Ben's GAP Year 2008-2009

Westminster: end of week 1

2009-02-27T13:46:00.006Z

Well it's come to the end of a rather extraordinary week inside the political world. I have to say it didn't end that well but for different reasons (I wielded a flat tyre in Clacton!). However I'm back now and the car's fine! I got back from London at about 7:30 last night after a very busy commuter line.

However, that is one thing to note. The 'city lifestyle' that I have in the past condemned for myself and never thought it was something that would entice me, has I think, been quite enjoyable and I rather liked the buzz of city lifestyle for a short period. However that does not mean that I am fully converted! I still prefer it outside of the city lines.

The week in general has been very enlightening and although I can't and won't go into too much detail I will say that I have been amazed at some of the things that go on and the way the system works. It is currently a well oiled machine certainly and things flow very easily. I would only suggest that perhaps things could flow a little better and we should not be afraid to challenge it.

On a personal note I have been fully won over by Douglas Carswell and truly believe that he a very genuine man who says what he thinks and does what he says. I won't go into too much praise but I think that Harwich and Clacton constituency is lucky to have him. Not all politicians live the same way, so to speak! I believe he has some very good ideas, some drastic yes, but mostly very rounded and well thought through. You may think I'm being pushed to promote this but I would honestly recommend reading his book - 'The Plan' - which is available on Amazon or through Douglas personally.

Getting back to the system as a whole though. I believe that there are indeed a lot of genuine people in there, like Douglas, who are trying to get things done and to move forward for the better. I only ask, does the current system best provide the opportunities for this to happen? I believe we could make serious changes and furthermore, should make changes. We need to restore the trust that has been lacking for many years between the politicians and those who elect them. Before you cast your next vote though stop and think. Your vote really does matter. I'm telling you now. Democracy can be a dangerous thing sometimes. Look at the options. Assess them and then, cast your vote. I personally believe that the system is still too much party bound. However, it is nonsense to think that we cannot have a party system. We need governance and we need leadership. Political parties are, I think, currently the best way of allowing this. We must however allow all to have a voice. We seem somehow to have lost the linkage in the fundamentals of democracy in Britain. Politics should be something that the people do, not something that we 'employ' others to go away and do 'on our behalf' in their own little Westminster world.

It has been a fantastic week and I look forward to the next. Britain is a great country. However, we need a power system that reflects this.

Westminster: Day 3 now

2009-02-25T07:35:00.004Z

It's now day three of the spell at Westminster with Douglas Carswell MP. I'm finding it very enlightening but cannot say too much on the blog (for security reasons!) Today I'm off to PMQs though along with other general office work etc. It is such an amazing experience to be having and I shall try and write (as much of) a report as I am abke to do at the end. There will be a press release coming out though at some point so, depending on which papers it is shown in, some of you may be able to look at that.

Next week...

2009-02-19T12:14:00.005Z

All set now to embark on my two week spree in Parliament. Douglas has set out a brief itinerary and I shall try to share as much as I am able to with you. Time will pretty much be split between time down in London and here in the constituency on a set of different projects and shadowing opportunities.

On a different note, time is flowing along quite quickly now and I am trying to push my 'travel companion' to start booking up Scandinavia as we only have about 6-7 weeks until we are supposed to be leaving. Farm work is progressing nicely and my time is, as ever, busy, busy, busy. Still need to get visas, jabs etc sorted for Russia and China and actually pay the fees! Update you soon.

Diploma etc

2009-02-12T19:10:00.003Z

Bit of an update as I (shamefully) haven't written for a while. I had my speech and drama 'performance' diploma this morning and (thankfully!) I think it went very well. The result should be here in two to three weeks I think. Grade 8s o the other hand (musically wise) have come and gone and I have come out with two marks that I'm really pleased with (I'm apparently not allowed to state my actual mark on here for some reason!).

So, for a week or so there is a lull before I go off to London and Parliament with Mr Carswell. I'm starting to get quite excited and am really looking forward to it. I'm going to stay with friends up there who have very kindly agreed to 'take me in' as it were. I'll update you.

