Glad it's Friday

Poor Sophie.

Today was the day of her blood tests - fasting blood tests, at that.

Things could have gone better.

We were at the hospital just before 8 (the blood taking department opens for business at 8, and if you get there right as it opens you can be in and out in 10 minutes). We were both rather hungry (I hadn't eaten or drunk either, in solidarity with Soph...) but in good spirits. But, the second after I'd driven into the carpark, I realised that I'd left the pathology form at home. Aaargh. It's one of those annoying carparks that gives you a ticket, you pay at a machine inside the hospital, and then use your ticket again to drive out. So I'd have to walk all the way into the hospital, pay, and then go home again... But luckily Bobby hadn't left home yet, so he brought the form over to us. So, slightly stressful, but no crisis.

Because of the delay, 10 people had got in before us, so we had to wait for about 45 minutes to be seen.

Once in the blood-taking room, there was another delay because the nurse had to find out what one of the tests - the key one - was. (I'm glad she asked; a while ago when Ems had some bloods done they tested her for glandular fever instead of IGF-1. Unsurprisingly, she tested negative).

The nurse had to draw quite a few vials of blood, and Sophie was doing really well, until, while the second vial was being done, she said she could hear her pulse beating - then her eyes rolled back in her head, she went a nasty grey colour, and she passed out cold. The bit that scared me was that she was kind of twitching while she was unconscious. It only lasted for a minute or so, and then she recovered consciousness... Scary for both of us, though. And she felt really rough when she came round. The nurses were very sweet; they were outraged that the doctor had scheduled such a big array of fasting tests when only one - and a non-essential one at that - strictly needed to be done fasting. They sent us off to go get some food and drink into Sophie, and then bumped us back to the front of the queue for the remaining tests. Sophie was very brave again - and, fortunately, there was no more fainting.

I thought Sophie might want the day off school after her unpleasant morning, and I was ready to phone in to work and ask them to organise cover for me, but she said she was fine and wanted to go to school. So that's what she did. Tough little cookie.

Let's just hope that all the tests come back completely normal, so we can steer well clear of hospitals for the forseeable future.

Quiet

It's grey and rainy and dreary right now. The house is quiet - the only thing I can hear is the rain on the windows. The girls are out (Emily's working, and Sophie's at a sleepover) and Bobby and Stephen are all the way downstairs. The weather forecast says we should get some sun tomorrow, and I hope we do; the combination of wet and chilliness, along with not being able to exercise (sore hip/back/butt) is starting to get me down. I caved in and went to the doctor this morning; she has given me some stronger anti-inflammatory painkillers, and I think they are helping. I am so frustrated at not being able to run - it's been two weeks now, and it really irks me to think how much fitness I must be losing with every sedentary day that passes. The doctor said it'll probably be another two or three weeks before I can run again. I'm hoping it'll be sooner, though.

I think part of the reason I feel so blah tonight is that, in addition to missing out on exercise-induced endorphins, the past few days have been so busy and so much fun that now, in the aftermath, I have the what-now blues.

Wednesday was Sophie's roller-coaster riding birthday celebration, Thursday and Friday I spent with my parents in Beccles, but today has been mainly laundry and vacuuming and rain.

Sophie's birthday worked out really well. We dithered about whether or not to go to Thorpe Park - it's quite expensive, and the weather forecast wasn't good. So the thought of paying a lot of money for a rained-out day worried us. But we couldn't think of anything else that would be as fun, so we decided to go for it. And it didn't rain at all! We got there early enough that we were able to go on the best rides without queueing at all - and Sophie was pleased to be enough over the height requirements that the people with the measuring sticks didn't even bother to approach her. In the evening, at Sophie's request, we played Risk, and Charades, and then watched a DVD.

Here she is eating her birthday breakfast (crepes with lemon and sugar, and chocolate milk)



This was the first ride we went on - quite an adrenaline rush!



And here are the girls on the last ride of the day. We saved the wet ones till the end...




