Excuses, excuses!

Well, you know they're coming, in response to the terribly long time it's taken me to update. Ah heck, you know what? I'm not even gonna bother. I haven't had much to say, hence the lack of updatingness that's gone on, or hasn't gone on, on these pages.

I've been run off my feet trying to organise this law conversion. It's amazing how many phonecalls you have to make, how many forms to fill in, and all to give these people £8000 of your money to let you attend. What's with that? Very rarely do I beg to let me give someone more money than I currently have! But beg I shall. And i'm really looking forward to it. I've decided that i'm applying to Brookes, who's rated 4th best in the country, and Nottingham/Caplin law school in London rated top, then BPP in London, which is second or third, I can't remember which. I don't know whether to go full time or part time The full time is extremely hard, and i'm worried that because of the workload, my marks would be less than what they could otherwise be if I had more time. The problem with the part times in London though is that they get less teaching time than the full times, so in that way, my marks could also be compromised. I need to really consider this, and i'm considering applying for full time and part time and then just going for the one that accepts me.

So, that's what i've done all week. Admin, boring old form filling and telephoning. I spent most of yesterday being told that law firms wouldn't give me a work experience placement because all their places were full. I'd left it too late to apply. So i'll have to hope that that won't matter on the application, even though I suspect it will.

On Saturday I was teaching again, but I got a treat this time. One of my students is trained in Hopi Ear Candling, so I got her to give me a treatment. It was great. Imagine a tube of linen that's slightly tapered at one end. It's all coated in bees wax and the tapered end goes in your ear. As it burns, the warm air travels down into your ear, heating all the wax and junk that's in there. When it's soft and pliable, the candle acts kind of like a chimney and draws it all out. Now, I was dubious, I truly was, but it made a noticeable difference to my hearing. My right ear's terrible. I can't watch TV lying on my left side, because I have real trouble trying to make out what they're saying. On saturday night, this posed no problem at all. Apparently you need the treatments pretty frequently to begin with, to make the effects last, which is a real pity. It's something i'll definitely explore though.

And that's it. See why I left it so long to update? There's nothing really noteworthy happening at the moment. On Thursday, i'm going up to see mum for her birthday. I've ordered her present. Saw the perfect thing on Saturday, so now I just have to hope it's delivered on time. Knowing my luck with couriers, it'll come about 1 minute after i've left to catch the bus to see her. And no mum, I will not tell you what it is! Except that it's squidgy, yet, it's hard. Hah haha, I love driving her mad with wondering!

and, with that philosophical thought in mind, i'm off to eat chocolate!

Change ahoy!

Yep, that's right, you heard it here first! Carly has decided that it's time to change.

It's time to change from being a physio to being a hard nosed lawyer/barrister. Why, you ask, is this now so final? Well, let me tell you.

I went to Bath on Tuesday for that interview, which, as usual, meant hours of travelling in crappy weather, plus the expense of the journey, plus having to deal with a moody mutt who huffed because, "Rain makes my hair all wavey!" I got there, as usual, a little early. The interview was scheduled for quarter past 1. When half past had came and went, I naturally started to get a little concerned. But i was told to sit down and relax; they were running late. Wonderful. So I have someone waiting to give me a lift home, and they're already 15 minutes late. My interviews take ages as well, because of all the questions they like to ask about "how do you manage your working day, being blind and all."

So, I went in, did the interview, and came out thinking i'd done all right. They said there were 3 candidates after me, but that they would let me know by the end of the day. The phone call came less than an hour later. Quite frankly, I was surprised. They'd managed to interview 3 inside an hour, when the normal interview lasts half an hour, and when the next candidate hadn't even arrived by the time i'd left? Oh, and what's that? You had lunch as well? Hmmmm, I smell a rat, I do.

