March has been a monster month, yet I have little recollection of what went on other that the odd curry, a lot of gardening and a very exciting evening at the Operetta ‘La Belle Helene,’ where I caught sight of an old Maths teacher almost making public his square root whilst wearing a toga.

In other news I was very happy to find out earlier this month that I can officially write the letters ‘MSc’ after my name - quite a step up from the ‘HMV’ and ‘DVT’ I’ve tried to pass off for some time now. This of course also means an afternoon of donning a cap and gown, sitting in some stuffy hall and clapping limply whilst watching Isla White pick up her 7th PhD.

In respect to this gracious occasion however, I also have the somewhat odd task of choosing which of my dearly beloved, who (god bless them have all aged considerably since I started this Master’s degree), shall be accompanying me in said stuffy hall (a maximum of two), and which of my long suffering supporters will have to watch the ceremony via a ‘video link room’.

Much to my surprise all three of my nearest and dearest, namely my Mum, Dad and Neil have offered to do this - all of whom I suspect have their own agenda for not witnessing me first hand collect my official transcript. My Dad for one is familiar with the area of Headington in Oxford and knows the Dog and Trumpet is easily accessible within the time frame of a graduation ceremony.

My Mum on the other hand is an avid reader and I’m sure would be much happier in the company of Jane Austen or Erica James than Captain Birdseye or whoever they bring in to make this year’s speech. 

Neil  I suspect however would rather actually be setting up the the video link rather than watching something on it - using some Linux application called ‘broken badger’ or ‘furry armpit’ or something similar (I am immersed in the world of Linux as you see). Most likely is that he has figured out you can get free Wi-Fi the nearer you are to the Cafeteria…

The answer I think will be to make them do shifts. That way I also get the opportunity for least half an hour in the Dog and Trumpet with enough time left over to throw my hat in the air at the end.

Now that’s what I call Planning.

I have never been here before.

Since the age of 5 I have always been working towards achieving something, be it my next swimming badge, finding the courage to dance with Scott Thomas during a ’slow song’ at the school disco, passing my GCSEs, A-Levels, Degree, learning to drive and beavering away at my CV to get ‘the job’ and then working solidly for two years to qualify in it. Now that I am a week away from learning whether I may add ‘MSc’ to the end of my name, I find myself in a bit of a strange place….

What do I do next?

It is rather a strange sensation and one that I had not planned on. To be honest for years now I have just looking forward to a day when I didn’t have to write essays every night when I got home, and I didn’t think ahead much further than that. Now I have options and I’m not sure what to do with them…

As 2009 is however the official year for sorting things out (including finishing painting the porch), I am determined to get to the bottom of the issue. I think it may involve a change of job however…

I think for sanity’s sake, it’s worth it.

With the coming of the New Year, quite unlike me, I made very few resolutions and instead made an overall promise that in 2009… things will be better!

Although 2008 did bring with it some good stuff, some great stuff even (a diamond ring providing a shining example - excuse pun), it was also unkind to quite a lot of people. In 2009 therefore, even if I don’t fit into size 10 jeans, manage to get my aspiring business even centimetres off the ground, or buy that Polo Dune I have my eye on, I hope that life will at least get a lot easier for the people around me . This includes the fabulous individual I live with who didn’t really go to bed for a week in December because his fiancee had a dissertation to finish.

I owe a lot of favours.

So here’s wishing you a belated happy New Year - and if you too had a manky 2008 - great things to come.

Something I quite often shout up the stairs to Neil in the morning as I fly out of the door to work, mostly when a decision needs to be made about when the electrician should come, whether we should have sausage and mash when Amanda comes round for dinner, or if I should buy some more matt varnish at lunchtime…

I never really thought he might take my request quite literally…

For our summer hols this year, me and the boy went to Hong Kong, Phuket and Bangkok - and I have to say it was mega! I can’t really decide on my favourite bit, although our day at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong was particularly memorable I have to say….

It started out with us taking the extortionately priced Star Ferry (return ticket for 30p) across to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon (the central island of Hong Kong where we were staying).

We ventured through the ‘downtown’ business district where there are some truly awesome sky scrapers. I loved this one which looks like Koalas are hugging it…

Ooh - and also the notorious ‘Bank of China’, disliked immensely by locals for its angular design which is thought to reflect bad ‘feng shiu’ onto other buildings.

After winding our way through the various parks and squares of Hong Kong Island, we eventually found the funicular railway station and caught a train up to ‘The Peak’ which tilts you at a most exciting angle (27 degrees up a 48% hill apparently).

Once at the top we admired some spectacular views across the city… shame it was a bit misty though!

We took quite a long walk around the circumference of the mountain to check out some of the millionaires’ pads, and I found amusement in how polite even the most necessary of public notices are….

We found a bench with another breath taking view - although the situation of the bench was slightly less picturesque…

Following which Neil had a funny 5 mins…

And I pretended to be a waterfall…

By this time we had built up quite an appetite, so found a lovely place that served some great wine and grub and latterly we sauntered on to a watering hole where I found a lush Cosmopolitan…

Then it got dark. This is when Hong Kong comes alive (seriously shops don’t open until 11am, but the equivalent of Robert Dyas opens till midnight), so we went to take some photos of the skyline…

And then Neil tied his laces …. although actually he didn’t.

