Scattered thoughts

We went on holiday to Norfolk this year, to this beautiful cottage called "Remus" in Larling, through this brilliant company who let holiday cottages in five locales, despite being called "Best of Suffolk" ;)

I was pretty excited about going, but didn't realise how much I really needed to get away from everything after the year we've had so far. And I really did need to get away, and feel miles better for having done so.

( Day One - Friday 3rd September - Travelling and settling in )

( Day Two - Saturday 4th September - Relaxing in the cottage )

( Day Three - Sunday 5th September - Bure Valley Railway and Great Yarmouth )

( Day Four - Monday 6th September - Banham Zoo (featuring Giraffes) )

( Day Five - Tuesday 7th September - The world's most disappointing Toy and Model Expo and England's only Whisky distillery )

( Day Six - Wednesday 8th September - IWM Duxford )

( Day Seven - Thursday 9th September - Norwich )

( Day Eight - Friday 10th September - Home again (with a stop at Bluewater en-route) )

It was really good to be away, but it was quite nice to get home again.

The fantastic news, and a good way to round off our holiday, is this was our last holiday in which I had to do all the driving, because on Monday, Ben passed his driving test first time \o/ (though this does mean I now have to share the car ;))

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We're off on our Summer Holiday today, heading up to Rosedale Abbey on the North Yorks Moors and staying in one of these. I'm looking forward to it more than I can say :D Yay Holiday! Yay Yorkshire! :D As with last year's trip to Skegness, this one covers our wedding anniversary. Believe it or not as of 3rd September we'll have been married for 3 years! :D

If you need me then you can get my via my mobile (see Giant Floating Contact Details Post if you don't think you have it), but I won't be online till we get back next Saturday.

Have a lovely week everyone :)

As I mentioned in my last entry we went on holiday to Skegness/Chapel St. Leonards for a week in a fixed site caravan. We had a lovely time and selected photos are here and some different ones here. All photos were taken by benc (I was taking black and white pictures on a film camera which have yet to be developed).

We did a fair bunch of stuff, though it was all sadly rather curtailed because the effects of my depression are such that after doing something for 3 or 4 hours I was so tired I had to come home and sleep. One of the things that we did that isn't in pictures is we drove an hour and a half to Stamford so we could see The Dam Busters (which had been cleaned up a little) on the big screen. Well worth it :D though I was dead almost all of the next day.

When we went to Skegness we saw the Skegness lifeboat with its awesome tractor which pulls it down the beach to the sea and pulls it back out again:


It was sooooo cool :D

I won a zippy toy at the "Hook a Duck" stall on Skegness pier and he "did" Skegness:


In Chapel St. Leonards we found possibly the most offensive building in all of the UK, the Golden Palm:


The pictures don't do it justice - the palm trees *flashed*. The shopping arcade owned by the Golden Palm also produced the worst curry I have ever had - sauce like water, sweetened with sugar and chicken so dry it had probably been sitting under lights for hours. The curry places around Skegness were all very special. None of the ones near to us did "Curry". They all did Curry/Kebabs/Pizzas/Burgers. Really we should have known better than to buy from there.

On our last day we went to the beach, as it was the only day really nice enough for it.

I buried Ben:


We worked on a sandcastle:


Which had a working moat :D


Thus, our work was done:

(Mine is the blue spade).

Finally, ben brought me a giant Eeyore for an anniversary present:

He's pretty awesome :)

Today I have called the Job Centre plus in an effort to apply for Incapacity benefit as advised to me by Payroll at UKC. It seems very complicated and I have no idea if I'll be eligable but I don't loose anything by applying. I have also been abusing the BBCs archive trial and now have about 12 tabs of things to watch. Ah well, will keep me busy!

And finally, the reason I chose the icon I did: we got back from holiday to a letter from our Letting Agency saying they'll be coming to inspect the flat for the first time in two years on Thursday. It's a routine inspection but I'm bricking it and utterly convinced we'll be evicted despite saner voices telling me I'm being a muppet. I'm sure on Thursday I'll be able to come back and tell you all that they were right. Until then I suspect I'll be a bit of a nervous heap.