So, all in all, Sophie had a good birthday. And then the girls and I left for Beccles first thing the next morning. (Bobby had to work, and poor Stephen is jobhunting.) When we got there, my folks had put balloons up, and my mom had baked birthday cupcakes for Soph. We were thoroughly spoiled all the time we were there - they'd gone to all sorts of trouble for us. It was very touching... Made me happy, and also sad. I still get panicky sometimes; it's been five years since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is so well at the moment, but I can't help worrying that it will come back. I know that this worry is pointless, and normally I keep it at bay, but it's really bothering me right now. I need to deal with the anxiety - rationally I know that it's not serving any use, and that allowing it in only spoils what we have now - but it's hard to deal with...

Ugh.

One more picture, just because - it's a cabbage white butterfly, sitting on a cabbage at the Beccles market. There were dozens of butterflies fluttering around the veggies - beautiful - and surprisingly hard to photograph! Guess I will never work for National Geographic.

Today...

When we walked down the road to the Coop to get the paper this morning, Roly Poly came with us. He waited outside the shop when we went in, and then he walked home with us. But in a very cat-like manner - the whole way he sauntered along, pretending that he just happened to be walking that way anyway. Though he did call us when we walked out of the shop. Perhaps he was worried we wouldn't look both ways before we crossed the road.

It's been a lazy, pottery sort of day today. We did a bit of work in the garden, but aside from that everyone's just been hanging out reading their books.

I am very pleased with our little veggie garden. The tomato plants are laden with tomatoes; can't wait till they ripen. We eat mange tout and lettuce from the garden every day, and the courgettes are a success, as are the mint, thyme and rosemary. I have high hopes of the butternut and the pumpkin (though I was livid when I saw that those bastard slugs have eaten one of the baby pumpkins; will be making a new slug trap tomorrow) and I think the carrots will be ready to eat fairly shortly. Not sure when the beetroot will be ready, but they all look very healthy. Our only failure thus far has been the spinach; hardly any of it took. We planted some cabbages today, as well. I don't actually like cabbage much, but Bobby has a craving (presumably not a terribly urgent craving) for coleslaw, so in they went.

Ah, school holidays - I should have that Sunday feeling, but, since there's no work or school tomorrow, I feel like it's Friday night every night.

I am desperately hoping that I will be able to go for a run tomorrow morning. I am getting very frustrated with my back/hip - every time I think it's better it seizes up again and it feels like someone is ramming needles into my hip. Seriously unpleasant. Am hoping that taking things very easy today will have helped...

double ow

So we did end up going out last night, despite my messed up back.

We drove to the station - felt rather pathetic to drive, but I couldn't walk. Only problem was, there ended up being more walking than I'd counted on at the other end. I had taken a large dose of ibuprofen before we left so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still pretty unpleasant.

We ate at Mirch Masala - the choice of the Indian couple we were with. They seemed to feel that the food was pretty much what they would have got at home, so they were happy. They don't seem to be terribly adventurous when it comes to food - their main aim seems to be to find food as similar to what they have at home as possible. If I were them, I'd be eating at as many different places as I could! Anyhow, it was an enjoyable evening overall.

When I woke up today I felt like my back was a lot better - sadly, that turned out not to be true. It's really, really sore tonight. Sore enough that, now that I am in the bedroom, I'm not going to go downstairs again this evening. Stairs really hurt me at the moment, so the two floors between me and the living room are an impassable barrier right now. I am wondering whether I should go to see the doctor tomorrow, but I strongly suspect that she'll just tell me to take some ibuprofen and rest, so it might be a pointless trip...

In other news Steve put our new bookshelves together today; it was quite an undertaking for him. They look really good; can't wait to fill them up with books! Speaking of which, if by some miracle I wake up in the morning and am fine, we are going to go to the bookstores on Charing Cross Road, and maybe Camden market. Cross fingers...

