My Holiday in Minehead

Image by treehouse1977 via Flickr

I've been away on holiday for a week with a few mates so I thought I would tell you a bit about it.

Apart from me having to skive off work in order to attend this holiday (bad I know, a story in itself I'll leave for another time) I was really looking forward to this holiday as I spent it with my best friends; Chris, Matt and Jon; rather then family members as I had done previously. I wasn't expecting much, but I knew with my friends there I would have a good time.

It was about a four to five hour drive to get there from Hertfordshire down to Somerset. When we arrived I remembered the picturesque nature of the place from when I had went to Somerset previously as a child.

The house we stayed in was about a five minute walk from the town near the top of a hill. At first it looked kind of run down from the outside and grubby on the inside, but over the days I realised that it wasn't too bad at all and was comfortable for our stay. For our first day on the Sunday we spent our time getting acclimatised to the house, hooking up the Xbox and watching the TV. We also went down to get some fish and chips from the chip shop, and as many will know, fish and chips from seaside towns taste superior to those inland!

Monday consisted of the four of us buying all our food for our stay from the local Tesco's mostly consisting of junk food! We also went and explored some of the nearby countryside. We went into town too and bought some stuff to mess about with indoors, like rocket balloons and what not. Chris also bought a DVD from Blockbusters to watch; it was a horror film and it was OK, but I can't remember the name of it. Later on we also watched Torchwood which we did until Friday when it finished.

On Tuesday we again explored some of the countryside, climbing up some steep rocks by the sea at a nearby town. It started to rain very heavily though so we had to descend quickly back to the car. Apart from a quick sojourn into town we didn't go out again that day as it was still raining. Chris and Matt both bought spud guns while I bought a foam disk gun, one of the many things I bought on the holiday that didn't work. Later on we carelessly chucked around the potato for the spud gun indoors. I had the dubious honour of smashing a window with a potato, luckily it was just a small panel so I shouldn't have to pay too much.

Wednesday was the most eventful day of the entire holiday. We decided to go to town and Chris bought a dingy. We went to a nearby seaside town again and had to cross a large stretch of sand to reach the sea, which was really hard as there was a lot of quicksand. Myself and Jon, being sensible, decided it was best to head back to dry land, but Chris and Matt carried on and got in the dingy, but they kept falling out. The dingy eventually drifted off, and the two of them were now swimming in the sea quite away off shore. As myself and Jon couldn't see them at all we called the Coastguards in, and they were recovered, but it was a worrying time. Unsurprisingly we decided to stay in the rest of the day.

On Thursday we went down to explore the town of Minehead a little more. We made our first trip down to the arcades; seaside towns are where you find the majority of arcades these days. The arcades there were not the best I have seen, but they were pretty decent and had some good games like Tekken 5 as well as some a lot of non-video game stuff. I also bought a remote control helicopter, and we took another trip to Tesco to get the rest of our food supplies. Sadly the helicopter was very poor and it broke within minutes of use. I tried to fix it but it was just no use, so buy the end of the holiday I binned it despite paying £15 for it.

For Friday we went up a nearby town and visited a castle which was pretty cool. We took a trip to the moores at night too, and at that time it is extremely dark up there. Went home and watched Aliens from the Alien box set Matt bought.

Saturday was our last full day, and we once again went around the town. We couldn't really do much as it was a miserable day. Chris bought The Jerk for his big DVD collection which was a good film.

On Sunday we had to clean the house before we left. This was a big job as we had really messed the place up during our stay! There was a lot of things to do like clean all the rooms; hoover, mop up make the place look tidy etc. We then took the long drive home.

Overall, I enjoyed the holiday, but we did start to run out of things to do half way through the week. I probably would visit there again, but probably not for a long time when it'll be a little different from the last time. I enjoyed it as myself and my friends had a laugh and we got to know each other a little better too. Matt's off to university in September, so it was probably one of the last opportunities foir us to do something like this.

Update #9

I think it's time for another update. Sorry about the break again, I've just been trying to balance things out in my life as much as possible.

I'm going to change the updates to once a month instead, as I think the content will be better this way.

I've also purchased five new Sega Saturn games; Rayman, Bust a Move 2, Virtual On Cyber Troopers, Actua Golf, and Die Hard Arcade. I also bought Prototype on Xbox 360. I'll do some posts on these when I can.

The first half of June was quite hectic for me: I had to get all the college work in (one piece didn't get done in time) but what needed to be completed was done so and it was very tiring!

Although I will not be going until next year, I have to get my university stuff sorted now too. I would like to do a course involving video games, but less to do with the programming side. Crimonology and Film & Television studies are ones I'm considering too.

Have finally got around to sorting driving lessons out too. Want to get them started as soon as possible.

Big Brother 10 Update #2

OK, so Saffia walked first of all. For the most part I disliked her, but I like her more after she received the pictures of her kids, she didn't seem as brazen a character. Sophia's gone too after getting evicted. She did herself no favour with her behaviour with Saffia, and probably contributed to her walking. She seemed like a bitter angry person most of the time. Kris and Sophie seem to have got into a relationship, although it's not yet clear if it's serious or just a bit of fun. Big news though is the massive row between Marcus and Lisa, where Lisa got angry about Noirin's glasses situation, and the argument evolved into one about Lisa's bullying behaviour. Sree's stepped up his game to woo Noirin, but I don't think it's gonna happen for him sadly.

