I seriously have too much time on my hands....

Spent most of the morning making an Excel spreadsheet to help me keep track of my finances - so sad, I would make an excellent accountant.
(pic of money..coins...)

RHUL & Windsor

I sat in the sunlight of the kitchen reading the rest of Dawkins and eating breakfast while Anna was at her first lecture. It was so warm, light and calm there that I was in complete bliss - especially as I had bread with chocolate spread to keep me content :) We ate lunch together and then wandered around the campus to the little lake and bridge I had been to with mum and dad on the Open Day which doesn't seem that long ago... It was quite strange to be there again as I had also spent most of the morning contemplating about what woudl ahev happened if I'd gone there.
I then met her bubbly friend Polly and we all took the bus to Windsor. After an afternoon of shopping student-style we had some cream tea and hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) in the old crooked tea house. It was so cool - even the door and windows were wonkey! A lovely lady from New Zealand took this pic of us outside it :)

All over this town..

In the morning dad and I went to Ealing Broadway and from there I went to Brick Lane where I met Alice. It was very last minute but I was over the moonto see her - it was so relieving to see someone from Oxford and talk all about the coming term (worries, hopes etc). We wandered towards Rokit and then to Cheshire street which the home of Beyond Retro - possible the largest and best vintage shop in London. We spent hours here, trying on various strange bits and bobs and browsing through the eccentric pieces. Afterwards we made out way to the 24/7 bagel balery at the top of the lane where we bought a coconut slice - it was so yummy and delicious, I could see the commuters who walked past us look at it with lustful eyes.....
I rushed home, ate, packed and took a bus for Richmond where I caught the train to Egham. Anna met me at the station (it was pretty late, cold and I was already getting tired - this may also be due to the fact that I was reading Dawkins on the train!). We walked up to the RHUL campus and she showed me her flat which is shared with 7 other girls. It was so nice to sit down with a steaming mug of Whittards green tea & cranberry, some strawberries and just talk. I love Anna, she really knows how to make me feel at home (even when she keeps me awake at night by chatting about random crap). <3

500 Days of Summer

The film I went to see with mum and Chesca today at Kingston. The guy in it is really cute, the music is great and the story line was really simple but sweet - we all came out smiling :)
This photo sadly isn't mine, it's from the film. I really recommend you see it!

My day today

song: Carla Bruni - L'amoureuse
Colour: crisp fresh white
Perfume: Jasmine

Today Tom and I set off walking really early from home to Perivale woods. It was another brilliant almost-summer day with a bright blue sky and occasional clouds resembling a piece of stretched cotton wool. Luckily mum had given me a key for the front gate (which she wasn't really meant to have but had forgotten to give back all that time ago..)and, as we arrived after our long walk there, it was definitely a relief to see that the it still fit into the lock. The woods haven't changed much since we last went - the old post-war hut still stands in the corner of the field. The horses are also in the paddock, grazing around the patch where there used to be a piece of cirrugated iron - whenever you lifted this up you'd find some slow worms hiding in the dirt. I was slightly nervous to walk through the gate to the woods as, technicaly, it could be seen as trespassing seeing as we weren't meant to have the keys and aren't members of the society to which the woods belong to anymore. However, both of us do have the intention of joining! Anyway, we walked up the path worn into the grass to the woods and through the brand-new wooden gate into the cool shade of the first oak trees on he outskirts. It was so strange and surreal to finally be there after all those years of reminiscing and dreaming about somehwere that had been such an important part of our childhood. The familiar damp woodland smell of the leaflitter on the floor and the way in which the light filtered through the green oak leaves all brought me back to when we were younger. I remember running through the narrow winding paths between the trees, with the crunch of dry twigs and leaves under my feet until finally reaching a burst of light in the clearing or one of the meadows. Tom and I continued walking until we finally reached the main meadow at the back which led to the secret pond where we'd spent so much time. The old bird watching hut was still there (and still smelt the same - like dry wood and dust)as well as the path leading to the island which was severly overgrown. It seems that, since we had last been there, the lake had dried up and been invaded by all these tall reeds. We heard some voices nearby and sprinted off back into the woods and up one of the old paths to the canal. Later, we realised that is was just some people walking nearby who weren't actually within the nature reserve (it just goes to show how on edge we were for the first hour or so..). The rest of the morning was spent walking every single path we had known as kids through the woods and surrounding meaadows. We went up to the top of the front meadow - something that had always been a mystery to us as kids as we never went there (and with good reason too as its only scrubland with a large old hawthorn bush in the middle - however, Tom did find an old horseshoe which should bring him good luck for uni!). And also through to the clearing where we used to sit and listen to the dawn chorus at 4am. Here we ate some sandwiches which I'd brought whilst thinking about how amazing it is to have such a beautiful palce in the middle of London - we both agreed that if we ever win the lottery we'll definitely become benefactors! Finally, we re-visited the old member's hut (to which I also had the key) and took one last look at the tiny dried up stream where we used to catch tadpoles in the holidays.
On the train journey back we went via Ealing Broadway and then walked home through the parks. At this point my feet really hurt so I took off my sock and shoes and walked home barefoot. Treading on the cool grass made such a difference to the pinching feeling of my converse. Today I realised just how important it is to treasure all the great things you did as a kid - doing this reminded me of how some of the simplest pleasures things in life are usually the most beautiful. As a final note, I would like to add that today was the day that we both decided to bring our kids to Perivale woods and let them do all the cool things mum let us do.

