TV on Sunday afternoon – I never thought that would happen!!

And another month’s gone by… I must try and update this news page more often!!

Well, still waiting to hear when I can move into my new house – it’s looking like it won’t be until mid to late August – the only problem is I have to have moved out of my current house by the 29th July, which is a bit of a problem! I’ve got to find somewhere to store a house-full of furniture, let alone find somewhere to live for a few weeks myself! If I can’t move in until the end of August, I may just go off to Soul Survivor for 3 weeks ‘cos it’d be cheaper that staying in a B&B in Manchester! I’ve got the whole time off work, so it may be the best thing to do! It appears that the damp problem isn’t as bad as it sounded, but I’m still waiting to get official confirmation on that. Jeb & Nicky (whose house I’m buying) were getting the house they’re planning to buy surveyed yesterday, so hopefully if there were no problems, things may start moving pretty quickly.

Was down in Birmingham on Saturday night to meet up with a few guys who were on my masters course at uni – Surjit, Don and Mike. Was really weird seeing them all again – we left UCE Christmas 1997 – but was cool catching up with them. We went for a drink in the afternoon at one of the bars on the side of the canal at Broad Street, and in the evening went for a Balti… well, they went for a Balti – I had my usual meal of chicken and chips, not being a major fan of curry myself!!! )

Had a really smart day on Sunday – a load of us from Reach went off to the beach for the afternoon again, and the weather was really nice! I took some shorts this time so I was able to go out into the sea – when we finally got to it! You can see some photos of the day here.

Work’s been manic as usual – last Monday I managed to do 23 and a half hour shift! (started at 8am, left the office at 7.30am) I’ve been working on a TV commercial for Manchester United’s pre-season tour, and had to get Sir Alex Ferguson to film some stuff for it, which stressed me out pretty much in the run up to it!! The ad is supposed to start running this weekend on Sky and ITV, just need to get all the tapes out to all the various tv companies now!

Thought it was about time I did another news update for the site. It’s early Sunday evening and I’m at work (woohoo!) doing a few bits and pieces that need to be finished by the morning. Got back from working at Spring Harvest in the early hours of Wednesday morning… we’d decided to stay for the evening stuff since we were already on site and didn’t have to pay(!), but that kind of meant that we didn’t actually leave Skegness until about midnight, and it takes 4 hours to get from there back to Manchester! And considering I’d just finished a week of working 17+ hour days, it possibly wasn’t the wisest thing to do driving back so tired. Anyway, apart from a couple of times when I found my eyes closing involuntarily, and decided to pull over to avoid dying, the journey back was okay… trouble was I had to get up four hours later to make a trip to the railway station!

Other news… my landlord has offered to sell me the house I’m in and I’ve got to give him a decision this weekend. After much thought though, I think I’m going to pass on it, and desperately try to find somewhere else for me to buy before he manages to sell this one! I love challenges!

I’ve spent quite a bit of time the last few days with my websites… www.skeggysteward.co.uk is pretty busy at the moment for obvious reasons… I’m hoping to make it a load more interactive very soon, and may shift it to another server which allows for scripts to be run thanks to a guy I was sharing a chalet with at Spring Harvest – more info on that when I get it. Also, I’ve been fixing a few problems with Tom’s website, and over this next week I want to try and pull together the CU Oldies website with some more content and a slight re-design on the look.

Anyway, better get back to work and do what I’m paid for!!! ;o)