Angel: Has got a bit more quiet; possibly because the louder characters are asserting themselves in there more. Still seems like a nice woman, but takes some unfair stick at times, like from Lisa during the big argument. Is trying to prove someone can be healthy without eating three days by just making sure you consume glucose. She may be right, but it's a little bit unnecarssary and a bit of a bad example. 6/10

Cairon: Had a bust up with Sree in which he looked like a thuggish American chav, so has lost a lot of my support. Not the most moral person in their, I think he only really thinks of himself most of the time. The things he says sometimes shows that he's still pretty naive. 5/10

Charlie: Has been mostly the same, but showed he has a bad side after moaning about Freddie's cooking after the row, which annoyingly didn't get shown on the highlights. 5/10

Freddie: I like him a little more; I think he has good morals, but he just has a lot of annoying little tendencies. He's started to win me over though. 7/10

Karly: Has been totally annonymous of late. I think with all the arguments going down over the last few days she's tried to stay out of them, and I think that's the reason for this. 5/10

Kris: Got into a relationship with Sophie, although I expect he just sees it as a bit of fun and nothing serious. He's a ladies man, so I think he's just done it to get a kick. 6/10

Lisa: A big week for Lisa. The argument made her look foolish and stupid; she still has people in their that still support her though and suck up to her. 6/10

Marcus: Stood up to Lisa which was great, and he put his points across excelently. Like all of them in there, he has his faults, but is a nice chap. Takes tasks seriously also and has a go at housemates if he sees them slacking off. 8/10

Noirin: Got fed up of scribling on her face with the pen she threatened to go on hunger strike, which caused the massive argument. Sree clearly has feelings for her, but you can see she's uncomfortable with his advances. I wish she'd just tell him clearly but not in a painful way, and I'd be really annoyed if she nominates him she's been acting like his friend nethertheless. 7/10

Rodrigo: Has got a bit more talkative. Seems to feel very strongly about what he believes in, and has had a couple of arguments with Angel because of this. 7/10

Siavash: Has been a little bit more quiet, possibly because he hasn't really been involved in that much. Likes to keep peace in the house though which is a good thing. 7/10

Sophie: Quite boring this week since getting with Kris, still a nice girl, but hasn't done much. 5/10

Sree: Ah, Sree! I think he has a good heart, I don't think he's a bad guy at all like some people do. I just think the fact he wasn't brought up in this country makes it kind of difficult to interact with the others sometimes; I think he's misunderstood and he misunderstands the housemates also. An example is his bacon sandwiches he made for everyone, without cooking the bacon! This saga with Noirin is riviting, he likes her a lot, but it's safe to say his approach isn't quite working! 8/10

YouTube Video of the Week #3

Whereas last week I was spoilt for choice for videos to pick, this week I only have one!



Not much to say really, but it highlights something I've been concerned about on YouTube, and that's false copyright claims. The fact is YouTube doesn't bother checking if claims are legit, so anyone can make a copyright claim about anything. Many innocent people's videos have been removed in this annoying way.

YouTube Channel of the Week #1

OK here's another new feature. I had this planned at the same time as YouTube video of the week, but I didn't think there were any candidates previously.

This weeks award goes to lukemorse1. I only found out about this guy this week from HappyConsoleGamer's channel, and I can't believe that I didn't come across this guys videos before.

He lives in Japan and seems to have a decent games collection, and the fact that he lives over there means that he has some unusual stuff that he makes videos on. He clearly knows his stuff about video games.

He speaks well in his videos too; he's very clear which is essential. The videos I've seen so far have been of a good standard, and I can't wait to see more of them.

Big Brother 10 Update #1

Well so far I'd say things haven't really got started yet. The whole non-housemate thing I think put the house in limbo straight from the off, so it hasn't been great. That's ended now though and from the highlights it looks like things are going to be much more interesting from here on in. Beinazir got evicted, which I'm happy about as she was just so anonymous.

After the first eviction, here's my revised opinions on the remaining housemates:

Angel: Has suprised me, has actually been quite vocal in the house. She's getting involved in there and seems to have a nice personality too. 7/10

Cairon: Has livened up a bit more and has struck up a friendship with Siavash. Still retains the swagger but nice personality that I originally liked him for. 8/10

Charlie: Reminds me of the early winners still; he's getting involved in their and seems to be having fun; and he's making the show more entertaining. 8/10

Freddie: Still haven't took to him. I think he's a little too big for his boots and his sillyness seems to make him more annoying to me. 6/10

Karly: Not as bad as I made out, but is perhaps a little too quiet. Seems like a nice enough girl though. 6/10

Kris: Still hasn't stood out, but seems like a nice guy. 6/10

Lisa: Seems to have quite a high status in their, but doesn't seem to communicate much with some people. She's lively though and will keep things entertaining. 7/10

Marcus: Has certain quirks and mannerisms which are endearing, on the whole he's a nice bloke, but I don't think he's as appreachiated in the house as I think he should be. 8/10

Noirin: Hasn't done much since her task, but is a nice girl. 7/10

Rodrigo: Been quite quiet, but like Marcus he has endearing quirks in his personality and is a nice fellow. 8/10

Saffia: There's something I don't like about her. I think she's too bossy and likes control; has a personality like someone's boss at work at times. 5/10

Siavash: I like this guy. Behind his flamboyant appearance it appears that he is a wise person who knows the ways of the world, even though he is still young. 8/10

Sophia: Definitely the most misjudged! Her personality is negative, and has been the most bitchy in their as well as not being able to take a joke. 4/10

Sophie: A fun, lively and good natured girl, and can be quite chatty. 8/10

Sree: Can be a bit irritating, but he has his quirks. Like some of the housemates said, he can be annoying, but he's like a little brother as you like him still nonetheless. 8/10

YouTube Video of The Week #2

There was some strong competition this week, but I think stanburdman's commentary on this educational movie just about wins. This is the funniest thing I've seen on the Internet for a while, and stanburdman's done a few videos like this and is a funny guy so I suggest you check out his channel.