Norman Ralph

I am a Blackberry fan boy at heart. I love the full qwerty keyboard, the enterprise level security, Blackberry Internet Service, BBM and the Bold II is still my phone of choice. However, I needed to replace my iPod and when I started shopping around I found it cheaper to buy a new iPhone 4 (price matched and staff discount applied) than to buy a new iPod. So I am not the owner (not so proud I have to admit) of a brand new iPhone 4. I haven’t used it much yet as it is currently sat at home charging whilst I deal with my hangover at work, but the UI is shiny and smooth; although is no where near as user friendly as the marketing bods at Apple would have me believe.

I won’t be using it much as a phone, but I will probably make good use of the fact I essentially have an iPod touch with 3g!

It has been a long time since I went to see a live football game so when Andrew at work offered me the chance to join him in on his Yorkshire Football Weekends, a plan to see a different Yorkshire club play each Saturday afternoon for the rest of the season, I jumped right on board. I really enjoy live sport in any guise and used to love my afternoons at Headingley when I was a member at Yorkshire Cricket Club.

Following a mad dash for the train due to some faulty ticket machines at Leeds station we eventually jumped on a train to Bradford where we were going to catch the bus up to Horsfall Park, the home of the once mighty Bradford Park Avenue AFC. The club now plays in the Evo-stik Northern Premier League – the 7th tier of English football’s pyramid – but once graced the higher echelons of the league structure, playing in the first and second divisions throughout the pre-war years.

We grabbed a few drinks in the local drinking establishment once we arrived at the stadium and enjoyed the second half of the Manchester United and West Ham game via Greek satellite. The remarkable finish to that game put us in just the right mood for the afternoon delights to follow.

Many people would question our choice to visit a non-league side in search of live football, but with tickets costing less than ten pounds and a really goof atmosphere where you really feel part of the club, I think that non-league is actually a really good way of getting into live football and I would recommend everybody to check out their local clubs.

The game itself was a bit of a thriller with Bradford Park Avenue finishing the first half with a four goal to one lead. The standard of football was actually really high, with some good first touches and a commitment to playing the football along the ground with short passes in the channels and some smart runs off the ball. The second half was a little more disappointing as the non-league fitness levels caught up with the players and the game started to break down and fall into long ball tennis in patches. We did see another two goals in the second half, including a free kick taken from outside the penalty area that was remarkably similar to the one Wayne Rooney had scored for Man Utd earlier int he day at Upton Park. The final score finished 5-2 to Bradford Park Avenue. You can check out a full match report at Andrew’s football website.

The afternoon was rounded off when we visited the same drinking establishment as earlier in the day only to find we had stumbled into the West Yorkshire Divisional meeting of the English Defence League. We scarpered pretty quickly!

For all those that didn’t know Kieran, Chris, George and I are heading to Europe for a three week road trip in September. In fact three weeks today, we will be doing stuff in Amsterdam that is probably unwise to post about on a public website!

We are planning to take in ten countries in ten days before spending a week chilling out in a villa in the Bordeaux region of France. I intend to use the week recovering from some serious European madness.

The plan is to visit the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco and France and to basically relive our student days living out of suitcases, eating rubbish and drinking unsafe quantities of alcohol.

As part of the trip, I am hoping to trial some new post types which will hopefully include some video and audio posts as well as the more traditional text and picture ones you are used to. Of course, any trip would not be a trip without constant updates of Twitter. if you want real time updates then either follow me or just search for the trips official hashtag (#ertrip2010).

Also, as Kieran is the sensible one amongst us, we are employing a “Kieran Doesn’t Know” theme (based on the Scotty Doesn’t Know song in the Eurotrip movie) to avoid his veto on some of our more extreme ideas. I would appreciate any mention of Kieran to be accompanied by some mental (or actual, if you prefer) singing of the Scotty Doesn’t Know song but replace “Scotty” with “Kieran”.

