For those who know me, I am currently on a gap year before heading off to university this coming September. For those who know me even better, I enjoy making personal and pointless web sites. And, for those who have known me very well indeed, they'll know that whenever there is a cheap offer on domain names, I'll buy a few and make a few random web sites. Cue £0.97 '.eu' domain names on 123-reg.

So, over the last couple of days I have been working on just that: a blog relating to my gap year, which can be found at www.gapyearineurope.eu. From domain name purchase last week to the beginning of production on Sunday, 2 days later and the blog is fully functional (though there are a few little snags here and there that I am still touching up). Considering I am working full time in between, that's quite speedy work!

The joys of Halloween; it has come and gone, and so has the festivities of the event: the trick-or-treating; the costumes; the strange parties fancy dress parties; and the eggs and flour. It was a strange year for me, not in exclusion of the fact that I was working. For work, I was asked to turn up in Halloween fancy dress, which I rushed to get complete before my shift started.

A subtle fancy dress was constructed this year, mostly consisting of a few fake bandages and fake blood – all home made using acrylic paint and tissue paper – thus providing me with an ideal and relatively life-like costume. Despite there being copious amounts of blood adorning my face, I managed to get many second glances, staring faces, and even causing one passer-by - in an evident attempt to be polite - to deem it necessary to ask if I realised that I had cut my face – many more asking if I had been mugged or "had the sh*t kicked out of me in the street".

Aside from that, I also had my first go at artistic pumpkin carving – starting with the basics of course. Using a pumpkin, a large spoon, a drill and a partially blunted carving knife, I managed to construct the above: a space-invaders pumpkin, inspired both by the space invaders street artist and this.

Ahh, the joys of Halloween.