Back On The Horse - Alrewas Radio and other things

So I have started University and the first thing that I do is forget to blog for 2 months. I know, great isn't it? The point really is that I haven't had much to blog about. I can't tell you about village stuff or radio stuff or farm stuff because I am not there at all, and I can't tell you about Uni stuff like work because to be honest there has not been an awful lot to tell. So the thing that has inspired me to jump back on the blogging horse (funny image isn't it?) is a trip back to cold and miserable Alrewas.

The reason for my return was to see my sister play in the pit orchestra for a production of Wizard of Oz put on by the school she goes to. Now let me give you a little bit of background. Normally it is me sat in that sweaty and cramped seat in the pit, and my sister sat in the audience trying to make my laugh by pulling funny faces at me, but this time it was the other way round! Now apart from it being incredibly weird to go to a school production and not have anything to do apart from sit there a watch, it was great fun to pull funny faces at my sister while she tried to play clarinet!

So on my return home I thought I would make the most of being home. The typical cliche of bringing your washing home from uni for your mum to do does not go unfulfilled of course, and neither does the obligatory trip to town with the family to look round T K Max and get a Greggs, as well as the obligatory "help with heavy lifting job" that also needs to happen. This time it was for a washing machine, which heaven only knows what my Mum and Dad have got planned for it in Yorkshire, but I will tell you one thing: apparently washing machines have a great big concrete slab in them. Who knew?

Anyway the point that I am trying to arrive at involves a meeting around this very MacBook regarding Alrewas Radio. Yeah do you remember that thing in the summer that I spammed you with until your finger bled from clicking No... no... no... no... Well it is back! Woo!

I joke really because I am really looking forward to opportunity to do it again, and I am also really excited to be able to pass the radio baton (that is 2 times I have used a metaphor in this blog... things really are going downhill) to Ellie Smeeton and Alisha Herriot, who have featured on the radio before but are now hopefully going to take on more of the management and organisations and stuff, so I can enjoy drinking tea and eating mince pies!

So watch this space for more news about the Radio to come including some official details to be released very soon. And in the meantime, type the url tinyurl.com/alrewaradio into the bar at the top and sit next to your computer. Don't move until I tell you to click go!

Thanks for reading!

And I nearly forgot, happy opening the first box on your advent calendars... for tomorrow!

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Follow Alrewas Radio on twitter: @AlrewasRadio

The University 101 Guide To: Making Friends

So after a couple of weeks settling in to university I thought I might share my experiences with you bunch of cool people who have nothing better to do than to stalk me on the internet! I thought I would try and be as different as possible so I am going to do them in this jokey instructive way. Just for the record, please do not take any of this advice as it will inevitably lead up with you being like me. Which is definitely not a good thing!

I used to think an early start meant having to get up at 5.30am for work at 6... How uni has changed my life. An actual early start guys is having to get up for a 1pm lecture. So until you get to that stage I don't want to hear any more winging about having to get a bus to school at 8.30. Alight?

So I entitled this guide making friends. Now university is something of a friend making phenomenon. Naturally because it is university the best way to make friends is beer. Once there is a crate of beer in the kitchen, whoever is responsible for it will be forever known as the bringer of beer. 

What I also must add for the sake of boys making friends with girls is that there are lots of other things which do almost as well as beer. For example, girls like to use the whole can I borrow some sugar as an ice breaker apparently, or as has happened, "please can I have a can of that red bull so I don't have another sugar low... I'm diabetic." It wasn't even my Red Bull to give out. 

Oh and also I probably should put in this little article ways to not make friends... Don't swap people's Vodka for water, they tend to get quite angry. Although it is funny then to go up to people and get them to down the bottle of water vodka, to which they get half way down and then stop, going "What have you given me?" And also don't insult stranger's taste in music, as we found out when we crashed a kitchen party wearing Beatles t-shirts to which they replied some expletives against the Beatles. We left before plates started being smashed...

But as I sit here feeding the late risers cereal because they couldn't be bothered to get up for breakfast, I think so far I have done pretty well. I helped a girl do her washing (I mean that should surely not happen right?) and I have an empty biscuit tin, so I must have done reasonably well so far?

Thanks for reading, follow me on twitter: @peachy146

First things first: Beer or tea?

So for all who may or may not know, I am going to university. Or should I now rephrase that, I am at university! Surprisingly I managed to get here, get everything in and sorted and make a cup of tea without any hiccups. This in itself is a personal lifetime achievement!

