Even the drive down was nice.

Oh my God, the weekend was so nice. I could go back and do it all over again (but not go in the sea with my sunglasses).

I went camping over at St Minver with Olive, Gemma and some of their friends and had the nicest time. It was so relaxing not to be thinking of anything work related, and while I took my essay with me, it didn't move once from the boot of my car. I think I needed to get away for a little bit. I've spent the last coupld of weeks making really fine tweaks to my work, and I was going a little bit mad. A weekend away was just what the doctor ordered.

I realised that I'm quite easily pleased on the weekend. I was walking back from the shower blocks and was just really content. The night before we'd had a campfire and barbeque and just chatted out under the stars. It was so nice. My family always used to take us camping when we were younger, so I think I got a taste for it then, but I haven't been much since I've been old enough to go on my own, and I think I really like it. I'm going to get a tent, so then I feel guilt tripped into going more often.

Even the drive down was nice. It took me an extra hour, because I got lost, but it was gorgeous weather and the radio was playing great summery music and the scenerey was stunning along the coast: it was perfect.

And now I only have a week left before hand in, well, less than a week. It all needs to be in on Friday, but I'm up together and feeling good. Of course, it doesn't end on Friday. If I want this novel to get published, which I do, I have to carry on the hard work, but I'm aiming for a first draft by the end of February. Need to find a job though, which could be difficult. My stipulations are that it has to be walkable and part-time. Still, I'm applying to a job at the campus library, so that would be good.

Anyway, this is rambling and rubbish, so I'm going back to work.

xx

Who knew ASDA was so much fun?!

Why is Lisa Tarbuck doing the ASDA adverts? I've just seen two in the space of about an hour and feel a bit sullied. I used to quite like her, but now she's all done up like an ASDA worker and gushing about four bags of pasta for a pound before giving a hearty chuckle. Who knew ASDA was so much fun?! What's going on? In the second one, it gets even worse when she tells the customer, 'I'm a bit worried about your hot chicken on top of your other things. That's why I'm here!'

What's the point in having these people in the adverts? A couple of months ago it was Paul Whitehouse, and that was sick enough, but now Lisa? It's not right. And nobody's fooled. And that is that.

xx

It’s not disguised. It looks like any other bin.

There's a weird sense of finality floating around my room at the moment. I sent the first three chapters off to my tutor the other day and, since then, even though I know I shouldn't, feel like I'm at the end of everything. But that's ridiculous since I sent about 18,000 words and I still have another, ooh, 62,000 to write. Anyway, I started chapter four yesterday which is a bit weird because it's the first time I've thought properly about this part of the story and some of it involves flashbacks in the present tense, which I'm not used to writing and keep slipping into the past tense by accident. Oops!

Anyway, I need to get myself back into work mode after the weekend. Ian came down on Friday night, so I did nothing novel related for the time he as here, which was actually really relaxing as the week before had got a bit hectic.

We went over to Trelissick Gardens on Saturday and Ian was almost bullied into taking up National Trust membership by a woman in a red dress. She worked there, though, let's make that clear. The conversation went something like this:

Lady in red: You could join today. It's only £43.50 and you can come in for free today.
Ian: I'll give it some thought. Do I have to decide now?
Lady in red: No, no. You can come back later. Are you local?
Ian: No, I live in Bristol.
(She pulls out a map of National Trust places and points to those closest to Bristol)
Lady in red: We've got lots around Bristol. And you can park for free. You only need to go to eight to make your money back.
Ian: Maybe...
Lady in red: Well, hold onto your receipt and then come back later.

And off we went. I said she was probably a used car saleswoman at some point in her life. Ian said she has the red dress as a selling outfit. I think we were both right.

So, the rest of the weekend went without a hitch with us avoiding the bad weather and embracing the good and then Ian went off again on Sunday. It all went so quickly, but I introduced him to the pleasures of The Ghurka along with Jenny, Emily and Jack and he was won over. So, that's good.

Oh, the other day I had a bit of a puzzle on my hands. Well, a week ago today to be precise. Kath has gone away for a couple of weeks and left me in charge of everything like the bins etc. So, last week I put the bin out the front of the house and went back in the house sure that it would be collected. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s outside the house. It’s not disguised. It looks like any other bin. It even has handles on the sides to make sure that the lid stays on and the seagulls can’t get it off. Racoons probably could, but they’re not so much of a threat here in Cornwall.

Anyway, I went outside the morning after to put the bin back in the yard and had that horrible thing when you pick something up expecting it to be light and it’s heavy and your muscles feel like they’ve been torn. The handles had been unfastened but the bin bag was still inside. So I had to wait another week to get rid of a bin full of junk. So, yesterday when I saw the neighbour, I asked what I needed to do differently and he told me, ‘You need to leave it at the back. I saw you’d left it at the front and I was going to say something, but then thought I’d better not.’
What a useful thing to tell me.

xx

Larios and I are going to have a falling out if he bites my ankles again.

Larios and I are going to have a falling out if he bites my ankles again. Or any other part of me.

Larios is Kath's cat who I'm living on my own with while Kath is away in Wales. Things started off well enough. He would only bite Kath, the hand that fed him, but now I'm feeding him and so he thinks he should bite me. I've tried reasoning with him, but it's no use and now I'm living in fear whenever I walk around the house in flip-flops. Luckily, as well as being snappy with his teeth, he yowls really loudly, so I can hear when he's approaching. But still, who wants to live like that? Not me. No, no.

And that is that. Ian's coming down tonight and I have to get the first draft to Sam by the end of the day, so I should get off.

xx