... They arrived with suitcases of gadgets! This is what I was aspiring to....
By mid-April the biggest shock of my life (at the time!) occurred. I checked my NWPR email account one evening, as I did every evening to keep up with the mounting number of enquiries I was receiving. In the ... Read review
Advantages: Possibly been one of the best years of my life.... Disadvantages: .... but I've been so busy, I'm shattered!
...It's also a great idea this category so I couldn't resist!
Much like Zoe, my year also started in January (what a strange coincidence!).
January's, for me, normally consist of exams. 2003 was no exception. I was to be sitting an exam in AS level Maths, AS level Environmental science and AS level Geography. (One unit for each subject).
Having spent very little time revising I realised it was too late ... ...number of "members" for this new "ghost hunting" group I seemed to have started.
March was the month in which I lost my ghost hunting virginity.
I was hauled into the role of a Founder of a group such as mine quite dramatically in that I spoke to Mat one evening, within 2 days I was being photographed and interviewed at a local (supposed haunted) ruin for an article in the local newspaper to be published ... more
Having just stumbled across Zoe Pages' latest op, one which she suggested to Ciao herself in fact, I decided I'd take place as it was interesting to read how 2003 was for her. It's also a great idea this category so I couldn't resist!
Much like Zoe, my year also started in January (what a strange coincidence!).
January's, for me, normally consist of exams. 2003 was no exception. I was to be sitting an exam in AS level Maths, AS level Environmental science and AS level Geography. (One unit for each subject).
Having spent very little time revising I realised it was too late to even bother about so opted for the "see how bad/good I can do when I insert no effort into revising" technique. (One which I like to try out on occasion!) :o)
I arrived in the exam rooms for each subject, sat the exams and then had to endure a few months wait until I heard how I'd done.
Onto February. February was to be the month that changed my life. (Although at the time I would never have believed that).
You see, it was in February that I got my first enquiry about the North Wales Paranormal Research group. (I'd started a website about a potential group of people interested in the paranormal getting involved in doing some investigations on 12th December 2002). When I first set the website up I didn't actually expect to get any enquiries, and, to be perfectly honest, I simply started the website because I was bored and I wanted something to be doing over the Xmas holidays (rather than revising for the January exams you understand!)
Anyway, it was in February 2003 that I person called Mat enquried and asked if he could join. I was rather taken aback and thought "join what exactly?! Its not a club or group or anything!".
And the rest is history, as they say....
I recruited a number of "members" for this new "ghost hunting" group I seemed to have started.
March was the month in which I lost my ghost hunting virginity.
I was hauled into the role of a Founder of a group such as mine quite dramatically in that I spoke to Mat one evening, within 2 days I was being photographed and interviewed at a local (supposed haunted) ruin for an article in the local newspaper to be published the following week!
It was on March 21st that these new-found "members" and I met up for the first time at a haunted Gym in which we were going to be conducting an investigation in. We had the local paper with us - well, a photographer and the editor.
Late March consisted of our second "investigation" in a private house in Manchester.
April arrived. It was time to do some bigger venues. I decided to do two investigations at Gwrych Castle in Abergele. One on April 12th and one on April 19th. I had about 20 people on the first one and about 15 on the second one. A great turn out over all!
I invited Mark Baker from the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust to attend the investigations with us. He agreed and told us all about the history of the Castle whilst walking around under torchlight.
Two members of the Derwent Paranormal Investigators group attended the investigation on April 19th. They'd been in the "field" for far longer and had subsequently gained tonnes of equipment. They arrived with suitcases of gadgets! This is what I was aspiring to....
By mid-April the biggest shock of my life (at the time!) occurred. I checked my NWPR email account one evening, as I did every evening to keep up with the mounting number of enquiries I was receiving. In the midst of all the emails there was one from a person from the Fright Nights company. He said he'd heard from a mutual 'colleague' (those from the Derwent Paranormal Investigators group) that I was a "good paranormal investigator". He wanted me to film my night at the Worlds Biggest Ghost Hunt, to be held at Tutbury Castle on April 30th. I was amazed. Me?? Filming for a programme?!?! And not only a programme but on a topic I'd only just started being actively involved in!! Needless to say, I didn't turn this opportunity down. I spoke with the Producer of the programme. It was all sorted! I was going with two other members. One of whom (from Manchester) was driving us. We broke down on the motorway about 30 mins drive away from Tutbury Castle. We subsequently arrived a few hours late! It was stressful having to phone the Producer ever 10 mins to explain we were still stuck on the hardshoulder!
This programme was aired on July 1st on Living TV and has subsequently been repeated numerous times.
I got my AS unit 1 results in April for the exams I sat in January. I got a D in Maths and an A in Environmental Science and Geography.