However in making a cuppa and talking to new people, this has got me thinking about everything I might need in the short term, and then in the long term. Things I hadn't thought about  about like waste bins, and doorstops. (for the record I made do with a doorstop with a piece of rope cord tied to the tap of the sink behind my door. Very handy I thought!)

I then started talking to my Dad about the price of beer (not an unusual conversation I must add). And this ties in with my cup of tea because?

Well I was trying to work out what was more important. This maybe an easy answer for some, and some of you are probably shouting at your computer screens right now: Beer of course you fool! (Well actually if you are my mum and dad you probably won't because you have only just worked out how to read this... and are wondering why it wasn't tweeted directly to you)

But really though, I have had 4 cups of tea in the space of 3 hours, and spoken to about 20 people because of them! One of the great things about tea is that it brings people together, like no other drink. The same can be said for alcohol granted, but to be honest with you after 1 I can't remember the people who I speaking to, which never really goes down well!

So bare this in mind kids. Tea is better than beer. Untill about 4pm whereby beer becomes the only thing you can physically drink... especially at uni.

Thanks for reading!

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Hi Ho, It's off to uni we go!

So tomorrow is D Day. Well I say that, tomorrow is the day we set off to go to uni! Exciting times right? By now I should definitely have everything packed and sorted and things ready to arrive in force. Well guess what, as a change, I don't!

I spent this morning packing everything into bags and boxes ready to go, as well as sorting out lots of other things, including my Grandma's internet, which surprisingly was on my Jobs list. Not only that but everybody wants to say goodbye to me. I think they must all be really glad to see me leave!

So with my entire room in boxes this has left me with nothing else to do but to write a blog right? No, actually I am procrastinating because I have to photocopy some information to leave for my parents, bits of radio to find and then drop off in all sorts of places and things like that, but I thought writing a blog would mean I have to move the least far distance. Which is true to a certain extent, although it is quite a workout on one's fingers really!

One thing you never really out into the equation when you head off to uni is how much stuff there is actually to do. The thing is, you sort of think it is like moving to a new school: All you would have to do is turn up on the first day and tell someone you were there. Turns out they don't babysit you at Uni.

I have been spending lots of time filling in online forms and registering for this service and that trip to the moon, downloading this app to access my Uni email account and that app to access the pentagon. Only joking, I can't really hack into the most secure place on the internet, although it does sometimes feel like that with the amount of forms I have to fill in and passwords I have to enter. I can't just go for the traditional Password or 12345, my university IT account has to be an unrecognisable combination of letters and numbers. How do you even think of one and then not have to make a note of it? The IT department must get so many emails saying: "Let me in, I can't remember my password." Ok, we have reset it to sunshine again...

But still, while it feels like a military operation, I am quite excited to be moving into my new home for 13 weeks. For one, I have been so bored over the summer I had to tell the internet about my trip to a farm in Yorkshire (which I visited again a week ago by the way, just in case you weren't bored enough already, I will write you another little story about that). So, wish me luck and I will now set sail for Liverpool...

Thanks for reading. Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Off to Uni...

So as you may or may not have noticed/ been bothered about, I have not posted for a long time. I have been very very busy doing other things you see, things like going on holiday with my mates and driving Land Rovers round fields. I have also been busy sorting doctors appointments out, money out, all of that stuff, so that I am ready to go off to university on saturday. Yes I repeat, saturday.

Now while you may think that must mean I am very nearly ready, and while I keep telling myself I only have to pack my clothes now and I am ready to go, it far far away from the truth. One of the things I have found myself to be very good at over the past 18 years is hoarding things away in the deepest darkest depths of my room, thinking that one day they may come in handy or one day I may want to look at it or something like that. Well I have managed to sort out about 15 million drawers and a few feet of floor space of stuff into 1 box. For which I am very pleased about!

Next on the list is stuff that I want to take with me. And this is where it appears my mum and I differ. Bearing in mind the size of my room is really small, I am trying to be as frugal as I can be, knowing full well that I have to live in it and do all of that stuff in it too, I have to spend more time in it than I have to spend in my room at home.

So I am seeing all this stuff go into a "to go" box, and trying to put it somewhere (in my head) in the room at the other end, and so far I have about half of my floor space covered too. My Mum on the other hand thinks that there is loads of room and that it will all fit in with room to spare. So, we will soon find out who is right won't we?