The only downside to the new shelves is that the TV is stranded in the middle of the carpet, awaiting a cable extension so that it can be moved to the opposite corner of the room. We ignored the bookshelf boxes for four days till Steve caved in and assembled them; how long will we manage to ignore the beached-whale TV? However, aesthetics aside, I'm in no hurry to get it reconnected - with the TV in its current unwatchable state, Sophie can't indulge her addiction to ghastly reruns of 8 Simple Rules. Heh.

Not a happy bunny

I am stressed.

First of all, there's the dreaded job interview. It's on Tuesday, and I'm a nervous wreck. If I don't get it, I am going to be really miserable. Not least because I genuinely think I'd be better in the job than the other candidate.

Secondly, Bobby is finding his new work role highly stressful. He's very anxious and very tense.

Plus, he has a meeting this morning in which he will learn whether or not he's in the 50% of people who are being let go. He thinks he will probably be okay, but there's still an element of doubt. And, he is worried as he suspects that one of our close friends is going to be on the hit-list.

And finally, Sophie's ill. Her teacher noticed her go faint and dizzy in class yesterday, and the same thing happened this morning at home. She was quite unnerved by the experience - she said she couldn't see all of a sudden. And she has a headache and a sore throat. So I'm taking her to the doctor this morning. Which is not as straightforward as it sounds, since we have one car and now that Bobby's taken on this new role he needs it. We could either walk to the doctor's surgery - it's not very far - or, if she's feeling too poorly, we'll have to take a cab. Fortunately, I am not teaching until this afternoon, so at least I don't have to arrange any cover lessons or inconvenience anyone.

Seems like our lifeplan is falling apart a bit. We came here with the idea that Bobby would take a lower-paid job, he'd be home early in the evenings, and he'd be relieved of all the work stress he had in Florida. And our plan worked well. But now, thanks to the economic crisis that I'm so sick of reading about, his job is even more stressful than the one he left in Florida, and he's working late every evening and going in early every day, so we're back at square one, only without the big salary!

Aaaargh.

I should be marking...

...but I just can't. I'm exhausted and I truly can't face it. I know I should, since yet more marking will be rolling in tomorrow, but seriously, I can't.

Three members of the department have been off sick this week which has meant that those of us still standing have had to do cover lessons for them. Very tiring, and of course the extra teaching has meant that I'm behind with my marking and preparation. (This is going to be one of those weekends where I work pretty much non-stop, I fear.) Plus I had my PGCE contact session last night after work - 45 minutes to get there, 3 hours there, and 45 minutes home again - which always leaves me shattered the next day.

On an unrelated note, Emily had her checkup with the endocrinologist today. I was sad not to be there, but we thought it best that Bobs take her as I fear that the only other healthy member of my department would have burst into tears if she'd been told that we'd need cover for my classes as well!

Amazingly, at 16, Ems is now of average height, at 165cm (or just under 5'5"). She's still quite slender (her weight's at the 5th centile and her height's at the 25th) but her upward growth is slowing and her weight gain is increasing, so it's all good. Her endocrinologist said that at this point, it's up to her whether she wants to stay on the growth hormone. If she does, she will probably get another inch or two. If she stops, this will be it. Emily says she thinks she may as well continue; the shots aren't a big deal to her and she'd like another inch. When she does stop (perhaps in a year's time?) the endo says she'll need to have another stim test after three months, to see if she'll need growth hormone as an adult. (Some people don't make enough GH on their own to maintain a healthy heart and other muscles). I still feel grateful every day that we live in a country with socialised health care. I know the NHS is not perfect, but so far it's been pretty damn good to us. Emily's medicine costs about £630 (or roughly $900, or R9000) a WEEK. But we get it free. I'd rather pay high taxes and have everyone benefit from good healthcare and good education than take the short-term benefit of the lower tax-rate.

It's very quiet here right now. The girls have just gone to bed, Stephen's all the way downstairs, and Bobby's out tonight, at an Indian restaurant in Croydon, saying goodbye to one of his team members who's going back to India. Though it's not all that much of a goodbye, really, as Bobby'll be seeing him in about a month... Best I don't dwell on that thought, though. Too depressing.

