Welcome (to your new) home

Up early to drive up to my new placement in Betws-y-coed, north Wales with Jesse and Alex who were combining giving me a lift with a wee holiday in the foothills of Snowdonia. The car had recently been playing up, loosing power and as a result couldn't go much faster than 60mph on the flat, or 50 uphill. This made motorway driving slow and sleepy, and also a little dodgey - going along at 50 when everyone else is shooting past makes you a bit of a hazard.

Soon we thought that enough was enough, and decided to come off at Tewkesbury to see if we could find a garage to fit a new fuel filter, which we hoped would be the source of the problem. After calling at a number of garages, all of which were full, we were directed to a local one which fortunately had space, and the guys set about immediately changing the filter. Unfortunately, Jesse had been sold the wrong size filter, and so we had a worrying 10 minute walk into town to see if Halfords had the right part. They did, and after a return trip via the bustling town market (huge bag of bananas for £1!) we were back in the garage, and off onto the road within 10 minutes.

Though we were hopeful, we were soon in no doubt that the repair hadn't made the required difference, because as we pulled onto the motorway a huge truck came hurtling up behind us, and continued to get closer, and closer, and closer as we failed to accelerate as fast as the (stupid) driver predicted. Before he put his brakes on he was within a metre of the back of our car, which by this time was full of some very stressed conversation ("we are GOING to get CRUSHED!!"). However, we survived, and by the time we were off the motorways and onto the A-roads you couldn't tell so much that we were driving a broken car.

A brief stop in Shrewsbury for lunch, and we were driving the winding roads of the Berwyn mountains, with huge piles of snow mounted up on the houses and roads as we drove. We descended into where I would soon be living, the mountains and valleys, the waterfalls and winding roads.

I was shown to my flat, in this amazing building opposite work, put my things up, and was put into training to do night shifts immediately. Chris, one of the current placement students that I'll be working with, showed me the ropes of how to lock up, what to do, what to check, which keys to use, and the numerous codes and padlocks all over the centre. Lots to take on. Shift ended at 11, and I hit the pillow like a sack of bricks. Look forward to exploring tomorrow.