Psycho Module

2009-01-16T18:44:00.003Z

As some of you may know I narrowly missed out on an A in my Psychology A level by 1 UMS mark. I therefore pushed myself to retake a module to boost my marks and therefore my grade. I retook Unit 2 on Tuesday and thankfully it went really really well. Results will be out in March.

Change of dates for Grade 8s...

2008-12-05T20:29:00.002Z

Due to my piano teacher (Lizzie Leggett) having been ill for the last 3 weeks the date for my grade 8s has changed from being the 10th December to (probably) 24th January.

Pennine Way

2008-11-24T22:48:00.007Z

Have put together some form of itinerary for Pennine Way walk next year. I'll be doing it with Will Hardisty and will be walking for a national and a local charity (with Will doing the same). Conquering the 268 miles will be a massive feat but I'm really looking forward to it. We're set for September 2009.

'Music by Candlelight'

2008-11-20T22:47:00.003Z

Last Saturday I put on my first solo piano concert of Romantic and Modern piano music in aid of both 'gap year funds' and St Helena Hospice. I put together a guest list and ended up inviting just over 40 people to listen. They were charged £12.50 a ticket which included supper and wine. There was also a raffle which included some fantastic prizes that had been donated from various sources. In short, it went absolutely fantastically. Everyone had a superb time and we made lots of money for the charity:

St Helena Hospice - £285.60
Me - about £300 following expenses and including donations.

It would be most certainly be good to do another one some time, most probably in Jan/Feb. I've got to get the Grade 8s out of the way first (which by the way are set for the 10th December).

Below is the repertoire included in the concert:

'Oktober', Autumn Song, from the Seasons - Tchaikovsky
'A Little Song' and 'The Little Horse' from Pictures of Childhood - Khachaturian
Prelude in D flat Op. 28, No 15 'Raindrop Prelude' - Chopin
Song of the Sea - Ben Eagle
Romance Sans Paroles Op. 77, No 3 - Moskowski
The Forest - Ben Eagle
Untitled Op. 1, No. 35 from Stories of the Young - Granados

INTERVAL

Towards the Light - Patrick Hawes
Albumblatt - Gliere
Atonement for Piano and Typewriter - Dario Marianelli, arranged by Ben Eagle
Soliloquy - Ben Eagle
Candlefire from 'the Diary of Anne Frank' - Michael Nyman
Distant Song - Peteris Plakidis
Mad Rush - Philip Glass, arranged by Ben Eagle

Westminster

2008-11-08T22:37:00.001Z

Met with Douglas Carswell MP in Clacton today. Have organised work experience for February into March next year, both here and in London.

Ipswich School Chapel Choir Tour to Poland

2008-11-01T18:56:00.026Z

Friday 24th - Wednesday 29th October 2008

Last Friday I joined up with the Chapel Choir at Ipswich School to set off on what would be an 'improvised' but superb few days in Krakow, Poland. By no means did everything go to plan and there were various problems and calamities during the trip hence why I coin it as 'improvised'. However, we all had a really good time and Mr Leach and the team deserve a really big thank you for all the organisation that it required. I shall try and take you through day by day and note the highs, the lows and the downright odd moments that occured during the week.

Krakow is simply a beautiful city. An eclectic mix of architecture, yes, but the wonderfully well preserved old part of the city makes up for that. The people were all, on the whole, very friendly and their English was superb (far better than most of our Polish at any rate!). I would most certainly go back and it has actually spurred me on to wanting to explore more of Poland and Eastern Europe in general.

It was great to be in a position whereby you could float between the staff and students. Also, Mr Stansbury insisted on always buying my drinks for me which I had no complaints over. You most certainly see the staff in a different light in this way. Miss Gartland also came back which was really nice and she was a very helpful aid to the alto line (not that they needed it!). As well as these two were Ian Galbraith, Bev Steensma, our director Andrew Leach and organist William Saunders. As you will find out later Mr Saunders had more than his fair share of problems, lets say, during the tour.

