Yesterday morning I was down on campus for 10.30am. This unusually early start was intended as a way of getting some early French Cricket publicity, but due to a decree from the warden that trying to flog stuff to The Fresh is probably a little too stressful for the first day, I ended up cruising around campus with DDS and Ginger Rich for quite a while.

We took lunch in the new look EHB (a campus bar/restaurant), confirming further that the place really does look like an airport departure lounge and talked labcoats - DDS and my new little project. The morning was spent drafting up a poster design for the sales which are all being handled by young Currin leaving me purely as the design partner. Cushtie.

There seemed to be a good buzz about Towers during the new arrivals. I periodically popped in to see what was going on and then later came home, gave DDS and Rich the remote for the TV and got on with some work until Lucy arrived for a visit.

Once everyone had departed and the rest of my housemates were back we went and picked up a crate before having a couple here, then heading over to Broomy's gaff for a pre-Towers bar get together. Devito was working on firepanel duty down at the Union and that left the rest of us to get involved in the first night celebrations. After a good few hours of socialising and catching up with people, Culsh drove us all into town where we picked up the trail in Lloyds then on into Echos. Apart from having to come home in the rain, it was a pretty good night.

This morning however wasn't so easy. The CF card for my new toy arrived at about 9.30am which woke me and from that point on I slowly have been sobering up. Yoli called with the computer guy at about 11.30am, The Swan was still in bed and so they worked around him to fix the socket in his room and after they left I made some lunch, sorted some work out and watched a film with Rufio (Human Traffic). Still not feeling 100% though.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from an anxious Nick. Turns out the girl he got to sort out his brochure (I did the rest of the print work, but due to me being out the country I didn't do this bit) had messed up and some of the files weren't getting past the pre-press stage. I agreed to head over to Leicester to the print studio to sort out the problem and spent the next hour fiddling on photoshop to amend some very low res TIFF files.

When I got back I was annoyed to discover I'd managed to leave my keys in my trousers from the night before, which inconveniently were not upon my person. This problem was compacted by the fact no one else was home, so I gave Swan a call and found that both him and Devito were in town - Swan was doing bargain shopping in Iceland and Devito was trying to sweet talk the bank into an extended overdraft.

Mike also showed up and we made a beeline for Lloyds where we got on the exotic ciders (Mike said he had some strong recommendations). After a while we were joined by Irish Johnny, Geordie and Duffy and spent the best part of the evening working our way through the higher percentage drinks menu. It was a very good get together, much humour was exchanged including when Devito set fire to Mike's job application.

As none of us had eaten anything we thought it best to get some food in before carrying on any further, so we walked back to The Palace. Devito promptly passed out on the sofa, and so this left the Swan and I to go and explore the Union on our own. Despite most of the university not being back yet, the place was pretty full (upstairs wasn't open) and the night was spent topping up alcohol levels. It also was a chance to meet up with the committees who were now back in halls making preparations for the Fresh arrivals.

I awoke this morning feeling fairly OK considering. Swan didn't make it back until about 11am as he had ended up crashing on the floor in Towers and clearly was still drunk when he got back in. Devito had already disappeared off to sell cards for Nick and Jono and Sean were already off at work.

I wrote a little story for Ryan (the house whiteboard has become a great source of amusement) and then spent the rest of the day traipsing around Tesco and campus - meeting up with DDS and Blonde, checking out the new EHB and getting nachos.

We also paid a visit to Broomy who flew back in from the Caribbean this morning before entertaining Culsh over dinner. All in all a fairly packed day.

I think I'm selling French Cricket shirts tomorrow.

My time back in Lufbra so far has mostly been spent taking it easy. Yesterday I tackled mammoth hurdle number one - weekly shopping. I was a bit apprehensive at first that I might turn up at the checkout with over a hundred quids worth of shopping but was relieved to find budgeting isn't so hard and everything for the week came to just under thirty. Devito reckons you can do it in twenty, but I'll have to see what I don't eat this week and play it by ear from there.

I've been chipping away at work slowly - I had a call from Andy Ball last night with a few changes to make to his site prototype and have been fiddling around with new stationary for Tours4. Neil also got back to me and it looks like I've got some more logo work around the corner. Could be good fun.

Last night the Swan and I went out in the town. It was a good chance to meet up with people who I've not seen in a while (Mike - his house plus more). It was a good night, but nothing extraordinary happened. Teenwolf pulled quite a funny trick when he walked past Chesters who was chatting up some bird, pushed a load of shrapnel into his hand and said 'Well done mate, you win the bet'.

Dan and Dave are back today. Might be a bit of a social later on.

Being a Sunday morning there wasn't too much going on in the Higgs household apart from me packing. I managed to pile the majority of stuff together on the floor the night before - except apparently for my new hoody, my surf hair wax and a sheet for my bed, all of which I managed to leave at home.

After a roast lunch Father drove me up to Lufbra where I moved my stuff in and have spent the past few hours getting set-up and settled down.

Straightforward.

A number of important landmarks have occurred since the last entry. Firstly, Sister One is now an official student of a university, and following out 7 or 8 hour trek (there/back) to the other side of Wales, she is spending her first night in halls at Aberystwyth.

I experienced a funny feeling I today while I was helping move her stuff into her room was one that ironically I never felt when I moved to uni. Maybe it was because I was too nervous to feel anything else than my immediate thoughts, or maybe it's just a voyeuristic feeling - but it felt like when you watch an American film with the first day of uni for a main character. A sort of 'unreality' feeling - a this is never the way it happens feeling - a feeling like it's an important new step in a person's life. Does anyone one else know what I mean or am I just talking crap again? Don't answer that.

