The way August began seemed like it would be completely different to the way July went; the turn of the month brought completely different weather, and seemingly less fun stuff to get up to. But a couple of days in, and my hectic schedule was in full flow once more. This is what happened:
I went to the cinema with all my siblings and watched Karate Kid, which was quite good (albeit predictable), but I was particularly impressed by the acting of Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son). Another oft-memorable family event was when my Grandma came to visit. It's not that we don't see her often, but she doesn't usually come down to London, and since her Parkinson's disease has stopped her from driving, she takes the train from Hampshire to see us. Picking her up from her platform and travelling with her on the Jubilee line, I felt a strange connection that I hadn't really felt before; she is the mother of my mother, and I realised that the amount of love a grandmother feels for her grandchild is almost unmatchable. For as long as I've known, I can remember her bringing presents every time she visited, and although I've grown out of material need from her (well, almost; she brings me a chocolate orange whenever she visits), there's a certain excitement still felt when she comes round.
What did take up a chunk of summer was Charity Week, and although it takes place at the end of October, alot of planning and work has to be put in from the start, especially when it comes to finding a team. Our mode of contact was through online forums, and because people (including myself) forget to check them from time to time, I found myself almost feeling alone with the task of organising Charity Week, whilst everyone else did their own thing, and especially as the job description of CW rep was to 'basically organise timetables for tube collections' (which it wasn't), I wasn't 100% sure what I was really supposed to do. But slowly but surely, people came together, and one of our preliminary meetings (with a few guys in my year) was held in Edgware Road, talking about what needed to get sorted for Charity Week, and then up came the topic of entertainment. We decided to make a film, and started brainstorming some cool and wacky ideas that would hopefully make its mark on the CW scene. More on that in next month's post.
What wasn't in short supply this summer was the number of meet-ups I had with friends, especially with the friend I went to Scotland with (the one who's into cars); going karting a few times, eating at swanky restaurants (and I mean very swanky), as well as paying for but missing several other events, like a Le Mans-style race around Silverstone (a 6 hour race we managed to arrive late for). One event was called Red Bull X-fighters, which admittedly I thought involved planes, but was actually a cool motorbike stunt competition. On the day it was raining quite heavily, and because qualifying was cancelled the day before, we presumed the proper event would too be cancelled, and that there would be no point trekking to Battersea power station only to find that nothing was on. Unfortunately, it did go ahead, and instead of sitting in our platinum-ticketed seats (with backstage access), I watched it online. Boy did we miss out!
I visited Covent Garden for the first time, when a friend invited me to a tea shop in Temple, called Bou Tea (now unfortunately closed down). There I sampled some crazy teas, and afterwards walked around the tourist-filled square, entertained by all the random street performers exhibiting their 'skills'. I can't believe I only just discovered this place, and even though it was full of tourists, it felt somewhat magical, like another little scene from a Zelda game.
The pre-season was underway for Cricklewood United (my Sunday league football team if you didn't already know). And this was when my summer took a turn for the worst; during one of the friendly games I was a substitute, and I came on as my team was losing (quite a common occurrence). Just as I get my first touch of the ball, barely thirty seconds in, two players from the opposing team came at me from different directions and tackle me badly, leaving me writhing on the grass in agony. One of them caught my leg in between his, and somehow twisted sideways, and that was when I heard the cracks. I was sure that I had broken it, with me clutching at the tufts of grass in excruciating pain. Needless to say, I couldn't play the rest of the match, and I got my mum to take me to A&E, where they said it was just a ligament tear, and they didn't even give me crutches! I'm tempted to put a picture up showing the horrific bruising I sustained. So I spent the rest of my summer hobbling and hopping everywhere, which obviously slowed me down alot (meaning I had to leave places way in advance if I had to get somewhere else in time). But it gave me a chance to take in my surroundings more, and actually appreciate the small details in what I'd usually just walk straight past.
Ok, so when I promised to get this blog-post done in one sitting... either it's been a month-long sitting, or more likely I've been extremely sidetracked by life. I know this post is going to appear in the October section, but now it's the end of November, and with exams in five days, I really need to knuckle down with revision. So I'm going to finish up this post by listing the rest of the things I've done and call it a day (or two months more like). You're probably bored by this point anyway. So please show your appreciation for the list!
List:
The start of Ramadan (and long days fasting).
A football reunion with college mates whom I haven't seen in donkeys' years (and yes, during Ramadan).
Regular fast-breaking meet ups with friends at various restaurants, and at a primary school friend's house.
CUFC season starts, with the injured me watching from the sidelines (first match a respectable draw).
TEDDYBEAR HOSPITAL meeting! (I'm the publicity officer)
Eid, and the usual Fatine party games and presents :)
Helping loads of people with personal statements (somehow they think I'm the right person to come to :S).
MESS training! Basically I now teach first years Medicine revision lectures :)
FRESHERS FAYRE! (with me donning a teddy bear costume and handing out flyers I made).
More Charity Week prep.
Imperial Potmed, and I find myself helping loads more prospective medics with their personal statements.
And riddled in the middle of all these events are various trips to see friends and watch films et cetera.
So that's about it! Finally. And now I leave you with the compulsory list (yes, another list) of my status updates; I hope things will be more organised from now on.
*That karting adrenaline should keep me going for a few days :)
*can't believe I'd never been to Covent Garden before today! Jokes! And check out Bou Tea for a menu of awesomeness!
*And there I was planning what to have for lunch...
*got mistaken for an Italian drug dealer today. And the funny thing is I've taken a month off drugs and the sort :P
just tried out the Xbox Kinect. Allow, I've got a wii at home!
Less than 30 seconds on the pitch, and I need to go to hospital because of over-aggressive opponents :/
*My Greg House limp has progressed into a Jason Bourne limp. Aww yeah!
*50 stars in, I can safely say Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best game I've ever played :)
*A vending machine in the whitechapel library. That's what I'm talking about!! :D
*Transport against London.
*Good start to the season Cricklewood United FC !!
*Don't mess with Fatine family party games... we are so competitive!!
*When an Indian waiter says that a curry isn't spicy, he basically means they've only put half of the world's chilli reserves in the recipe. The tears are still flowing xP
*needs to get Halo Reach out of his system before uni starts...
*Didn't know that wearing a teddybear costume for two hours could make me unbear-ably sweaty! >_>
*is dicing with death at Rye House racetrack. Mr Hamilton wouldn't be too proud of my performances so far :/
*Forget last year's material, I just hope I can remember how to write! :s
*It's true; discovering I still had the ECG stickers on my body did leave me quite amused. How sad! :D
*Tried caviar for the first time ever; tastes a bit like fish. Give me fish fingers any day! Oh and how could I forget, MBBS Year Two has begun!!
Farhaan and Farhan exhibiting the new green handbook.
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