It's been an awfully long time since I last blogged. I'm not entirely sure why this is, I don't know if live is moving so disastrously fast that I'm not giving myself enough time to sit and think.
I think the majority of my blogging came in Newmarket when, in the evenings, I would sit alone and ponder the vastness of my thoughts (if only!) So a quick thought on the things since then.
I finished my placement at the start of July, only with a report to finish. I told my boss that I would get it done before I left. Oh dear, this was the very metaphorically tangible moment when it all started unravelling like a poorly designed and constructed spiders web. Needless to say 2 entire months have whizzed by and I am still plugging away. Yet I am closer, thank the Lord. I am reminded of the quote (bizarrely that I have heard twice in the last week) of Douglas Adams who said, "I love deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by". Now I'm hoping not to hear that delightful yet chilling sound. I do have until the 2nd of October. But it also needs to go through the various channels at work to make sure I'm not revealing anything confidential. (I like to think that my work was as important as working for MI5, however, frankly, it's not!) So I received an email from my ex-boss saying we need it ASAP! :S So my plan is to get it finished this week. I'm surprisingly close but I have added a section and I'm not quite sure where it should fit. I also have no idea how to finish. But I shall keep plugging on!
I had the wonderful delight of disappearing to the South of France for a weekend, with two of my most wonderful (and amusing friends). It was a treat for one of my friends' birthday and the dates crossed over with the other friends birthday so the whole thing was a birthday infested event with me as the birthdayless third wheel. But it was marvellous, we swam, we sunbathed (in true pasty white British style). Quick tangent. What's the difference spelling wise between pasty - as in pasty white skin tone and pasty - as in Cornish pasty yummy food thing? Anyway back on track. We spent far more money than we should have but all in all a wonderful lads weekend, (not a lads weekend in the traditional plebby sense of the word of drinking and random distasteful sex more just a group of boys going on holiday).
Then my dearest and I went to my grandparents for 3 or 4 days. I love my grandparents. There is possibly no weekend away I would prefer than going down to see my grandparents. They live in Kent right on the coast (near but also far enough away to not be tainted by Margate). They lavished us with champagne and beer and wine and smoked salmon and lobster. The list goes on! But I suppose it's a grandparents duty and (hopefully) joy to spoil their grandchildren.
Then (oh dear starting too many paragraphs with "then"! I could never be a writer) I went to the Spanish coast for 8 days. Sounds nice, and it was, but also very hard work. I went away on an Oak Hall holiday, they do Christian holidays around the world. Basically a normal holiday then in the evenings we have some teaching and music etc. However I was not a guest I was a cook. On a campsite. For 50 people. I've never cooked before. I say I've never cooked before, I pride myself on my cooking for the lonely me, and, at a push I can maybe roll out a meal for 4 on a good day, downhill with a tail wind! Fortunately however I was just the assistant cook. There was a head cook. She turned out to be a lovely 18 year old gap year student who had never cooked and was told that I was very experienced and everything would be fine. There were four of us on the entire team. Me - Assistant Cook. We'll call her Anna (for that is her name) - Head Cook. Bridgit - Leader and Dave - Speaker. Now Bridgit had never led a trip before. She had no idea what she was doing either. Dave had spoken before. He was the only one of us who could do his job properly! Fortunately Bridgit (le leader) had been there the week before and she was the head cook. She was a Very good head cook. So much so she brought her own knives. These were serious, look-at-them-they're-so-sharp-they'll-cut-you knives. To cut a long story short. Bridgit was a hero. Anna and I didn't poison a single person and Dave spoke like a master. We were the most inexperienced trip that went out this Summer but I think it was the best. It was certainly the best trip I've ever helped with (albeit the first!)
I then had the marvellous opportunity, one that doesn't come around all that often, of being allowed to drum. I don't know why I don't do it often but maybe it's because there are many people better than me, either that or I never stay in one place for long enough! Anyway I went down to Egham to the church where my dearest goes when she is at university. They were having a kids club for a week. This was not just just a kids club, this was a marks and spe.... hold on no! It was an astonishing kids club. There were about 70 volunteers and 150ish kids. It was all based on a Joseph theme. Thus we did some Joseph the musical numbers. I had entirely forgotten 1. How much I love drumming and 2. How much fun kids can be. (as long as you can hand them back after :S!) This was a marvellous week of fun, stupidity, and general all round merriment.
(I will not start this paragraph with then... Wahey look what I happened, I started with "I" (or "(" if you want to be hyperpedantic))
So... the dearest and I went to visit my aging and decrepit parents in Yorkshire. I say decrepit, really they're both as fit as a fiddle (odd phrase - how can fiddles be fit? They're instruments, I'm sure someone will one day tell me) they're running around the field, digging, damming (not to be confused with damning), and fixing a leaky cellar (our cellar seems to, if left alone, gather about 2 or 3 feet of water in it. But my father with all his genius cyphons or siphons or sifons(?!) (I'm going with number 2) it off rather successfully). Our main purpose of going up there was to get away from the rush and settle down and do some work (see report stuff at the begging of this rather unnecessarily longwinded message). We did this and we went for walks, climbed a waterfall, saw films and we had a BBQ and it was wonderful.
We are now back in the civilised south (although I am growing to love that place) and I am staying with some lovely friends of mine, finishing my report (he says while writing this instead) and working out when a good time to head back to university is. Hmmm
Yes all inspiration has just ebbed away in a similar manner to pouring water into the moat of a finely constructed sandcastle. So it's time to say Ta-ra.
Done for now.