In an attempt to keep as many endorphins as possible flowing, I'm going to get up early and do my third walking/running session at six tomorrow morning; I'm quite looking forward to it, actually! I must admit that I have my doubts as to whether I'll manage when the program switches to longer running intervals, but, like I said before, I'll give it a shot!

The best laid plans...

Sophie came down to breakfast this morning, took a sip of her orange juice, and dissolved into tears. Our first thought was that something had happened at last night's party to upset her - but she said not. And when she threw up a few minutes later, we realised she was ill. (We're insightful like that). Steve only had to go into college for the first half-hour of the day, so he looked after her for the morning. He's a sweet boy, I must say. I'd been going to go to the work Christmas lunch, but when the room started spinning around me when I was teaching the first lesson I realised I was sick too. I managed to get through the morning's teaching, then walked home (veeeerrry slowly) and climbed into bed with Sophiepie. Ugh. No work Christmas party, and no trip to Ikea tonight. Think we might reschedule my birthday too - I want to go ice-skating and considering I can't even walk properly at the moment, that's clearly not an option. Unless I wake up tomorrow feeling perfect again... Bobby's being awfully sweet, has brought us dinner in bed, and my computer, and paracetamol ... I do have a very nice family.

Art in the Park

We came across these eerie grass sculptures on our bike ride this morning.









Two of the figures are being watered and trimmed; the other (dismembered) figure is being allowed to grow wild.





I find them quite disturbing.

Cool to stumble across them, though. And the bike ride was great. (10 miles, through Gatton Park up to the top of the Reigate Hill, then home along the North Downs Way.)

It's been a long day, though. I'm really tired this evening, and having the same weird neurological symptoms that I've had on and off for the past year. I'd go back to the doctor but it seems a bit pointless, given that I've had all sorts of scans and things and they haven't figured out what the problem is. And it's not as though it's getting worse - just flare-ups of the same-old same-old. If I get an early night hopefully I'll feel better in the morning. And I got the latest Alexander McCall Smith book out of the library this morning, so I have something light and enjoyable to read...

Growing Girls

We've just about recovered from Sophie's birthday sleepover. I find these things slightly stressful - am always worried that someone is going to feel left out or miserable or otherwise unhappy - but it all went perfectly as far as I could tell. We packed a picnic supper (bread rolls which they'd each made with their choice of fillings, and crisps and juice) and took it, plus the new ice-cream-maker (early birthday present for Sophie) down to the park.





Making the ice cream was fun (Andrea, you are right, though - it definitely does require lots of energetic people!)





and so was eating it. The girls all ate theirs too fast for me to get a picture of them; not sure why Bobby is looking so dubious about it here because it was really yummy.





The girls are at such an inbetween stage at the moment. Still love playing hide and seek on the playground, but also spend ages texting (and texting boys at that!)




They only went to sleep sometime after 1am, but nobody was irritable in the morning; in fact, after breakfast they went back to the park on their own to enjoy the glorious weather before coming back to the house for lunch. I love living somewhere where the children can have this kind of independence; wouldn't have been possible in either Durban or Florida.