They gave me feedback, and you know the only reason I didn't get that job? Because I said that osteophytes result from rumatoid arthritis, and they felt they were more commonly associated with Osteoarthritis than Rheumatoid. Um, hello, they occur in both conditions! I also have a sneaking suspicion that I was prevented from doing a practical element of the interview. I heard one of the pannel tell the candidate before me to go across to out-patients and sign in there, but was I told to do it? Of course not!

So, i've had it. I know that the main reason i'm not getting jobs is because of the blindness. ok, I don't know it for sure, but i'm pretty damn sure it has a huge sway. That's the sixth interview that's given me an idiotic reason for my not getting the job. Friends have told me to fight it, to cry descrimination, to raise hell. But to be honest, I can't be bothered. How can you prove discrimination when the pannel insist they found someone better able to meet the needs of the post? how can you prove that they're nit-picking at everything to find the smallest of reasons why you shouldn't have the job? You can't, so I refuse to go there. I don't want to be seen as a whiner, in any case.

So i've done something about it.

This morning, I went on the Law Society's website, and got some really good information about courses. I didn't know it, but apparently you can do a conversion course inside a year, which enables you to practice law just as though you'd done a degree. The work's very hard, it's self funded, and Oxford don't offer the course which is a pity. But, the application deadline isn't until February, which means that I could potentially be starting in September. Or, I wait, hope that Oxford has clearing for law, put in an application, and start in September to complete a 2 year degree. This gives me a second BA to my name, and it means I can get a student loan to fund it. But it does take two years instead of 1, and there's the potential that I might not be able to start until 2010.

After the academic side, you have to train for 2 years on a practical level. The Barr course is so, so expensive, and competition is apparently fierce, but really, i'd want to be a barrister rather than a solicitor. That decision's at least 18 months off though, so i'm not worrying about it yet.

I've started the application to be accepted on the 1 year CPE/GDL course, but will apply to Oxford as well. So there you go. I've done it. And you know what? I'm happier today than I have been in months. Again, I have a chance to prove i'm not a failure. In the meantime, i'll keep applying for physio jobs, but only the ones I really want, instead of taking anything and everything that pops up. Law, here we come!

Things are looking up

Sorry there hasn't been an update in ages, but, to be honest, I just needed some 'me' time, and blog updates aren't as important as that. Well, i'm back on track at last. I've been able to reconcile last week and move on. The Birmingham people phoned me on Friday to tell me I hadn't got the job either, but i expected it, given that even their shortlist consisted of 64 interview candidates.

I've started planning for the future though. Yes, I want to work as a physio, I truly do, but to be brutally honest with you, and myself, I don't see it happening, not in the NHS anyway. I think, given the competition, that someone at a disadvantage is never ever ever going to be chosen for employment, given the many hundreds they can take their pick from. So i'm once again looking into law. Yep, it's a bit of a change I know, but at least then i'd have a good excuse to argue! I've considered law for years. It was either medical or law, right the way through school, but medical was my first love so it won out. I've decided that I will keep applying for jobs, but that i'm also putting in my UCAS form for 2010 to go back and study. I'm gutted. I've just missed the deadline for this years' application, so i'll have to wait. Oxford has offered me a fast track degree, so i can do law in 2 years, rather than 3. Sounds good to me.

I've spent a manic weekend as well. on Friday, I had to leg it to the bank to deposit money for my laptop before it closed. Then Saturday was given over to JP's mum's birthday. She'd booked a 'surprise trip', and wouldn't tell any of us where we were going. Now, it was an interesting day... Yes, interesting is the only word which quite sums it up. What with her sons and daughters, their partners and their kids, there was 11 of us going on a train. Had she reserved seats? of course not. Was the train back travelling during the commuter time rush? of course it was! So, we got split up, but all of us managed to get on the train, even if Molly did try and perform an acrobatic leap of at least 20 feet to follow the kids onto a different carriage. She was still attached to her lead, so you can imagine how funny it was. Heh, I nearly fell, and then, because the lead snapped her back, she thought i'd given her a correction. That resulted in a strop which lasted for most of the morning. She wouldn't look at any of us, and it was like dragging a suitcase. Ie, trying to make her walk alongside us resulted in an ongoing tug of war, with her standing still at one end of the lead, and me heaving with all my might on the other end.

