I'm going to the Mall. Can I borrow your credit card? I'll take good care of it.

A Lovely Weekend

I had a dinner party on Friday which was very successful then Alison, Sian and Harry turned up on Saturday for the weekend. Alison dropped Sian and Harry off with me and then went to the farm to get Rosie. Charlie was having his birthday party (23 guests from 3 different schools) and it seemed advisable to get Rosie out from under. She and Harry played together. Actually I think it is called parallel play. It's like an old married couple, each doing her own thing but in the same room. They had tea together (I have two highchairs) and then they had a bath. Rosie walks now but Harry is still at the crawling stage. Alison took Rosie home and the three of us crashed in front of X Factor. The girls were glad to see Daniel voted off but I would have liked to lose JLS. On Sunday everyone came to me for lunch. We had Ikea meatballs and they were a great success. I was going to serve them on Friday evening but Rachel said I would be hounded out of the neighbourhood club so I desisted. Everyone left after lunch and I fell asleep. On Monday I finished my second essay so I'm feeling pretty good except when I think about having to start immediately on the next one so that it will be done before I come to LA next month.

The grind goes on

I had my tutorial this afternoon and it was disappointing. Not because she said anything bad. It was just rather flat although I did get a few hints for the next essay which will be useful. The amount of work I am having to do for this course is quite overpowering. I used to hang out in coffee shops and M&S; now I hang out in libraries. I have to keep reminding myself that it's all good and something that I wanted to do. I have a stack of books on bloody Napoleon and his effect on Spain and Austria (next essay subject) which I have to read and turn into a lucid argument. Ha Ha. I have to stop myself from writing things like, "then he took troops to Spain where another 4 or 5 thousand young men died in a muddy field." Maybe I should have done Sociology. Military history sucks. We don't get out of Europe and back into England until February and then it's the Tudors who shed a fair amount of blood. Why can't we study a nice king like Edward II who was a sweet, gay boy. He did die a horrible death at the command of his homophobic mother and her boyfriend but his son had revenge on his behalf.