The boys and the kids

Darcy and Joe

I dropped the boys off at Heathrow this morning at 7. We had three excellent days. They took me out for a meal at a nice restaurant on Saturday and Rachel made Sunday lunch for us. She does a killer leg of lamb and it was delicious. Charlie showed D&J his camp in the woods and demonstrated starting a fire with a flint. Darcy captured it and much else on his digital video camera (new toy). On Monday we went to Buckingham Palace. Talk about bling. Everything glittered and shone. The state dining room was quite magnificent. I got tearful because it reminded me of the wonderful dinners I used to go to in Washington. I wouldn't like to live that way but it is great fun to get dressed up and go to a grand dinner every so often. We came back from London at 7pm and went straight to the fish and chip shop for a down-to-earth supper. The boys are off to Africa tomorrow and will doubtless have lots of movies of them snuggling up to gorillas.

Change of Plan

It wasn't just Nancy shooting me down; I had a couple of serious talks with other people who know what I was about to attempt. Also, and more importantly, I was becoming very stressed and anxious about trying to apply to Oxford in less than a month. Ergo, I have decided to change from the one year full time history course to the two year part time course. This will give me a full year to get some history 'under my belt' and to see if I really want to be a serious student for the next umpty dump years. I still start on the 29th but at Rewley House instead of Ruskin. I feel much calmer and I'm looking forward to a visit with Darcy and Joe who are coming to Oxford tomorrow.

Reality

Nancy came for coffee this morning and burst my bubble. I have been fantasizing about applying to Oxford and being accepted. She calmly asked me which Universities I would be putting on my application. Of course, I said, "Oxford". She looked at me like I had lost my mind and said that I had to name four different places and that my chances of being accepted at Oxford are nil to 1%. I know she's right but I didn't like hearing it. I'm going to go ahead anyway. I start my course at Ruskin this week. I have also been accepted to do a foundation course at OUDCE but I will stick with Ruskin because they got to me first and theirs is a one year, full time course. The other one is two years part time. Now I have to start preparing my UCAS application and practising for the HAT (history aptitude test). I shall soldier on and hope for the best.

Perioral Dermatitis

I have been developing an unsightly rash around my mouth so I went to see the doctor on Friday. I thought he would tell me to go away and to stop wasting his time. He's so sweet, he took it seriously and diagnosed Perioral Dermatitis. Of course the cause is unknown and there is really no cure. I have to stop using make-up, face creams of any sort, and I can't wash my face with soap, only plain water. I think I will get used to it but my face feels like sandpaper today. I'm so used to a bevy of creams and lotions to moisturise myself.

Away from home

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I’m in Brighton with the girls and the Fox. I love being here. It is restful and fun. The baby continues to be a real charmer and his Mums continue to be devoted to him in a sensible way. We went into town this morning. We had lunch then we came home. I realize it doesn’t sound very exciting but it is exactly what I need. I go home tomorrow and I have various events to get ready for. Nothing too strenuous but, nevertheless, plans to be made and jobs to be done. I’m having the Saturday morning Coffee Soiree at my house next week so I have to do something about the state of my patio. It is covered in weeds and moss and crud. I left the table out for weeks (in the rain) and it is disintegrating which isn’t attractive. It started life as an indoor wooden table so it’s not surprising.ere hhhhhhh

Writing

I gave my serious piece of writing to Nigel last evening and he returned comments today. Lovely, lovely man thought it was just fine and that I would do okay in my new career as student. Zoe, Nancy, Nigel and I went to dinner last night at Gee's restaurant. It was my way of saying thank you to Nancy and Nigel for writing references that helped me into Ruskin. I was thanking Zoe for putting me up for a week when the children were here. I like having a bolt hole in a listed house.

Something to do with my new life

Nigel rang me up last week to suggest that there is no time like the present to start learning to write in a serious, academic way. My inner hedonist said, "Uh, oh" but the new me agreed with him so he set me a little task. I'm finding that it is quite different trying to write seriously with book based evidence than just churning out a blog or a story. I've been reading about Anglo-Saxons so he suggested writing a short piece about them and relating it in some way to the present day. It has taken days but I'm finally finished and I shall give it to him today. I'm still waiting to hear from Ruskin as to whether I will have to pay fees for my course in the autumn.

We are suffering the final days of August. It has been wet and cold. The cold I don't mind but the rain is only good for keeping me out of the garden by necessity rather than choice. The new border that Judith planted is coming along very well. Because it is a herbaceous border, it won't come into its own until next year. I did manage to mow half the lawn but it grew back again before I could get to the second half. I have finally got a date for the fence - 8th Sept. I'm going down to Brighton on Thursday to see Harry. Oh, Alison and Sian as well.

Family Reunion

Here we are, the happy fifteen. Starting at the top from L to R we have - Charlie Gee, Jane Hacking, Alison Pike, Harry, Sian Williams, Rachel Gee, Catherine Foglesong, Queen Mother holding Rosie, Chloe Gee, Michelle Hacking, Charlie Gee (the younger) Sam Foglesong, Adam Gee and Daniel Hacking holding Olivia.

It was a wonderful week. Sometimes these things have lots of hiccups and bumps but we rubbed along pretty well. This picture was taken by a photographer whom I hired to take good family pictures and it was worth it. We celebrated Sam's birthday that day. He was 12. On the Friday we hired a minibus and driver to take us out for the day. It could have been a complete disaster because it happened to be the day that 150,000 people were converging on Blenheim Palace for a game show. Our driver picked up the Headington contingent at 9:30 at the Black Boy and an hour and a half later we arrived at the farm for the others (usually a 20 minute journey). Then we tried to head off for Stratford. Fortunately, Phillip, the driver, new the back roads but it hardly helped because so did everyone else. It was 11:45 and we were no where near Stratford so we stopped in Bourton-on-the-Water for our picnic lunch. We let the kids go wild for half an hour then reboarded. It was clear that our time was running short so we dumped Stratford and headed straight for Warwick Castle. This was smart because it is an excellent place for children. It's kind of like Walt Disney meets Simon de Montfort (sorry, I couldn't resist that). They fired off the final trebuchet (look it up) at 5:30 and we collected ourselves and climbed back on the bus. We left Warwick just before 6 and got home 2 hours later. Daniel figured out that the amount of time we were on the bus, we could have flown to New York. You might think that everyone would have been feeling miserable and rotten but not a bit of it. There were no fights and no crying babies. We all decided after the event that it was a great day that we would always remember because of its quirkiness. We came home and gobbled up a takeaway and fell into bed. Alison and Sian left the next day and Daniel and Michelle a few days later. I had Jane's company for the rest of the week - a big plus. She was able to come to Nigel's and to the Book Club.

Outcome

Whatever I did on Monday it seems to have worked. I had a letter from Ruskin on Thursday accepting me for their one year access course for a history degree. I don't know whether it was the outfit, my babbling about Anglo Saxons or my overall air of intelligence and determination but they are having me. Needless to say, I am tickled pink. It was nice that all the children were here because we settled down with family and a few friends and we celebrated. I owe a lot to Nancy and Nigel both of whom wrote references for me which I'm sure played a big part in the acceptance. The only possible hitch now is finances. If I can tell them I have been resident for three years, I pay very little. If I can't say or prove that, it will cost a great deal for this first year. I don't know how much but when I asked the people who were interviewing me for a ballpark figure, all they would say was, "It's prohibitive."