Our itinerary was roughly as follows:

Day 1 - Travel from Ipswich to Krakow
Day 2 - Walking tour of Krakow + Concert and Mass at St Catherine's Church, Krakow
Day 3 - Visit the Wielickza Salt mine + Concert and Mass in St Joseph's Church, Krakow
Day 4 - Visit link school in Zabrze including concert and Mass + Mass and concert at St Anne's Church, Zabrze
Day 5 - Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau + Mass/Concert in Kety
Day 6 - free time + travel from Krakow to Ipswich

DAY 1
A very long day of traveling. I left home at 7 am bound for Ipswich and then we left bound for Gatwick at about 8:30. We made the usual stop off on the M25 (Clackett Lane I think) and got to the airport at about 11am. This gave us plenty of time to check in and do the various security checks and duty free shopping that everyone generally does when they are at airports. The flight, which was at about 2 O'clock, was actually superb and we touched down in a rather chilly Krakow 2 1/2 hours later (or rather 3 1/2 as they are an hour ahead).

The hotel (Hotel Wyspianski) was actually very pleasant and was in an absolutely perfect position in terms of transport links and easy access to the town. The staff and I were in a completely different block to the everyone else which could have been seen as a problem but IGG and Stan stayed back in the main hotel so that there was always somebody on duty. To the left is a picture of the amazing shower that I had which Stan in particular was very jealous of!

Day 2

Anna Kaiser our Polish interpretor met us early after breakfast for a 3 hr (!!) walking tour of the city. I must admit I have actually fallen in love with Krakow as a city although I feel it is too touristy if you were to live there. The other thing that I noticed was the sheer amount of work and 'improvements' that are taking place. Roads are being ripped up, buildings preseved, hotels done up, old communist buildings pulled down. Anna says that this is due to the European Cup being held in Poland and the Ukraine jointly in 2012.

There were some beautiful buildings. In particular the Wawel area (royal hill) where we say the cathedral and castle. Something that struck me is that Poles are incredibly proud of their identity as a people and they have lots of traditions and stories that they eagerly tell you.

For lunch Saunders took us to a grotty little street stall which sold us semi cooked chicken kebabs and sausages. It was a miracle that nobody was seriously ill that night! We then went on to the hotel again before getting ready for the evening mass. We set off for a rehearsal at St Catherine's and managed to get 10 minutes of it done before we were told there was a wedding and so our practice would have to be cut short. Harry, Nick, Sam and I therefore went off to the huge shopping mall to have a look round before heading back to the church. There was then a Rosary service which meant another 1/2 hour of waiting around until the Mass. We were on. But...where was William Saunders? No organist? We were stuck. We were supposed to be starting with Robert Walker's 'As the Apple Tree' but we were without an organist. Mr Leach tried to fumble his way through and Mr Galbraith did even more fumbling with his conducting and it sounded, to be honest, pretty atrocious. WRS turned up 1/2 way through and ADL had a few words. Also, in the Mozart mass I had to sightread Kieran's solo as his voice had gone. Not a very good start to the tour! We returned for supper and then I sat down to some beers with the staff. Little did we know what was to go on that night...which I shan't dwell on. Anyway, it resulted in Tait Miller being sent home!

Day 3

Sunday was the day that we traveled to Wielickza in order to visit the Salt mine. 120 metres below the surface there was a whole other world over tunnels and caverns, not to mention hundreds of salt sculptures, a chapel and a church. Truly an incredible place. Lots of good photos taken. Half way through, in the St Kinga's Chapel we gave an a cappella recital which went down tremendously with the visitors. A once in a lifetime experience that I wouldn't have got otherwise.

We had lunch just outside the mine (on the surface!) and then returned to Krakow to perform in St Joseph's Church. This was a very memorable evening. There was so little room in the organ loft that we all had to be dotted about which created various problems in terms of being able to see ADL. There were also problems that were outside of our control, such as the organist/cantor nun whose phone went off during the service and then who played the wrong parts at the wrong times. She obviously had a thing for WRS and his organ antics as well!

