Reading

I’m currently sitting in my room, having spent my last evening in Reading with my best friend; seeing as we met on the very first day of University (a story she delights in telling people after a drink or two) it seemed only right. Much of today has involved taking things off walls and packing away clothes whilst wondering how on Earth I’ve managed to accumulate so much junk in the past 9 months! But, being the sentimental idiot that I am, I can’t seem to throw any of it away. Should be fun getting it all in the car! Unable to just get on with the task in hand I thought this was the perfect opportunity for a stock take, the findings of which were that I have 38 dresses and 21 cardigans –  which might explain where my Student Loan disappeared to. Although I still have a lot left to pack I decided it is much more important to do one last post from Reading. I’m clearly very good at prioritising.

Considering I had my heart set on going to University in Brighton I wasn’t really looking forward to starting at Reading. Despite this, I can honestly say that my four years here have been more than I could have ever hoped for. Tomorrow (well, technically today), I won’t only be leaving Reading with a 2:1 in French and English (yay!) but I’ll also go with some wonderful friends and amazing memories. Given the chance I don’t think I’d really change anything from the past four years – apart from I maybe would tell my Second Year self that Port Challenge is never a good idea...  Either way, as this post suggests I’m a little sad to leave; looks like now I’m actually going to have to start being a proper adult. Bit scary, really!

Campus during spring and daffodil watch. Surprisingly they are now dead. 

22 Going On 70

Since finishing my degree I seem to have jumped straight from being a student to acting like an OAP. I feel like I now have a pretty good idea of what retirement will be like, that’s if I actually find a job from which to retire! Today, I have trawled a charity shop for books, done a few crosswords and baked some meringues. I may have to lie down in a bit to recover from all the excitement!

Meringues - the ones that tuned out nicely. Decoration added by Jess! 

When I’ve not been acting like an old person I have been looking for jobs but at the moment nobody seems willing to employ me, something I fear will only get worse once I’ve got my results - which happens to be in the next few days, eek! I’ve been careful not to disclose when they come out, mainly because I’m not entirely sure myself, it all seems fairly disorganised! Once again I’ve been having the familiar pre-results nightmares, one of which saw me crying and eating Weetabix in the Union shop. Strange. These fears were not allayed yesterday when I saw my tutor and she asked if I wanted a meeting about my results; considering I don’t yet know what they are I’m thinking this could be a cause for concern. However, I am still holding out hope that I will eventually find a job, I’ve been toying with the idea of applying to teach English in a faraway land, although this is likely to be another of my plans which never actually happens. I’m also researching to see if there are any jobs which involve the making or solving of anagrams. Apparently there aren’t many of them around! Ultimately, I think as long as I get a decent-ish job, in which I don’t have to wear a tabard, I’ll be happy. Hopefully I can then start saving for my cottage, yay!

Freedom

Sorry about the gap between posts, life has been pretty busy since exams finished! Right now I’m back in Croydon for a few days of home comforts before returning to Reading for the final week or two. I quite like coming home as I can always rely on nothing having changed no matter how stressful the past few weeks of revision and exams have been. True to form, in the last few days my parents have been trying to fatten me up for Christmas, stocking up the fridge with 8 different types of cheese, a crate of Diet Coke and ridiculous amounts of chocolate, and keeping me up-to-date with any recent neighbourhood developments. At the moment there are a few electricity company vans stationed down the road and despite much not-so-covert surveillance on my dad’s part we are still unsure what they’re doing here. It seems that the requirements to live in our area are that you either have to be over 80 years of age or a compulsive dog walker, therefore the sudden appearance of 5 (yes, 5!) vans and a digger is quite exciting! It’s also one of the reasons that I have decided that moving out as soon as possible is probably a good idea...

In other news, after finishing exams I went to see QI being filmed in London. I was fairly hungover but after eating what felt like an entire loaf of bread for lunch I began to feel much more human and so Janine and I joined the queue for QI. Although the queue was fairly lengthy we were too excited to really care, the pique of excitement being when we saw what looked like Joan Collins pass by in a car. We don’t know whether or not it was in fact her, however we are maintaining that it was. Anyway, the actual filming of the programme was really fun and we got to see Sean Lock, Bill Bailey and Nina Conti, a fairly unknown ventriloquist who was actually quite good. Of course, Stephen Fry was there, along with Alan Davies, who was the main reason I wanted to go really, as I've loved him ever since the age of 8, when I first set eyes on him in Jonathan Creek. Probably not something I should really admit to but I'm sure my loyal readers (Janine and Jess) already know this. So, all in all it was a good day out, one that I’d recommend, so much so that I’ve applied for more tickets, although I feel like I might be pushing my luck a bit on this one!

Stamp, just to prove that we did go.