Brownie Camera

Over the past few days I have been waiting patiently to take pictures in the warm autumn sunshine which only happens this time of year. I'm talking about the soft golden light which casts a warm glow across the crisp dead leaves spead across the pavememts. Today, all of this waiting was made worthwhile for the brief 5 minutes I spent taking pictures at the top of Llamas park with Chesca. We only had a few short moments of light before the rays, which earlier streaked across the grass, sank behind the trees in the distance. I brought my old Brownie camera with me and got Chesca to hold it in order to catch the sun.

Ahhh... the joys of Poki

Check-list

I’ve been trying to get ready for the start of term but its really hard seeing as I can’t find my academic diary! So, I’ve had to do a check-list instead. During my “tea-break” I took a couple of shots of the delicious cinnamon stars mum and I bought at Peter Jones the other day. They’re a delight to the eyes AND taste buds ^_^

Brownies

I babysat for one of mum’s colleagues in the late afternoon, helped Chesca with her Geography coursework and then made brownies – yum!

Gah for mornings..

Mum and I woke up at 6:30 (however, an add on the tube said that the average Londoner will wake up at 6:04am so it wasn’t THAT bad) to catch the tube to High Street Kensington. As per usual, we left a few minutes late and then argued about which station we’d get off at to change to the circle line. In the end we went to Earl’s court, Gloucester Road AND South Kensington – it was a surprise that we managed to get to the Rooftop Gardens in time! This weekend has been theLondon Unlocked weekend when you get to visit loads of building and places around the city not usually open to the public. I jumped at the opportunity of going to the Rooftop Gardens when Dad told me just as I left for Marianne and David’s last night as I’ve been intrigued by it since I heard about it a couple of months ago.
Mum and I only had to queue for a short while before we got the elevator up to the gardens and found ourselves in the Spanish-inspired slightly tacky part of the roof. We walked around the plaster balconies made to look asif you were somewhere mediterrean and then went to the tudor gardens which were very dull and run-down. From here we continued round the central building to the main part of the gardens which contain a dirty little pool overshadowed by bamboo with a couple of tired-looking flamingos. To be honest, the gardens were a bit of a disappointment as they didn’t seem very well looked after. Yes, they did have some spectacular views of London and I’m sure that there are very few sckyscrapers with fully grown trees on the roof but it seems that the garden itself was slightly shabby. The Rooftop Gardens are owned by Richard Brandosn and are used as a venue for meetings and mostly parties. It felt almost asif the garden itself was like a weary person who’d been out clubbing every day since the 80’s. The plants looked lifeless and ill, the various sculptures around the place were broken, an empty magners bottle floated in the little stream and the plaster was peeling around the edges of the walls – certainly not what I was expecting! It seemed that this garden has so much more potential then what was shown today and it has been severely over-used. However, the sheer ingenious feat of such a rare green haven at the top of a London building was still very awe-inspiring and has made this one of my favourite places in London.
Afterwards, mum and I went for a coffee in Costa where we met some other ladies who’d been to the garden and recommended that we visit Peter Jones as they were also part of the London Unlocked Charity. This was a pretty interesting palace to visit as, behind the John Lewis facade dominating Sloane Square, was the story of a famous department store the remenants of which you could spot around the building. Among these were Dutch-inspired windows at the back and a mosaic at one of the entrances. I would have loved to have seen the palce in the 1930’s but I heard that it was a bit of a rabbit warren ....
After the tour, we were invited to tea and coffee in the top floor which had equally beautiful views of London as at the Rooftop Gardens (minus the trees). Mum and I had a great day in all and it really helped me to appreciate just how much more there is to see in the city – you just need to know where to look.

Marianne and David’s Birthday

I was so scared that this was going to clash with Anna P’s party but luckily it didn’t : )
Both Marianne and David are 18 this year so they decided to have a joint house party at David’s. Ok, so I arrived VERY late but it was still pretty good and I managed to find Franny Morris, Catherine, Marianne and Steffi in the garden. It was so beautiful! They’d decorated around the pond and flowerbeds with tea lights and fairy lights which went up the trellis in the patio. There were rugs and cushions on the lawn where we all sat, talked and drank Pimm’s. It was also really nice to meet Ben, Marianne’s boyfriend. He reminded me a little of the actor who played Angel in Tess of the D’urbevilles ( cute boyish-like face) and was really sweet and friendly.