I found Dr Who Operation in Asda (aka, shop of evil) earlier and immediately thought of bethanthepurple (who probably wants one for Birthday/Christmas/$random celebration), though I knew it may well interest any of you other Dr Who addicts out there who happen to read my LJ.

Picture below. Sorry for the crappiness, I took it with my cameraphone :S



In other news, I'm off on holiday tomorrow, to that most romantic of locations*: Skegness (actually, a fixed caravan in a caravan park in a place nearby called Chapel St. Leonards. It's in this lovely location, where benc used to spend his holidays, that we will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary. Doesn't time fly!

Completely gratuitous picture of the wedding below. This one isn't crappy cos it was taken with one of Jibbler's uber cameras.



Be safe while we're away. Contactable on my mobile if it's urgent. If not, sod off - second honeymoon don'cha know :P* Will be without internet till we come back, which is next Saturday at some point.

Byebye for a week friendslist!

*despite how I sound about this, I am actually incredibly excited...or will be, once the packing is over!
*This doesn't include you, family...and certain friends, I think you can guess who you are :P

I found Dr Who Operation in Asda (aka, shop of evil) earlier and immediately thought of bethanthepurple (who probably wants one for Birthday/Christmas/$random celebration), though I knew it may well interest any of you other Dr Who addicts out there who happen to read my LJ.

Picture below. Sorry for the crappiness, I took it with my cameraphone :S



In other news, I'm off on holiday tomorrow, to that most romantic of locations*: Skegness (actually, a fixed caravan in a caravan park in a place nearby called Chapel St. Leonards. It's in this lovely location, where benc used to spend his holidays, that we will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary. Doesn't time fly!

Completely gratuitous picture of the wedding below. This one isn't crappy cos it was taken with one of Jibbler's uber cameras.



Be safe while we're away. Contactable on my mobile if it's urgent. If not, sod off - second honeymoon don'cha know :P* Will be without internet till we come back, which is next Saturday at some point.

Byebye for a week friendslist!

*despite how I sound about this, I am actually incredibly excited...or will be, once the packing is over!
*This doesn't include you, family...and certain friends, I think you can guess who you are :P

I've updated my "Counties I have Visited" map after my visit to Bath. Unfortunately it is still shamefully southern based. I really need to get around to visiting northern England and Scotland, if only to balance out the map.

( Counties map )

My visit to Bath was amazing. We stayed at Lucknam Park Hotel and believe me when I say you cannot see the hotel for ages once you turn into the grounds. There has to be about a mile of tree lined lane before you get there. We travelled by train which was very civilised and relaxing and when we got to the hotel itself we were bowled over by the room. Beautiful, very relaxing, enormous LCD TV, but terrifying. I have never stayed anywhere they give away bathrobes, slippers and a golf umbrella before... Someone even came in during dinner and tided up our mess and turned down the bed!

Dinner was nice - fillet steak with not an ounce of fat, but breakfast surpassed it. I had pancakes and OMG...they were about an inch thick and the maple syrup...mmmmmmmnh...

Spa treatment was amazing. Would do that again. Skin still soft nearly a week later from the body exfoliation.

Spent Saturday in Bath and it's a really lovely place, very similar to Canterbury. The Abbey is amazing and the inside is even lovelier than the Cathedral IMO. It's also very much part of the city in a way the Cathedral is not - it is not seperated by large grounds (there are no grounds) and they were holding thrice daily 20 min carol services every Saturday for shoppers out doing their Christmas Shopping.

Got back very late on Saturday but it was well worth it.

Did I mention I'd do it again? :D

We're definately going back to Bath one day, but I suspect next time we'll stay somewhere a good deal less posh :)

ION: Christmas almost totally planned. Am on holiday now (was from Thursday) and went to the Carols in the Cathedral last Tuesday. Very pleasant not having much left to do and Christmas being definately on the way :)

I went on a road trip to Folkestone today, to the uber ice cream shop of utter home made doom.

It was very good and we brought some home.

