Long time no update. Time flies. Since I finished at University I have been on holiday with Sophie to visit my friend Amy in Grenoble, France. It was a lovely break away after the final stretch of university. Weather was lovely!
Amy Wharton, Sophie Howe and me on top of the Bastille, Grenoble.
As I said in my last vlog, I cycled with no clothes on through central London after firstly watching the Queen’s Birthday Parade. It was an amazing experience and I hope to do it next year.
Me on Westminster Bridge – with no clothes on and sitting on a bike.
The time came to have my last ever boat cruise with University Radio Nottingham. Since the very beginning, I was involved with the student radio and I will hugely miss it. My final URN Boat Cruise was emotional; I will miss everyone hugely, but it is time to move on. A few days later I saw my uni results. A very archaic way is it done at the University of Nottingham. On notice boards lined in a very public place is every single name followed by their classification. My school called for anonymity right the way through my degree. No essays could contain any reference to who you were. Yet, everyone knew who you were and what you received. I got a 2:1!
I have been on holiday with my friend, Seb, to Bournemouth. Again, a lovely time away – once we had actually got there. We were chatting away on the train and did not hear the apparent announcement which stated that the train was about to split in half. In order to head in the right direction, we needed to be at the front of the train. We were at the back. Another hour added to the long journey and we were where we wanted to be. It was only for a couple of nights as I had some work to do up in Nottingham but we managed to squeeze in barbecues on the beach, rode a tandem along the promenade, went to my first ever nudist beach. I skinny dipped! Yes! And the rest of the time was spent sunbathing. 
Then I moved out of my house in Beeston (the town next to the University of Nottingham) and then had our annual family barbecue with extended family all over the country. It was lovely catching up. I cycled from Wellingborough to Cambridge, a distance of 50 miles, to watch the start of the Tour de France. The streets were crowded so I did not actually get to see very much. I hopped on a train down to London and then watched the end of stage 3 of the tour along The Mall. Just over a week later I had my graduation ceremony. It was splendid! Such pomp and tradition, of which I loved. It sounds like I contradicted myself. I like tradition here, but not when traditionally displaying my results for everyone to see. I graduated with BA Honours Sociology from the University of Nottingham.
Samuel Shoesmith graduated with BA Hons Sociology from the University of Nottingham
I managed to get the family to go cycling. And a few days later, on Friday 25th July, I went down to London with my friend Seb to take part in Critical Mass. A wonderful experience. The idea is to celebrate cycling, improve cyclists’ presence on the roads and make people think what a wonderful world it would be without cars. Some angry car drivers did not celebrate anything. There were thousands of participants and everyone was in a great mood. Music was on the back of some bike trailers and it was blaring out in the beautiful sunshine right the way from Waterloo Bridge to our destination in the Olympic Park. And now on to Wednesday just gone. I went to watch Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with Mum. Bit of a rant follows the positivity. Really did I enjoy it. The story was drawn out at times, but overall magnificent. The effects were stunning. It made me think, and that’s what a great film should do. Misinterpretation, misunderstanding, territorial disputes and lack of love and compassion leads to a seemingly never ending conflict. 
If the oppositions (why oppose?) of apes and humans just communicated fully and organised themselves, peaceful resolve could come and even co-operation. Bad eggs, in both the humans and the apes, meant that they turned to the primitive method of conflict and war. We have moved on. Caesar, the leader of the apes, highlighted how ape should not kill ape and naturally extended that to the humans, who eventually trekked up from the city into the forest. This respect and tolerance began to grow despite one human shooting an ape he saw. They did not retaliate. Neither should we. Putting the world to rights, and moving on to move trivial matters, the cost of a trip to the cinema is getting ridiculously expensive. I madly searched for an Orange Wednesday code (my Orange phone is broken) in order to get 2 for 1. Otherwise it would have cost a total of £18.80. Ouch. I can see why there is a growing trend for torrenting movies soon after, if not during, its cinema release. I love the cinematic experience; the enormous screen, the volume, and the lack of ease of getting distracted are just some of the reasons.
That’s all for now. What a long post! When I get round to it, I am going to compile some of the footage I shot.
