A difficult awakening With hesitation, she wearily dragged herself out of the bed. Her dizziness and cloudy mind were the sign that she overslept. The cat was miaowling desperately outside her bedroom from hunger, it had been 12 hours since he last ate and he couldn’t wait any longer. She opened the door and the cat rubbed on her leg, his eyes were begging for food. She walked erratically to the kitchen and filled up his bowl. Now it was time to replenish her stomach with a hearty breakfast. Some scrumble eggs, toasted bread and fresh orange juice would have brought her back to life.

My granpa's electrical adventures My grandpa was a skilled handyman, he could fix pretty much everything, from electronics to pieces of furniture. Nothing was ever too complicated for him. Once, the cat fountain broke down and he tried to fix it himself like he always did. He was tinkering with the wiring when an electric discharge from the circuit almost electrocuted him. Luckily he survived without long-lasting damage but he kept away from electronics for a long time. Another time, while he was fishing in a lake, the sky turned cloudy and stormy. Suddenly, a thunderbolt struck not far from where he was knocking him down and deafening him. Again, he recovered pretty well from that accident.

PRACTISING NEW WORDS IN A FUNNY WAY Hi all, I wanted to include some new words in today's writing. The result is a quite bizarre story that doesn't make much sense overall, but features some interesting words and expressions. It would very much be appreciated if some native English speaker would spend a few minutes to correct any mistakes, thanks in advance! This morning I woke up feeling adventurous. So I decided to have chips with chocolate for breakfast, which is a rather bizarre combination and most people would certainly recommend having my head examined. But I don’t care because I think it’s an amazing combination! After breakfast, the postman came and left a leaflet at the front door. There was a fire-eating competition in town which the first prize was a weekend in New Zeland! That was it. I was already on fire. Before going to the event, I needed to make myself a smidge presentable. Therefore I wore my best suit and did my hair. I got on my bike and headed to town. When I reached the show, fire-eating was already in full swing, with performers exhibiting in any sort of juggling and the audience roasting marshmallows. Without hesitation, I grabbed the torch and tilted my head back. I placed the flame in my mouth and extinguish it with a sharp blow. People around me were mesmerized apart from an extremely bored-looking Mexican man who commented with a shrug “well, this is just the equivalent of eating jalapenos. It’s no big deal”. A few metres from me there was a dwarf who was handling the torch like he hadn’t done anything else in his life. Unfortunately, he slipped on a marshmallow and cracked his head open. As a result, I was the winner! After the show, I shouted with a smug-smile “New Zeland, here I come!”

WHY IMPULSIVITY IS NOT ALWAYS A BAD THING-PART 2 When it comes to weighing myself and my behaviour and where the actions stemming from my behaviour have taken me, I can’t help thinking that sometimes being a tad light-minded (which sounds better than thoughtless) can favour you in life. I’ve always considered impulsivity a dangerous characteristic, as it has oftentimes led me to places and situations where I don’t wish to go back. But those were the outcomes of poorly conceived objectives. And when the goals are fallacious, the results can’t be bright, whether you carefully plan your moves or not. I was channelling my impulsive energy towards the wrong things. After I began to ponder more on my objectives and aspirations, my impulsivity turned out to be quite useful. Setting goals for yourself is generally the easier part, when you decide the direction you want or NOT want to take. But knowing how to get there can be overwhelming. Where shall I start? How do I know what I’m doing is right or I am just wasting my time? Overthinking can be your worst enemy and have a paralysing effect. My sub-goals towards the biggest goal were: Move to a warmer, sunnier country where I could enjoy the sea-life; Change job and develop my career as a graphic designer; Take up new activities and hobbies; Meet new, like-minded people.

WHY IMPULSIVITY IS NOT ALWAYS A BAD THING-PART1 The day has come! Punctual like clockwork my birthday has arrived. I don’t know why, but I guess is normal, my birthdays always make me think about my life, things that I have done and haven’t done, and the direction I’m going. Oftentimes, I experience a sense of melancholy because another year it’s gone. This year though, I have more reasons to be pleased with myself than being glum. If I think about where I was twelve months ago, it’s amazing how much my life has changed within the space of just one year. To recap what has happened to me in one year or so: -moved to Malta for a radical change of air; -worked in Malta as a graphic designer; -changed two houses; -got my diving license and fell in love with diving; -learnt how to cycle among crazy drivers and on twisty, potentially deadly, roads; -experienced the joy of taking a swim into the sea at the end of a long workday; -got to know a bunch of amazing people that will always remain in my heart; -got a job in the UK while still living in Malta; -left Malta for the UK within the space of two weeks; -started my new job for a UK agency; -discovered the joys of kayaking. A pretty intense year, that’s for sure. It probably makes up for the past 5 years of my life. I did what I did because I had one fundamental desire: change my life and make it a life I was proud of. I wasn’t even sure how I would have gotten there, everything was just so up in the air, nothing more than a quote written on a sticky note that goes like that: “No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.” (Madonna). I’ve always thought Madonna is a thoughtful woman, despite her songs. So even without a clear plan in mind, I grabbed/created every opportunity I could, without thinking too much about was I was doing as long as it was something valuable and new.

