Summer

At last, summer is finally upon us, yay! We've had at least a solid week and a half or so of sunshine now, something I thought near on impossible just a few months or ago. However, as pleased as I am about the warm weather, my body isn't quite as happy. My pale Irish skinned self, with stupidly bad hay fever, has spent the past week looking like it's having an emotional break down (mainly in one eye...) and debating whether or not it's acceptable to bare such milk-white legs. Though, I've now decided, at the age of 24, that I'm just going to embrace my paleness and use Nicola Roberts and Dita Von Teese as my role models.


Summer fun


I always think that the summer makes you want to read more, sitting out in the garden with a good book is one of my favourite things. So with that, I've recently read The Handmaid's Tale and My Dear I Wanted To Tell You, both of which I enjoyed immensely. I've now moved on to The Wasp Factory, having never read anything by Iain Banks before I thought I should. I'm not too far in at the moment, but despite being quite removed from most of the books I usually go for, I'm finding it a really interesting read. At times it's proving to be quite shocking, but the elements of dark humour shine through. After this I might move on to something a bit more cheery.

I'm off on holiday in a few weeks and I've already scoped out a Literary Pub Crawl that takes place there. Needless to say, I'm planning on doing this. The combination of alcohol and literature, as mentioned in my previous post, is just too perfect to miss out on!

In other news, I recently treated myself to my first relatively expensive handbag, well satchel. I picked a colour that would be good all year round, there were so many pretty colours to choose from though, I found it quite hard. If I can justify getting another then I've got my sights set on a light green one.



New bag

May

While it may seem like all I do is read and makes lists, I do from time to time, find other ways to entertain myself. In fact, in the past week or two, I've watched The Great Gatsby (ah, Leo!), developed a bizarre girl crush on Gillian Anderson and seen some live music, where I found out that I have the capability of turning into a massive fan girl - 'I follow you on Twitter. I love your new song. I love you. Photo?'. As such, my new aim in life is to learn how to be cool and aloof. We'll see how that one goes!

Doing my best groupie impression.

But naturally, despite this *hectic* schedule of mine, I have managed to fit in some reading. I finished Tender is the Night and then moved on to The Marriage Plot, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Bell Jar. So, quite a varied array of literary offerings. From reading these books I've learnt a lot about Guernsey, gained more arguments for my new found feminism (which my friends now hear me do various speeches about - thanks for nodding along, guys!), realised that not all stories have to end with 'and they all lived happily ever after' and that, as amazing as F. Scott Fitzgerald obviously is, I don't think he's the writer for me.

Amongst all this reading and girl crushing, I've also managed to find the most perfect book ever. My Friday nights are now set to be a heady mix of literature and liquor. Because after all, literary inspired drinking is the best kind of drinking.

 

 

 

 

Latest Reads

In the past month or so I've read three novels: Water for Elephants, Gone Girl and You Had Me At Hello. All essentially are along the boy meets girl theme but they are each very different. Since reading Gone Girl I've recommended it to pretty much everyone I know, it's that good. I might even say it's one of the best novels I've read in a long time and goes to prove the old adage that 'you never know what goes on behind closed doors', whilst also making you question how well you can ever really know somebody. I won't say any more as I wouldn't want to spoil it, (somebody recently spoilt the end of Skyfall for me and I wanted to hurt them) just be sure to read it.

 

In other news, I am extremely excited about The Great Gatsby finally being in the cinema next month. I feel like this has been the longest wait for a film ever! In the meantime, I'll be reading Tender is the Night to get my F. Scott Fitzgerald fix.

Yay, Leo!

Musings

I recently had ten whole days off work, something I was pretty excited about. As is the norm, it went far too quickly and I'm already looking forward to the 'holiday' I've booked next month. Anyway during my week off, besides seeing friends I've neglected a bit since Christmas, going bowling, drinking too much Prosecco and making lemon curd cupcakes, I did quite a bit of pondering of life's big questions. Well, perhaps less 'life's' and more 'my life's' big questions. I've not yet found the answers to all of these questions, but I'm sure you'll agree they're fascinating, nonetheless... Or, maybe it's more that I felt I wanted to blog and this is the best I could come up with.

Hannah's Big Questions

- Why did I not know that Charlotte Brontë married and was pregnant at the time of her death? Thank you, Sheila Hancock, for filling me in on this.

