10 posts tagged “hughenden road”

It's a strange feeling tonight at Hughenden Road. This is the last night I sleep here, the last after 4 years, after 1543 days. The room is empty...there is me, the bedsheets, trousers and a shirt for tomorrow morning, my shoes and a Fiorentina picture attached to the wall...this is my present for the next taker of the room.. That's it...! All the rest is there, silent, still, empty, sad.
It was a great time the one spent here, Rupert and Charlotte were two fantastic landlords, their children very sweet and well mannered. Sometimes I had problems with my flatmates, but I don't care now...this is time for good memories, as when we slept 4 of us in this bedroom : me, Tommy, Mone and Bencio, as all the time friends came along to watch some football on tv...How to forget Carla and her boiled vegetables, Andrew and his cool yellow Honda to finish off with Biri and his kindness?
At the very beginning I wasn't sure, it took a bit to get convinced, but soon I realized that I ended up in one of the nicest street overall in Bristol, and that the flat, with a bit of work could have become great...and I started to adore it!!
I was in the smaller bedroom for over two years, and I was fine, I moved into this one only in September 2007, and I loved it right away... its view is simply stunning. I felt it was mine...I still feel it...! But it's not. I have mine though...and that's where it becomes odd. I'm excited by the new place, but yet I am sad to leave this one. I can't describe it...I am not even able to write a proper post so is full of thoughts my mind...
Who knows how will I feel in few hours...? I am not good at farewell...I will go downstairs for the very last time, few step, the key left on to a little table, a door to open, then another one, the last one for the last time. I think I will walk away, not turning back. This will be history. Will be a big chunk of my memories, of my greatest memories.

...and then...? and then I am moving out...! My adventure at Hughenden Road is coming to an end...Sad, but true. Leaving this place where I spent over 4 years is a shame... Honestly I feel sorry about that...! I love staying here, I loved living here...! I am moving to a new flat...my own flat...a big big step!! There is a lot to gain, quality of life first, in living on my own...then privacy, whatever you want...but yet I will miss a lot this street, this flat with its stunning view...and I will probably feel also a bit lonely at the beginning. It is a funny feeling in this time, with a mix that I don't even recognize sometimes...! I am happy and excited for this new adventure, but I'd rather call it phase of my life...I am a bit stressed and tired cos last two week I have spent all my spare time looking for, and choosing, furniture for the flat...I am slightly worried cos from now on I will be responsible for maintenance and managment of the flat...and I had already a first sign of it... I had to call the plumber on Monday! I will have to deal with the neighbours...and this might not be easy as well...but I will see it later...it is really like that...but in the end I think it's cool to have to deal with all of this...!
Tomorrow there is the furniture delivery, Friday they are coming to replace the carpet in the bedroom, over the weekend some friends are helping me out assembling everything...then I still have to choose few little things, to buy plates and all the rest is necessary in the kitchen...so...still a lot to do...plenty of things to think about...!
And last but not least...I have to choose a new title for the blog...that's the hardest task...
 

...and laptop on the knees...TV switched on and remote in the right hand. Not bad...! Lately it is rarely to have some time to relax...than when it happens I so love it! I am watching Marco Polo TV, a channel about voyages and Holidays...They are talking about Rio de Janeiro, but I won't go that far this summer...
After the amazing trip last year in California, this summer I will stay in Italy. On the beach. Sardinia. But this is still far away, so better not to think to much about it.
So where we are...? Still at Hughenden Road for the moment, not for too long maybe...but I do not have a date yet to move out! I have got a place to go instead...but not officially so let's wait a bit more...
Work is going very well. It is always very interesting and challenging.But it gives satisfactions. What I like the most is to find out often something new I didn't know before. It is unbelievable the amount a little things you have to take into account designing landing gears on aeroplanes... And the striking fact is that every time I think...how come I didn't think about that before??? It looks so obvious...so not complicated...!
I am not inventing new solutions for the moments...so don't worry...you can still fly...!