Thank you to Allan, Adam, fooflington, rahslowe, nert and benc for sharing the utter coolness of the random road trip with me :)

I had an excellent afternoon :D

It's the holiday! Two whole weeks without school :D This makes me very happy and, as a newly married, means that avenues are opened up to us that weren't before. One of these is love bites.

( Cut for potentially TMI )

Still, it amused me, especially looking back :D

In other news, ben and I got a new car stereo yesterday. It plays cds! :D We tested it out on the way to the hospital and it works beautifully. There's something quite nice about speeding along a good road playing Green Day - American Idiot at high volume on a lovely day, even if we were going to the hospital :)

It's the holiday! Two whole weeks without school :D This makes me very happy and, as a newly married, means that avenues are opened up to us that weren't before. One of these is love bites.

( Cut for potentially TMI )

Still, it amused me, especially looking back :D

In other news, ben and I got a new car stereo yesterday. It plays cds! :D We tested it out on the way to the hospital and it works beautifully. There's something quite nice about speeding along a good road playing Green Day - American Idiot at high volume on a lovely day, even if we were going to the hospital :)

Today I invaded Belgium, or, more specifically, Ypres.

I went with my special subject history class and it was really quite good fun, thought very thought provoking. The atmosphere on the coach changed after the first cemetary and it took until Calais for things to be "normal" again.

My pictures of Ypres are here.

Now for the write up.

We went to France through the Eurotunnel, which I was worried about to begin with because I can get i. Claustrophobic and ii. scared going through tunnels, expecially ones that run under water. Lots of people said I wouldn't notice. I did ;) Our coach went on there and stopped and then the doors were closed and it felt claustraphobic. Then we went into the tunnel and I concentrated very hard on my book to try and dissipate the feeling of terror. It kind of worked, and I got to the other end without a noticeble panic attack \o/ I smiled when we came out of the tunnel and really relaxed when the coach came off the Eurostar.

Long drive later (filled with commentary from our tutor, Dr Mark Connelly, we arrived in Ypres and started visiting cemitaries. Mark told us that a third of all the British War Dead from WWI are in or around Ypres. That was rather startling.

The first cemitary we visited (pictures 1477 to 1486) was Brandhoek New Cemetery. New cemeteries were built post war. Old cemeteries were established during the war. Brandhoek is largely filled with men who died at a medical facility and a large proportion of the dead here are made up of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), including Captain N. G. Chavasse who was one of only 3 people to ever win a Victoria Cross twice (VC and Bar).

The cemetary at Brandhoek was very small, especially compared to Tyne Cot which we would see later and was a very peaceful place. One of the most interesting and apt sights for me was seeing forget-me-nots growing on the graves.

( Brandhoek )

Next we visited Menin Road South (pictures 1487 to 1499), in which is buried a Colyer-Fergusson, also a VC winner and also connected to Kent Uni, as his family sponsor grants and concerts at the University.

( Menin Road South )

Tyne Cot (pictures 1500 to 1535) was next and this cemetery was truly awe inspiring. Tyne Cot is the largest British war cemetery anywhere in the world. There are 12,000 men buried in the cemetery of which only 2,000 have been identified. There are 35,000 men's names on the memorial to the missing.

Tyne Cot is so called because the German Pill Boxes that littered the area reminded the soldiers facing them of the miners cottages on the tyne. The nickname "tyne cot" was born.

The names are inscribed on the wall of the missing in order of regimental preference, meaning that the Guards were first, then the regiments of foot listed in order of age.

( Tyne Cot )

We drove past Poelcappelle on the way to Langemark. Poelcappell was noteworthy because it holds the grave of the youngest soldier to die in the war. He was 14. This seemed like a fitting mood-setter for Langemark.

Langemark (1536 to 1549) is the only German war cemetery in the area and has a mood and feeling completely different from any other cemetery I have been in. It just feels so full of sadness and sorrow and anger and dissappointment. In the small space of Langemark are buried at least 35,000 Germans. Listed on wooden plaques in the walls of the little chapel there are the names of the dead students from Germany's Universities. These are the same conscripts who went into war against regular soldiers singing. They were slaughtered.