When we'd got to Birmingham, mummy, as she shall be called to preserve anonymity, gathered all of us around her, and, with much holding of breath and dramatic pauses, announced that we all were going to......... Sea World! Can you imagine my excitement? Wow! I was going to a place full of fish! What? I can't see them? I won't enjoy myself? oh, don't be silly. Of course i'll enjoy walking through a very dark area, touching the odd bit of glass, imagining the water and fish behind it, and struggling to get through the place because it's too dark for my almost blind friend to see properly. Yep, I can't imagine a better way to spend my Saturday! I said nothing though. At the end of the day, it was her birthday, and, if she enjoyed it, I was definitely going to pretend that I did! After 3 and a half hours though, the plastic smile was really starting to make my jaws ache, and I couldn't think of any more ways to say how interesting everything was. Thankfully, at that point, we left.

Left, to walk along a canal and find a 'hand made burger' place. Well, the burgers were so hand made that they couldn't give me one that didn't have salad on it. "Oh, they're already made up, and there's no button on the till to tell them to give you one without salad." The burgers too were, erm, interesting. The charcoal tasted great. The chips were gorgeous though. So then, after the lovely food, it was time to walk, or should that be swim, to the train station. The rain was fierce, but, thankfully, we didn't get lost on the way. I was petrified though. We walked along the canal and, in some places, the streets are very, very narrow. I was walking on the side of the canal, with a fella who was struggling to see. i swear, I had visions of me having to choke up from the depths, raincoat only slightly more wet than it already was, to return to my walk. Thankfully, it didn't happen though.

Having got to the train station, we even found the right platform; no mean feat in Birmingham New Street's huuuuge railway station. When the train turned up, mummy seemed surprised that it was so packed that we could barely stand, never mind sit. Most of them did end up in seats though, but me, JP and his little nephew ended up in first class. Nobody would move from the disabled areas, so I just thought, "Oh, sod it. The dog's been stood on too many times already. Let's go and live the good life!" Even first class didn't have enough seats for us all, but Molly thought this was great. She had floor company, in the form of JP's nephew. poor lad. In the end, Molly was sprawled half across his lap, and half on the floor. All sulking had disappeared. I guess that the importunings for tummy tickles were dealt with in a manner she found highly appropriate.

Mummy invited us round to her house for drinking, but, after a half an hour's wait, then a bus journey, all in the cold, my back was aching so bad that I just told her flat out, i wasn't going. I don't think I could have pretended for much longer anyway.

Yesterday, as JP isn't going to be here on the day of her birthday due to work, we took her to a Chinese restaurant. The food was gorgeous, and, wonder of wonders, I didn't come home with various different coloured sauce-juice-rice stains liberally adorning my rather nice blouse. I slept like a trooper last night too. Couldn't even keep it together until 9 o'clock. Oh dear, oh dear, i'm getting old!

This morning started in the usual way. Up by 8, feed the beast, job hunt, then pass time until the next job hunt. I have an interview in Bath tomorrow, so we'll see if they surprise me by even considering me for the job.

I've had enough

I truly have. I hate job hunting with a passion. You're gonna get no humor from me today, just a healthy big dose of good old cynicism.