As we were registering in, I could have sworn a voice from behind me across the hall called out 'Andrew Higgs'. That being my name, I responded by turning around. Initially I couldn't see who was heckling me, but upon a second glance I saw a smartly dressed Nick Hamer sitting behind a desk. I used to go to school with Nick (an OSH lad) and haven't seen him since I left. He was in the same class and I have some fond memories of the havoc he was known to cause with his rather blunt tongue and some of the entertainment he created, especially in physics lessons. He seems to be doing not to badly and is now part-time employed as a night watchman for the university, which he explained to me, meant when my sister got to drunk to get home, he is the person who sorts them out. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Anyway it was good to catch up. Surprises like that are usually good.

Another milestone is that the whole EOS 350D/EOS 300D camera debacle has been solved. As I wrote my entry last night something emerged on Amazon that was simply too good to ignore - a second hand camera with lens but selling for £70 less than anywhere else in the UK. I am yet to recieve this bargain product, but I've made much contact with the seller and it seems genuine enough so I'm looking forward to brown paper and bubble wrap on Tuesday. I am however, not looking forward to the piece of white paper in a white envelope marked Private and from the Halifax.

Back to uni tomorrow. Better start packing.

Despite what you probably think, this entry is not pirate related. It has more to do with cameras. Two cameras in particular.

Ahhhh is for the Canon EOS 350D - what I am currently aspiring to. I have had the thought of a upgrade on my mind for a while now, and when DDS' brother Joe purchased a EOS 300D a while back, it set my mind a-wandering. The Arrrgh bit is the price. Despite my better attempts to find a reasonable priced camera at auction, my many attempts have so far been thwarted by the following selection nasty surprises:

• Price doesn't include lenses
• Price doesn't include vastly disproportionate import tax
• Price doesn't include memory card
• Price doesn't include VAT
• Camera isn't new/isn't complete
• Price is too pricey

I am looking to spend around the 500 Pound mark by the looks of things. Currently anything that I don't have to import is looking at around the 600 Pound mark, and I don't mind buying second hand, but the camera is so new people are buying the second hand ones at the same price. I was planning on buying the EOS 300D initially (which is a mere 390 quid upwards) but unfortunately the lure of a near instant on-time and apparently superior performance is making my hand quiver oh-so-frighteningly over my wallet.

At dinner today, father managed to calm my excitation and asked me if I really needed it now; of course the post Christmas sales would probably yield a bargain. This quashed my enthusiasm to a reasonable level until I once again got about three meters away from eBay and started scouring again. This isn't going to have a pleasant ending; either not for me, or not for my debit-card pummelled bank account.

I spent today looking rather sharp. Once again the suit trousers and shirt came out for a meeting in a studio in Stourbridge. This was a tutorials session - showing the Old Ed Club people how to use their new website which we launched yesterday. Feedback has been good so far, and apart from a few minor alterations things seem to be going to plan. One annoyance is cross compatibility (again) with the Mac/PC divide throwing up plenty of mindbending quandaries about how you should implement something properly.

Sister One is off to uni tomorrow, and I'm going with her. I don't know if Wales is quite ready yet...

The past two days of my life have been filled up with incredibly normal goings on, and although I feel I am seeing some progress in working through my in-tray I am also amassing projects which is exactly what I said I wouldn't do.

I got asked a question on my last entry which I am going to answer now (it's only fair; I can't be a mystery all the time...). The question was about the blog title 'Beyond The Bridge' or 'Just Beyond The Bridge', which is actually the full title, but I messed up on some of the header graphics and missed out the 'Just' bit.

The phrase is actually double edged, although most people probably will not have gathered this unless they do The Times Cryptic Crossword in a coffee break, or just are a lucky guesser. Beyond the Bridge is a phrase that means the same as 'just over the horizon'; it's a way of expressing the unknown, and my blog fills this in with my daily rambling. You have to take everything in context that this was originally conceived as a travel-guide for young people, and that is when the title was chosen, but even when the purpose of the project changed, 'Just Beyond The Bridge' seemed to remain directly appropriate.

The second more subtle meaning to the phrase is actually to do with my whereabouts. I live in a town called Stourbridge, but sometimes for the sake of friends (and other people who live here) and in emails or txt messages I may abbreviate it to The 'Bridge. Partially this is to try and make the place sound more cool - when that earthquake struck us a couple of years ago it was the first time that the words 'Stourbridge' and 'Epicentre' had ever been used in the same sentence together. Making my home town sound like 'The Bronx' definitely is more inspiring than mentioning that it's right next to Dudley on the map. Therefore 'Just Beyond The Bridge' also refers to my time spent elsewhere. I spend most of my year at university in Loughborough, and most of my summers away exploring other countries. 'Just Beyond The Bridge' sums up where I actually am and where I came from - moving out and away from home. Growing up.

I hope that's not too deep, but I hope it's also filled a gap in your knowledge Judie :)

Something that is annoying me greatly (which shows how shallow I am) is that I can't find any flip-flop sandals anywhere. Well, that's not entirely true - I just can't find a pair I want. I managed to break my superb pair of Burton flip-flips while in the US, and have been dying to find a replacement since to no avail.

I have also discovered a fantastic podcast from creatives starting up/progressing in the business. I got a few episodes free with a Computer Arts magazine and have been so chuffed with the content I'm going to download the lot.

I received my BTC A4 4GB Microdrive today and it's sweet as a nut. Photo attached.