- Has the 'if he can't see how wonderful you are, then it's his loss' speech ever made anyone feel any better?

- Am I brave enough to get a 'Where's Wally?' tattoo? I so want the answer to be 'yes'.

Tattoo number two?

- What is it about The Cure's 'Love Cats' that makes me feel so anxious? Seems I have an inexplicable, yet powerful, aversion to this song... 

- When does Facebook stalking go from impressive to scary? A friend of mine recently managed to find someone knowing only their first name and the university they went to... Worrying.

- Will I ever manage to convince someone to come on a literary tour of Britain with me?

- Should you ever trust a man who willingly professes his love for Michael Bublé and Hugh Grant? 

- At what age does it stop being acceptable to use hair straighteners to de-crease clothes?

- Will I ever give up on attempting to turn myself French? My latest 'man, I'm so French' attempt involved wearing a stripey t-shirt and baking madeleines, which I then forced upon my work colleagues. Although, when I think about it, I don't remember seeing that many stripey t-shirt wearing French people whilst on my year abroad. Hmm, maybe where I'm going wrong.

- Is there a better way to 'celebrate' an empty club than forming a conga line? I think not. 

Everybody loves a conga line...

However, there are some questions that I am quite certain I will always have the answers to, such as 'what are all the lyrics to the following songs: Disco 2000, Wuthering Heights and Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts?'. 

A Casual Vacancy

As a massive Harry Potter fan, I was intrigued to see what J.K. Rowling's newest offering would be like. Like her previous novels, A Casual Vacancy looked daunting, a tome of over 500 pages. For much of these 500 pages not a lot happens, even in spite of the novel opening with a death. (Note: this is not a spoiler and can be found in the blurb.)

Focussing on a small town in the west of England, much of the novel seems to be building up towards the denouement, which when it eventually comes is fast paced and exciting. There can be no doubt cast on the fact that Rowling is a wonderful writer. Like Thomas Hardy before her, Rowling sets the scene beautifully, slowly creating a back drop to her story. Rowling brings her characters to life and takes her time to creates a vibrant picture of life in a small community, alike in Hardy's Tess or The Woodlanders.

However, at times it feels like Rowling is throwing all she has into this novel, dealing with themes such as domestic violence, racism, bullying, sexual abuse and drugs. These themes, although interesting, seem perhaps slightly too much for one book and one small west country town. This said, J.K. Rowling presents us with a microcosm of society and challenges us to face several moral dilemmas and ask ourselves, 'what would I do in this situation?'. Beware, the answers to these questions mightn't be pleasant.

Although a slow burner, this novel is well worth persevering with. However, be warned, like the dementors of Harry Potter, there are many dark elements to A Casual Vacancy making it at times quite depressing.


I bought a new notepad, woo!

Literary Sisters

With 3 sisters of my own, the portrayal of sisters in literature is something I've always found interesting. Here are a few of my top literary sisters:

The Marches, Little Women: It's hard not to adore Louisa May Allcott's Little Women, arguably the most loving of all these sets of sisters. At times they seem like a family unit within themseleves, with Meg acting as a mum and Jo as a dad. They all play their parts as sisters well, Meg as the responsible eldest sister, Jo the outgoing, loud yet fiercly protective one, Beth quiet, caring, shy (and sickly) and Amy the spoilt youngest. (This is in no way a metaphor for me and my sisters...)

I still have the same hair and love of peter pan collars...
 

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, The Sweet Valley Twins: Elizabeth and Jessica, despite being twins, are complete opposites. Elizabeth bookish, academic and career-minded, whilst Jessica thinks mainly about boys, clothes and being popular. In spite of their differences and some sibling rivalry, deep down they're the best of friends and are always there for each other through various scrapes they seem to get themselves into. Undoubtably the series, which according to Wikipedia spans over 100 books, is pure cheese but it remains a classic for millions of girls of the late 80s and 90s. Myself included.

The Lisbons, The Virgin Suicides: Shown only through the eyes of the boys who loved them, at first sight the Lisbon sisters seem like your average group of siblings. But as one by one they commit suicide it quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Quite what drives them each to end their lives remains unknown. However, despite what must be a deep rooted unhappiness in each of them, perhaps somewhat due the strict ruling of their parents, the strong ties of sisterhood remain, each keeping the others secrets and perhaps even to some extent all commiting suicide as some sort of unspoken pact.

