Belgium, Leicester, Falmouth and York

Grab a hot drink or a light snack because this one's going to be a long one. You'll have noticed that I haven't told you about my life for a while, and it's not simply pure laziness as per, oh no, I've been plenty busy.

Main Square in Bruges

Let's pick up where we left off, in Belgium (oh, how often do you get to say that?) (by the way, if I overuse brackets you can blame Virginia Woolf; I finished Mrs Dalloway yesterday, and her style is rubbing off a bit - eek!) We arrived in Bruges at about midday, and I can tell you that city is not an easy place to park. Mum and I sat in the main square for a while whilst Joey and Dad went to go and pick up some stuff that she didn't need anymore, it was at this point that Mum started reading my copy of 'One Day', before I have finished it (more on that later). This is a pretty typical habit in my family, when we're only holiday my Dad is forever stealing the books that I'm in the middle off reading.

Just call me Miss Bennet

When father and sister reemerged we went for a horse and carriage ride around Bruges, it was great. Joey and I, the loser that we are, enjoyed pretending to be characters from Jane Austen books. Following the Elizabeth Bennet experience, we took Joey out for her first cooked meal in a week (!!!!!!) for which I had a beautiful spinach pasta and a lovely chocolate crepe. We sat outside, because one has to when one is abroad, but it got to be really windy. To the point that when the waiter came to take the plates from the table, Dad jumped in his seat because he thought the wind was blowing the crockery off. Yes... it was a brilliant moment. Then we dropped Joey off at her hostel and went home. Quick visit.

An adequately cringey awards evening photo!

The next big event was my trip to Leicester. My parents drove me up because it was my Alevel awards evening. It was a pretty surreal evening. There we were sat, in the wood-panelled great hall, the chosen few - well.. 200 out of 1000 students - each going up on stage for our 5 seconds of applause. It really did feel like the last remnants of the old boys grammar school, which is now a sixth form college. Social commentary aside, it was a really nice evening, I got to have a chat with my favorite teachers, whilst drinking champagne, in my school canteen - weird! The next few days at Sam's were nice as usual, with brilliant cooking from his Mum. I also went out for a drink with him and his friends. Next up was a night at Sammy's, we baked, if you know Sammy, this won't surprise you, she is a brilliant baker and cake decorator. She also took me to the pub on Saturday evening and Rothley Church on Sunday morning - hugs and catch up conversations all round! Sunday night was a visit to St Luke's Church, Thurnby and a trip to the pub - see a pattern emerging here? I stayed with Gina for a couple of days and she taught me how to knit! How brilliant is that? At St Luke's they're knitting dolls to send out to Africa. Clearly I wasn't going to have the ability to knit a doll in 2 days, so I started knitting a snood, which now looks as it it's still only about half complete.. I'll give you a picture when (if) it reaches completion. Being at Gina's was so nice, we sat around with wine, good TV and knitting needles. Tuesday was back to Sam's and before coming home I helped him move his stuff to his house in the city, for uni. Having also (sorta) helped Gina pack, I was getting plenty of practice. Sam and I were planning on going to see Jose Vanders at the Music Cafe... but we got too lazy so just went to the pub instead... Saturday was going home day, but before the train journey home, I dropped by orchestra. It was a little bit of a stressy rehearsal, which I remember well, but it was still nice to see everyone. It also made me remember how much I would miss not playing in an orchestra - so very determined to play in a university orchestra now!

Some awesome artwork in the Orange Tree in Loughborough

The day I got back from Leicester was the day Joey got back from Europe - got back from Oktoberfest in Munich, to be exact. It was a pretty stressful three days while she frantically got ready for going back to university. She totally monopolised the washing machine! Can you see it coming? If you can't then you don't know me well enough (given that this is the internet you can be forgiven). We did there and back to Falmouth in a day. Yes we are crazy, six hours each way. On the way we saw a brilliant view of Stonehenge looking like it was floating on clouds because of really low to the ground fog. I use the word 'saw' incredibly loosely as I had just woken up and wasn't wearing my glasses. So we dropped Joey off at her beautiful seaside resort terrace house and fed her lunch (more patterns...) before turning right back around and going home, without stopping off at a Harry Ramsdens for nice and English fish and chips.

The next day I got a 6.30am train York-bound. Why is that? For a 'job interview' that I could have done by email, and to see my house which, let's just say, needle and haystack. The train home was also really delayed so I had to run through the underground at 9pm, after walking around in my cowboy boots all day. Yey blister. That's pretty much all I have to say about September 30th 2011. Oh, it was Sam's birthday, I sent him a little DIY aeroplane model in the post :)

So we've been to Belgium and all over England and we've arrived at this week. It's been a pretty nice week, just packing, reading and doing 'cello and piano practise. I've now finished packing... have a picture of the ridiculous amount of stuff I am taking with me.

add a 'cello, a bike and a wetsuit to this equation...

I mentioned earlier that I would mention 'One Day' again. Those of you who are loyal and have a brilliant memory will remember that in my last post I promised an imminent book review. Well, shame on me, I left my copy, about five pages from completion, at Sam's house. 'You left Sam's house ages ago!' I hear you... I do. Sam just has a poor memory and has yet to mail it to me, so feel free to blame him... or me.

That's all for me tonight. I might post again before I go to York, or else it will be on the night I arrive, depending on how chatty my housemates feel on a Sunday evening.
Hope you've been well! xo