Not sure how I feel about the amount of independence that one of Emily's friends is allowed, though. Like Emily, she's 15, but unlike Emily she's had a boyfriend for the past few months. Said boyfriend has just moved into her home and will be staying there for the summer. It all just seems so dismal. Setting aside the question of whether 15 is too young to be having sex (and I think it probably is), living with someone is supposed to be about independence and romance and growing up and excitement and passion - not about making space in your closet so your boyfriend will have somewhere to put his clothes when he moves into your childhood bedroom, in your parents' house, with his x-box. Ems says the rest of her friends are also shocked, which is good to know. I'm so glad that Emily seems to be in no hurry to rush into anything similar herself. She's looking pretty grownup these days though - we saw the endocrinologist yesterday, and she's now officially taller than I am! She's 1.62 m tall, which puts her at a hair about 5'3 - so a hair above me! And her weight's improving too - she's out of the red "way too skinny" section on the chart and now, although still very slender, has a relatively normal BMI of 16.6. She's very, very, happy. I am so grateful that she was diagnosed growth hormone deficient; without treatment she was predicted a height of 4'6 or 7. The consultant told us that when she stops growing, she can stop the shots for 3 months, then they'll do another stim test to see if she's making enough growth hormone on her own to maintain healthy heart muscles etc. So we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to planning next week's break, when Bobby is on leave. (What, do most people decide on these things more than one day in advance? Surely not!) We might go to Hay-on-Wye; we might go to Edinburgh, or we might just have a stay-cation right here.

This and That

So yesterday was the end-of-term faculty day out, and this year's trip was a day out at the Brighton Races. Windy and cold, but interesting. I'd never been to the races before, so the people watching was fascinating, as was seeing how one actually goes about placing a bet. Turns out that I do not have an eye for a winner - placed two £2 bets (last of the big spenders) and lost both times. It was fun though. Unlike today, which was an inset day at work, so we had a three-hour session on child protection. Nothing we didn't already know, and the person delivering the session really grated on my nerves. One of my pet peeves is when people refer to "Africa" as though it's one homogeneous place. It's a continent, for fuck's sake, a fifth of the world's land, with fifty-odd countries. Each country has its own characteristics, and within each country there's a huge range of diversity. Different levels of education. Different amounts of privilege. Different religions. Different races. So when the child-protection speaker seemed to feel that describing a child as being "from Africa" told us a lot about her, well, frankly, that told me more about her preconceptions and prejudices than it did about the child. Anyhow, I endured the three hours, so it's done, ticked the box, and I'm up-to-date in that field for the next year.

I got home a bit early, and it was lucky I did, because Emily was feeling really awful - hot and cold and sore-throaty and achy. I phoned the doctor at 4.30, hoping for an appointment tomorrow, and was amazed to get an appointment for 5.10! The doctor we saw - not our usual - was very nice. Prescribed rest and paracetamol, and gave us a script for antibiotics to fill if she's not feeling better by tomorrow evening. Thank you, NHS!

Just one more week till the summer holidays, so I need to figure out how to get the most out of my six weeks of blissful leisure. Can't wait...

Annoyed...

...that I'm wasting my holiday feeling grotty.

I am feeling better than I did on Sunday, though, which must be good. So tired, though! For some reason which I really don't understand, my dad wanted to go to Harrods on Tuesday, as did Stephen. So we did, and I found it so utterly exhausting that I fell asleep on the train on the way home. That's always fun, waking up slightly drooly and with dents in your face where it's been pressing against the window... Haven't done much today other than rest and try to recover. My folks went home today (they spent Monday and Tuesday nights with us) so it's been quite nice to be able to do Absolutely Nothing today. Hope I wake up better tomorrow, I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

At least I'm not in as bad shape as the thirty-something man I saw on the station platform. It was 10am, and he was alternating between swigging from a bottle of lager, sending text messages with a distraught look on his face, and filling out a betting slip. Definitely got the sense that his life wasn't very happy.

Lovely and unlovely...

The weather has been stunningly beautiful these past few days. Cold and frosty and blue. We've been on a couple of fun bike rides - it always amazes me how close we are to the countryside here. Just a few blocks south of our house and you're in farmland. The rest of the pictures - some of a 25km bike ride we did on Sunday morning,and some from that afternoon, of a stroll through the woods near Bobby's work - are here.

Other good things - our late Valentine's Day celebration. We went to the Gurkha Kitchen in Reigate (Nepalese food) on Friday night, and it was a lovely evening. Also lovely is the fact that it's half-term so the kids and I have this week free. Thank goodness, I was getting near the end of my tether.

