Also, tradition. We have had a royal family for our entire history. They make Britain stand out, alongside things like the pound sterling and tea. They represent our country and, technically, still give ascent to new laws. As our head of state, the Queen plays a vital role in our parliamentary system. Maintaining tradition is all about maintaining integrity and our culture.

The importance and rarity of this occasion is also represented by the lack of adverts on ITV during the wedding, costing them £70 million revenue. The national importance is however paramount. There is also a ban on clips from the service being used for comedy purposes, further showing how extraordinary this event is.

The wedding day is a welcome bank holiday for everyone, it comes at a time of unrest around the world, and within our own political parties about AV (I’ll keep my opinions away for now). It’s a day in which the whole of the United Kingdom and 2 billion other people worldwide can join and celebrate one very British day. One can not wait!

Trains are my other addiction. I will grab any opportunity I can to go on the train, unless it’s cycleable. I’ve never had a bad experience on the railway. I thoroughly enjoyed my daily commute into London in the cramped carriages. The other exciting trip I had was last Friday when I did Fareham to Coventry with my Sister. (Crosscountry trains are nice!) I’m planning on acquiring a Railcard this week, when I’m 16 on Thursday, which’ll get me 1/3 off all train tickets, then I shall go and explore, I’d like to go to Brighton and Exeter just to name a couple.

My other aim is to one day do the £30 public transport challenge and see just how far I can travel using public transport with a limit of £30??

• We finished school back in July and I received the highest achievement in Maths and French for my year group, after many years of fighting for the Maths one.
• I got a lovely job painting fences from one of my twitter friends, thank you @BeachHut81.
• I went camping with my best friend to Lulworth for a few days.
• One of my highlights had to have been my trip to London and 1 year anniversary with Laura. They were a brilliant couple of days, thank you Laura.
• We went on holiday to Croyde, North Devon and had a lovely week body-boarding, cycling and (for me) eating!
• I helped 1st Stubbington Scouts at the Stubbington Fayre where we raised £467!
• I went on a huge travel journey on the 3rd September with my sister, we went by train from Fareham to Coventry, then car from Coventry to Yorkshire for a 50th wedding anniversary dinner. Then on the same day drove back to Coventry. Exhausting! But a huge congratulations to my grandparents – Barbara and Kenneth Langley, 50 years is truly fantastic.
• And then today I met up with the other side of the family for a BBQ. So it’s been fairly busy and very enjoyable.

I almost forgot, the computer’s mended now!

There was half term, when we went camping in somerset, it was lovely. We went to Glastonbury tor, cheddar gorge (where I bought some cheese) and to the beautiful city of bath.

Then my exams started, French and German reading a listening and my statistics paper. I think they all went well which is good news.

In amongst all this was family camp, it was better than expected and I really enjoyed the whole weekend, except the mosquitos!!

We had longleat with all Hampshire beavers and cubs, later on in the month which was boiling but a nice day out. Then the day after this I went to the county AGM, to meet and greet dignitaries as part of being a SYC, it was a lovely day and I’m hoping I’ll be allowed back next year.

Back in November I had to apply for my work experience placements. The school use the local business partnership group, I applied for 4 of their placements all of which were unsuccessful. I was moaning about this on twitter when one of my twitter friends offered me the chance for work experience with them. I thought nothing of it at first as it’d be in London and I didn’t think my Mum would let me work in London for a week. However, then @pennynash said her sister may let me stay with her and eventually hat was confirmed and somehow, I still don’t quite know how, I persuaded my Mum.  It was all sorted out with school and everyone and then in May, off I went.

I trotted into work after a very fun commute with traffic jams, train rides and a stroll through central London. It was a lovely big building, I’d been to visit before, back in February. But I’d never been inside. This was the point at which I was most nervous! I was escorted up to the correct floor where a white wall met me, a plain wall with nothing but a “UK Border Agency” sign on it. In I went.

I was given a tour and introduced to members of the team, they were all very lovely. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the days’ activities. They mainly consisted of sitting in on meeting, helping with some tasks and shadowing and finding out about the programme. I found out that the world is full of Acronyms!

The only day with a huge bit of variation was the Wednesday. I got the opportunity to visit the main Home Office headquarters. This was just for me to have a look around the brilliant building, but as the day went on. Things began to unravel politically. It was the day when the new government’s cabinet was being announced and a new Home Secretary became more and more likely as the day went on. Then at lunchtime, she was announced. Theresa May. As is customary in the Home Office, new secretaries give an opening speech in the atrium of the building, which is surrounded by balconies. The Civil Servants all watch. It must be a very daunting experience. As the afternoon went on it began to look as though Theresa’s opening speech was going to be very late, but then the announcement came.

We all flocked out onto the balconies to see as she spoke about what the government and herself aimed to do. I felt very privileged to have been there to see it. The highlight of my week! It was a fantastic week and I’d love to go back again. My colleagues were lovely and really welcoming, I learnt an awful lot and I think my confidence has improved!