Cecilia and Briony Tallis, Atonement: As the novel opens, Cecilia and Briony are shown to have a stereotypical relationship where the younger looks up to the older one. However, this doesn't last long and over the course of one evening their relationship changes beyond repair. Through Briony's young imagination and foolish lies she condemns both Cecelia, and esentially also herself, to a life of unhappiness and regret. As the story unravels it becomes clear that no amount of repentence can repair the damage done be the 11 year old Briony. Although she does give Cecelia the happy ending that she so tragically stole from her in 'real-life', it's all too little too late and the Tallis family is torn apart forever.

Running with the Christmas themed photos.

Five Fictional Friends

Whilst reading I often decide I either want to be or want to befriend characters. Were they real, of course!

Here are just a few on my list: 

Elizabeth Bennet - Pride and Prejudice: We could go for walks, talk books and she could introduce me to Mr Darcy's rich friends. Perfection.

Emma Morley - One Day: In spite of her many flaws, Emma Morley is one of my favourite characters of all time. There are certain similarities between myself and her: both aspiring writers, share a love of literature, Scrabble and France. My real-life best friend even joked on seeing the film that they could have based the character on me. However, the same is likely to be said by millions of women around the world. For these reasons, were she a real person I would happily attempt to befriend her. Perhaps ever so slightly narcissistic of me.

Bernard - Not Now Bernard: Nobody has any time for little Bernard. Not only does he deserve a friend but also a protector from monsters.

Marty - The Woodlanders: In true Hardy style, life is tough for poor Marty. During the course of the novel she loses a tree, her hair, her father, her home, her job and the love of her life. I reckon she could do with a friend.

Neville Longbottom - Harry Potter: By the final book Neville had gone from geeky classmate to unlikely hero. Definitely someone worth having around, even if just to kill Basalisks.

Lis(z)tomania

I love books. I also love lists. So, in an attempt to revive my blog I’m going to combine the two. Beware, there may be some spoilers.

The Hit List

Over the past few years I’ve been compiling a mental list of literary characters I believe are deserving of a slap. Perhaps a sign that I get too emotionally involved in things that aren’t actually real… From friendly ‘knock some sense into’ them slaps to a full on punch in the face, some characters have an ability to get under your skin. Here are just a few of the characters that have topped my list:

Briony Tallis - Atonement: If little 13 year old Briony had told the truth, things could have been very different. Granted it wouldn’t have made for one of my favourite novels of all time but it would have saved a LOT of tears.

Pip – Great Expectations: Don’t get me wrong, I love Pip so this slap would be a friendly, ‘sort your life out, mate’ one. Hopefully he’d then stop being so mean to Joe and realise that Biddy is so much better than Estella.

Catherine – Petite Anglaise: She buys her affair underwear from Monoprix. Need I say more?!

Edward and Florence – On Chesil Beach: It might have been a good idea for Ed and Flo to talk about their sexual preferences before getting married. Apparently this hadn’t occurred to either of them and so ensues a wedding night from hell. Someone should have definitely banged their heads together. 

Daisy Buchanan – The Great Gatsby: Yeah, she might be beautiful and Gatsby might love her but seriously, make a decision: Gatsby or your cheating husband? And if you’re going to run people over you should really take responsibility for it! Poor old Gatsby.

Books, Glorious Books

As an English graduate actually being able to choose what I read is still somewhat of a novelty. So, now I can theoretically create my own reading lists, I thought I'd take a few minutes to influence yours!

I've just finished reading Caitlin Moran's How To Be a Woman and think it might be one of the best books I've read in a long time. I found it honest, funny and moving and it left me wanting to shout 'I am a Feminist' at the top of my voice whilst dancing around the house to Independent Woman by Destiny's Child, because I did indeed buy the shoes on my feet! Always a sign of a good book. In a slight shift, the next book I've moved onto is 50 Shades of Grey... I'm blaming a combination of hype and peer-pressure. Next, I'm tackling Anna Karenina. Eek!

In other book related news, I recently went on a mini tour of some of London's independent book shops. This perhaps doesn't sound like the most exciting way to spend a Saturday but I enjoyed myself, at least. Plus, we saw a contestant from The Voice! What more could a girl want?!

Persephone, Dickens and my purchases

Me again!