Less lovely is the staggeringly ridiculous sum I just handed over to have our rattly horrible car serviced. I wish we could get rid of the stupid thing altogether and go car-free, but it'd make things like going camping, or visiting my parents, too awkward.

Also unlovely is the letter I got from the breast consultant, saying that since I missed an appointment they're removing me from their patient list. I'm upset, because I've never received any request for an appointment, either by phone or post. So I certainly haven't knowingly missed one. I'm betting it's going to take me ages to sort out the mess that they've created, especially as the consultant's secretary is apparently on holiday till the 26th.

Last year's mammogram was a piece of cake. This year's was most definitely not. Still, with any luck, there will be no more boob squishing until 2009.

The picture is of the African violet that currently lives on my kitchen window sill. I thought I'd immortalise it here, because, now that the poor thing has entered my home, its days are numbered.

The snowdrops are out.

We discovered this on an abortive bike ride yesterday; abortive because I got a flat tyre about twenty minutes into the ride, so we had to push our bikes all the way home, smiling grimly at all the ancient walkers who kept addressing us with witty comments such as "Shouldn't you be sitting on that?" as they strode on past us through the mud utilising their ski pole thingies to the full.

It was a pretty walk though.




And apparently the cyclescheme vouchers which will enable me to purchase my new bicycle (so that I no longer have to borrow Steve's clapped out one) should be here in about ten days, so that's exciting. (Don't feel too sorry for Steve, by the way - he destroyed my original bicycle before he did for his own.)

Tonight will not be exciting, however. It's onwards to Crawley, or, as I think of it, to the armpit of the South East. Just think, only another ... hmmm ... 16 months of gruesome Monday evenings till I'm done with this course. And tomorrow, after work, my annual mammogram. Not sure which event will be more painful...

It is very restful, having the house to ourselves again.

I love having house guests, but six weeks at a time is really too long. Not doing that again, I don't think... I think the thing I found hardest about having Bobby's mum here was that she likes to have people around her at all times, so I never felt that I could (for instance) go upstairs and read by myself. I'm all alone in our lovely unclutttered loft bedroom right now (all the children are asleep, and Bobby is puttering with his plane in the conservatory) and it's blissful.

Emily's appointment with the endocrinologist went well. She's 158cm tall now, which puts her at the 25th percentile. Which is amazingly wonderful, when I think how she used to be way, way below the very bottom red line on the chart. Slightly less wonderful is her weight. At 39 kilos, she is still quite a bit below the 5th percentile. She eats pretty well at meal-times these days (it still makes me happy when I see her enjoying her food, because we had so many years when she simply wasn't interested in eating), but I think that we need to push the high-calorie snacks a bit more.

Back to normal at work tomorrow. It's going to feel odd to be teaching again, after the six peaceful days of inset we've had while the students have been writing exams. I've been able to get masses and masses of preparation done, so I'm pretty much organised for the next half-term. It feels good to be more-or-less on top of things for once.

We went to Stonehenge today. The sky was grey, the wind was howling, and it was absolutely freezing, but, happily (if weirdly), Bobby's mum seemed to love the experience. To the extent that she walked around the stones a second time, and hasn't stopped talking about Stonehenge since. (The rest of us dutifully walked around once, then lurked in the gift shop till she was done. In our defence, we have listened to the audio-guides before...and today our fingers were too numb to work them anyway.)

Bobby's mum will be leaving on Tuesday evening. In some ways it feels as though she's only just arrived; in other ways it feels as though she's been here forever. We'll miss her when she goes, but it will be restful to have the house to ourselves again. We seem to have had family staying with us for ages; before Bobby's mum arrived at the beginning of December we'd had his nephew and wife for a couple of weeks, plus my parents on and off. So some time to ourselves will be good.

I'll be taking Ems to the endocrinologist tomorrow afternoon; just a check-up. It'll be interesting to get proper height and weight measurements - I think she's now almost as tall as I am. Pretty cool, considering that without GH she was predicted a height of 4ft6 or 7.

