Jamie Cullum

My fiance, Jane, me, Jen & Nick at Audley End

After Ian's prompt and punctual arrival we all set off for Audley End, where we met up with Nick and set up camp. We had blankets, we had umbrellas and we had enough flapjack to pave the way from one end of the Ceroc hall to the other. It didn't matter though, Jane wasn't boverd.

It was cool to meet Jen, she's really lovely :) And she photographs nicely :p and she has to come to Ceroc. It was great to be back with friends again - thanks to all of you for making me feel so loved and welcome. *bear hugs the lot of you*

Jamie was good! It was a really excellent concert, the atmosphere was great and being outside was lovely. I also found out that my fiance shares my fear of falling up into the sky - looking up is the only thing that has ever made me understand vertigo. The firework display at the end was another bonus - they were seriously good.

Oh, Ian, if you've lost your tongue you might want to check at the back of Jen's throat, I think you might have left it there.

Merv & Phil at mine

I love these guys :)

La Gomera

View out across La Gomera

My basic day in the Canaries consisted of a 2 or 3 course breakfast, followed either by a nap, a read or - if I was feeling particularly energetic - a swim. Then lunch out at a restaurant, followed by another nap, or read, or swim. Then a 3 or 4 course dinner followed by a read and then bed. Oh, and the shower was damn good as well - and we all know how much I love showers :)

My Mum kept trying to persuade me to sunbathe, but it's really not my thing. I don't mind lazing in the partial shade (you know, with a bit of sun) but I don't like being in the complete heat. I wrote lots in my new diary and, to be honest, felt quite lonely most of the week, without the satisfaction of ever actually getting to be on my own! It made me claustrophobic, but at least I'm home now.

Friendship & that scary thing called 'love'

Flop at mine playing the piano

Phil & Jess at our picnic in Audley End

This last week has been amazing in every sense of the word. I have felt pushed to my boundaries and the extremes of my senses and I have loved it. The exact details of all the things I have been up to I will skip, because they are all the more special for being kept privately in my head. But they have changed me subtly, and not in a bad way.

My attachment and love of certain friends has strengthend and it has been wonderful to experience how much they care about me. In at least one of these cases I feel that the friend's love for me is also more solid than it was. I feel protected and cared for and for the first time in about a year I let myself think openly about my inner lonliness, my insecurities and the more artificial parts of my life. Sometimes it is the hardest thing in the world to be honest with yourself.

I still miss Will. In late October or early November last year he told me that our friendship wouldn't recover without me doing something, and I did what he requested. I wouldn't ask that of him because I know he's very busy and happy.. but I don't think it will ever go back to being as it was, and I'm aware that's partly my fault. It makes me sad but I feel I'm growing away from him. I miss the feeling of being able to call in at his and being welcome. Hilariously I also really miss his Mum - having spent ages being scared of her I grew to really like her and now I never get to see her :(

This has been a rambly entry but I wanted to get these things off my chest before I go away tomorrow.

Sarah's 18th

Darren standing with Roo, the victorious mechanic!

The first challenge was getting to the party. When Jess and I arrived at Phil's, dropped off there by David, we found not one, not two, but three car bonnets open with Roo moving between them all. Only two of the three cars were broken though - Roo was using his own car to 'jump start' Darren's. Anyway, he managed to fix everything and then we drove to Debden.

Me, Ella & Jess - drunk & happy

It was a really really good party! I had such a great time. To be completely honest I was expecting to have a good time, but it exceded all my expectations. Sarah loved the presents Jen and I got her (a nice moisturiser, some seriously cool earings and a pirates hat!) and the food, the drink and the entire atmosphere was brilliant.

Of course, it was the company that made it, and it was so lovely to be surrounded by all my friends again :) You people rule so much! The icecube moment was hilarious, and well, it's fairly common knowledge now as to my feelings about icecubes ;) The only thing that could have improved the evening would have been Phil being there. But something tells me he's been having a fucking awesome time this weekend so I'm not too down about it :)

Thanks again to Sarah for a wonderful night! Your house is lovely too dear, and your garden. Come and play Blank Whites soon with me :)

Miss Duck with... a duck! 

It's almost too hot to dance

pure dance addiction.

It's easy to forget how wonderful it is. I mean I knew I missed it, but until I went back properly on Monday I'd forgotten quite how much I was missing out on!

I love spinning about and feeling myself being pushed first one way and then the other. And I like the way I know now when to keep my arm tension and when to relax it, and which foot is best to put the weight on at different times in the moves. I like how when I sit out at the side, by a window to catch some air, various people come and find me and lead me back onto the dance floor. And I like how people ask me for a second dance now and then, it's such a compliment.

I would say I want to spend all my time dancing, but that would be a lie. It was just too damn hot tonight. And I hit Paul in the head by accident, although it was entirely his fault.