Wednesday was one of my two short days, I had a business lunch. This was where we got the chance to talk to a range of employers about their careers and then got lunch. Out of all the people there, none of them really interested me. Lunch was good and I got to finish my day after lunch so that was an added bonus. Thursday was another half day. We went to Fareham College. It’s not really a college I had in mind to go to but it was nice to have a look round. We had a mock science lesson which was good before getting a lunch which we weren’t expecting! I popped into town after this to visit my sister on her placement at Dorothy Perkins.

Friday was the other long and interesting day. We went on a trip to Oxford university. I expected this to be a very interesting day and I wasn’t let down. It started with a stop at the services for Krispy Kreme and yum yums, so I was happy! Then when we arrived we got biscuits, so I was happier. Then we started the real activity. We had a talk about higher education and Oxford University which was very informative. After this we had a tour of one of Oxford’s colleges. This was also good as it was used in the filming of Harry Potter. We then had lunch in the room which was Harry Potter’s great hall. After lunch we had a physics session which was challenging but interesting before our quick tour of the city itself. I decided I want to go to Oxford (or Cambridge).

All in all it was a great week and let’s hope this week, my work experience week here in London, is just as great!

Then the day came. I was up and awake and ready! I set off with my lovely welcome party at 9am and cycled very fast and was in Wickham in half an hour. There I met my first problem, they’d closed the Meon Valley railway for resurfacing. A quick detour and I was back on track. I stopped a couple of times for geocaching and checks with my back-up. The railway was a really lovely cycle which I’d never done before. I got to the end of the railway and arrived at West Meon, I had my urgently needed stop for Oasis and carried on.

My next stop was East Meon. I stopped here for my lunch. It’s a lovely little village that I’d never been to before. Then once I’d left here I met a very annoying patch of my route. My first big hill. I struggled all the way up, the sun was burning me as it was the middle of the day and it was the most exhausted I was all day. But I made it. Then turned the wrong way.

I didn’t realise for about 2 miles when I arrived outside the Bat and Ball pub at Broadhalfpenny down. I stopped to take a photo of the famous stone before turning around and going back up the hill for 2 miles to go the correct way. I turned along and stopped at a beautiful viewpoint. I did a quick bit of geocaching, took a few photos then had to carry on as I was only up to 30 miles.

My next stop was Hambledon, a lovely village where I had been before. I had a quick car trip to grab a geocache that wasn’t en route. Then carried on my cycling. This was where my major problem occurred. Somewhere along my route I dropped one of the radios. My bag came undone and it fell onto the edge of the road somewhere. I don’t know how. When I arrived at Titchfield (after a cake stop at Wickham) I informed my back-up and we had a trip back to look for it. But to no avail.

I carried on despite this small downhill section and returned home to my lovely Laura. I was more energetic at this point than I was when I started!! I had to go and do more cycling, after eating the flapjack she’d made me.

Despite another trip back to the lost radio location in the evening it still couldn’t be discovered. I’m very sorry for losing that. Thank you to Lester though for accompanying me on my ride and being there just in case he was needed, I really appreciate it.

Most of all thank you to all those who have sponsored me, it makes it all worthwhile!

I then set my plan into motion; I had to locate a centre of accommodation for the week so I could rescue my week and its plans. Then my amazing best friend who I hope’ll read this one day offered me the chance to stay. I jumped at the chance! After finalising the details with both sets of parents, it was allowed.

The week was very good and I got the chance to see my friends, visit a boat and Lymington, and just generally enjoy myself. Thanks Matt!

We went away on invite to some friends and stayed in a phone signal dead lodge by a lovely reservoir. We had 2 days. The first day we climbed 3 mountain: cribyn, pen-y-fan and corn du. The weather was appalling. It felt as though I was going to be blown off at any second and the view at the top consisted of the surrounding 10 metres. But I’m proud I did it!

The second day, today, we went on a walk to find a waterfall. It was amazing. We could stand behind it and it was an amazing experience. I really loved the weekend! 3 of my 3 done… 13 to go!

• Eat 36 Krispy Kreme doughnuts in a day
• Raise £100 for charity
• Climb a mountain
• Cycle 50 miles in a day
• Take Laura out for dinner
• Win something
• Make sure Laura stays happy
• Get a grade A in my statistics GCSE
• Lay in a field and watch the sunset and starts come out
• Spend 24 hours with Laura
• Draw a picture I’m proud of
• Do a random act of kindness
• Find 20 geocaches in a day
• Learn to knit
• Learn some Spanish
• Stay awake for 24 hours

I’m combining numbers 2 and 4. I haven’t decided when yet, but I’m doing a 50 mile sponsored cycle.  See my just giving page for more information.

Let’s hope I succeed