Any recommendations on places to see in or around the following cities (or the countries mentioned above) then feel free to contact me, or leave a comment. Cities we are hoping to visit: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brugges, Nuremburg, Munich, Luxembourg City, Salzburg, Venice, Verona, Saint Gallen, Zurich, Lausanne and Monte Carlo.

There is a saying that goes “another day, another dollar” and it seems only fitting that I begin my review of 2008 with a quote regarding time and money. 2008 has been a mixed bag of a year, like most years it cam with its ups and downs. The news stories of the year reflect this, with Team GB performing heroics in Beijing and then the economic issues of the last quarter. I hope the rest of this post reflects this theme.

January
Exams were the order of the day at the opening of 2008. never a good start. Although this particular bunch of exams went pretty well and helped set up a relatively successful second semester on my new course. A-Soc kicked off its second full year with its first event of 2008, the low turnout not indicating the successes to follow. January aslo saw Chris finally lose his virginity at Wendy House.

February
Darwin Day 2008 was supposed to be the highlight of February, but it got somewhat overshadowed by Sarann’s secret affair! The planning of Rationalist Week seems to get earlier and earlier and we officially kicked off the organisation of A-Soc’s flagship event on the 13th February. Somehow, I also managed to fit in a well deserved few days away with Liz in the lake District – you cannot beat walking, relaxing and real ale by the fire to wash away exam and coursework stress! The Union’s political machinations also culminated with me being dubbed “Norman the No! Man” due to my inability to sit back and watch debates go undebated, regardless of my actual view points.

March
One of the coups of 2008 came when Si finally succumbed to peer pressure and started blogging! In another blow for democracy, my decision to stand for Faith and Culture rep for the Union was rebuked as I was effectively blocked from standing (or voting). My main memory of March, however, was the setting up of Secular Portal, which would ultimately turn into my current project, the AHS.

April
Rationalist Week 2008. Need I say much more about how awesome April was? Except for everything that went wrong it was a great success! The icing on the cake was being elected president of A-Soc at the AGM. We managed to recruit a decent sized committee and really was the icing on the cake as far as the success of A-Soc in the first half of 2008.

May
it seems I didn’t blog about very much in May. Probably down to the exams etc that I was taking, along with recovering from April!

June
I started work with O2 at the beginning of June and spent most of the month training for my new role. I did manage to squeeze in a few social activities too, brewing my own ale for the SoC graduation reception was a particular highlight. I also went to see Avril Lavigne perform in Manchester, which was also pretty awesome. I also moved out of the house I had lived in for three of my four years at university.

July
Work and parties seemed to be the order of the day this month in 2008.

I’m going to stop splitting up the months for the second half of 2008 as I didn’t actually spend much time bloggine. Really, I worked near enough all summer – managing a day off for V Festival – either at O2 or putting together Intro Week for A-Soc.

Part of me thinks I should write here what happened in the couple of months I wasn’t blogging, but I feel that it wouldn’t do it justice. It wasn’t until December that I began blogging again, inspired by the relaunch of the site and our end of year festivities.

Hopefully, I will continue this new found blogging activity into 2009.

My marks out of ten for 2008 as a year, a good 7.

So, yeah, last night was our New Year’s Eve party in Leeds. A well attended event considering that most people are home with their family and “real” friends that was dominated by a couple of events. Firstly, our living room flooded, a direct result of the second event – our first ever communal shower! Eight of us decided that alcohol and partying had progressed as far as it could and the next logical step was a semi-naked (and mostly naked in Michelle’s case) communal shower. Keep your eyes peeled for the exclusive pay-per-view site containing the pictures and videos!

It was definitely a good night all round and I now definitely feel closer to my house mates than ever before! It was also the first A-Soc event of 2009, seeing as the majority of the guests sit or have sat on the committee. We atheists really do have it larger.

Although, having said all that we all know that parties are just an excuse for recovery steak the morning after and as such we all headed to the Deer Park for our steak. Even the 45 minute wait on food didn’t dampen the excitement and meaty goodness of a well cooked bit of steak. Mmmm, steak, drool.