Tyne Cot makes you think but Langemark gets under your skin in a way no other cemetery in Ypres does.

( Langemark )

Next we stopped quickly at St Julien (1551-1554), the site of the very first Gas Attack. The monument at St Julien was my favourite. It is truly beautiful. It is so very...respectful. I'm not sure that's the right word, but it's sort of what I mean.

( St Julien )

Finally, we went to Ypres itself (1554 to 1569), saw the Menin Gate and had lunch. The coolest thing at the Menin Gate was a scale model of the Gate made out of metal with a braille inscription around the outside for blind visitors. They can feel the model and get a feel for the gate. It's really very cool :D Ypres was fun (Also had the tackiest chocolate "souveniers" possible. Chocolate tommie's helmets. ehehehhee :)

Quote of the day:
In Ypres town square, Roy's bankcard gets rejected by the cash machine:
Stefan: See? This is why Natwest are crap
Roy: which bank are you with then?
Stefan: HSBC - The world's local bank - accepted everywhere. That's why I use it.
*inserts card, card is instantly rejected by machine*

( Menin Gate )

My impression of the day? It's kind of too soon to explain properly, though I'll try and put into words how I feel.

Paul Fussell said that one of the reasons that the people of the twenties felt they had completely lost the pre war world was that no language they knew then was up to the task of describing the war. Fussell explains that they had to invent new language to communicate what it was they felt. Having seen what I saw today I would say that actually Fussell is wrong and right at the same time. There was no language to describe it, but crucially there still is none today. No words can describe what I saw and felt. Words are completely and utterly useless for trying to quantify what I experienced today. I don't think that I will ever be properly able to do so.

I don't think I'm the only one who left feeling like that.

New piccies up on my website - here for the few of the foorah party and here for Goole's river.

Had nice talk with Pete yesterday cos he came to work with me and that was very jibbly :)

Muddle of emotions at the moment. Small things can seem huge and set me off or not. Recovery sometimes as hard as being ill :| Therefore not going to go in to stuff here, needless to say I'm greatful for ben and foo and rah and all the rest of my friends for putting up with me.

Well, didn't go for a drive but drank 4 bacardi breezers which as creature would testify made me giggly. He kept trying t o get me to have one more but after 4 I stood firm. Anyway, I listened to Linkin Park a bit last night cos it matched my mood and read some of my Lord of the Rings book. Watched some telly adn plaited mamma's hair even tho it's a tad short to do properly. Philip left me to my own devices at 11.30 so I stayed on irc from then till 2.15 when creature thought it would be cool if I called him. So I did. I spent 40 minutes on the phone to him jibbling about not a lot. I hope mum doesn't get the bill till I'm safely back at uni...

Still not 100% again but chatting with my friends on irc last night, especially Sellars helped a lot. Thanks you guys.

Now I have to go get ready to go out cos I'm meeting an old school friend in Croydon. Of that meeting I'm sure I'll post more later or tomorrow but for now, adieu.

Well, I've just about made it. I always get a feeling of relief when I get to this time and have had no really negative feelings tho these usually seem to come in the days afterwards so we'll have to wait and see what the run up to new year brings.

Ah...today...Well, was woken at 5.30 to open Santa presents by my brother then I jibbled off back to bed having recieved from Santa:
A Kittens Calendar, A chocolate selection thingy, A double CD of Chopin music, A notelet set, Bilbo's Last Song, 10 Coloured minidisks with 80mins of Recording time, A Hyacynth growing kit, pillow with a cat picture on it, Bagpuss socks, A bycicle bell, A silver bracelet, White musk stuff from the body shop, A photo frame, A stationary set including elastic bands, paper clips and pins, A miniture manicure kit, A set of hair stuff (claw clip, hair slides, scrunchees and butterflies), Miniture claw clips with roses on them, Bike Lights, A watch, A silver ring in style of russian wedding ring, A purse in the shape of a piggy face, A set of wooded bead things on a pink shoelace that spell my name (helpful if I ever get so drunk I forget my name ;)), A set of 36 incence cones. mmm... nice!, A money tin. It says on it "Please give generously so that I can: Live on Pizzas and pints, buy clothes that aren't second hand, get a set of wheels, party all weekend." How do they know these things?! Have they been spying on me?!?!? :P, A pair of jammies with teddies on, A wooden ball and cup game, A sparkly blue top, A wooden lion keyring, Coloured writing paper and envolopes, A wooden key ring with an "E" on it and A rollerball pen. Wow. More than I thought! Lucky me!