May was a relatively quiet month, with just one investigation in a haunted pub/hotel. It was in May that I started going out with Mark (previously mentioned, Founder of the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust).
June was a busy month with loads of exams. Again, I did very little revision (I didn't have time with the increasing demands involving the paranormal research group).
I sat my final AS exams for Maths, Geography and Environmental Science. As of such I put the paranormal on hold temporarily. We did just one investigation in late June, at Gwrych Castle again. By this time we started realising just how active Gwrych was from a paranormal point of view. Something always seemed to happen!
It was late June that I decided enough was enough. I couldn't cope with all the work now being placed on me. It was time to form a Committee. Which is where Dave, Nicky, Maf, Gareth and Mark came in. WIthout them I'd be snowed under with work!
Since then, numerous meetings lasting well into the early hours of the morning have been endured. (Well we're paranormal investigators, much like vampires, we sleep by day!) :o)
It was in July that we visited the most haunted place in the UK (supposedly), that being Derby Gaol. July was fairly quiet in general. Which was a good thing considering August was set to be really busy for me!
It was in August that Marks' third book was published. He had been filming for a programme to be shown on HTV about Gwrych Castle. (Programme entitled "If Only the Walls had Ears"). He held an exhibition to celebrate the book launch for 2 weeks, HTV came to film him there one day and interviewed me too. Eek, I didn't know what to say! It was in mid August that the programme was shown, fortunately they edited my bit out! :o)
NWPR was busy too though. The BBC filmed with us on August 15th (to be shown on BBC Wales in the new year sometime on the "I Love Wales" programme). We then filmed a pilot show in Lincolnshire on August 30th. No further details about this can be divulged as yet! ;-)
It was in August that I also got my AS level results. I failed Maths but got an A in both Geography and Environmental Science (with 100% in a unit for the latter subject). I was the third highest achiever for Environmental Science in the UK apparently. So I was pretty chuffed about that, especially considering I'd not revised much!
NWPR has been equally busy since. We've been interviewed for radio across the UK for the run up to Halloween. We've also been invited to do a few talks, including the Ghost-Con event over Halloween by Jason Karl (star of series 1 of "Most Haunted"). We attended and did our talk. The highlight of my year occured on November 1st, whilst still at Ghost-Con (it ran over the Halloween weekend). We were asked for our autographs!!!!
November came and I aged another year on the 8th. Now aged 20 I was quite alarmed at not being able to call myself a teenager any more. I can't blame mood swings on that any more. Now I'll just have to rely on PMT to act as the excuse!
We've since done another talk at Ghosthouse - Psychic Evening in Nottinghamshire just the other week.
Mark has been equally busy not counting NWPR stuff. He started University at Bangor in September studying History and Archaeology. With both Mark and myself being really busy its hardly surprising it wasn't working. We split up a few weeks back. Which can only be a good thing as he was annoying the hell out of me so I'd probably have killed him if we'd stayed together any longer!
Even now, on the run-up to Christmas, although we're having a short break from investigations I'm already having to plan the 2004 calendar out! So far we're booked up to about April 3rd with investigations!
Hopefully we'll be starting some serious research into Ouija boards in 2004 too alongside Ciaran O'Keefe (parapsychologist from Liverpool University and off the "Most Haunted" and "Jane Goldman Investigates" programmes, amongst others).
All in all, 2004 is set to be a busy year so I'm taking a well earned break over the next few weeks! We've got the NWPR xmas "do" on the 20th December so I'm looking forward to that! It'll be the only real chance I get to let my hair down till Christmas 2004 I'm sure.
All in all, its been an absolutely amazing year and one which I'd not change for the world. I'd go so far to say as it was my best year ever. Lets hope 2004 is better again....
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Ciaoers!
...said, "We've dropped like flies, this year, haven't we?" And he was right. I've been to several funerals and missed several more. Particularly sad was the death of my uncle, my father's closest brother, both in age and affection. Ray had seen more than his share of bad luck and personal misfortune, all of it entirely undeserved, for a nicer, more gentle, kinder man you couldn't possibly meet. Things for Ray and his wife seemed finally to have turned ... ...seen some well-nigh miraculous recoveries this year. My aunt suffered a perforated bowel a few months ago, and in the emergency operation to repair it, she had a cardiac arrest. She had many complications after the operation, including fecal peritonitis (yeuch), organ failure, and a horrible dose of MRSA. At the lowest point, her consultants gave her one last night to turn the corner before they withdrew treatment. Amazingly, and having been given ...
jillmurphy 19.12.2003
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...mind is where exactly has this year gone too!!! It’s been a very eventful year compared to many others but needless to say there have been more positive than negative points. I’ve read a few of these ops so far and loved the concept so without too much further babbling on I shall start way back there at the Beginning.
January: I started the year in a similar sort of place to where the previous couple have started, in some strange person I’ve never ... ...Rooms in Portsmouth.