You remember that job I said I loved so much? The one where the staff seemed to really gel with me? The one I was almost certain to get? Surprise, surprise. I didn't get it. What was the reason? Well, as usual, there was none given, other than that, "Oh, it was a strong field, and unfortunately, we felt that another fitted the needs of the post better than you." Do you know how sick I am of hearing that? I'm bone weary of it. I'm so disappointed in fact, that I feel physically ill. How much more of this can I take? How many more rejections, before I throw my hands up in the air and say, "Right, that's it. I've had enough." Will tomorrow's rejection from Birmingham be the straw that breaks the camel's back? I'm frightened now. I don't want to not work. I don't want to give up wanting to look for jobs. But today, right now, I just feel so useless. I feel as though the whole effort of job hunting is just so fruitless, so pointless. Why keep putting myself out there, psyching myself up, when each and every time i'm bound to fail? Why do it, when it's wrecking my self-confidence? 5 interviews now. I've had 5, and all bar one haven't even bothered to give me a good reason why they're not employing. I'm very near that, "I've had enough," point, and it's scaring me.

Birmingham went well, although that means nothing, right? They said they'd let me know before the end of the week, but, as they're interviewing 64 candidates over 2 days, i'm not holding my breath while i wait to be offered the job... I don't want to suffocate.

That's it for today. Enjoy my depression... I'm not.

Update, at last!

Well, i'm disillusioned with the whole blog thing, mainly because I never seem to have time to update any more, but also because I don't know if anyone's even bothering to read it. I hope someone is... occasionally even would be good!

It's been that long since I updated that I can't remember half of what i'm supposed to tell you. I managed to get a lift part of the way home from London on Friday though, which was nice. I was still really really tired at that point, and everything was getting to me. I was fed up, tired of running around, sickk of being in the red with the bank, and really worried about my Granny, who's really not well at the minute. of course, because I was tired, everything was magnified right out of proportion. I came home, got dinner, did my job hunt on the computer, and then just forced myself to get into bed. It took ages, but eventually I did sleep, and got about 6 or 7 hours uninterrupted. Of course, that meant I slept fitfully for the rest of the night, but i didn't mind it so much.

I don't have a clue what I did on Saturday. I can't remember at all, but i suspect most of it was spent prepping for the job interview I had coming. on Sunday, I had to travel down there. Thankfully, that friend of mine had agreed to be my PA for the interview, which was great, because there was a practical element. So we travelled down together, and spent a night in the greatest of hotels, commonly known as the Travel Lodge. If you've ever stayed there, you'll know how special it is! A word to the wise though. The Little Chef, at 9 o'clock is not to be tampered with. It really doesn't go down well as a late night dinner, and it's so expensive too! Cost us £23 for scampy and chips and chicken and chips. What a rip off!

Monday was great though. I got up really early so that i'd be awake and ready for the day. Putting on my old tracksuit bottoms and chavvy white polo shirt was such a blast from the past though. I never thought i'd wear my uni clothes in propper practice, but here I was, on the way to an interview, dressed in clothes that are actually super comfortable.

As soon as I got there I knew i'd love the place. People are usually really snooty when I rock up with the dog and a suitcase or small rucksack. Thing is though, when you travel with a hound, you can't travel light. You've got to bring food, bowls for food and water, and even a bed for her, if we're staying out all night. But these folk were great. They didn't mention the case, other than to commiserate on how much I had to carry. They even took Molly, and spoiled her rotten all day while I was working with the kids.

So, dog-less, suitcase-less, and with one more assistant than i'd had a minute before, I went to begin my interview. There were four of us being interviewed that day, with more to come the day after. I'd been allocated the second youngest group of kids, who were all around the age of 5. This is my favourite age to work with them at, so I was more than pleased. Any younger, and they're moody and difficult to handle. Much older, and they start to wonder why I have to touch them so much, when the other therapists don't. This leads to lengthy explannations of, "My eyes are broke. It happened in my mummy's tummy." But of course, the 'why' questions never stop there, do they? I went in when they were doing a task series; a programme of activities designed to give them transferrable movement skills that they can use elsewhere. Yesterday, we were looking at going to the doctor, and they were practicing getting on and off the bed, pulling themselves into different positions, rolling and that sort of thing. We also got used to showing the doctor our tummies, and working out that it wasn't scary to get touched there. In fact, sometimes it was quite nice, as my little boy thought when i tickled him. He was super cute, actually. He had one of those very infectious baby laughs, and the most gorgeous fat little belly, just right for tickling. He also sang with gusto, which was great, as not many of the other kids could sing, due to the effects of the CP.