Friday night saw two landmarks.

1) I finshed my O2 training, so I am allowed to talk to real people about real problems from Monday!

2) We had our housewarming party.

The party was pretty good, it started really slowly – 5 people when I got home from work at 10pm – but it picked up nicely by the end. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t as we do live some whay away from the rest of the gang and the majority of students cannot be bothered to make the two buses to get to our house. The only disappointing thing was that a couple of mates from work flaked on me and didn’t turn up. Kudos to Dan for turning up and staying even though he didn’t know anyone! James and Mike suck!!

I was suitably drunk by the end of the evening as were most people, which is always a good sign. We also had a full house as most people stayed over.

Spent a lot of the night arguing about politics which was very grown up fo us, except the topic was socialism which is very studenty. Most people grow out of socialism when they get a job!

All in all though, a good night!

It is not often that St Patrick’s Day and Easter are in the same week! What’s going on here??!!

The end of the term is approaching, Easter break starts today and I have to say it can’t come quick enough. The last week has been a chore and I have developed an apathy for life that just isn’t healthy. The chance to recharge and catch up on reading, essays etc is well overdue!

The week started with Rocky Horror on Monday which went atrociously, A-Soc on Tuesday wasn’t much better – although it was a chance to see all four of the atheist characters (Dawkins, Dennet, Hitchins and Harris) sat round a table, Wednesday was School Disco (post to follow) and yesterday was a recovery day with One Life virtually being a non-event. Today has also been a write off, although I have managed to tidy quite a bit.

I hate this limbo period where my drive has gone, but it is not yet officially holiday!

I have eaten a couple of times in Mine now and I am still unsure as to how I would rate the experience as a whole. Mine is Leeds University Union’s ‘upmarket’ eating establishment and bar – offering table service, a la carte menu and at night an intimate, atmospheric venue used mainly for the smaller club nights and live music.

First, my main criticisms. I think that the food menu is too small and lacks any real variety, the food is of so-so atandard and is somewhat overpriced in my honest opinion. Today was a bad experience in terms of drinks – the lager I ordered was flat!

On a positive note, the service and atmosphere are pretty good. Relaxed enough to enjoy a quick bite with friends yet formal enough that you could entertain there too. As usual with the union establishments the staff are friendly and approachable and are very quick to deal with any issues.

I will probably eat there again, but mainly due to the fact there is no viable alternative within walking distance of the university with the decline of the Llama and Eldon. The Library too far away and The Faversham too expensive. I hope that the union is quick to look at the potential of Mine and realises that it could be so much more!

I lent Liz my house keys on Friday as I was travelling back to Kirkham that evening to attend a Christening on the Saturday and Liz wanted to stay and play at George’s birthday Otley Run. I forgot to ask for them back on Sunday when I took her home and, Liz being Liz, she forgot she had them. So, I am pretty much stuck in the house because I can’t lock up or get back in!

This is very much a double edged sword. It is boring being stuck in, especially as we have a joiner in replacing our doors which means I can’t do too much wandering or watch tv as it is too loud. I also miss a lecture or two, though that isn’t too important as it is last week of term so there isn’t much exciting happeneing in them. The upside is that I have achieved an awful lot of coding in the time I have been in. I am now totally up-to-date in all my coding and even managed to forge ahead slighlty with next term’s coursework. At this rate I will have nothing top do over the holidays!

Friday
After the mania of Atheist Week finishing the night before, Friday started with me rising early to make sure that Liz and I were all ready to leave for the A-Soc trip to London. We met up with Jack at the university before heading down to Park Row Wetherspoons for a society breakfast. We met Chris there, who following a bit of a rough morning was a littl frought, and planned to meet Moz at the Bus Station. After a quite good breakfast we wandered down to catch our bus. Half the group was getting the 12:30 bus and the others, namely Sarann, Michelle and Charlie, were catching the 15:45 bus die to lectures.