Anna P's Leaving Party

Yesterday I also went to the pub in the evening with Anna P and her boyfriend Jick. We walked back together and I stayed over which was great as we got to chat until 2am just like in the old days. It was great to finally see her with someone so sweet who really cares about her and is also respectful. I was slightly nervous that Jick wouldn’t like me but he seemed ok and real friendly : )
This morning Anna got a call from work that the boss was ill so she’d have to fill in as they were short-staffed. This was pretty crap as it meant that she has less time to pack and we couldn’t bake the marshmallow cupcakes we’d been planning on doing! So, I offered to help and we managed to get through most of the packing in 1 ½ hours which is WAY faster than I have ever done it! We then walked together to Ealing Broadway and I continued on home.
In the late evening I started to get ready to go to The Drayton for Anna P’s leaving party. Mum offered to drop me off and, while we were in the car, I told her that dad had mentioned how Tom Rees was going to leave for uni tomorrow. She then “gently nudged” me to give him a call to wish him good luck. However, it turned out that he isn’t going until next week so I looked like a bit of an idiot. But, I was able to invite him to the pub so we ended up catching the bus there together. I introduced him to everyone but we spent most of the time reminiscing about all the cool places we’d been to as kids (Black Park, fishing at Denham, Plum wars and raspberry picking...). In the end we decided to go back and visit Perivale woods this week – I can’t wait! As soon as people began to leave, we started to head back and walked all the way home along the quiet roads. He then invited me inside to take a look at this really old camera he has (not as old as Ben’s but still pretty cool!). Around 1am I walked back home and was half way up the road when he came running up towards me saying that he’d walk me home. I said that it’d be ok as it was pretty safe and only up the road! We swapped phone numbers and I walked back home with a big smile on my face. Its so nice to talk to someone who is so open and clear – Tom is 100% himself and you know where you’re standing with him.

Shock

Chesca has been ill recently so didn’t go to school today. We had breakfast together in the morning but she then started to feel as if she was going to throw up. As she stood up to go to the bathroom she fainted and fell on the floor with her eyes wide open and her legs began to shake. I was really scared, but rolled her onto her side and tried to get her to wake up. After a while she came round and I got her to sit on the floor leaning against the pew. She then fainted again and wasn’t waking up so I quickly got the phone and dialled 999. I was really panicking as I held the phone in one hand and an unconscious Chesca in the other. Eventually they put me onto a nurse just as Chesca came round again and they told me what to do. Mum rushed back from school when she heard what had happened and was able to take Chesca to an emergency appointment with the doctor.
In the afternoon, after dad got home and was able to look after Chesc, I met up with Temi and Laura and Cafe Chai. It was great to catch up with them and tell them about this morning – apparently my morning beat theirs! I was also really happy to hear about all the other Twyford people who had taken gap years and were starting uni this year. Temi left after not doing so well in her AS levels and re-did them at a different college where she got 3As and a place to study Law at Warwick. I guess it shows how everything works out in the end even if you can’t see how it will at the time!

The day I started the book...

Room-picking day

Spoke to Taisuke from KG on skype and showed him Toffee. I later made falafel whilst talking to Tom is skype. Today we got an e-mail about available rooms in Sommertown (far away but in an Ok house), at 5pm Alice, Tom and I chose the rooms for our groups as Amelia was at work while Manasi didn't reply. Its been raining heavily for most of the day but I'm so happy to finally have a room. Mine is nice and faces the garden where I'm hoping to grow some vegetables during the summer!

Its been a while...

Re-adjusting

It hasn't been to hard to get back into the swing of things at home. Chesca and I had a lazy day reading books and I was happy to see that my camera was back from Nikon. They'd cleaned it and had found no faults but it works! Mum thinks they just can't admit that something was wrong....
Who cares? I have my camera back <3

Back to Heathrow

Takana took this picture of some of the students a few days ago...
Although it was sad to see them go I was really happy to get back home to the comfort of my own bed where I feel asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Gala Dinner

Today we had the Gala dinner in the evening which was a traditional three course candel-lit meal at Hertford together with an awards ceremony for the students. We all had a lot of wine and Alex, Rosanna, Anup and I were all pretty giggly by the time the teachers starting presenting the students with their certificates. During the coffee and chocolates we were given each a book filled with letters from the Japanese students - I was so touched! Afterwards, we ran to Bridge to get cheap entry and 1/2 price cocktails. The all the other RAs, groups, office people and even some of the Americans turned up so the club was pretty packed with Hertford people. I remember getting an "interesting" mojito at the bar and then dancing loads until people began to leave...fun times^^!