Hello Readers, most of whom probably stumble upon my blog by accident! I've been talking about starting up my blog again for a while now and as my friend Jess has recently updated hers I thought it time I bit the bullet. As many of my friends will know I do actually write all the time, however much of it I deem unblogworthy and so it never leaves the pages of my notebook. Yep, I still do writing with a pen and paper! 

Anyway, since my last post I have started a 'be a grown-up' initiative which has seen me get a new job and move away from home. All very exciting! But that's enough about me. The main reason I came on here is that it's Father's Day next weekend and I've suddenly come over all sentimental and wanted to write about my dad. Aww/puke. Fortunately, he doesn't know I've got a blog so probably won't ever see this.

So, here we go...

Yesterday, I finally got round to going to the Museum of London for the penultimate day of the Dickens and London exhibition with one of my sisters. Our love of Dickens unquestionably stems from our dad who even on my lastest visit home got me to read an extract from his tattered copy of 'Sketches by Boz' for no apparent reason.

Just to prove I went.

Growing up I often heard my mum say 'you're just like your father', mostly after having said something sarcastic and to be honest at the time this really annoyed me. But now I'm able to see the truth in it and am actually quite proud of it, as my dad is one of the only men, if not the only man, I've ever really been able to rely on and look up to. (At the age of 23 I don't think this is really something I should be too worried about, however, if I am still saying this in twenty years time I think it might be cause for concern!) Of course, he has faults (again, many of which I might have inherited) but overall he really is the most decent of men: caring, funny, generous and intelligent.

Me and my parents at Graduation.

As children we tend to think our parents know everything and although over time we find out this isn't strictly true, there isn't much my dad doesn't know. Because of him I know lots of useless facts which have come in handy in pub quizzes from time to time. I think our parents shape the people we become and I know that for better or for worse my dad has hugely influenced the person I am today. Because now, as a semi-grown up, I see in myself snippets of him and (maybe let's not tell him this) it's not too bad! 

Right, that's probably enough sentimentality for a while. Hopefully, it won't be another 6 months before I next write. 

Magic and Macaroons

On the phone to my friend last night I was told to update my blog. So Janine, this is for you.

I blame the latest lapse in posts to the fact that after spending an entire day staring at a computer screen I don't tend to want to do the same when I get home. Lately I can go 2-3 days without turning my laptop on, which is actually quite refreshing! Today though, I had the day off work, which was pretty exciting. The only thing about having a day off in the week is that everyone else still has to go to work, so I needed to find things to occupy myself. I decided that I would spend the first part of the day watching a bit of daytime tv whilst I thought about what to do with the rest of my day. Naturally, as it was the morning, I watched This Morning. On the programme today was a woman you could deem as ‘morbidly obese’ telling Eamonn and Ruth how she spends her evenings sitting on her bed eating cakes whilst on webcam. Not only that, but men can watch her doing this as the way she eats cakes is so ‘sexy’ that some men see it as a kind of porn... All very strange and just the kind of thing I watch This Morning for.

After all the excitement of This Morning I decided I would do some baking. Only after I had watched Neighbours, of course. I was distraught upon watching Neighbours to discover that Susan and Karl have split up, again. I’m hoping they’ll be back together by the next time I watch it because if Susan and Karl can’t make it then what hope is there for the rest of us?!

Anyway, I ended up baking some macaroons whilst listening to Magic. (Will anyone ever find out who the third Magic's Mystery Voice belongs to?!) As the photos show my macaroons aren't quite as pretty and delicate as the ones that can be found pretty much any where else, (even France) but I'm pretty proud of my first attempt. Though I don't think I'll be signing up for The Great British Bake Off any time soon...

I wonder if the This Morning cake eating woman also enjoys macaroons...

I was also baking until 11.30 last night trying to make a 'congratulations' cake for my sister. However, it went a bit wrong and all I ended up with was an apricot sponge and icing all over my arms. I’m beginning to think that when I have a house of my own I will be one of those people who always has something baking on the off-chance that someone will pop in. By 'one of those people' I mean a grandma. 

Icing sugar on my skirt, just to prove I made them myself. 

I'll post again soon and hopefully about something a little less bake-y and a little more interesting! 

Autumn

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (second only to Spring). It might be the season of perpetual drizzle, grey mornings and the 'do I need to wear a coat?' dilemma, but it is also the season of knitted jumper wearing, good television programmes and the excuse to stay in and watch said programmes! 