Instead he produced a ring, which was then followed by some nice words. Unfortunately neither Neil nor I can remember what those nice words were (of course this had nothing to do with the drink), but we assume the outcome was positive as within seconds (and I mean seconds) of a ring being produced it was on my finger.

Neil is already planning to cash in on the counselling offered as part of our wedding insurance… he did ask!!

Here is the beaut…!

Now, normally I have an aversion to camera tripods, but I set my differences aside momentarily so we could get proof that what had actually happened - happened (note the look of shock on Neil’s face - and what is wrong with my hair!!). This was just in case Neil changed his mind overnight, hid the ring and told me I had dreamt it…

But he didn’t.  This is me the morning after the night before, at my happiest as I am pictured with two of my most favourite possessions (both purchased for me by the boy - what a star) … a very shiny diamond and GHD hair straightners.

If this isn’t love, I don’t know what is!

If I achieve nothing else in this life, I shall at least try and keep my promises.

On his wedding day, as I sat lounging on a chair - a free glass of his bubbly in one hand and the remains of a chocolate torte in the other - Chris Maguire mentioned to me that it had been quite a while since I had last blogged. I responded by offering various excuses as to why this was so (all of which are quite legitimate), and promised him that my ‘come back post’ would  feature his special day. To be fair it was the least I could do sitting opposite a chap whose food I was so merrily scoffing…..

It was in this post last year that I featured ‘the ring’ given by Chris to my very good friend (and work colleague) Helen. On Saturday the 11th October of 2008 this fabulous couple married at St Nicholas’ Church in Worth, Crawley in the most glorious autumnal sunshine. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day, and despite Neil and I having mistakenly managed to book ourselves into a hotel 4 miles from the reception venue instead of the recommended one opposite, everything went without a hitch.

Helen of course looked stunning, as did her bridesmaids who I was informed beforehand were to wear ’Latte’. Knowing Helen has superior taste I wasn’t willing to question her decision, although I have to admit to being quite relieved when the bridal party teetered delicately down the aisle wearing dresses*.

Here is a picture of the happy couple having just signed up to a life of selective hearing and heated discussions over wallpaper samples…

The reception was in a delightful barn kitted out with balloons, bubbles and lots of little glittery bits adorning the tables. The guests were also welcomed with their own place cards - the adults being given a tasteful ivy design - whilst Helen had thoughtfully catered for the children by decorating their cards with favourite motifs….

The afternoon soon turned into evening… the cake was cut (and was delicious)…

… and drinks were had. One thing led to another and….

Enough said….

Thanks Helen and Chris for a top day/night! Wishing you every happiness in your lives together and hope you have a fantastic time in New Zealand!

* Author aware of sad ‘Dad’ joke. It won’t happen again I promise. I blame it on 2  and a half years of living with Neil.

Well here I am, at the half way mark of when my dissertation needs to be written by, and needless to say half a dissertation has not yet been written. Still, this was to be expected as anything even remotely related to me always takes the most unlikely of courses, so I would be a fool to think this would be any different. Indeed it has been a somewhat turbulent time since the end of May with joys and sadness in fairly equal amounts.

At the end of May we celebrated Neil’s Mum’s birthday with another trip to Vinopolis (which is becoming a bit of a favourite haunt of ours now), where I fell in love with a £40 bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. Needless to say we had to part company at the ‘tasting table’, but I hope one day we will meet again.

Throughout June work on the garden has been in full swing with Neil and I having finally established gound level, and are very pleased to have taken our final van’s worth of weeds and rubble to the tip. Our modest patch of earth still does rather represent ‘the Somme’ with an added hint of ‘Auschwitz’, following the discovery of a barbed wire overhang belonging to a neighbour. I am hoping a well placed clematis may help resolve this issue, although I also have my eye on some bamboo we could use for screening that, when cut and dried, can also be fashioned into the most terrific pea shooter! In a sense this will be killing two birds with one stone - although it is not birds I intend to target with my hand crafted device - but rather next doors cat that keeps peeing on my alchemilla mollis.

The middle/end of June was largely consumed by some very sad news, as my favourite uncle Phil lost his life to Lymphoma. Needless to say it has been a bit of a rubbish time for everyone, and none of us can quite believe he is no longer here as his was such a big character.  In true Godfrey style however (my Mum’s side of the family) he got (and quoting the vicar) “a bloody good send off” as the church and get together after the funeral was packed with people wanting to share their memories of Phil . My Mum in particular recalled accounts of being left up trees and locked in the chicken shed by her big brother! Be good up there Phil - I know Granny won’t think you too old to give you a good clip around the ear…..!

And now it is July, it is raining, and I can’t believe that midsummer day has passed and its all downhill again from here! Still, our holiday is booked and so I am not short of things to look forward to, including the handing in of my dissertation and the receipt of my freedom. In the meantime I am taking stock, and as recent events have taught me, I have begun appreciating the everyday as you don’t know what might happen the next. With this state of mind, food shopping has again taken on an additional amusement value, in particular the root vegetable aisle.