Jamie left beginning of the week. he will be replaced by Ben. He is English. He is an architect. An architect and two engineers in the flat...quite scary isn't it...??? So once again we have a new flatmate at Hughenden Road. Me and Biri met him for a drink last week in a pub jsut down the road. I had the impression of a nice guy, quite lively, definitely cultured...very Bristolian...even if he's from Weston Super Mar...He might be the last guy I am sharing with. I hope so cos it would mean that things have developed in a good way in the house hunting. I don't want to think about that now though ...this is something that it is still see far in the time...for the time being I only hope we put on well together as happend with Jamie...as I don't want again a nightmare as Matt was...

Today 22 of September at 15.44 GMT it will be the fall equinox, and officially the summer will end. Once again it was not a great summer in Britain from a meteorological point of view.
It has not been as wet as last year, but definitely not hot, neither very sunny. The max. temperature was recorded on the 28th of July with 28.6 Celsius (the last time the temperature raised over 30 Celsius was the 25th of July 2006). I don't remember very many sunny days with blue sky...Nevertheless, just before its departure summer made its last appearance...Last 3 days hardly we could spot a cloud in the glorious blue sky, and the temperature around 21 Celsius was warm enough to enjoy T-shirt and shorts, to go for a ride by bicycle or to the Downs to read the book...Sometimes we remember that summer exists even if we are living in England...

Back to normality after 2 special days. I had fun preparing the little things to make the blog look nicer and that is what it is all about really. Everything is nice when you enjoy it.
144 visitors in two days (98+44) and 412 page views (270+142), big numbers.
Now 18 Hughenden Road is back to normality, the song is no longer in auto-play, color have gone back to standard as well as the background picture. Just in case someone missed the beautiful Florence Edition here is a little screen-shot. The blog as it used to be...

Special Edition Firenze

Few minutes before saying goodbye to my dad (we where already at Pisa Airport) he asked me "How do you feel (by now), going back to England? What are you sensations every time you have to leave Italy?". That was a good question...and it was something I asked myself sometimes...Florence is my city, and it will always be where I will eventually go back; at the moment though most of my life is in Bristol. My job's here, many of my friends are here, all my stuff is here...I feel here to be my place...3 years are not a lot...but enough for me to say that.
In the beginning, every time I had to come back to UK, it was like I was going somewhere where "I had to go", where I was doing a great experience but still a place that in the very end I was not familiar with. It was a sort of burden...even though it vanished as soon I was boarding the plane...Today I am no longer crossed by this sort of perception, but I rather feel I am going back home...
The flight was OK apart from a the most noisy school trip ever...straight to work from the airport...and then back to Hughenden Road late in the afternoon...to get some rest after a tiring weekend...

Tonight I was checking some stats on accesses to the blog and I found a curious record...Monday at 20.38 GMT  (16.38 Local Time) someone checked the blog  from the British Virgin Islands...! Now...said that Virgin Islands is one of the greatest place existing, and that I think there are much more interesting things to do there rather than reading my blog, I was wondering how on the earth someone from Virgin Island landed at 18 Hughenden Road...or probably I better say bumped into 18... It might be someone that I know...who's on holiday there..., but I am not aware  of anyone, It is more likely someone who was surfing the net from blog to blog (blogging) ...and ended up here... Nevertheless...this is not important...The thing is that I found it very exciting...It intrigues me...! Monday for instance I had the first access from Ireland as well..., in the past someone checked the blog from Panama, Luxembourg, Côte d'Ivoire, just to mention few of them...I like as well, sometimes, to read some random blogs...and try to think,to imagine, to figure out what people are writing  down...some blogs are really cool, some other interesting, some other crap... Someone is creative...someone else is extravagant...
Everyone though, every blog has a story behind...a true one...a real one...it is like reading a book, reading a book while it is happening, while the author is writing it... a book that can be written anywhere in the world...anytime... it's fascinating...

Everyone is, or at least should be, aware of what's 18 Hughenden Road, and what it looks like from outside by now...
I'd like instead to show you what this "mysterious place" looks like from inside...
So here you are...my room..., the living room, and the kitchen...
There are also other two bedrooms here, and the bathroom...but I think this is out of your interest...or at least I hope...!