Without wanting to sound like Pollyanna, here are some of the things that are currently bringing a smile to my face this Autumn:

• Having a newly qualified hairdresser sister – hello, free haircuts for life;
• Finally seeing a genuine famous person on the tube – it doesn’t matter if he’s now in Holby City, he was once in Harry Potter, Lost in Austen AND Spooks!;
• Long phone calls with faraway friends;
• Photographing everything, you can never have enough photos of Tower Bridge;
• Writing - I’m not very good at sleeping so instead I write, doesn't really solve the being tired problem though...;
• Typewriters;
• Being greeted most mornings with ‘hello baby’ from a drunken old Irish man in Stockwell;
• ‘One Day’, ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘The Help’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ all being turned into films;
• Making grand travelling plans that will most likely never happen;
•           Detecting - I like to think of myself as filling the void between Nancy Drew and Miss Marple. I am yet to unearth any major crimes but just give it time...;
• The ‘Instagram’ app - good for making photos look pretty and cheaper than buying film for Polaroid cameras;
• And, this poem by Kitkat Pecson:  "I think of you in the in-between spaces. In the pause before the next heartbeat. In the clench of my chest before I exhale. In the swell of courage before I say hello. And perhaps one day, our lives will occupy one space. Touched shoulders. Clasped hands. Shared secrets."

'Instagram' magic.

Trains and Tribulations

Yet another lapse in posts. No excuse other than that I've not had much to write about. Even this is scraping the barrel. 

I've recently started an internship in London, which involves around 3 hours of commuting a day. This is probably a lot less than many people but having spent my 3 years in Reading having to walk for no more than 15 minutes to get to lectures it has come as quite a shock to the system! I seem to spend much of these three hours thinking about how tired I am, reading the Metro, avoiding awkward eye-contact with other passengers, watching as they scramble for seats and marvelling at how much of a rush they all seem to be in. These suited and booted, briefcase wielding fellow commuters walk faster than I can run, and yet it seems so effortless. I have yet to master this art, with my morning power walk to the station tending to leave me looking far less cool and with a massive stitch. It's my aim, in time, to get from the train to the tube in 4 minutes flat, with not a hair out of place and still possessing the ability to breathe.

One of the sights to be seen on public transport.

The downsides of using public transport are well documented but it is excellent for people watching, a luxury you don't get if you're driving. So far in the past week I've seen various lookalikes, including Matthew Kelly, my dissertation supervisor and Don Gilet. Another of my favourite activities is guessing people's professions: today I saw a Youth Worker (grown man wearing a back to front baseball cap) and Mancini's right-hand man (a fairly large man wearing a MCFC jacket). Both of which I feel are almost certainly correct. I'm hoping one day I see an actual celebrity or at least something interesting but in the meantime I'll stick to entertaining myself with these pointless activities. Or, maybe I'll actually remember my book in future!

Probably recommended by Richard and/or Judy.

London's Burning

Warning: the following post is my attempt at being an actual journalist. Feel free to stop reading now!

In Croydon, the mayhem of Monday night has been replaced by a strange silence. People are gathering by police cordons looking on at the rubble that were once buildings. The normally bustling streets are now empty of cars and shoppers, instead occupied by police and road sweepers, debris still littering the pavements. At Reeves Corner, the scene of the fire whose image has become synonymous with the riots, forensic officers are hard at work and behind the cordons cameras from the country’s media stand in a line.

Smoke could be seen from our road. 

The source of all the smoke.

On the tram home from my little excursion one passenger regaled the rest of the carriage with stories of looting, including how she saw a boy run down the street with a flat screen TV under each arm, bump into a lamppost and fall over, smashing the TVs. Karma?! But this sharing of stories shows that most people here, decent people, cannot understand the mindless criminality that took place in our town on Monday night. Obviously Croydon has a reputation for being a bit stabby and both my dad and I remarked earlier that day that it wouldn’t be long before Croydon got in on the act. However, I don't think anyone could have predicted that it would be to such a great extent. All a bit scary, really! Anyway, the clean up of Croydon has now begun, but it'll take a long time for the damage to be repaired. I'm hoping that the repairs miraculously turn the town into a place of beauty. Doubtful. So, instead I'll be trying to persuade my parents to move, preferably to Dorset where they can set up a little tea room - an idea inspired by a recent visit to the area with friends. 

The landlord of this pub was on Sky News and now has an appreciation society on Facebook. I think he's the man in blue.

