When I started at Bristol University in 2003 you could spot the students who had been on a gap year from fifty paces. It was a typically drizzly autumn and yet they were all tanned, constantly wore flip flops and their chests were festooned with beaded necklaces (particularly the boys). If you ever found yourself next to one in the Wills Hall common room they'd tell you about how they smoked weed in New Zealand prior to saving a baby panda in Mongolia before finally finding themselves in Vietnam. If you haven't already seen it (and you should have) this superb sketch Gap Yah from The Unexpected Items is an accurate summation of the type.
The Gap Year is usually slotted in before university (and paid for by your parents) or right after University (paid for by a bank). I had gone straight from school to Bristol, then I went straight to London where I worked part-time in two theatres whilst doing a Masters, then immediately into full-time work and I never even considered a year out....until now.
Yes, slightly later than is the fashion, I am taking a Gap Year.
This idea first came about when my Dad inherited a house in Leicester. Knowing I was fed-up of the 9to5 lifestyle, catching colds off weary commuters and the fact that my landlord had just bought his third car (a Porsche) whilst I struggled to pay the rent each month; he offered for Max and I to live in this lovely house rent free before he put it on the market. And I kid you not, we decided to go for it.
And so this very weekend we will be packing up everything we've accumulated over the two years in our flat, getting in a very large moving van and escaping to the country.But what does the future hold for me now I'll be swapping the Big Smoke for Evington Village? Truth be told, I'm not sure. I'm working part time for a new writing theatre company and I know I'll be writing myself a lot more. Definitely promoting my sitcom (watch the trailer here) and writing a play whilst completing the Royal Court's Young Writers' Programme. And when I'm not doing any of those things I'll be pottering in our new garden or wandering over the fields at the end of our drive.
Of course Max and I will also be saving up for the compulsory travelling. Although I'm not sure about finding myself in Vietnam (I watched Apocalypse Now yesterday and I'm not sure it's for me). But soon enough, I'll be in the Leicester branch of STA discussing my gap year plan with some tanned graduate in flip flops and a beaded necklace.
I'll let you know how I get on. Like, totally. Yah?