Day 4

This day was memorable for a new reason altogether. Travel. We set off for our Polish link school in Zabzre at about 9:30 in order to get there for 11 am. For a journey that ought to have taken 1 1/2 hrs it seemed that we were jinxed. There was trouble with bridges, with traffic, with the driver's general sense of direction and the fact we basically didn't know where anything was. We eventually got to the school after calling for an escort but we were horrendously late and therefore didn't have time for any rehearsal and, yes, we missed lunch. Following Mass and a short concert we returned to the school for a short look round, some lunch (yes, we got some) and our own Zabrze goody bags complete with knuts and bolts (well in Phil's case any how!).

St Anne's Church in Zabrze was our venue for that evening and it was superb. The acoustic was utterly delicious and we made the most of it as we sang through our repertoire. There were also some wonderful solos from various members of the choir. It must be said there were a few 'admin' errors (some of which can be blamed on WRS) but by no means as many as the previous two evenings.

Day 5

The day of Auschwitz. Quite a difficult day in many respects. However I reacted as I had expected I would - by not really reacting. We went first to Birkenau although, and for this I'm quite annoyed, we did not actually go in and wander round. We looked from the coach and then drove on to the Auschwitz camp. The tour was very well conducted and I think he covered most things but I still wish to go back and have a further look I think, to give it a more 'personal' look.

Our final mass brought us to a church in the small town of Kety (pronounced Kech). It contained possibly one of the worst sounding organs in Poland but also one of the friendliest and most appreciative group of people as well. We even gained an 'encore' following a standing ovation at the concert.

Day 6

Very much like day 1 this was a day for travel, shopping (and packing). We found some dubious but at the same time strangely suitable gifts for the teachers and I was bought, unbeknown to me, 2 bottles of lager that were on my 'beers to try' list. Thanks Dave! The flight back was very smooth and we had relatively few difficulties on the drive back also from Gatwick. The only thing that felt a bit chilly was the weather (much colder here in the UK than in Poland!).

All in all an absolutely fantastic trip and a good way to say 'goodbye' (again!) to music at Ipswich School. Thank you to everyone again for being such a fantastic team and thanks to ADL, WRS, WGBS and the rest who made it all possible.

RATING

Public transport/means of travel/access 7/10 (lots of work going on in terms of infrastructure however there was a good tram service, still a bit further to go yet though)

Cleanliness/Pollution 8/10 (generally very clean and pleasant)

Helpfulness/Friendliness of people 9/10 (generally people very nice)

Value for money 8/10 (compared with the UK very cheap although not quite as cheap as I was expecting)

Culture 9/10 (utterly superb!)

Surrounding Environment (countryside, hills, forest, sea etc) 7/10 (may have been the region we were in but it seemed a bit drab although well kept)

Restaurants/Local Cuisine/Eateries 3/10 (from our experience not so good!)

Shops/Variety and Quality 8/10 (a good variety and esp shopping centre good quality)

Picturesque Factor 10/10 (a very beautiful city)

Overall Enjoyment Factor 9/10 (generally had a superb time)

OVERALL RATING

78/100

A Quick Update...

2008-10-21T22:52:00.004+01:00

Apologies that I haven't updated the site for a while now. Here is a very quick list summary of how things are going.

Concert - Things are all set for November 15th. 40 people invited. Raffle prizes being sorted. Food decided upon. Repertoire (almost) sorted. Will end up making about £350 for GAP year funds and £300 for St Helena Hospice.

Off to Poland next week on the Choir tour.

Scandinavia Road trip account funds growing. Itinerary set.

Deposit put down for Tibet trip.

Not yet sorted anything about Russia yet.

Beer really on the way up now. Have my own lab set up at Devereux farm and am coming up with a recipe. Now have a real qualification having attended the Beer Academy day at Walberswick. Figures sorting. Need to get on with marketing. Have met with Chris Garrett at Warminster Maltings. Looks like product will be on the shelf May next year.

Meeting with Douglas Carswell MP in November over work experience in January of next year.

Grades 8s ticking along in preparation for December.

Organised playing at Andrew Cronin memorial concert, Orwell Park, in December.

+ much more......

will write some proper stories again later on.