In other news, today, when not pretending to be a journalist, I made a cheesecake! The recipe told me to put 900g of cream cheese in it, but that much cheese scared me so I made up my own recipe. Fortunately, it turned out nicely (surprisingly) and went down well at the weekly Buckley family dinner!

Slice of cheesecake - in case it wasn't already clear...

Hopefully my next post won't be quite as riot-y!

Careers, Crafts and Cakes!

This week I had my first interview for a proper grown-up job. Unfortunately the interview was different from what I had expected, lasting an hour and consisting of psychoanalysis tests and a numerical and verbal reasoning test. Seeing as I often do word games for fun it shouldn’t have been too difficult, however, it was. I think it’s probably safe to say that the job hunt continues. So, to save myself from spiralling out of control and into a pit of drinking, gambling and unsuitable men, which is apparently what happens to the unemployed (see Jeremy Kyle), I have been keeping myself busy with baking and making stuff in the hope that I stumble across something that I’m actually good at and can make a career out of. I've not yet found what that thing is but I'm confident it's only a matter of time...

Wall hangings: easily mistaken for the works of a 10 year old.

Luckily July is quite a big one for family birthdays so the cakes I've been making haven't been a complete waste. They have also prompted my sister to ask me to make her wedding cake. It's quite a compliment but I'm thinking that as it gets closer to the time she'll change her mind.

 An attempt at some manly looking blue cakes.

Anyway, fingers crossed I find a job soon because at this rate it won't be long till I'm obese.

Graduation

Since my last post I have moved home, decorated my room, embraced the daytime t.v watching lifestyle of an unemployed person and, most recently, graduated! If I’m honest graduation wasn’t really something I’d ever thought about until recently, which was maybe a bit stupid seeing as it was the whole point of going to University. Anyway, I can honestly say that Wednesday was one of the top 10 days of my life so far, at least. In the run up to the day I decided that in order to avoid nerves I’d treat it as though I was going to somebody’s wedding, which worked surprisingly well. All in all it was a lovely day and it was really nice to see friends again and to have all my family together, as I realised that the only time the 6 of us go out together nowadays tends to be for weddings and funerals...

Definitely adding Painter/Decorator Extraordinaire to my CV.

Even though the day marked the end of my formal education, I realised that the day was an education in itself. 

Things I learnt from Graduation Day:

• Throwing a mortarboard in the air is more fun than you’d imagine;
• My sisters are massive stalkers shown by their impressive knowledge of who everyone was without ever having met them;
• My sisters are shorter than they look in photos (according to one Mr Low);
• It is possible to get through a day without falling over or hurting myself in some way (I recently had a spate of kitchen related injuries, including potato peeler-ing my nail...);
• Not everyone appreciates being serenaded with ‘Lady in Red’;
• Along with ‘proud-parents’ there is such a thing as a ‘proud-friend’, i.e: me watching my friends go up and shake hands with the important looking man;
• Always take a younger sibling around to act as your own personal photographer - who needs Mario Testino?!
• Some of my lecturers still have no idea who I am;
• Smiling all day results in an achy jaw;
• With about 10 cameras taking photos at once it’s hard to decide where to look and somehow I never manage to look at the right one;
•  I’m never going to become a Doctor or Professor, purely because the outfit is ridiculous;
• There’s something about a middle-aged man wandering around in the rain that reminds me of Heathcliff wandering the moors;
• Applying for a job in Rochester based purely on the hope of meeting a Mr Rochester figure (minus the disfigurement) is not the best idea;
• Everything is much more exciting when you look like you’ve just stepped out of Hogwarts;
• And, It’s o.k to like Jim from The Apprentice again!

Out in force for Graduation.

 

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.

Lyon Memories

It's 51 weeks today since I left Lyon and ended my year abroad. As this time last year I was getting ready for a trip to Rome and enjoying my last days as an Erasmus student I can't help but compare it to my life at the moment which consists of revision and the odd trip to the gym.

So, in honour of my year abroad I thought I would share my top 5 Erasmus moments! I don't think photos can really do it justice but I'll give it a try:

The day we met Jesus at Fourvière.

Fête des lumières and celebrating surviving a trip on the Ferris Wheel of Death.

A night of broken chairs, show-tunes and shots.

Last night out with everyone. 

Trip to Rome!

Nostalgia beats revision every time!