Once they were done, I had a quick tour of the school, and then it was back to the group to help with an English lesson. This involved teaching one of the girls how to use switches to access a computer. The computer systems available are so complex now. There's one that even tracks the direction your eyes are looking, so you don't need to toggle switches or anything. this set up was very simple; a switch for cycling through choices, and another for selecting the one you wanted. But the therapy centred around getting the movement coordinated and precise enough to use the system properly. She was a smart one, grasping the concept behind the switches very, very quickly. But, sad to say, I missed the end of the story about Daisy and her pet dinosaur, Thingy. How gutted was I when I had to grab a quick lunch before my interview! Lasagne, or Daisy? Oh, the difficulty of the choice!

We got free lunches. Apparently, it's a perk of being staff or a guest that you get free hot food. Good system, I say! After eating quickly, I ran down and got changed in the changing room set aside for us, namely the disabled toilet in reception. Thankfully though, there wasn't the usual wee puddle on the floor, so I changed into decent interview clothes without fear of contamination from nuclear spillages.

The interview went so well. I had them all laughing, and even agreeing with my philosophy behind work. Honestly, if I don't get the job, there's nothing I can specifically point out that caused the failure. The staff liked me, the kids liked me, and the therapists were comfortable enough to just leave me with a child to get on with their lesson. That, to me, speaks volumes.

I was a bit naughty though. I came out of the interview and got chatting to the next one to go in, who was very, very nervous. i said things like, "oh, don't worry about it. They're all really nice. You've got the principle and the vice principle, the head of the physio department, and the head of another department. They're all very influential people, but honestly, don't worry!" and, "Oh, rest easy. The questions are really easy. *pause for thought*. Ok, so most of them are easy, but you'll manage. Oh, what's that you say? your mind goes blank at a difficult question? Honestly, most of them are fine. There's only the odd stonking one." Oh, aren't I bad!

I felt a bit guilty for it as I left, but if I can sabotage one interview, that's one less candidate I have to worry about. They seemed to really like me though, so, as I said, i'm hopeful.

Took me 4 and a half hours to get home, and by the time i'd got in, all I wanted was sleep. I threw some chips in the oven, then discovered that Tesco thick cut chips are too horrible to be enjoyed. I ate a couple, then did a job hunt, and went to bed.

This morning was spent getting ready for the interview in Birmingham tomorrow. A friend who worked there a while back says it's a really really good hospital, so now I just have to hope that things go as well tomorrow as they went yesterday. Wish me luck!

The morning after

Is just as tiring as the night before, actually. I'm shattered today, truly shattered. I haven't slept properly in about a week now, and it's really telling on me. I'm hoping that i'll eventually get so tired that I just have to sleep, and sleep it out.

So, what did I do yesterday? I started by being awake at 6, as per usual, and feeling super tired without being able to sleep. Why, I ask you! I dragged myself up, went downstairs, and nearly caused my dear, OLD, dad to die suddenly of a heart attack. He's convinced I don't get up early, even though I do. I think he thinks i'm still one of those teens who lies in bed all day long. So, after we'd resussed him (don't panic, it was my mum giving the mouth to mouth. I'm not quite that far gone yet), I threw myself in the shower, and then multitasked by feeding dogs, packing bags and dressing self all at the same time. Aren't I clever?

My new laptop is so yummy! Honestly it is. It's so great to be able to have a laptop that's small and light enough to hold in one hand! But i'm off on a tangent. Sorry, it was packing bags that made me remember how much i'm in love with it.

Mum had a client assessment to do, so I thought i'd come along and watch. It was interesting, actually, even if the travelling did take up the better part of the day. But it's nice to travel with someone you can talk to, and who buys you lunch!