Anyway, went back to bed and slept late-ish then got up and showered and dressed in time for luch which is when we had christmas dinner and then had 2 glasses of wine while we opened our under the tree pressies and got sleepy drunk. Mamma cried over the stuff flit and I got here and Philip is hero worshipping his new dressing gown so I think I mase the right choices. I certainly liked what I got there was some really good stuff.
Mamma: A silver bangle and matching thumb ring
Philip: blue cubic zirconia earrings
Uncle David and Auntie Sue and Richard: Hat and Gloves
Kerrie and Amy: A going out type bag
Chris: A Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring collectors edition dvd set! :D and a Hardback copy of The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide
Auntie Pat and Uncle Alan: Robbie Williams new album (escapology), £10 Waterstone's voucher and a hardback copy of The Lord of the Rings The Making of the Movie Trilogy Book.
Stephanie: A very cool print of bunnywabbits and a lovely card.
Laura: A gorgeous Parker rollerball and Lord of the Rings poster
Employers: A box of thornton's continentals.
Auntie Lee and Uncle Brad: £50

Reading back through the list i think some people know me too well! Anyway, like I said, I got sleepy drunk and tried to watch my lotr but was asleep before the end of the bit in the shire. BAH! I'll try again later methinks. I slept for about 4 hours and then watched Alistar McGowan with mamma.

Like I said, Haven't got really depressed yet tho I think I feel it coming on. I think I'll go try watching my Lord of the Rings again. Thanks to those who sent me good wishes. I really appreciate them and they helped me. Anyway, Merry Christmas and goodnight.

Well, last night watched Flash Gordon making sure I sang along to the groovy Queen Soundtrack and then realised I was truly bitten by the bug and watched the first bit of Highlander for its groovy Queen soundtrack...

Anyway, was up early today so that I could go to Redhill to meet Stephanie. Laura was supposed to be coming but then had to go Christmas Shopping with her parents so I met her in Merstham where she gave me Steph's pressies that we'd brought in Croydon on Friday and she'd wrapped (and gave Laura HER presents [a cuddly bashful doll, a wallet, a box of pens and a joke pressie, a greek phrase book from that secong hand book shop in Reigate]) then met Stephanie in Redhill and we jibbled about stuff which was nice and then came home. Got home and on to irc where Skel announced my pc bits had arrived so I stole the car and ran off to skel's (who looked as white as a sheet like he was still ill). Had a nose bleed on the way which was interesting as I was doing 40mph at the time. Swallowed most of the blood. Highly unpleasant. Not an experience I'd want to repeat in a hurry.

Made it to skel's in one piece despite the nosebleed and getting a bit lost and as he says we needed a bit still so went to pc world in Crawley where they were about as much use as a chocolate teapot that has been kept in an oven which happens to be located in the middle of the sahara desert and left on gas mark 9 after all life on earth has been decimated by global warming. So skel remembered there was a place near Crawley somewhere that may have the bit we needed, so we departed pcworld for skel's magical mystery tour. A piece of advice to everyone here. NEVER, EVER ask skel for directions somewhere. NEVER! It was sheer hell driving with him directing, especially when he wasn't sure where he was or where he was going...

Eventually got to the place and picked up the part and then jibbled back to skel's to put it together. He did most of it cos he started and I didn't point out he was doing it...(YAY! Not a proper computer geek yet tho I don't think I can hold this off for much longer. Don't think my tactics will work when it will come to installing the os's...) then tried to get it working but it didn't like my memory chip so had to give that up (it'll have to be exchanged) but in the process of trying to sort mine out we (I think more *I*) screwed up his computer... I feel so bad. He looked...bloody hell. I hope it's cheaply fixable. FUCK!