Ben

Off to the lands of Thor

2008-09-22T19:45:00.003+01:00

Moved forward a bit with the Scandinavia road trip. Maxim and I have secured (well secured a provisional) set of dates: 3rd-22nd April 2009. Ireland probably now won't happen until 2010+. This will give me slightly more time in which to do work experience things/get some hard cash/charity work/business enterprise...It will also free up £1,000 or so that I had put forward for it in the budget.

I am now also thinking that I will fly direct to St Petersburg rather than take the train. I know this is what some may call cheating slightly but it will give me a few extra days to prepare. This will mean leaving on 1st May 2009 rather than the 28th April. Everything else is still standing (I think).

Basel, Switzerland

2008-09-19T22:46:00.007+01:00

15th-18th September

The purpose of this trip was really for Emma (my sister) to see an exhibition of works by Andrea Zittel at the Schaulager gallery along with various other exhibitions throughout the city. I joined her on what was actually a very enjoyable trip.

We set off early on Monday morning to the brand spanking new 'Ebbsfleet International' - Britain's new acclaimed superb gateway to Europe. Due to the fire of the week before in the Euro tunnel it was actually relatively empty. We checked in only to be told by the lady at the desk that Eurostar could not guarantee at all that we would be able to make the return journey by train. This was slightly worrying! However, we really had nothing to worry about. Both journeys, Ebbsfleet to Paris Gare de Nord and Paris Gare de l'est to Basel SBB ran very smoothly and we arrived in Switzerland on time. The only slightly worrying thing was the complete lack of passport control between France and la Suisse. It was just like a normal train. On arrival we made our way to the hotel.

It was situated in a near perfect position, in the old town, in walking distance from the shops and museums, easy tram connections and easy access to the river. There was an Indian restaurant attached to the hotel that, I confess, we didn't venture in to, as well as a rather dingy night club 'Casino' that, I doubt, had had a single visitor for several weeks. There was also a 'memory club' that took place there during the day. The room was very reasonable and had good cupboard space and a bath/shower room. The staff were very helpful and the breakfasts superb - a simple continental and a fantastic muesli that we tried to find in the town but I reckon it was their secret mix!

Basel itself is a beautiful city. The river Rhine flows through the centre, splitting the place into two halves. Although not very large it took a bit of time to learn the structure of the streets but, once accomplished, it was actually quite easy. Lots of good shops, although fairly pricey. Wonderful cobbled streets. Restaurants was something that the place fell down on and we struggled to find good places to eat although we somehow managed to find a decent place each night. My GCSE German stood up to the challenge of a place where, surprisingly I thought, little English was known.

So, the museums...and there were a lot of them! If museums and galleries are not your thing then I definitely would not advise for you to visit. Personally, I was rather wishing we would be at a liberty to visit the Alps or the Black Forest at some point but unfortunately this was not really possible.

MONDAY - traveling, no museum visits, settle in hotel

TUESDAY - Andrea Zittel exhibition, Schaulager Gallery
- Basel museum of Architecture
- Basel Kunstmuseum

WEDNESDAY - Tinguely museum (utterly superb)
- Basel music museum (huge collection of instruments, set in former prison!)
- Basel museum of Modern Art (not so good in my opinion)

THURSDAY - Der Dom (cathedral, quite impressive)
- return to Paris and then Eurostar back to Ebbsfleet and UK.

RATING

Public transport/means of travel/access 9/10 (very efficient tram service, good train links, buses, cycle lanes etc. If possible roads could be slightly more pedestrian friendly)

Cleanliness/Pollution 6/10 (graffiti quite widespread)

Helpfulness/Friendliness of people 9/10 (generally people very nice)

Value for money 4/10 (quite expensive generally)

Culture 9/10 (many museums, galleries, public art, music and drama throughout the city. Several cultural festivals held throughout the year.)

Surrounding Environment (countryside, hills, forest, sea etc) 7/10 (yes a beautiful setting but although set against the foothills of the alps, you have to take a bus to get to them. Easier access would be preferred)

Restaurants/Local Cuisine/Eateries 7/10 (not a great selection, but of what there was was actually very good)

Shops/Variety and Quality 8/10 (many shops throughout the city of fairly good quality. Too many of some types of shop however e.g dolls and jewellery)

Picturesque Factor 7/10 (beautiful architecture, medieval city, some slightly less visually pleasing parts)

Overall Enjoyment Factor 8/10

OVERALL RATING

74/100

The Chappel Beer Festival

2008-09-11T19:41:00.005+01:00

As you may know we are designing a new beer and so yesterday I went off on a 'research' mission to a Beer Festival in Chappel, Essex, which has apparently been running for 22 years. Run by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and the East Anglian Railway Museum, I found it quite difficult to see who was benefiting out of the whole process.

