It Would Appear

It would appear that indoor sparklers and bed linen do not mix well. 

 It would also appear that purple ink fountain pens have similar negative feelings towards said bed linen as the indoor sparklers. 

But most importantly, it would appear that a certain someone and other house mates' bed linen have the longest history of poor mixing and this should be avoided at all costs during future endeavours.  

My Daffodil

My lovely Dad bought me these after my interview yesterday. He's the only one to bloom so far. Sitting on my desk I see him as I work, before I go to sleep and when I wake up. It seems strange how he fills me with so much happiness; I think it's the intensity of his yellow and the way he cranes his head towards the light in a was that is full of desperation and determined defiance at the same time.

Takeaway Trade-In

I must confess, there are times when I do love a take away. You must understand not every night, I love to cook far more than I enjoy takeaways, but then there's the mess and the defrosting and when it's a Friday, I want nothing more than for someone to bring me a plate of nice dinner before I crash. This is a tradition that we started in exam time, when I feel we were perfectly justified to our Friday takeaway for four weeks, but it did develop into a dangerous habit last term. It's an expensive, unhealthy and non fulfilling habit (lets face it, those chinese's never taste as good as you think they're going to be) that leaves you ridiculously thirsty, a gradual accumulation of unwanted fat and empty pockets. Thus, this evening I beat of that urge and defeat it with a home made treat of my own. It turns out that fresh, friendly fish monger herring, coated in my Nan's batter recipe, with some fresh spring greens and a few home-made chips is far more fulfilling than its bought counterpart. Next week - I think I'll attempt a curry. 

The Importance of Cosy . .

. . . should never be underestimated. 

Soft Play

Funny how the fun of it never wears off no matter how old you get:

You might notice that there's been an outfit change in these pictures. Well yes, we did do two lots of soft playing in two days - one play session just isn't enough after a 10 year break! 

Toothpaste Kisses

In this student world that is devoid of parental ''goodnight''s or evening routines, it's lovely having a buddy around to end the day with. We finish our chats, we pad upstairs, we squish a toothpaste blob out, have a very quiet little chat whilst we brush and then the last thing you see before turning in for the night is a smiley face, grateful for your presence and wishing you a pleasant nice. It's one of my favourite luxuries in this life. 

That Smell In The Fridge

Why is it that in student houses there is always 'that smell in the fridge'? As students go I'd say we were pretty clean. Messy, yes, dirty no. Our fridge gets cleaned normally once a week, so how is it so that in that time it's able to breed this odour that, at the right concentration, could quite easily be weaponised? Who knows?
I guess the only thing for it is to scrub it out and try again next week.

Three

New birthday. New bumblebee costume. New pregnancy. Same lovely family moments.

Same thrill at opening new presents.

New piano skills learnt from Mama.

(except maybe the burp he did down the microphone,

though on second thoughts. . . )

Same outstanding desert.

(my sister and I were never allowed ice cream and sauce as kids - to us this is heaven!) 

New reasoning skills acquired.

(''oh no don't worry Mummy I'll just put them both on'')

New baby grow

(looking good sonny, did a favourite Auntie buy you that? 

They must have exceedingly good taste in clothes and learning institutions) 

New 'Oooooooo' as the Belle cake is brought in.

Same moments of family bonding.

Same gratuitous cute shots. 

Better Late Than Never

There's just 5 more months of Uni left, 4 if you omit the Easter break spent at home. There has been a palpable change in tone this year. Everything's become more loaded, so much more serious. We have fewer adventures and study more put simply. Also, though I never thought I'd think it, it some ways we've grown up too. We've lived together for three years now and after so long the bond has changed. We still laugh and talk but we've also reaching that wonderful stage where we can just be. Just sit there in each others company doing our own thing, not interacting but just being in each others silence. It's nice. I'm very grateful for my little Uni family but it has also made us become complacent. In 5 months time we'll separate and move on with out lives and at the moment I think we're all just a bit too tiered and a bit too focused on just getting this next deadline out of the way to notice that. It's not that we'll never see each other again, just that we'll never live together in quite the same close situation. Last term we didn't get time to have a Christmas dinner but we couldn't let that go and not share this meal together. Have all of us sit down for one evening and talk and share food. We did and it was lovely. Admittedly we feasted on a roast that wasn't one of my best and watched bad T.V., not talking but being, but I think we were all so knackered it's just what we needed and it doesn't matter that people splintered off to work afterwards, it mattered that we'd done it. I guess it's a homage to how blaze these things have become that I only bothered to take 2 pictures.

Not a good picture but everyone's there and that's that matters.

Itchenor Again

I really like Itchenor, it's a very picturesque little harbour village: one pub, one road leading down to the quay and the harbour master's house instead of a shop. In the summer it becomes very popular, it's the perfect place to launch from into the harbour and so of course everybody does. I don't mind this, my family are boaty people and in general boaty people get along with other boaty people no matter what the difference in boats may be. But this does mean that its easy to forget that this is a village in its own right, with people who live here all year round.  Visiting in that after Christmas slumber period completely reawakened me to see it this - only the fisherman were still out on the water and the church suddenly had context. I'd never really noticed the church as part of the village. I knew it was there, I passed it and I looked at it but I'd never been in and never really seen. The winter light was illuminating it in such a way that it did draw me in for a nose about and all of a sudden you could see that where the pub was the focal point of the village in the summer, at this time of year it was here.