Whilst I would like to tell you I am quite enjoying university preparations that is farm from the truth. Trying to decide if you will need something and if you won't and if it is worth taking is an incredibly different job for anyone. I will definitely be more happy when everything is in and in place, and I can go down the pub with my new flat-mates!

Anyway I will sign off now as I still have loads to do and not a lot of time to do it in!

Thanks for reading, tarara bit!

Long Time No Blog

Firstly I would like to make an apology for not posting in a while, but I have been rather busy. Firstly, on monday, as I have explained before, we did the radio again. All day, from 7am - 8pm. Which I can tell you is a bloomin' long day, especially when you are running it. I can tell you that sleeping for about 20 hours was well needed after that.

Although of course, that never happened. All week I have been working crazy amounts of overtime to save up a bit more money for university when I go off in a few weeks time.

This was something I wanted to talk to you about, as I have found out through my own experiences, our student loan will not be enough. Now if you are looking to go to university and things, one of the things you do need to make sure you think about is money.

How are you going to get your way through uni? It is also well known that a big part of going to university is the er... social side of things, and this is something you also have to think about. Do you have enough money every week to last you through the year? If not, then how are going to make sure you do? Do you need to find work whilst you are at uni, or even find work during the holidays when you are home too?

These are all questions that I think need their own post to help answer and for me to give my opinion on them, so stay in touch for the next installment.

Thanks for reading,

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Alrewas Radio Rocks - This Bank Holiday Monday at Alrewas Village Hall!

As previous posts would suggest, tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday 26th August 2013, Alrewas Radio will be live between the hours of 7.30am and 8pm, alongside an Alrewas Arts Fest Pop-Up Archives Arts Cafe Flea Pit thingy. Basically it will be a great day or afternoon or whatever to pop down to the village hall and have a chill, watch a film, listen to some live music and have a nice cuppa and a piece of cake.

Not that I am trying to get you all away from your computers though, quite the opposite. Because as I said, but just in case you missed it, Alrewas Radio - LIVE - 7.30AM - 8PM. We have so much going on tomorrow it is really exciting and there is going to be some golden radio!

To kickstart the day, I will be taking James' normal breakfast show with the return on Barge Or No Barge in a new interesting format... yeah that;s right you will have to tune in to find out what that is all about.

We have  got plenty of new DJs on this time and Caitlin is one of them. She will be doing a Charts Show, definitely one to listen to if you like the modern music scene, and also want to support new Alrewas Radio up and coming DJs.

Then we have the return on the nostalgic duo: Ellie and Alisha to bring us some more amazing tunes from years gone by. They have 2 hours of pure gold from genres including Motown, Soul, Rock and Roll in all it's formats and 60s pop.

Next 2 brand new DJs again, this pair play together in the County Jazz Band, and will be showing off some of the best Jazz tunes. This is something I am particularly looking forward to, something different to the usual Beatles and Queen format of Alrewas Radio, and also some fresh faces... or voices... or whatever.

Next we have 2 new shows, but with the same old lot. First is the premier of The Great Debate, a talk show where we discuss certain topics and different views and opinions surrounding them. The theme for tomorrow is the eduction system. Tune in for more: Radio 4 eat your heart out.

The second of the 2 new shows is On This Day, where we play music that was released or made famous or in the charts or whatever on 26th of August from decades gone by. Based on our normal decades show, a more condensed and fun version. Definitely some really good tunes to listen to.

Next we have the return of the Legend Mr James Richardson, with his Drive Time show, some classic features returning no doubt such as Cheesy Track of The Day, and Foreign Favourites.

Sam Wilkinson, a rookie radio DJ (did you see what I did there?) but he has some absolutely brilliant tunes to play (I know this because he is the only show who has produced a tracklist, including my own show!). Please support him whilst you eat your bank holiday tea, it will be great fun.

Lastly but not leastly, me and James will be rounding off the day in Jamie's absense with some really fresh and modern dance anthems, something which we thought we would keep seperate from the rest of the day of radio and give it it's own slot at the end of the day when you can sit back and relax, or get up and have it little dance in your living room, to some great new tunes.

I hope you do find time to tune in tomorrow, it will be great to have you. Here is how:

tinyurl.com/alrewasradio

or alternatively go to: http://www.alrewas-artsfest.co.uk/ARhome.html

And be sure to get in touch with us by either tweeting us: @AlrewasRadio
Or send us an email to alrewasradio@hotmail.co.uk
Or you can even make a request using the widget on our website listed above.

Thanks and we will be in your ears tomorrow!

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146