February: This is where the year took a rapid turn downhill. On the 3rd of February I ended up in hospital for 3 days after a 4th recurrence of my mystery Blood loss illness and the rest of the month was spent rebuilding my energy and eventually towards the end of the month returning to work. All in all February was a write off most of it was spent at home, however it was really during February that I got back into writing on ...
Andy.mack 22.12.2003 (01.01.2005)
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Advantages: “Through all the circle of the golden year” (Tennyson) Disadvantages: “Grief returns with the revolving year” (Shelley)
...Blackpool grandmother’s birthday. This somehow makes it seem apposite that I travel to Blackpool to visit my elder son, who now lives there (see resultant op on Blackpool if interested).
Meanwhile, on the wider world stage, Bush gets stuck into attacking Iraq, with Blair trotting obediently along behind, a policy with which I profoundly disagree along with a majority of my countrymen. Still, whatever one thinks about Bush – loathe him or loathe ... ...stuck with the consequences of this piece of folly no matter what. And yes, for the record, I do agree that Saddam is even more loathsome than Bush, although not perhaps as dangerous to the cause of Western democracy.
~~April~~
“Aprille in Parys,” as I believe, but no one else believes, Chaucer wrote. (See Top 10 Quotations op if interested.) In point of fact, this particularly misquotation was prompted by Schmutzie, whose departure from Ciao is ...
torr 31.12.2003 (13.01.2004)
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Advantages: for me: a job, a flat ,and better news on the health front Disadvantages: there's absolutely no point to this opinion - enjoy! ;)
...my knee :)
Gosh, this is just a long useless waffle, isn’t it?! Maybe I can get it all out of my system and write non-waffling reviews for the rest of the year!
Ah, the reviews… Fair to say that 2003 was the year of reviews that were planned, perhaps even started, but never made it to posting. There are a few that reached the seriously long chunk of notes stage, and I do want to go back and get those on site. They include a review of the hotel ... ...‘dated’ music reviews from me this year?
As always my main time-spend is reading. A quick flick through my own scribbles (yeah, I’m sad, I know!) shows me that I managed 48 books over the calendar year – that’s a lot of missed reviews! If I don’t write a book review quickly enough, you see, I go on to read too much more and forgot what I really wanted to say. I’m sure you’re all gutted to not hear my views! So… here’s a roundup:
Huge recommendations ...
Calypte 14.03.2004
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Advantages: It's nearly over Disadvantages: It's nearly over
...bit more entertaining to watch. This was also the month my essential supply of Rice Krispies (a cereal not available over there) arrived, presented with a flourish from a suitcase so large and so full of stuff that it made me wonder who the girl in this relationship was, making me a happy bunny for a month or so
April and Easter bounced along, and I got to spend my favourite holiday in a country home to my favourite chocolate. I went to Bonn for ... ...are now studying from scratch this year, making Mondays good days in the life of Zoë.
In May we went away again, this time to Munich. Staying in what has to be my favourite hotel ever, one of the 4 Points Sheraton chain, we did all the sites worth seeing and also managed to fit in time to go swimming (lots of outdoor pools plus 32 C weather made it essential) and to visit the local film studios and park. Mommy flew over to meet me there and so, ...
zoe_page 16.12.2003 (20.12.2004)
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theater month as we went to see Kiss Me Kate, Starlight Express and Beyond Belief (a play on the Shipman enquiry) ? and all within a 30 hour period too.
December?s been with us a few weeks now, and in that time I have been to Bury, Wigan, Stockport and Hamburg among other exotic places. I?ve nothing much planned until 2005 when London, Dublin, Glasgow and Chipping Norton will all be on the agenda, plus, hopefully, a 3 month trip down under towards the end of the year.
Last year I wrote a similar op about my life in2003 and suggested others might like to do the same. You can find their words if you search for ?yearinview? or copy and paste this link.
www.ciao.co.uk/ThisYearInView20035602711/TabId/2
13 people wrote up their years then, and I?m pleased to say not one of them gave their life for those 12 months anything less ...
Advantages: Other reason to groan than at boyfriend Disadvantages: Four hours spent wastefully with bleeding ears
~This is what the would have us believe inviewingthisyears Eurovision Song Contest:~
The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 will represent A Magical Rendez-vous of songs, performers and viewers in Latvia ? the magical land in which the laws of love are the major rule, just as they are in the majority of songs inthis world. The performance at the song contest will be based on the idea that people always yearn for their fateful encounter. One song, one performer, one country will experience this meeting as a fateful occurrence that will change the rest of the performer?s life. That happened for the hosts of the concert, Renars Kaupers, the lead singer of Prata Vetra (BrainStorm), and Marie N., the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2002.
Latvia is a country which sings. This contest will allow people to encounter performers ...