We were given on arrival 1 pint glass and a long list of all the beers available at the Festival. However, for what we wanted it was useless. It told us the name of the Brewer, the actual beer name and alcohol content. However, there was absolutely no telling whether it was a golden beer, a stout, a brown ale etc. There wasn't any signage or indication on the barrels. Not even all the beers cited on the list were present at the Festival so even if you knew which one you wanted there was a chance you wouldn't be able to have it. To make matters worse, the staffing of the bars was run by the Railway Museum not CAMRA and so the volunteers knew a heck of a lot about railways but next to nothing about beer. We managed to speak with the President of the Norfolk branch of CAMRA and he explained to us how much a shambles the whole business was.

Did we actually drink anything in the end? Well, yes, of course. However, nothing was really that wonderful. We started with two Belgian brews, a honey one and a ginger. Being continental, they were very different and MUCH stronger, being 10.5% and 8% respectively. Ginger was quite nice actually with a good lot of rounded flavour. The honey was too sweet, probably due to the fact that it contained added sugar as well as the honey. Honey is meant to be used as a natural sweetener anyway so you can imagine what it was like. Other beers included an organic ale (4.5%) from Hepworth breweries, Horsham, Sussex, a full throated, foul smelling hoppy beer (5.8%) from Coastal Breweries, Redruth, Cornwall, a less than pleasant 4% from Harwich, a quite repulsive 4.7% coriander ale and then possibly one of the better ales we had - a 4.8% 'Suffolk Pride' Real ale from Mauldons Brewery, Sudbury, Suffolk.

So, what have we got out of the whole process? Well, to be frank, we know what
we don't like in terms of some of the ingredients. We are thinking that we will probably now go down the herbal route as opposed to the hops route, simply because it would be different to anything else out there and you have a lot more freedom in terms of creating your flavour. However, we shall see as the work progresses. The next job is to go and see the Maltster in Warminster, Wiltshire.

New Blogs

2008-09-06T12:35:00.004+01:00

I have now set up a further two blogs as said previously. One is basically an historical facts/story blog and the other is purely political:

http://theplaceforpolitics.blogspot.com/

http://abitofhistoryfortoday.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to visit both.

It has started...

2008-09-05T01:14:00.005+01:00

The Summer has past and the schools have gone back. I have been planning this year for a long time now and it is exciting that it has finally arrived. I have been meticulously organising my time and, for the last 3 days, have been trying to get it all down on paper - calendars, diaries, the works. I have also been sorting out the financial side of it all which has been incredibly tedious but it is something that had to be done. I am now, not entirely but almost entirely, ready.

So, what am I going to be up to? Well, I want to give myself a flavour of several things throughout the year, more than anything so I keep myself busy. That is the secret with a year off I think - keeping yourself busy. You have to be organised and highly disciplined, making sure that you don't try and slip into Summer holiday mode at all.

Music wise I am planning to do TrinityGuildhall Grade 8 Piano in December and ABRSM Grade 8 on the trombone, as well as an Acting Diploma exam in speech and drama. Last year I discovered that I really enjoyed composing music and although there is now unfortunately less opportunity for performance it is most certainly an activity I shall try to continue this year. The Summer has brought forward another 4 new works (not yet written down though! I'll get round to it sometime). In November I'm planning to do a semi charity/ semi raising funds for GAP year recital of modernist piano and accordian music. Also, for later this month I have been asked to play for a few hours at a 50th birthday party (money!). I shall be continuing with some of the ensembles at Ipswich School.

Travel will make up a major part of the year, more particularly after Christmas, but I shall go into more detail regarding all that later.

