So long and thanks for all the fish

On Sunday I am leaving home for a year. So far I’m not terrified, just excited and extremely worried that I will forget something important like my passport (it’s happened before).

Since I don’t actually have anything to write about Honduras yet I thought I would reflect on a busy, tough but formative year.

My first fundraiser was, of course, the head shave.

This changed my year significantly. In the next few weeks I got used to wearing hats indoors, strangers crossing the road to avoid me and, when I chipped my front tooth, being mistaken for a convict.

The next project was my sock business. Thanks to Max (my brother) I started a successful sock subscription company (www.sok.bigcartel.com) which next year will hopefully be under new management, still raising money for Project Trust. From this I gained vital experience in shouting at sock manufacturers down the phone and scraping past the Post Office’s large letter requirements, both important life skills. Seriously though, the Sok company got me working harder than I had ever done before and without it I doubt I would ever have thought the rest of the fundraising possible.

Throughout the year I’ve also had a number of odd jobs from gardening, babysitting, cleaning, chopping wood and life modelling. Whilst I could write plenty about my hours spent gardening, I think what people want to hear about is the life modelling.

Since this is a family friendly blog I won’t include any NSFW photos but I’ll put my personal favourite drawing which wasn’t full frontal. Standing naked with a makeshift staff in a room full of strangers is unusual on any day. On this day however, I hadn’t eaten, and I fainted. Coming to my senses whilst being offered biscuits and butt naked in the middle of the room I began to question my life choices; yes Barbara I will have a rich tea, a cup of coffee and my decency please.

Another successful event was the Quiz Night, organised by Matti and I, which I unfortunately have no photos of.

Last and probably the opposite of least (most?), was the Oxton Pop-Up Restaurant. This is best explained with pictures but even they can’t show how amazing a night it turned out to be. Roger, as head chef, compiled a michelin star-worthy menu including the phrase ‘deconstructed vol-au-vent’. Helen, not to be outdone, made a fully edible dessert desert island. To add to the amazing team of staff was: Elliot, Laxsica, Dave, the second best waiter and Jai, the second best chef. Without all of these people I couldn’t have had such an amazing send off.

Other than the self inflicted humiliation which made up a decent part of my fundraising I have to thank all of the friends, family and family friends who contributed so much to making this year possible. Thanks also to everyone in Oxton who gave me jobs and to Mum and Dad who helped with pretty much everything.

Keep an eye on this blog to find out what I’m up to over the next 12 months.