Trip and other bits

Don't ask me why its been over a week since my last blog, because to be honest I don't know.
This is what I remember of last week...

Tuesday: Rain - so much so the university pavements were 3 inches under.
Wednesday: Bright sunshine - so good we buggered off down the Hoe and had lunch :). Found out about Speedy Reedys Accident, counselling session for 3 hrs over msn.
Thursday: Did £10 of Laundry and ironing ready for trip up to Huddersfield.
Friday: Left for Huddersfield. Right where to start?

I got a taxi up to Plymouth airport, really is in a most peculiar / out of the way place. Near the entrance you are surrounded by deep hedgerow on a single track road with warehouses surrounding you. For a moment I thought my driver was going to mug me!
Luckily he didn't and I arrived at the 2nd smallest airport I have ever been to, the 1st being Alderney. There isn't much there apart from 2 check in desks - the baggage conveyors (its all done by hand), a cafe, and some toilets.... oh and some seats. After a while our plane arrived and we boarded for our hopper flight to Manchester via Bristol. All was pleasant and the plane was less than half empty.

Upon arrival at Manchester we were given the furthest stand possible from domestic arrivals, so much so that I thought I had walked to Huddersfield by the time I got my bag. I then began an equally gargantuan walk to the train station, which required a slog through terminal 3 (my arrival point) into terminal 1 and then via a long tunnel to the station. From there I boarded a train to Huddersfield and arrived 40 minutes later.
I quickly met Speedy Reedy and we did what all good students do, and went to the pub. A pint later and a small snack we took a taxi to his 'house' which is part of a small student accommodation complex to the south of the city. His room is significantly smaller than mine, but cosier as a result. That night we went to a house party (arrived just as it ended), had pizza (yum) and watched copious amounts of Family Guy.

Saturday: Spent the day in Manchester.

Not a bad city, big shopping malls offering only the finest in artificially cooled recycled air. But really tis a nice place so cant grumble. The only down side is that although they have a Selfridges, there is no Krispy Kreme's inside unlike Birmingham, so my friend now has to go without.
We then went to the Hard-Rock Café, it was nice not too pricey either, and our waitress was something to eat with our eyes too.
Fed and watered we got back to Huddersfield and popped into the Uni to check emails etc. We then went back to the house and watched more Family Guy before going to see the Pursuit of Happyness at the local Odeon. Not a bad film, congratulations Mr Smith.

Sunday: Late to rise, had a look around Huddersfield town and then met up with a friend of SR called Liam. The three of us went climbing, me sticking to non harness needing boulders, while they had fun with straps and ropes. Not as gay as it sounds, although SR admits freely that Liam spends a good many nights at his house staying the night. We also managed to partly help SR get over his accident. Although I was glad to be there and helped to 2nd belay (safety rope thing), as when Liam did fall, the differences in weight lifted SR off the floor and sent him heading towards the wall, luckily I stopped him :).
That night we watched Top Gear, which was great as usual, and then went out for a great meal at Wetherspoons, pissing off the staff by ordering dessert at 20 Min's before cut off :).

Monday:
Spent all morning in bed. The afternoon was taken up with goodbyes, as SR had lectures at 2, so I wandered through town with my suitcase, had a coffee and then went to the Head of Steam which is the fore mentioned pub attached to the station. I got to the airport at 5 and took off at 7:30. The landing into Bristol was.... rough. Very rough. At the time the pilots expressed concern for our chances of arriving in Plymouth at all, but vowed to give it a go. Take off from Bristol was... yeah you guessed it rough. In the end we couldn't land at Plym, so had to divert to Exeter. Being shaken all the way, and the landing was unsurprisingly rough. Got home at 12:30, 3 hrs later than planned, but all in all a good weekend.