I have set myself several targets, two of which (well 2 and a 1/2 of which) involve languages. In May next year I shall be setting off on the Trans-Siberian express and so it would be really good if I could grasp some Russian. This is most certainly a major aim (watch this space James!). I shall also be going through China in June so want to know the basics of Mandarin (that's the '1/2' bit). Italian is a language that I would absolutely adore to be able to speak and so a serious aim is to be able to speak and understand as much Italian as possible by this time next year.

One of the more tedious things I'm going to have to be doing soon is sorting out the whole UCAS thing...again! I can't really complain though as I am doing it through choice. However, until I hear back from *** Edexcel about my remarks I can't do much about it. Watch this space though and I'll tell you all as it emerges. I'm fairly definite that I want to go down the history/politics type esque scene though in terms of courses.

Money, unfortunately, doesn't grow on trees and I'm going to have to get it all from somewhere. Very generously my Grandmother has offered to pay for a significant amount of the travelling fees which gives me a big boost financially. However, there will still be a significant amount that I shall have to raise. Thankfully there is a lot of work to do on the farms and so that will form a part of the moneybag. I'm also helping to design a new beer, some of the proceeds of which will also go into the money pot. Speaking of the beer I am going to go on a course in January up near Sunderland that covers brewing, the process of brewing, marketing, accountancy etc (Ingham you finally win! some of you will understand). However, I have come to the conclusion that I'm just going to have to find another job. The problem is that around here there is very little (if anything) on offer. You have to be extremely lucky. The trouble is of course that for the good jobs you need experience and you can't get experience without a job. It's a vicious circle. Anyway, I'll let you know how I do on this front later.

In terms of work experience I have several ideas lined up in the fields of politics, journalism and heritage. The problem is that I honestly don't believe that I have enough time on my hands. Up until Christmas I really should be working in terms of actually getting money in my pocket. January is really the only dead month when nothing at all has been planned. I would like some work experience with ECC, an MEP, MP, a (probably local) newspaper and either the National Trust or English Heritage but I'm not sure if I'm going to have the time. I have the contacts lined up it is simply whether I can logistically hold to securing the experience. I have started writing a novel and am aiming to start up a political blog which I shall post a link to on here once it's up and running.

Right, now, the traveling. I shall put this in a nice simple format but the dates are not set in stone yet so could be subject to change:

SEPTEMBER '08

14th-18th - Basel, Switzerland (COMPLETE)

OCTOBER '08

24th-29th - Ipswich School Chapel Choir Tour to Krakow, Poland

JANUARY '09

late (but possibly early Feb)- skiing in the Alps (France probably) not yet finalised

FEBRUARY '09

MARCH '09

APRIL '09

3rd - leave for 3 1/2 weeks road trip around Scandinavia (I'll put up the proposed itinerary later in the year)

22nd - return from Scandinavia

early (but probably leaving late March) - 10-12 day road trip around Ireland stopping in Dublin, Cork, Dingle, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Donegal, Londonderry, Belfast, Newry and then back to Dublin again. (NOW PLANNED FOR SUMMER 2010)

MAY '09

1st - leave London for journey along the Trans-Siberian express. Will put up more details later. Planning to stop at St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Ulaan Baatur and Beijing.

23rd - arrive Beijing following Trans-Siberian.

24th - leave Beijing for trip down through Tibet on the Trans-Tibetan railway. Stopping at Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, Sakya, Everest Base Camp and Kathmandu

JUNE '09

7th - leave Kathmandu for flight back to London.

JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER '09

Walking the Pennine way (South to North) for charity 'Save the Naze'.

So that's pretty much it. We set off on what will hopefully be a most incredible year. Hopefully you will follow me on the story and see how it all pans out.

Fancy coming along?

2008-09-05T01:01:00.003+01:00

Looking for someone to join me going to any of these places/on any of these trips (will be updated later). Email me at beagleb@hotmail.co.uk if you're interested:

London - Beijing on the Trans-siberian Express. Staying in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Ulaan Baatur & Beijing. 3 weeks 5 days. Through a company called 'The Russia Experience' - http://www.trans-siberian.co.uk/site/. Would be about £2000 but really worth it.