Now I am not sure whether this is a recent occurence, whether the EU have relaxed their rules regarding vegetation perfection, or whether for comedy value those hard working polish people trudging away in the fields of deepest darkest Norfolk have let a few slip through, but amongst the box of sweet potatoes I have recently uncovered some interesting finds:

Further proof I am not yet a grown up…

Cleavage shot….

I fear this may turn in to a weekly feature.

This Tuesday I handed in my last ever piece of coursework at Uni (see above) marking the end of an epic battle with deadlines that has consumed my very existence for the past two years.

Ok - so I still have a dissertation to write - but no longer will I have to rise at 5:15am every Tuesday morning to catch a train, no longer will I have to endure painful lectures on the intricacies of Strategic Environmental Assessment, no longer will I have to stifle giggles at our lecturers emphatic hand gestures, try and hide yawns when sitting in the front row of class or pass out through tiredness on the bus home.

Now all that stands between me and freedom is 15,000 words regarding socially rented housing in high market value areas.

Hmmmm…..

Where’s that gin and tonic?

I love our basement at work - it is an awesome place and I’ll use almost any excuse to visit its maze of secret passages, gloomy corridors, curious cubby holes and also for a chance to peer at the enormous safe housed down there with its supersized door and chainmail security gate more fitting to a chamber of gringrotts. On my latest adventure to this hidden world (a mission to place some of the overflowing files from our ‘paperless office’ into the archive store) I came upon a room I remarkably hadn’t discovered until now, hidden behind a faux wall and mountain of cardboard crates filled with dusty copies of old committee reports.

Now normally curiosity gets the better of me, and if I have the opportunity I will sneak a look at what is behind the mysterious closed doors. On this one this particular occasion however I was stopped in my tracks by the description of the room’s contents marked upon a sign…

It looks like someone is either having toilet problems or we are taking the prospect of cultivating GM foods too far.

Either way - I think there are some things best left undiscovered.

I have been experiencing a strange sensation of late in which I have lost all concept of time. I only realised it was the beginning of April this week after a colleague cunningly hid a whoopee cushion on my chair….

You see currently my life is organised only by university weeks and when assignments are due. I have no idea what month it is, year it is, day it is or even if I continue to exist as a real time human being. I only know that we are on ‘Week 9′ and that my thesis presentation has to be done for 10 days time along with a whole bunch of other stuff filed under the growing pile of ‘things to do at some point’.

This strict and strangely timeless timetable has however had other consequences in that several painful sacrifices have had to be made as to my activities. This is why ALBD has been sadly neglected for so long and why I have worn Neil’s socks to work twice this week. There does however come a point when you need to break free of the monotony of everyday life, revive your soul and experience the world that exists outside of Planning Policy Statement 3.

It is therefore, following a much anticipated pay check, I allowed myself 1.5 hours on Tuesday afternoon (’Week 8′ ) to assult Reading in a bid to find some summer clothes, just in case England decided to have one this year. Now shopping is not usually my most favourite of tasks as I am known to suffer horrendous pedestrian rage, have issues with shop assistants that say hello as you walk in the store but fail to open a till when the queue is out the door and half way past Sainsbury’s, and typically have to search every store to find anything that:

a) Slims my calves

b) Flatters my robust frame, and most importantly

c) Swooshes

I like clothes that swoosh.

By some miraculous marvel however, the gods were shining on me on Tuesday and I hit gold with the Fat Face ‘bargain rail’. Hoorah! I picked up a pair of very comfortable shoes, a useful top that I think will go very nicely with my new blue necklace (you know the one), and a skirt that - you guessed it - swooshes! To top this happy experience and much needed respite away from books and computer screens, the legend that is Fat Face also provided me a useful reminder surreptitiously printed at the bottom of one of its labels:

Life is out there

Something I have to admit to losing sight of recently and you know what, after ‘Week 22′ when all the work is done…

I must just go and live it.

A little belatedly (the return of the missing no.7 resident has been quite a distraction), here is my account of Monday to complete the ‘my day in four’ series.

I took the day off on Monday as I knew with Neil coming home there would be very little chance any work would get done, and despite every intention to crack on with a few uni assignments, my instinct was right! Indeed I was just a little bit excited on Monday and woke up ridiculously early, opening the curtains to find another beautiful day on the other side.

Having made myself respectable to the outside world I did a little bit of shopping, posted some letters and then waited for news that Neil’s plane had landed. Finally at 11:55am it did (having been rather delayed) and within a few hours he was home safe and sound and with a present for me!

Not that I was at all expecting one at all…..

Or had sent him away with a list of acceptable gifts, my favourite colours and sizes in US and UK conversions….

Needless to say I was very happy with my new apparel!

After a fortnight apart Neil managed to stave off his jet lag long enough to catch up on the latest gossip with Janet. Here they are together…

So with Neil home once more and my source of sanity restored, Janet felt it an appropriate time to say her goodbyes, pack up her little watering can and head off home.

Wherever that might be….