The bus got us into London for about 5pm and we grabbed a quick bite in McDonald’s before getting the tube up to King’s Cross – where we trudged the five minute walk down Gray’s Inn Road to Ashlee House, the hostel we were staying at. The hostel was not a five star resort, the facilities were basic but the atmosphere was friendly. The room was adequate to our needs – bed, linen and a lockable door. In the end, most of us didn’t actually spend that much time in the hostel.

Friday night saw us head into Camden to visit Sin City at the Electric Ballroom. It was a shame to see that even after 11pm when we arrived the club was barely half full and didn’t get much fuller. Most of us then proceeded to get a little drunk, especially Liz and Michelle who subsequently needed carrying home. Who would have thought that the mile or so walk from Camden Town to King’s Cross would have taken well over an hour?!

Saturday
Saturday morning was quite difficult for many of us. I had a stinking hangover and I was not the only one. Jack, Chris and I managed to force ourselves up and at them to go and visit the Ethical Society’s Library. I had spent quite a lot of time plannign and organising this visit, but unfortunately Jennifer, the head librarian, failed to turn up and give us our tour. AFter an hour or so we decided to move on in search of something more exciting. We ended up lunching in Holburn. The restaurant of choice turned out to be ‘The Ultimate Burger’. We were all a little intrigued to see if the burgers on offer were inf act The Ultimate. Jack went for a satay based burger, Chris a minted lamb burger and I went for the Sunday roast burger – basically a burger with Yorkshire pudding! Now, although the burgers were good they were not the ultimate! I expect a certain je ne sais pas to my ulitmate food and these burgers were tasty, filling and not ridiculously priced they did not leave me gasping, or vowint to return.

We had planned a trip the natural history museum is Kensington but due to the fact that there were engineering works on the Picadilly line, and Arsenal home game and a million people seeimingly wanting to use the tube station at once we gave up on that idea. The mysterious forces of nature then seemed to deposit the three of us on the steps of the British Museum. I have never actually visited this famous museum, but have often been intrigued by the exhibits it contains – such as the massive collection from Egypt and the current visiting exhibition of China’s Terracotta Army. The building itself was incredible, the massive front, the breathtaking interior simply left me speechless. The materials and colelctions inside are equally impressive,d espite a crippling hangover I still managed over two hours looking round. I had to leave to get some air, but Jack and Chris spent a further few hours in there.

Due to the crowds, both in the museum and in the tube station, it was getting past 3pm by the time returned to the hostel. This gave me a few minutes to get ready for the theatre. Sarann, Michelle, Charlie, Liz and I had tickets for the 39 Steps in the West End. The play was based on the novel and film of the same name, but was remade into a rather slapstick comic version. I wan to sure I was going to like it from the programme notes but by the end the incredible acting and wonderful direction had my crying with laughter and applauding on instinct.

Saturday’s dinner wa sa disaster. We ended up at a 50s themed american diner come nightclub. Not the sort of place I would normally frequent, but it was passable int erms of atmosphere and setting. However, the meal stank! We had to send two drinks back, one main course and then I had to complain about the service. All in all it was one of the ost disappointing and stressful meals of my life!

The excesses of Friday night were starting to take their toll, so an evening of Father Ted and an early night were the order of the day.

Sunday
In my opinion Sunday was the most successful day of the trip in terms of an A-Soc agenda. We had to check out the hostel by 10am, which meant that we were late (in our minds) to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. When we arrived there was an Imman plugging a socialist agenda without much reference to Islam. There was some speculation that we had missed the speakers but right on queue a lady started claiming we were being judged by god – although what god she was talking about remains unclear to me even now – and how we must all return to our racial homelands. There was a preacher who called Chris and I qualified unbelievers and then started spouting homophobia. What really made the morning were the satirists – the people that took the mickey out of the main speakers! Due to growling stomachs, Chris, Jack, Liz and I headed to McDonald’s on Oxford Street for some lunch. We then spent the afternoon wandering down Oxford Street.

The weekend finished with us collecting our luggage and cathcing the bus home at 20:30.

A good weekend that I am going to be recovering from for a few days yet!