Luke Sheldrick’s Blog

I’ve been at Mum’s over Christmas, and is always a bit weird coming back to the area.
I moved away to Southend-on-Sea (Essex) when I was 14, and lived in Essex until very recently.

I was meeting Mum from work today, to go on to visit my Brother for the afternoon. As I’m one of those people who are usually early, and I had a few hours to kill so thought I’d go for a wander.

There was always an area near to where I used to live, that was totally different to the surrounding area, and always somewhere I’d love to escape to. I always dreamt of living in one of the houses, and today was a bit of a shock, to realise, well actually I could if wanted to. At that point, I realised, I’m getting old. It’s like I always wished I’d work in IT, with a nice car…blah blah when I was older, and now I actually do it’s a bit like, well what do I do now? Well I know next time I have to move, which I hope isn’t anytime soon, that I’ll be looking in SE16.

Anyways back to the houses, they’re all in a small bit of Bermandsey, by the Thames, and Greenland Docks, but they have the most picturesque surroundings. Most overlook their own water features or ponds (like the above), and I just find them amazing.



Throughout my visit, I was followed by the Cygnet above… maybe he was trying to butter me up, so if I moved into the area, I’d keep him in stock of moulding Hovis.



Amazingly, the car above, I’m sure has been in that same parking space, since I left, when I was 13 (so a few years). Still has up to date TAX, but never looks as though it’s moved. Amazing.

So I’ve been really quite lax on updating here, for a number of reasons really or more excuses if I am honest.

There has been a lot of change since I last wrote an entry. I finally bit the bullet and moved back to Central London. I’d been living in Southend-on-Sea since I was 14, but for a number of years worked back in the city, and the commute was just too much in the end.

So I am now living in E1, with my new flatmate Andrew, just up the road from where the above was taken. The best thing is, it’s only about a mile walk into the office, so I don’t have to depend on public transport or worry about traffic anymore, which is great. I was cycling for the first month or so, but it seems I had forgotten about crime in London, and someone kindly pinched my bike whilst it was chained up outside the flat, so won’t be cycling for a while.

Living in the city has been great so far, lots of places to go, people to see, and am quite enjoying it so far. Still feel like the new guy in town, as don’t hardly know anyone locally, but that’s just a time thing, so I’m not overly worried. However if you do read this, and are in the area, am free for coffee, beers and bar mitzvahs.

I foresee lots more changes over the next few months, especially at work, however can’t really go into much as there haven’t been many announcements as yet.

Have a heap of stuff I could rabble on about, but I’ll save it for another time. I do hope to keep the blog more regularly updated however I don’t seem to get the same urges anymore since twitter has kicked off. If you wanted a more frequent update, check out www.twitter.com/an0key

Wishing you a very Happy New year, hopefully you’ll have a great 2009

I was actually planning to do nothing this NYE, as every other had just been an expensive, messy night, that everyone regrets the next day. However my plans were changed at the last minutes, when I was invited to a gig in London. My arm was twisted when I found out Micachu were on the line up, a very small band*. Below the boys; Sandy, Steve (Birthday Boy too), Tom, Soo.

Was a great night had by all. Except Steve who had a bit of a nasty taxi bill, as he and Sandy missed their last train. The venue was called the Macbeth, in Hoxton near Shorditch, London. Was quite funny when they blew an Amp, and the band on at the time, went instrumental. I don’t think many people even noticed to be honest. I am a bit bumbed though, as I have just tried to upload my photos to flickr, and only a couple survived… looks like the memory card has corrupted, which blows as I had taken about 200 photos, mostly of the bands and scenery… GRRR!!! So I’ve got a load of photos, all of 2 or 3 lines

I’ve been trying to work out why my new years resolutions should be. A few things have been on my mind recently so what better time to implement them, huh;

• Get back into the gym. Now this must be one of the most over used resolution, but needs to be mine.
• Get back on track with my studying, I’ve slowed down a bit over the last couple of months.
• Sort my spending out. Years are ticking by and I need to get on the property ladder myself, so no more spending £££ on gadgets, IT equipment, and many nights out. All in moderation still, but these can’t be the priority for 2009.

So all rather boring on that front, but at least that’s out the way. Just gotta’ stick to them now… hmm

Below a few pics from last night, or click here for the few surviving photos. There was a professional photographer there, his pics can be seen here

*not sure if you’d call it a Band. Micachu is the singer / writer, and she has a backup ‘The Shapes’

Christmas 2008, is all but over now, just NYE to go, which reminds me I still haven’t planned anything. This year I joined the extended family in Norfolk. My brother (Paul), Sister-in-law (to be / Sally) and Sally’s folks (Carole and Roy) stayed in a wood lodge in the woods, which was pretty nice. Well once we’d worked out the heating. The rest all stayed else where, but usually visited in the evenings. The lodge below reminded me of something from a horror film.

The view however was pretty nice to wake up to;

The drive up there and back wasn’t too bad, I did have my iPhone tracking it, just for the hell of it, but haven’t found a way to show the route on here yet. This was where we were staying however;



Interestingly the tracker had a spazm when I first set it up, but still registers I go everywhere at 14658 mph… if only.

Christmas day we had lunch at the local restaurant, which was nice… still can’t ever beat a home cooked roast though, and I really missed the Turkey sandwiches for days after
The place was near to Cromer, where a lot of the extended family live. Didn’t actually get to see much of the scenery, but am sure will go back soon enough.

Had to come home on Saturday, as first day back in the office on Sunday, which was rather difficult. Having almost 6 weeks off, then coming back to work…ekk! The worst was yesterday, having to get up at 5am again… yuck. Still only one more day shift in the week (Friday) then back on night shifts… which are usually quiet.

Finally got my flickr account slightly more up to date. I was trying to do it whilst I was away, but my 3G card had no signal, along with my iPhone (actually nobody had any signal), there was no wifi around. With the exception of the local pub where it was £6 an hour, and ran at silly speeds, still didn’t stop my brother and I paying for our occasional fix.

The eee 701 being my laptop I take everywhere, the HP my brothers. Essential Diet Cokes

Also found a cool plugin from tantannoodles which integrates my flickr account with my blog. Had to hack most of the css, so it sort of looks like the rest of the blog.

Some of the Christmas photo’s can be seen below, or the album here.

Today is Remembrance Sunday, where we remember our fallen Soldiers.  Those served and sacrificed in their roles protecting the Country, and our way of life.

Both my Granddad and Nan (on my Fathers side) served in the Second World war. My Nan, was an Engineer on the fighter planes, and my Granddad on the frontline. Ted, was captured and was a Japanese prisoner of war. I never met him, he passed away before I was born, as were my Grandparents on my Mothers side. Some of the stories my Nan told me about what he went through made my stomach churn. They were were served a small bowl of plain rice a day, and the conditions they were subjected to, well you can probably imagine, weren’t very pleasant.

Today are thoughts are with them all. My thought’s are also with the men and women serving today. I went to school with a few guys who are actively serving in Iraq, hopefully they’ll come home safely.