I had such a lovely dance with my fiance. He'd been taxiing and I'd been demoing and it was so humid that we were both flagging a little. But he's getting so good! I used to know all his moves and now he's continually putting in surprises! Tom was also dancing everso well on Monday and I had a few brilliant dances with him. Also Rob, and tonight Paul. Bah! I just want to get betterer! Paul says I need to either slow my spins or make them doubles because I keep throwing my arm tension slightly out. I figure I'll sort this once I've got some decent shoes - my Blochs are actually coming apart now :)

So, basically, thanks to all my wonderful dancing friends! You make life that extra bit more special.

Florence

Claire proving she can do interesting things with cherries.

I don't know where to start with this write up! Flights were fine, trains were fine and buses were for the most part fine, except when they were really crowded.

The food was unbelievably good. And very cheap. Pizzas, pastas, paellas, salads - it was all incredible.

The Duomo. It was so damn impressive.

We went to:
The Accademia
San Lorenzo
The Baptistry
The Uffizi
The Duomo
The excavations under the Duomo
The Monastry of Fra Angelico
La Specola
The Boboli Gardens outside the Pitti Palace
Santo Spirito
The Duomo in Pisa
The Baptistry in Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa

So a fair bit of culture in 4 days... And it was all interesting or incredible or exciting or uplifting or all those at once!

Me outside the Pitti Palace holding the oh-so-important water 

Soap & Claire outside the Pitti Palace

So, the trip was brilliant. It's nice to be home though. And it seems the postcards were rather speedy :) Hopefully I will see you lovely people who read this soon. Ah! The summer has just begun :) :) :)

Honey!

Aahhhh! Just spent an evening with Soap spinning honey. We got 14 jars (2 of them massive jars that used to house sweet and sour gherkins) of honey from just 9 frames! It was quite an experience.

I am STILL covered in honey. I don't think I will ever be free of it - out damned spot! I have washed but it's no use, I still feel very sticky (and not in the good way).

I guess it makes me even sweeter than usual though :p

And tomorrow I should really think about packing.

1000 blank white cards: round 2

Ella, Jess & Katie making fiendishly good cards.

It was brilliant again, if slightly more bizarre. Far more of the cards involved activities. Like drinking water upsidedown (see photo below) and burning the card.

Most ingenious was Jess's "Landscape card" which forced Katie to draw trees on all her subsequent cards. Also Jess's Haiku card, which forced me to write my cards in Haiku format (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) until I managed to get rid of the Haiku card by making it mysteriously disappear with a Mystery card I happened to have.

Ella became traumatised by hedgehogs. First the "Hedgehog rape card" shortly followed by the "hedgehog condom" which had a spikey top to it. The "Hedgehog drop" from last time. Even the "Hedgehog councelling" card she played on herself didn't really relieve her. Muahaha.

I couldn't just drink out of a glass, oh no. That would have been far too easy. 

Mmm... quantum sausages

The wonderful Mr Hardingham

Not only can he explain the wonders of the Universe, he can also pull off an awesome barbeque. It was oh so tasty. And it was really great to have one more evening with my Physics group, easily one of my favourite classes, if not my favourite. We've had such a brilliant relationship with both our teachers all year that it was a very pleasant evening. They liked their presents and their cards too :D And I got hugs from both of them, although I am only about half Mr Hardingham's height, so I had to throw my arms about his tummy :)

As I was walking back last night I passed a front door (large and wooden) with a full set of keys hanging out of it - including a car key for the car parked infront of the door! I hesitated and then rang the door bell (one of those weird ones you pull that sets off a load of bells inside). Immediately a dog started barking and scrabbling on the other side of the door. I waited patiently feeling a little nervous. Eventually a man appeared, must have been in his late sixties, wearing nothing but a grey dressing gown, that wasn't particularly well done up. He looked at me in an entirely menacing way and instinctively I stepped backwards. I said "I'm sorry to disturb you, but did you know your keys are just there" and I smiled sweetly and pointed to the front of the door. He looked rather embarrassed and thanked me as he removed them. Then I walked on.

Tegwen - finally free! says:
lol, my name's in your name :)
Come on 18th of August....Tegwen, you are right.. good months ahead of us! says:
It is! You are correct with what you said the other day... it all looks better now that it is all over!
Tegwen - finally free! says:
:D How are you enjoying the freedom?
Come on 18th of August....Tegwen, you are right.. good months ahead of us! says:
Um... i had a bottle of gin and dvds on the sofa last night... ate a whole big tub of sorbet!
Tegwen - finally free! says:
yay :D
Come on 18th of August....Tegwen, you are right.. good months ahead of us! says:
It felt good!
Tegwen - finally free! says:
We still on for Sat?
Come on 18th of August....Tegwen, you are right.. good months ahead of us! says:
Hell yeah... we have a year of catching up to do!


Did I mention? Life is fucking brilliant..