Thank you for all the commiseration. And the hugs. And - big sigh of relief - I'm not pregnant.

The NHS needs to hurry up with that damn vasectomy referral; I can't deal with any more of these scares.

I'm also over the could-strangle-them-all irritation I'd been feeling towards the rest of the household. They're all still doing annoying things, but I don't mind anymore. Tonight I'm researching PMS help; I know I keep saying it and then not doing anything about it, but I definitely need some sort of supplement or something to avoid the mood swings each month.

Also on the topic of keeping family life running smoothly, I'm looking forward to seeing how our latest attempt to tackle chore division pans out. Someone told me about this cool website, and we set it up for our family last night. You enter a list of chores (each given a difficulty rating) and it allocates chores to each family member. You can give certain family members a higher (or lower) proportion of chores, and you can set it up so they have certain days off. So far, the kids are all quite enthusiastic about the idea; we'll see how it translates into practice!

What a weekend.

Friday night, Bobs and I had a party to go to, so that was good.

On Saturday we took Bobby’s mum to see Dover Castle (which is a really interesting day out, as you can see the castle itself as well as tour the tunnels in the famous white cliffs). We went home via Canterbury, so she could visit the cathedral. Canterbury is always beautiful, but at Christmas time it becomes quite magical, with all the lights and decorations. So that was also all good.

Sunday morning, Bobby went to his model plane flying group, I tackled the housework, and Bobby’s mum walked into town to go to church. Which is where things became less good, because she tripped on the kerb and, when she fell, her glasses frame cut her forehead quite badly, over her eye. First I knew about it was when I got a phone call from the hospital at lunchtime, telling me what had happened and where she was. We got to the hospital in time for me to go in with her when she was seen, and, seven stitches later, she looked a lot less frightening. She is feeling fine today – or so she says – though she has a terribly swollen face and a truly impressive black eye.

Seems like yesterday was an accident-prone day for Bobby’s family generally, since we got an email today from his sister, saying that she’d had a fall while shopping, and broken a rib.

Can only hope that they’ll all manage to stay on their feet for the rest of the holiday period.

Meanwhile, I’m counting down the days till term ends. Just four and a half more, and then I’m free for two whole weeks. Can’t wait.

In yet another awful fashion reprise, some of the students (and one of the more youthful staff members) at college are wearing slightly modified versions of the atrocious bubble skirts that I remember from the late '80's. The horror.

However, it is just under a month to Christmas, so I'm excited! Our most recent set of house guests have left, giving us five days to sort ourselves out before Bobby's mum arrives on Monday. I just wish I had more time to do Christmassy things, but this year term only ends on the 21st. I am a bit outraged about that, because that means that this will be the first year ever that I've worked on my birthday (which is on the 20th). That, plus the fact that I have a follow-up appointment with the neurologist on the evening of the 20th (since I'm still dizzy) has made me decide to pretend that my birthday is on the 22nd this year, so I can have a proper celebration instead of a day of work followed by a doctor's appointment.

Better go wake Sophie, it's 7 already ... She's dreadful to get up in the mornings these days, I can't imagine what she'll be like when she's a teenager.

The MRI was thoroughly unpleasant.

It was claustrophobic and hot and bangy and stressful. And they were running late, so we had to wait a full 2.5 hours, which meant that the evening was a complete washout as far as spending time with my folks was concerned, since we only got home at 10pm.

The only plus was that they didn't make me change into one of those stupid gowns that don't do up properly; I got to stay in my own clothes.

And it'll be a couple of weeks before I get the results, apparently.

Kew Gardens, on the other hand, was absolutely lovely.





I found it so much more beautiful than I'd expected. It was foggy and damp, but somehow that made the sculptures seem even more impressive.





It was a really nice day out; the girls and my parents all enjoyed it. I just wish Bobby and Stephen had been there too. I plan to go back and see the sculptures again before the exhibition closes.

The rest of the pictures are here.