Photos from Vancouver

France

A recent vacation took me to France with some friends from university and some new faces. We rented a villa on the outskirts of Bar sur Loup, near Grasse, near Nice.

The villa was fantastic: Our own private pool, a big garden, sun loungers, pool table, table football, kitchen, everything...

Highlights included a trip to Cannes for a look round and swim in the sea, Monaco to admire boats and big cars and visit a cool cocktail bar (as featured in Around the World in 80 Bars) and climbing a lot of steps in Grasse.

Easter weekend

Caz and I visited Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight over Easter weekend. We went up the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. The view was good, unfortunately they don't have a panoramic lift (it hasn't worked since day one) and the top is totally sealed with glass so there is no "wind in your face effect". It slots into a number two position on my top 3 tall structures list (the Eiffel Tower being number one and the Empire State Building number three). When we went to the Isle of Wight we took my car on the ferry which was a fun adventure.

My New Desk

Last weekend I had Nick and Caz visit and we did some DIY. I now have a new (homemade) desk and a coffee area (that will become a dining area as soon as I get some new table legs!)

My New Home

I recently moved into a new flat in Redhill so that I can take up a job in Horley. Here are some pictures of my new home:

The lounge:
For now I am making do with using the better of my monitors as a TV, it is a bit small but unless I buy another Xbox 360 it is the only way that I can watch Media Center TV and video.The small screen is made up for by the audio though; I finally have a room big enough to make correct use of my 7.1 surround sound.

My (mini) data centre:
This is my favorite part. The estate agent tried to see it to me as an office, but he would want to work cropped up in there? I immediately knew what I was going to do with this room: store my computer in their and run monitor and speaker cables around the corner. No more background hum for me!

The hallway:
A lot of cupboards, and an entry phone system.

The kitchen:
I decided to get all new appliances, going for the black and chrome effect.

The bedroom:
Check out my new TV, it's actually only 32" but it looks plenty big enough when you're sat on the bed watching it. It is connected to the HDTV output of my Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 is connected to my wireless network and acts as a Media Center Extender for my computer, allowing me to watch my videos, and play/pause/rewind etc. live TV.