She left me though, abandoned me on a tube station platform as she had done before, many many years ago. Ok, it was a tube, not the platform. And there is a story behind the abandonment comment which, if you have a sick sense of humor like us, is very, very funny. We once told this tube guy that i'd got off the tube too early, as a young child. Mum's blind too, so it was understandable that she searched for, and couldn't find me. So she left me and went on home.

Tube guy: So how did you find each other again?
Me: Oh, we just bumped into each other, literally, when I was 16. Funnily enough, it was on a tube platform!

We found it so amusing because he actually believed us. I mean, who in their right mind would believe that tale? But it seems, if you're blind, that in the eyes of Joe Public, you're beyond falsehood. You're just to innocent, too perfect, too crippled to lie! No disabled person knows how to fib now, do they! It's fun to push things to the boundary of believeableness though, and actually, this one started out as a gentle tease of the man. i cant remember what he asked initially, but the story kind of made itself up after that.

Anyway, i'm off on a tangent again. After i'd been cruelly abandoned, for the second time I might add, I trailed my miserable self across London to Andy's rather large flat in a scummy old student halls block of even scummier, and very tiny, rooms. He's the warden, so he gets it posh, you know. It was fun catching up with him, even though he's a man, and therefore slightly more uninteresting than the fairer sex. I made allowances, though. He even fed me! Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, a man fed a woman without being asked... more than twice... And it was kebab he fed me, cooked by his own fair hand. Hmmmm, i'll amend that. i don't like lying to you, dear reader. He brought it, with his own fair hand, from the car of the delivery driver. He even put it on a plate! Now, who needs more in life when you have a man like that?

Of course, becuase he talked so much, we were about 15 minutes late starting our broadcast. what! It's a known fact that men talk too much! and no, I do not have shifty eyes, nor was I hurriedly gulping down the last bit of kebab as we went on air. So no, it wasn't my fault we were late!

We had tuns of requests in though, and MSN was absolutely crazy all night. It was such good fun. I'd like to do it more often, and perhaps I just will. Even my mum, the oldie, said she enjoyed it. But then, who wouldn't when we're both making absolute idiots out of ourselves, trying to impersonate an intellectually challenged brummy?

At 1, we were finished, and about half an hour after, I flaked and begged for bed. But we sat talking for ages and ages, and, you know when you get so tired that everything seems funny and you laugh hysterically even if someone says hello? I was in that head space for about half an hour last night. Everything, and I mean everything was just so hugely amusing! My belly hurts this morning.

I eventually fell asleep, only to be woken by the sounds of water, and brushing! I still haven't worked out what it was, but I think it might have been someone cleaning the side wall of the building. After that, I just couldn't settle back to sleep again, hence the reason i'm killing time whilst writing this post. It's all quiet, apart from the dogs not being able to decide whether they want to keep me company, or try to pester the still sleeping Andy. The quiet is also shattered by the occasional snorting snore from next door. Anyway, I suppose I should go feed the beasts. They're girning for it. So, see you next time.

Tired

I don't seem to be anything other than tired lately. It's doing my head in, actually for, as well as being tired, I can't seem to sleep at night. I'm sitting here, in my mum's house. It's not even 10 at night, and already i'm almost weeping for my bed. Isn't that pathetic? I must be getting old, and I don't like it!

So, what of me? What have I been up to, you might wonder? If you're pondering this, then I think you have too much time on your hands, but i'll tell you anyway.


Monday started with me in a bath robe, feeling tousled and sleepy, having been woken at an unearthly hour of the morning by the combination of my very noisy friend leaving for work, and Molly kangaroo bouncing all over him to tell him how desperately she wanted to go too. The tail was the thing that woke me, slapping off the wall of the bedroom with enough force to make a small area of Oxfordshire wonder if they were experiencing a minor earthquake. I didn't kill dog or man, for which fact I still hold quiet pride. I even smiled a good morning as I grunted something about sleep and me going well together. As I sat there in my robe, wishing, with head in hands, for a return of the blissful silence, the bombshell hit. The courier was coming with the laptop. Great, so now I have to get dressed.