Anyway, am back home now on Phil's computer having just had a visit from Laura to deliver my pressie and having eaten a hearty dinner of steak pie and boiled tatoes. Still feel awful about skel's pc and I miss my Pete...still! Bah! Time to finish this entry I think cos I have to go to Church soon.

Merry Christmas People!

Thursday
Well, I got up with the birdies again...really need a decent lie in. Took mum to work and Philip to school then drove to Reigate where i accidentally parked in a mother and baby spot. Realised when all my stuff was out of the car and it was locked and feeling far too lazy to move it so i left it there with a man, probably an asylum seeker or illegal immigrant or something washing it. And shopped. Wandered into a lot of shops and spent 1 and a half hours total in book shops. The majority of that time was in Reigate Galleries, the second hand book shop there. It is highly reccommended! Then i jibbled to college to say hi to people there. I met Steve, my old politics teacher with bohemian hair he has no intention of cutting and an odd goatee. Wish I could plait his hair...bah! Anyway, he suggested i come back at 12.20 and he'd treat me to a coffee while we nattereed about schtuff so I went and moved the car cos my 3 hours in Safeways Car Park were up. ALso got the Turkey - took almost 10 mins tho apparently I got the right one in the end so everyone was happy. Moved the car which had been given a warning ticket (if i do it again i'll get a proper ticket...) and parked in the station and wandered over to college where I met Nick who talked to me for 5 mins and showed me the shiny computers in the new block. Then I gave him my msn... Talked to Steve, he brought me a hot chocolate and we exchanged news. I asked him the question that had bugged our class for an entire year. Is he gay? I got a straight answer. Straight being the operative word. Which means I was in the losing half of the class. BAH! Anyway went home for an hour and fell asleep, was nearly late for picking Phil up from school but got there just before the bus so was ok. Then got mum and went home where I watched tv and played on the net and irc. Found out my friend was talking to me again and went to bed happy and fairly early iirc...about 2am...

Friday
Did all my morning driving the parked in Croyson for a day's shopping. Met Laura at 9am and spent 7 hours shopping. Was very tired by the end of it but had to go see lotr ttt with Phil so went out into cold wet again to the Grants cinema. Decided that next time I go to the cinema I'm going to Crawley. Sure it's further but the tickets are cheaper and the adverts only 10 minutes long. I had to sit through TWENTY FIVE minutes of them! grrr.... Still, film confirmed as fantastastic in my mind and before it started i had wandered into Thorntons and met an old school friend and talked to him for a bit. Got back, played on irc but was sent to bed at about 12.30 by skel with ending every sentence with "go to bed"...that's about it...bah! Friday was horrible really. Least I got most of my Christmas shopping done...

Saturday
Got up early and went to Croydon with mum, beating the crowds. Finished the Christmas shopping - YAY, joy of joys! - and brought the dvd player that i part own. £50 of mine, £50 of mums and £50 of Auntie Pat's. It's a pressie for the house really... Anyway, got back and tried to set it up excapt I found I had tooo many scart leads and not enough sockets if I wanted to keep vcr hooked up. Told the people on #jibblers about it and the lovely nert suggested I get a multiple scart thingy. I didn't even know they existed but at his suggestion I grabbed Phil and made for the Purley Way. Never been there before on my own so I got a headache trying to negotiated it but made it to Curry's where we picked up this magical device for only £10.99. Then we wandered round pc world for an hour or so and then came home where I spent 10 minutes figuring out how to connect everything so it all worked then. And now it does! Yay! Thanks again nert! Phil and I took internet play in turns then I took him to youth club and snuggled up with mamma to watch Casualty and Deizel and Pascoe tho had to leave before the end to get Philip from youth club. bah! At least it concludes tonight so I didn't miss the very end. Mum, who has read the book, told me the murder anyway! BAH! Wished pagan friends a happy Yule and then we all jibbled about schtugg on irc until gone 3am. It was really useful tho and I enjoyed it in the end. Let spill some stuff...not sure wether to regret that or not... Anyway, mutal help session and I had a glass of wine and a bowl of coco pops and a packet of chocolate coins. How glam!

