A Golden Opportunity

An update on the events of the last few months.

So, I am very aware and very apologetic that I haven’t posted any blogs recently and that the active pages of the website have gone a bit quiet. This is because I’ve had an eventful few weeks since I last wrote anything and the aim of today is to give a full update on what’s happened in that time and what I am up to currently.

Last time I spoke to you all, it was to showcase some of the best photographs I had taken from my time in Lockdown and to shed some light into my daily/ weekly life. That living pattern continued for a while, effectively becoming my younger brothers fill in teacher and organising a lot of his communications with his teachers and tutors. I carried on looking after my 3 dog’s weekdays and getting out to walk them during the week, whilst supporting my girlfriend as she finished her second year university exams online from my family home.

However, things began to sour the longer this went on and I was getting a bit restless. On a personal note, I was disappointed that the timing of the pandemic had coincided with the business end of my job search for a part 1 placement and I was beginning to feel very unenthusiastic about my chances of finding a placement soon, especially as all the contact I had been receiving from recruitment agencies and potential employers had effectively stopped in its tracks as lockdown was becoming more and more imminent.

I was at least somewhat productive throughout this period. In my last week at home I finished building the recycled shed that was built to house items to be sold for Tuzla Dogs Charity, with the final construction phase taking about 4 days to put together. I had help from my girlfriend who had finished her exams by that point and we enjoyed working on that together. It is a shame I don’t have a photograph of the finished article but have got some below of the build process.

I also learnt how to create some basic videos, having shot 3 coaching videos for the Colts (junior) section of my cricket club. They were training videos designed to help the youngsters practice their skills from home during lockdown. I experienced the basics of writing a script and setting up scenes as well as the editing process. I stitched together and added in a few headers, images, and title pages to create videos that looked somewhat acceptable as finished products! I thoroughly enjoyed this process and really did learn a lot from it and I know it is a valuable skill to have going forward and definitely something I want to expand further upon.

Photograph taking whilst filming Coaching video

These achievements were however overshadowed by the general picture of what was going on at home and gradually I became more and more unhappy. I was not enjoying my time there and I was struggling to come up with a way of breaking out, especially difficult given the current climate. I desperately wanted to get on with my architectural education, to get out in the world of work and find my own way in the world and I was beginning to think that dream maybe just wasn’t meant to be.

That was until I received an email from the new Head of School at Kent School of Architecture and Planning.

It stated that the school had waived the 6 month professional work experience requirement in order to be able to apply for the MArch programme at Kent. Given the internal struggles I had been facing, it really did seem like a golden opportunity.

KSAP Catalogue Cover 2020

So my girlfriend and I prepared to move back into her flat for the last month of her tenancy given that the travel restrictions were lifted on the 1st June in the UK. We came down on the train carrying as much as we could and have been living in her flat in the two weeks since. We had talked at length we would need to sort out throughout this month to mean we could live together in Canterbury during the next academic year and be able to afford student fees, accommodation, living costs etc.

We both agreed to find part time jobs throughout the summer with the potential to carry them on into the autumn term. We would have to find a flat, house share or other accommodation that we could be in for the next 15 months or so. I had to sort my application itself, as well as funding and I have looked into a number of areas over the last fortnight as the SFE applications for master’s courses do not open until July. We rearranged the flat a bit to give us a combined workspace where we could work together during the day, and sort all of the paperwork that each of us has to complete to continue at University. It has allowed us to knuckle down and get on with the tasks at hand and it seemed to have worked. I am pleased to say that within 3 days of being here, I had a job interview in Canterbury and during that appointment, my girlfriend was offered an admin role at the same company. A complete change of fortunes in a very short space of time.

We have also (in the last 24 hours) signed on our first flat together, not far from Canterbury high street and we can’t wait to move in. Things seem to finally be looking up for us and we are both excited for the year ahead.

Canterbury High Street

I have also unfortunately decided that my ‘ThinkTank’ project many have to put to one side. Having committed to a new job and having to sort/ complete a number of applications and forms over the coming weeks to get back to University that I would rather finish the research I had started from a more optimal position. Being in Canterbury with current travel restrictions the way they are, I would rather not travel too far to have to study rural structures. I only have limited numbers of buildings I could use as local evidence, and I don’t know the surrounding areas outside the city too well, except Harbledown. Being here in Canterbury would possibly allow a fresh look at it from a slightly different angle, though I’m not too sure that this would be the right approach.

I will possibly get round to uploading a preliminary summation of my work up till this point, where I took my analysis of the farm photographed in my previous ThinkTank posts and applied similar scrutiny to other agricultural developments. Photographs will continue to be uploaded as they are loaded off the camera, phone and various memory sticks to compile into one online album.

However all in all, positive steps taken in the last fortnight and I am very much looking forward to getting back to University, and of course uploading any completed portfolio work onto this website over the summer.

Until next time,

RK