The calm waters of the Isis

Cycled with Alice after dinner down to the river. The water was perfect and incredibly still, reflecting the orange/yellow dusk around us. It was so relaxing to hear the satisfying noise of the oars dipping into and out of the water in unison as the rowing boats glided past us. We sat on a bench and read some poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt which Gabriel had lent me before cycling back to Hertford in the gathering dark. Later, we went for a walk under the stars up to the uni parks while we talked about all the summer's events...

Patisserie Valerie

Had a morning tute with Martin about my exam results and option modules for next year...he was very helpful but at the end I felt asif I'd had the carpet lifted from underneath my feet. If I want to study plant and genetics I will have to take very challenging subjects and I'm not sure that I want to risk that level of stress on myself.
In the afternoon some of the Japanese girls and I went to Patisserie Valerie for some french cakes which were delicious. I had my favourite, tarte au citron, while the others had chocolate, strawberry and pecan tartes and cakes.
In the evening I sat with James and Wooly in the MCR chatting about rowing. I would really like to give it a try this term so was happy to be part of all their banter. It was also pretty entertaining to hear about the time Hertfordians almost burnt down the Bod after winning Christ Church (apparently they did the traditional boat burning in OB quad and the flames were as tall as the Bodleian library!). James also showed us the Hertford wagers book where people write down all the different bets they'vcve had with other people in college.
In the evening we went to the Turf for a pint and sat under the strangely clear purple sky chatting about Oxford, rowing and the Union. Before going to bed I did another watercolour which has been in the back of my mind for ages..

St. Giles Fair

After a less than eventful day we finally took the students to St. Giles fair - apparently its a parish fair which has been running since the middle ages. Just walking through the crowds of people reminded me of when I was a kid and we would go to the funfairs at Walpole park in the summer. There were loads of food stalls lining the streets all the way up to Little Claringdon street selling popcorn, candy floss, toffee apples, hotdogs and every traditional sweet imaginable! It was VERY frustrating to not have my camera there while Anup took pics with his D40 but I managed to get some OK shots with my digital cam. Anup, some of the Japanese guys and I wandered up the road to the towering ferris wheel outside St. John's college (again, thinking about my camera was so desasperating!). From the top of the wheel you could see the whole of the city lit up beneath us - I'd love to go in the daytime! We then slowly ambled up to the Royal Oak pub, taking pictures on the way, where the rest of the RAs and American students were. Here I tried the sweetest and nicest pear cider while sitting with everyone else crammed around a huge table.

Bath and Stonhenge

Ah the joys of Bath. We took a coach in the morning and I sat next to Alex - we sang songs and swapped music loves/hates. Once there we went round the famous Roman Baths and then had lunch. Alex and I found a nice bench outside Pret where we ate our super-duper healthy humous salad in peace. Afterwards, Anup, Rosanna, Alex and I walked up to the Royal Crescent and sat in the grass until going back to meet the group. It took far too long to reach Stonehenge seeing as we only spent about 15 mins there looking through the wire fence at the people walking around it with their hand-held guides. It was definitly very nice to get back to Hertford and have a drink at Far from the Madding Crowd.

Princeton

Helped Dean ferry the new Princeton students from Hertford Lodge to the Grad Centre where they'll be staying throughout michaelmas term. Later went with them to GBK and The Turf where I ALMOST finished a pint of Old Rosie's which left me feeling slightly tipsy! Takana took this picture on the bidge of Sighs which I thought was really clever...

Who knew..

... a box of the most perfect salad from the covered market could make such a difference to my day. It was beautiful!
In the evening a took a VERY long walk to the Uni Parks to clear my head after a stressful day. Sometimes Oxford can feel like a bubble so sitting in the evening light sketching a dark red/purple leaf (momiji in Japanese) really helped....

The day we took the Japanese to Mood

Went for a walk in the evening before dinner along the river where we realised that we had the same earrings! Later went out to Mood with the students- pretty hectic, chavy and the floor was curiously sticky....Great time though :D

Twelfth Night

I booked some tickets to see Twelfth Night at the Said Business School with the Japanese students. It was outdoors in the small ampitheatre and the production wasn't too bad. For the first part of the play we were able to sit outside under a cloudless sky and, as the sun set, a full moon began to appear. It was slightly cold but I quite enjoyed the production as the the guy playing Malvolio was really good and made everyone laugh (even those who had little clue of what was going on!). During the interval the skies darkened and it began to rain so we watched the second half of the play in the lecture theatre which wasn't too bad as it gave a sense of change in time.

I should have taken the bridge