That's a pretty full account of the last 3 days anyway. Just want to add some stuff however: 1)my 'pooter case has arrived apparently - yay! Just have to wait for the rest of the bits thos skel has me thoroughly worried. He says he'll watch and tell me how to do it but that *I* have to build it...eek! 2) I miss the minkees esp creature cos he hasn't been online since the end of term and 3) I miss my Pete! Talk to him on irc but not the same... :(

Anyway, a belated happy Yule to those pagans among you and Merry Christmas to those that are Christian. For those of you undecided about religion and schtuff I say hope you're enjoyining your hols. :) More soon (hopefully)...

Was having a jibbly nice day. Went back to bed, slept till 12, went on irc for an hour then went to Sutton to arrange payment for my pc and do some christmas shopping. Sorted the money and Phil's presents, also got Chris' but copped out with him and got vouchers...

Picked Philip up from school and met his deputy headteacher who is my old moosik teacher and discussed joke we're playing on him then went and got 6ft Christmas tree from a local farm. Dumped Phil and tree at home, played on irc for 5 mins where i noticed one of my friends being off with me but figured it was nothing. Went and picked mum up, stopped at post office for her widows pension then went to asda for shopping, esp cat food. (Flippin' cats! Why must they eat?!) Got home at half 7. Mum and Phil then started to sort out the tree while I went and slept for half an hour cos my back was killing me what with all the driving and ircing.

Came downstairs to piles of sawdust and Philip's cut finger where they'd been trying to make the tree fit the base. Mum was annoyed and that gradually infected everyone in the house. Anyway, we decorated it and had tea. Got a few mins on irc in which my friend was infuriating to say the least tho the words rude and upsetting figure in places. If said friend wanted to be left alone should have just said "leave me alone" rather than outright ignoring me. Fucking bastard men.

Anyway, curled up with my james herriot underneath the christmas tree but felt altogether very sad. Clarie heard from creature which was nice cos hadn't heard from him yet. Miss all the minkees but am looking forward to time with Chris and Laura tomorrow. Going to see lotr ttt at 7! Yay!

All in all tho, not a good day. I miss minkees, especially my pete and Christmas tree has had me thinkin' of daddy. Fook it. I'm going to bed now. Or to get very drunk. Atm, I don't care which.

hmm...so where did we last leave our heroine? Ah, yes! She was sleep deprived with 300 words left on one essay and a whole new one to write before the end of term, at 5pm that day...

Well, basically, I cocked up my time management a tad. So...I still have 2 essays outstanding. The first is NOT my fault cos it's finished except for the bibliography, the second is totally my fault. Lets start at the very beginning...

Got about 2 hours sleep. Woke up 7.45 on Friday morning so was obviously late for work again but still managed to do it, dropped dem kiddiwinkles at school and rushed back on my bike to have brekkie. i considered skipping it but decided that I would feel worse with no brekkie. So...I ate but couldn't eat as much as i usually do. I felt very ill indeedey and wandered to the upstairs computer room to work. Sat down and finished 1st essay minus bibliography in half an hour consuming in this time 2 cans of coke and wandering over to the window no less than 5 times to prevent self from falling asleep. Began second essay. Was no more than 2 lines in when I fell aslessp on the keyboard. I only slept for 5 mins but after that asked for tips for staying awake on irc. They suggested COffee and Pro PLus. Have tried the latter before and it just made me sleepy so I wandered down to the coffee machine to get my 1st cup of coffee. I tried it white with extra sugar 1st and was very nearly sick so I threw that away and got expresschoc instead. It was only marginally better. Anyway, went back to public pc room and bolstered by frequent sips of foul coffee I worked on essay. Sleep deprived state hindered me... A LOT! Gave up all pretence of work at about midday and emailed history tutor with this:
I am in a major mess in that I have barely started this essay and am already exhaused having truly screwed up my time management and been working all night on another essay. I'm not entirely sure what I should do because I don't think that I can finish this in time and have it making sense. I'm doing it on Alfred the Great and Eduation so I don't even know if it's you I should be emailing about this problem. This past week with all the essay deadlines has been a sharp learning curve for me and I think (and really hope and want) that next term my skills in this area will have improved.
Can you suggest any way out of my current crisis?
Elizabeth.

