It is wonderful to be reminded of the fact that I do actually have friends again - even if none of them live in the same county as me. Last week was a particularly sociable one. To begin with I went down to London, and met Aaron in Victoria station for lunch and coffee (we have yet to fail to get out of Victoria station), found a couple of cool eateries with Tessa whose floor I slept on, and also met Thom for tea. It was a lovely weekend. And then following the most uneventful birthday EVER, on which I had a driving lesson at 8:30 am and managed to stall on a roundabout, I went to Wales. Hurrah! A mammoth round trip taking in both north and south and involving a total of almost 15 hours on trains, but it was definitely worth it. To begin with I went to stay with Sam for a couple of days, who lives in a lovely cottage on Anglessey made up of three tiny adjoining rooms that can probably be walked in 10 paces. Here is a photo of Sam on my favourite childhood beach:
Aside from my favourite childhood beach we also found my grandparent’s old island in the menai straights, which was the setting for a number of favourite childhood holidays (and very strange to revisit after so many years). We also climbed up Snowdon, because I was missing my mountains. I do have to admit that the Andes, unfortunately, make Snowdon look rather like very big hill, but it was still a lovely walk with some lovely views. Apart from at the top, when due to a very large cloud there was no view at all, simply a lot of people milling around who’d all got the train up and a monstrous 80s café. Here is a photo of the summit of Snowdon:
Ergh. I can’t believe someone would put that on the top of a mountain. I firmly believe that the best mountains should all have nothing on top of them, leaving an unspoiled 360% view, instead of cheap cafes where people who couldn’t be arsed to do a bit of walking can sit inside (heaven forbid they should venture outside) in complete discomfort and noise and eat very expensive crisps, before getting the train back down again, hence being able to say that they have ‘done’ Snowdon. The sort of people who don’t walk up mountains but instead get the train are the sort that can’t properly appreciate the view from the top; fair enough if you’re old, or infirm, or have young children (though, actually, there were quite a few of them walking up Snowdon too), otherwise all lazy bastards shouldn’t be allowed up unless they use their legs. But anyway. We had some good giggles and some good deep and meaningfuls and I had a really lovely time. I also got a cold and not much sleep, so went to Rachel’s feeling slightly out of things. Happily though we just watched a lot of DVDs, and ate ice-cream in Swansea. I love the fact that there are people who I don’t see for almost a year and it doesn’t matter at all.
Earlier on today I got an email from Leo (our South American project supervisor) with photos of the massive tomato plants that have since grown in our greenhouse, which we built to help kids in a little school on the outskirts of Quito. I feel so proud! Here is a photo of them:
And while I may not have £14,000 from AHRC, I do have a very irate, 'upset' and ‘astonished’ lecturer who has been slagging off AHRC to all his colleagues while also demanding to know from the council why they didn’t give me any money: bless Henry Stobart!
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