Don't look

It's easy to showcase the beauty of my home county and the Welsh boarders, given that they are so effortlessly beautiful. 

Capturing the beauty of London requires a little more subtle insight however, and a dash of nonchalance. You can't really seek out it's beauty, it just, stumbles upon you.

You will walk past a stunning piece of street art, that stops you in your tracks.

You will be mesmorized, by the lusterous aromas of Tootings' melting pot of culinary delights.

You will forget to look up, and when you do, be rewarded with a whole new world to enlighten the senses.

The less you care for Londons' beauty, the more it presents itself to you, the less you look, the more you see.

I havn't even mentioned the parks yet!

2015 in Photos

Here's a little story line of my year, these arn't a collection of the 'best' photos from the year, but rather a little snippet into what I got up to and how 2015 went down.

The year started off pretty cold...

...just the way I like it

St Anton was quite frankly, off the chain! Ballin' down the side of a mountain in powder with your friends is worth every penny, in fact it's priceless. Snowboarding has fast become my new obsession. 

My eyes deteriorated to the point of new glasses and contact lenses.

My eyes got a lot worse, so I tried contact lenses, and they honestly changed my life, for starters I could see the stars, and secondly I regained my confidence to ride bikes fast again.

I couldn't stay away from the trees.

I climbed my first 'proper' tree, an 80ft+ wellingtonia, the views were incredible, almost as incredible as how red my face went in climbing the bastard! Alex saw that I got there safely though.

This became my new uniform

I learnt a lot in my 9 month stint at Southmead Hospital, pity they couldn't sort me a uniform in that time, so scrubs it was.

This became my new ride

Some shit back stole my bike, so my good friend at Giant Bikes hooked me up with this beast,  which I quickly got used to, and soon entered my first triathlon!

I smashed my first triathlon.

I explored a lot of this country...

...with this crazy kook.

Loads of exploring went down, from London to Barcelona.

Natalie joined me on the mountain.

Barcelona was spectacular.

Barca will have its own post, just to facilitate my horrendous memory

Chloe and Toby got married!!!

I finally got into Uni! I can't quite believe it, the way my first exam went, I'm pretty sure I won't be returning after Christmas, but time will tell.

I finally got in to Uni...

...and gave Bristol a good send off.

By the time I got used to Bristol, I was off to London.

Good times, exploring Planet Earth.

I've got lots more blogs I want to do, one of them will showcase my 'Photography', a term I use loosely these days!

Biology Update

Well I did it. All the hard work paid off and I'm now studying Physiotherapy, not at UWE like I'd hoped, but in St Georges, West London. This was the last place I wanted to be spending three years of my life, but this is a sacrifice, and a temporary necessary that will allow me to pursue my sports I love so much, and work at the same time in the best locations in the world. That's not to say I'm going to be a bitter old man about the experience, I intend to fully embrace it, and be open to the world of a capital, It's been an amazing experience already to be honest.

My kind of view of the city, from Waterlow Park, North London

My love for Trees and Arboriculture is still very much alive, even more so than Physiotherapy, at least at the moment. That may have something to do with the huge amount of adjustments a Country Boy has to make when living in the city. Which by chance happens to have opened a new chapter, many in fact which one day I hope to share with all of you.

Richmond on a foggy morning

The trees have been my solace, and always will be. The only place I feel I can truly breath in this city is under a tree, or up one. In fact, as soon as my exams were over earlier this year I took my next ticket, and as a result I can now fell trees up to 380mm trunk diameter...legally. Ironic really, that I love trees so much, yet chop them down occasionally.

Sequoia Sunday

Oh hello

 So there we go, the country loving, tree obsessed WEP has moved to London, I made it, I did it, everything paid off, I just hope this was the right decision. I think it has been, besides, the beauty of having a mind, is that you can change it as often as you like.

The Northern Line

The Northern Line actually is the exhaust pipe for South London, poor Morden.

The Underground Rats.

Humans are the rats of the underground, except we don't travel for free.

Like for Like?!

Why do you have to affirm your life, with a 'like' ?

My unexpected dabble in Arboriculture

So between Oct 2013 and January 2015 I worked on and off for Edwards Tree Services, formerly Edwards Tree Surgery. I can't believe I havn't already blogged about the experience to be honest.

Well anyway a good friend of mine Steve Morris, dropped me a message to ask if I could come in and help out for a week as they were really short staffed. Having nothing else lined up I said yes.

So there I was, no idea what the hell was going on, but loving the fact I got to wear a fancy helmet and generally piss about with some hard graft thrown in for good measure. Even if the helmet was well over due replacing and several years old, though I didn't discover this for months.

He's there...somewhere

Infact even the bosses dog could carry logs better than I could when I started out.

All over the place

Some how I managed to survive the week, rigging branches down, chipping the only pair of gloves I was given, and spilling oil and petrol all over the place in front of my boss.

Much to my surprise I was asked back. A couple of months later, I was starting to get the hang of how things worked, what the system was, and even pre empting situations and gaining some brownie points. I still spent half my time taking photos though.

It was the sort of job where you have to not only prove yourself but earn the respect of the people you work with. 

Now I really frustrated everyone I worked with by generally being shit and good all at the same time, but at the same time having some serious laughs along the way.

There's always something to take home, either to burn or make.

I learnt some pretty handy skills, from how to cut a hedge, to how to split logs.

Before I knew it I was buying actual work gear...

What I loved the most was that when I woke up in the morning, I had no idea where I would be going, but I knew that in some way there would be some beauty, some hard work, and some good fun. 

Even when the weather was 'shit' I was still having fun, and still taking photos when I shouldn't have

However all this physical labour took it's toll on my already pretty broken body, but also kept it strong. 

Yet before I knew it, I had my first experience up a tree, even gained some qualifications or tickets, and bought more expensive gear.

Despite all of this though I was still the WEP

But that's just the way I liked it. 

Now I work in a hospital, indoors all day, and to be honest, it is really driving my insane. Although today I chopped down a tree, which was very satisfying, in fact I have done two tree related jobs since starting at the hospital, and they have been the only form of paid work I have actually looked forward to, and enjoyed doing, which says a lot I think.

I can't stay away, I don't want to stay away.

So anyway, A large percentage of 2014 was spent with a select few lads and a whole load of trees, many of which are no more (the trees that is) Thank you guys for a great year, I laughed so hard I cried nearly every day, I worked so hard (most days) that I nearly always slept well, and I worked so much that I failed my Biology A Level, but all in all it was one of the best jobs I ever had.

Until next time Lads, I am a robot.