Time to scatter

Distant Liz, grinning Dr Lawrence, and as for that Dr Wrigley... *pats poor Jonathan*

Happy Earl!

Jonathan looks so smug in this photo and I have no idea why.

It was good to be back with everyone and a bit sad too. Irina was on absolutely top form and the jokes she and Dirk hit off eachother were fantastic. Agnes and I tried to persuade Dirk that he ought to try Ceroc next time he's in the country. I doubt he'll ever come back though.

We went to the Kingston Arms in Cambridge. The atmosphere was great and the food was quite special too. I'd heard it was one of the best pubs in Cambridge but hadn't got round to trying it. Earl and I shared a starter - delicious cheese! Where do they find feta like that?

Oh, I suffered further humiliation. The eye-candy jokes are more occasional now (thank God!) but... On the train Dirk was talking to me slightly aside from the rest of the group, asking about my plans. No one was really paying us any attention until Dirk said "I'd like to see you in a Nurse's uniform!" slightly too enthusiastically, at which point all conversation stopped and then everyone laughed. To be fair to him it was vaguely on topic - but all the same!

Bah, I don't want him to go to California. 

Approaching Saffron Walden

I love walking. I wish I had people near by who I could call up and ask to come with me on my wanders like I used to. I miss Sophie and Claire. In fact, I'm going to go and make a cup of tea in their honour. Mm, tea.

Marilyn!

Marilyn relaxing at our dining table

Lovely to see her again, as I haven't since November. We had a large Chinese takeaway (curtesy of Jade Garden) and I am now close to being spherical.

If only I slept in a basement I could roll into bed!

On another note William II, on being advised not to board a leaky ship in Southampton in 1099 said "Kings never drown". Don't suppose anyone happens to know how he did die in the end? I have a feeling he was also known as William Rufus, and died in a wood when he fell off his horse (which tripped) and broke his neck. But I'm not really sure and can't be bothered to look it up.

Also, can a play, being that it is a drama, have anything but a dramatic ending? Hotly debated this evening.

:(

I tend to keep this blog for pretty photos of friends, as a way to share memories. Occasionally I might go off on a rant but I tend to keep those entries few and far between because 1) they're boring and 2) I'm only likely to offend people.

However I have no recent memories I can share, same for pictures, at the moment.

So here goes:

Maths is driving me insane. I'm in the middle of a chapter on differentiation and I get stuck so quickly. I've just got onto the bit where you use natural logs to do everything. There seem to be so many things to remember. I can't progress beyond this page (37 if you care) and feel in need of a cuddle.

Also weird lack of friends these days. I suddenly realised I needed to talk Weds night and the obvious person who knows all the details happens to be in China. But fortunately Ella was online, who knows most of the details, and she was lovely and helped me sort it a bit *hugs to her*.

Giving up Ceroc has changed the feel of my week too, which is a little strange.

What a pointless entry.

She's running awaaaayyyy

Phil & Jess & that funny book

Last night we all Temmed it to say good bye to Jess and wish her luck for the next 6 months. She's off to China, to teach English...

As one of my closest and most loved friends I shall miss her hugely, but I'm glad she's going to have this amazing experience. It doesn't feel real yet - even saying our final good bye today after lunch. Walking away I still felt, still feel, like I'll see her on Monday, or Wednesday, or we'll go see a film *grin* together next week sometime, or I'll pass her in Waitrose.

How many of my friends like all the stupid things I do and silly things I come out with? Or can look at a **** in a glass cabinet in the arts and crafts fair and know exactly why I want it? Actually, there are a few others, but not many! But I guess that's exactly what makes special friends special.

Phil & me. Does my head usually look that small?

There were lots of funny moments last night. One was reminiscent of BWC when Jess tried to draw a cat, and it ended up looking like a cat headed sperm. So I drew a cat headed egg for the sperm to fertilise. And then There was a little man in the picture, which I failed to turn into a fetus so had to adapt into a chef with a frying pan, egg, and spatula. SPATULAAARR!!! (that was for you, Sarah!).

Me, Katie (?!) & Jess all pitching in (hur hur hur..)

It was really good to see Katie again too, as I hadn't for quite a long while, not since I had that bed party! She's also off in a week's time, to South America. Merv showed up and he, Phil and Stucky all stood about waving credit cards at eachother..

I could now go into a rant about smoking in public places and why having areas without divisions doesn't work.................but I won't.

Even though I'm sad we're all branching off on our separate adventures, I'm glad that these are the sort of people my friends are. They're interesting, brave and openminded. Wherever I go and however hard I look, I will be pushed to find another group like them.

And then Jess and I have Septemeber - with lots of fun plans! (Including revising 2 years of Chem in a month....). Assuming I get home alive.

Good bye TP & Phil's 23rd

These last few weeks have been some of the most hectic of my life. I have been working hard every day, & dealing with stressed people - not least one Chemist who decided to be evil :( I forwarded the correspondance to my boss, who threatened the guy with losing his redundancy package - he suddenly got a lot nicer :) He even helped me bubble wrap things & complete the paperwork!

My send off was, well, flattering and unexpected. Lovely presents & a card from both my lab families. Lots of people turned up to say good bye. I shall miss them all, a lot.

- - -

Phil turned 23 on Saturday! We had a really lovely day - lunch out, a bit of shopping, a lot of relaxing, & a really nice dinner out. I gave him a small mountain of presents too :-)

Ooh but this morning something odd happened. Basically, the house he's in atm has an animal theme to it.. There are plenty of live animals (2 cats, some rodenty things, a snake etc) and lots of models of animals, batiks of animals, paintings, coasters, table mats, toys, decorations all of animals.

Phil said "I've fed the cats, but I need to check on the tortoises", so I was quite excited - expecting a nice small tortoise or 2. But as we neared their tanks (in the garage) there was a huge amount of noise, and a VERY LARGE TORTOISE was making a heap of sawdust for itself. There were three others which were smaller, but the big one really took me by surprise. After ascertaining they were all the right way up (they can get stuck on their backs sometimes apparently...) we left them to it...

..very odd though!