Monday 12 April 2010

The fear of the Underground

For most people, they suffer from the generic fears like spiders, snakes and heights. As a person who suffers from a massive phobia of heights (I wont even stand on a chair), going to London usually turns into an ordeal as i take the first look up at the underground escalators.

Now to most of my friends and family, this is a funny sight to see me quivering at the sight of the sheer height of the things. Now in a shopping centre, there OK, but it's a completely different environment.

Going up on an underground poses many nervous moments. Firstly, there's so many people around you and people running up beside you as well as the whole escalator encased in this metal tube with a low ceiling. Now I don't suffer from claustrophobia, but this is horrendous. You can't see where you're going, even though I'm over 6ft, and you cant see where you've been. The speed is so slow, I'm sure they do it on purpose to torture people like me. Finally the sheer height, which is although uncontrollable, terrifying. Why don't they just make lots of mini ones?



Angel station, Northern Line. I haven't been on this one and don't intend on either. The strange thing is though, I'm not scared of going down them....

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Commanding victory for Twiston-Davies

On a day where Kauto Star and Denman were the horses everyone was talking about, there was one horse that everyone had forgotten. Imperial Commander.

At 11/1, it should never of been forgotten about, and on it's home course, was in great shape to cause an upset. With Kauto Star at 8/11 and Denman 4/1, Imperial Commander was a great each-way bet and so with my £10 in hand, walked into a bookies to place my bet, confident of the upset.

When the race was going on (sadly i was working), the atmosphere inside the Centaur was buzzing, everyone clutching their betting slips tightly, praying for a huge win.

It was at the fourth from last when Kauto Star went down that 2/3's of the people started to cry, knowing that their 'sure-fire banker' had just failed on them, and when Imperial Commander passed Denman on the last fence, i knew my hunch and come good.

As he crossed the line, there was only a small cheer from inside the arena. The underdog had won again, and so proved that every horse has his day!

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Welcome to the Circle

Although the parents will always say, that their children have gone to uni for a degree, there is an element of truth in that. However the social side of uni life is just as appealing, and that the drinking games are a great way of students meeting each other, and getting drunk with it.

Sports teams hold socials every week, where they form a 'circle', where the team and anyone else wanting to take part just sit in a large circle and take part in the drinking games and international drinking laws.

The games involved can include 'Never have I ever', 'Iaka' and 'One frog jumped into the pond, splash'. Although the games may sound simple and/or slightly bizarre, the fact that the games are a lot harder after a few beverages (an international drinking law states you cannot say the word drink), the games become so impossible that the inevitable punishments for mucking up are dealt.

Although, most people do turn out drunk and there's always an embarrassing story someone has about you the next day, it's something that most sports teams and me included, look forward to do every single week.