The angel of a tutor emailed back at 4.30 with this:
Dear Elizabeth,

First, don't panic: everyone has several crises like this at Uni. Prioritise your work, give it all a realistic timetable, and out of courtesy email lecturers to whom you will be handing in work late. (We are much more sympathetic when people realise *before* the deadline that they won't make it).

Richard Gameson is the one to whom you should hand in this essay. If it's late, it'll still be marked, but it'll drop one mark for each day that it's late (unless he's kind enough to give you an extension). Check whether this includes the holiday - if so, you'll need to post it in if necessary.

I'm glad you feel like you've learned from this experience! If not, drop into UELT who run sessions on time management. Try also http://www.skills4study.co.uk

I hope you get back into relaxed mode in time for Christmas!
Best wishes, Charlotte

Isn't she lovely! I've still to email the dude cos webmail went down but more on that later...
Anyway, jibbled about on irc for a bit then rushed to canterbury to get christmas pressies. Shared a taxi with an angel of a west ham joint history politics student who was going to canterbury west and paid for the thing. If he ever reads this: Thank you! There will always be a drink at the bar waiting for you from me! Nennyway, got the presents and got taxi back to uni at 3pm. Just enuf time to write bibliographgy on 4 day overdue essay, print it off, hand it in and get to work. Saunter off to ppc room only to discover entire uni network is down. Grrr... So essay still not handed in but I will email it off later in the week. Anyway, rushed to work, dropping in Skel's christmas card on my way (actually yule card! - Aren't i thoughtful). Got kids took them home, gave pressies to be opened Christmas Day and recieved the same. It feels like choccies to me! :)

Went back to uni, dropping by Pete's on the way back to give Alex (creature), Tom (Sellars) and Pete (SlimeyPete) their crimbo cards. Pete was asleep! Kissed him and he woke up. Huggled for a mo then I rushed off back to uni to meet my mum, pack up my stuff and rush off home. Had chienes 1st at cheap noodle place in Canterbury then drove halfway home. Mum drove the 1st half. Wasn't tired when I got home so jibbled on irc till 4am. Then I slept till 12! Bliss!

Spent most of Sat driving or wrestling Philip for net time. Couldn't play late into the nite cos he decided to defrag his hd. :( It scan disced all last night so when I sign off tonight I have to start it defragging. Ho hum. I hired Minority Report and we watched that together then read for a bit and went to bed. Slept till 2pm! Had a bath, returned vid, popped into tescos and got the gossip from Pippa. She and Candice just got back from the nationals! She came 4th in the seniors and Candi came 1st in the juniors and is off the junior olympics and junior worlds. Yay for them! Everyone was pleased to hear I had a boyfriend! Had a roast dinner folowed by choccie vienetta and then read a book and listened to moosik before Poirot. Then watched that with mamma. We also played scrabble. I had a 20 point lead at one point but she crushed me...again! I will win a game against her ONE day! grr...

Anyway, sent Phil to bed at 10.30 so I've had the net! mwahahahahahaha! :)
Thats about it I think.

OOh! Wait! I forgot to say how much I miss the minkees. Can't get into #cs cos no raptor so I have to hang about on #jibblers till one decides to make an appearance! Haven't seen creature at all, which is a poity cos i like im. He's funny and he makes me work. I've jibbled to skel and sellars and had a lovely convo with Pete tonight who had his webcam working! Yay! Me had missed him! ANyway, more tomorow after stoopid college reunion. Only 2 bright spots. get to jibble to best friend about events at uni and get to see skel and so get a minkees fix. neway, to bed!

Note: will really miss Thursday #cs meet. Think I need to get myself a life...