With much grumbling about the necessity, i complied with the urgings of my subconscious which focused on things like, "You don't want to open the door in a robe," and, "Really, it's too cold to flash your legs at the neighbours when you take in your parcel." Jeans and a T-shirt quickly put paid to these notions, and i was able to relax... For a long, long time! At 3, I considered calling them, and, as usual, as soon as I picked up the phone, unleashed my temper, and got all worked up for a good, cracking, satisfying shouting match with the same customer services rep, the door went. Yep, it was my laptop.

It's lovely actually, even though, due to its size, it takes a little extra care to type on. It's an MSI Wind, and it's scrummy. Light, shiny, and with a running temperature of less than blistering proportions, it was my instant love. We're so attached. It's even on my lap, right now, cuddling nicely as I type. Wait, am I allowed to say that it's on my lap? PG ratings, PG ratings! And cuddling? How rude!


I was supposed to pack a bag to go up to my mum's on Monday, but, as usual, I procrastonated until I couldn't face it. Instead, I was up at 7 this morning, and in the bath. It was even too early to sing songs like Mamma mia, shock horror. I'd been a bit of a scaredy cat the night before, so I kept the TV on so that i wasn't too scared to sleep. Yes, I know i'm an idiot. But the end result was that i didn't get much sleep at all. I then packed a bag in record time, and was so pleased to realise that my now tiny tiny light laptop would fit in a small rucksack with the rest of my clothes. Bliss! I hightailed it off to the train station then. Well, that was the intention, but Molly saw to it that it didn't work! I was late for the bus, and arrived, as usual, just as it sailed past me. So I stood, waiting on the next one for far too long. On the way to the station, there's 4 roads we have to cross. Usually, Molly's so good at finding the poles of the traffic lights for me, but today? "Oh, oh, oh, there's a person watching me! Oh, and they've even made eye contact. That must mean i'm gonna get a fuss, right? now, let''s just forget about this silly old pole, eh? It doesn't stroke me, and it doesn't smell even a little bit like food. Yes, let's turn so that I can look at the person while SHE thinks i'm trying hard to find the pole. If i wag a little too, SHE'll think i'm trying real hard, and won't even shout at me! What? I'm facing the wrong way? Well of course I am! I don't want to go to the train station, stupid."

We got there in the end, but it took a lot of bullying from me, and huffing from her in the meantime. instead of finding the help desk, we sailed straight to the barriers, which really didn't help, as the train was in and i needed to let the help desk know i'd need met at Paddington. I begged help off a random member of staff, and made that train by the skin of my teeth, with much cursing of dogs and their mood swings. The trip through London was uneventful, and surprisingly smoothe. Met up with my mum, and a few friends of ours for lunch and we ended up having a huge philosophical conversation which dealt with light matters such as: the validity of religion, is maths a belief system, can the belief behind science be compared with that of religion, and other such usual lunch time ramblings. Then the dogs went to the park. Molly was a silly, yet again. She wouldn't pick up a ball that mum chucked for her, regardless of how much coaxing I gave. After we'd lost the second, i gave up on that game.

Then it was time to find coffee. My mum's a coffee adict, and there's a helth shop that does a nice blend, apparently. We got lost a couple of times but, being the nice daughter that I am, I didn't even complain! After that, it was a trip home on the tube, then a dinner of gorgeous macaroni and chicken in a white sauce. I'm still stuffed.

And now, to finish, some exciting news! I'm going to be on Andy's radio show on Thursday night from 10. I expect you all not only to listen, but to add thestudio@smogradio.net to your IMs, and write in to pester me while I enjoy my 3 hours of fame! Yes folks, get ready to ask for my autograph. You can find the show at www.smogradio.net

I'm too tired to write more, so i'm off for a sleep. Catch you later.