Looking for a house...in the wind-Part 2 The living room is just after the main door on the right; it is not a huge room but it’s cosy, with two small couches, a coffee table and a fireplace. Proceeding along the corridor you enter the dining room with a wooden table on the right and a big cupboard on the left. Two bikes were parked between the table and the cupboard, making the passage a bit difficult. Past the dining was the kitchen, which was kind of small and not to modern. From the kitchen, you can access the rear garden. The bedroom is just upstairs. It is a nice and bright room, with a pleasant colour palette in shades of blue, grey and white. The room also faces the back garden, which is awesome! After my viewing, I drew conclusions on whether that would be the right accommodation for me, weighing all the pros and cons. The pros: the room is nice and big and it comes at only 480 £, which is a good price for a room like that. The flatmates are all females, which is exactly what I was looking for. The house is located nearby an Asian veggie shop which sells an extensive range of veggies, including some Asian produce that is impossible to find in regular supermarkets. The area in which the house is located is more lively and I would feel closer to the centre than I do now. The cons: the flatmates are all expats, two Spanish and one French and since my goal when I moved here was to practice and improve English as much as I could, living with non-native speakers won’t be the best choice. The house is quite far from three strategic locations: my office, the train station and the parks. These are all places that I need to go to very often and having them so far away would make things stressful in the long run. Lastly, I know it will sound picky, but I really didn’t like the fact that there were two bikes parked just in front of the cupboard, making it impossible to open the cupboard door, plus the dining table was covered in clutter (I had to put up with a messy flatmate for 5 months, enough!). The verdict: while the price is enticing and the room is nice and cosy, I think the cons far overweigh the pros.

Looking for a house..in the wind-Part 1 Finally, after one week of strong winds, the situation kind of got back to normal. The weather is sunny and there’s a nice breeze. While I like a bit of wind, when it gets too strong it’s very annoying, your hair gets messy and your eyes are so dry you can’t even keep them open, especially if you are wearing contact lenses, like me. Yesterday the wind was particularly strong and I happened to be around all day for errands and room viewings (yes, I’m already looking for a new accommodation, despite my lease agreement runs out in one month and a half but I just can’t wait to leave my current house). The room that I saw yesterday is a side street off Oxford Street. You have to walk along a very busy and noisy street for about 15-20 minutes past the city centre to reach it. As I got to the house I was welcomed by the agent Sam, an incredibly tall and skinny twenty-ish guy, with blond hair and blue eyes. Despite his rigid and boney appearance he turned out to be quite friendly and outgoing. He introduced me to one of the other tenants, a Spanish girl in her twenty and after some chit chat, he showed me the house.

Finally Christmas holidays have come! -The big day has finally arrived! The last day of work is over and I’m officially on holiday. The last two days were completely crazy, with people shooting each other with the toy gun or creating fake accounts on Slack using the name and the profile picture of our colleague Robert, who is the official office’s mascot. After lunch, nobody could work and we just dragged ourselves around making phone calls or playing crosswords on the computer until 4 pm when the boss, understood the situation, decided to call it a day. Then we moved upstairs when we had Panettone, Prosecco, and rivers of beer and the guys had the usual table football match. -It’s been two long weeks since I bought my jacket online and I still have no idea where it has gone. According to the customer support the parcel was shipped and delivered to the provided address. But in fact, I never got it. So now I have to sign a legally binding document that states that I never got the parcel. I just hope to get my money back eventually. I bought that jacket with the hope of wearing it last weekend during my friend’s visit. Unfortunately, that was one of the most unlucky weekends of my life. The weather was awful and stormy, making it impossible to walk around. At one point, we looked at each other and decided to go back to our room and dry our clothes with the hairdryer that luckily I had taken with me. -I set my new year’s most important resolution: to go on a diet and wear a bloody muzzle. I’ve been eating so many sweets that if I won’t die for diabetes I will be very surprised.

Daytrip in Oxford-first part Today I saw my ex-flatmate Holly, the girl I used to live with when I was living in Malta. She got back to the UK to take care of her mum and she texted me a few days ago asking to meet up. We decided to strategically meet in Oxford, which is halfway from our respective towns. Oxford exceeded my expectations. The city oozes charm and history. Every corner you look at, every alley and street hides some treasures. You feel like you’ve just wandered onto the set of a Harry Potter movie and you expect a flying wizard to pop out from any window. I must say Holly was a very knowledgeable guide, having lived in Oxford for many years and she told some interesting facts about the city. One striking thing about Oxford is the grey stone it is made of. You can see it everywhere and in fact, the use of other constructions materials is not allowed, in order to preserve the characteristic look of the place. The stone in question comes from the Headington Quarry area of Oxford. For those, like me, who don’t know, Headington is a suburb of Oxford, located at the top of Headington Hill and overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. Historically, there were a number of stone quarries in Headington and interestingly, Headington stone, which was traditionally used for Oxford University college buildings, has a coralline origin, given that in the Late Jurassic period, Britain was located further south and submerged beneath subtropical sea. Another interesting fact Holly mentioned was that some traditional buildings have pointed arch windows which give the city a Gothic zest.