Today I had my last ever lecture in Downing Site. After three years, and a fair few hundred lectures in there it's all done! Can't believe it's the end of my EIGHTH term in Cambridge - it really has flown by. I'm stupidly relieved that I'm not leaving after this year though!

Lots of work done Saturday... many notes made, more lectures understood - all good.

Emma bar that evening. Had scary 9 foot sofa. No-one danced. Was a bit lame. Saw Rich though. Came back to Reece's. Had gardies with Bethmo. Saw the Royal Tenembaums. Was bon. Went to bed at 3am. Sleeeeepy. So slept till 1pm. Lots of work done again. Adventure up Histon Road and scary back streets. DINNNNER

Want house? Get house.

We have a house! We spent this afternoon wandering around the Chesterton region sneaking around cute little terraces trying to find somewhere to live. We saw 3 houses in total, and paid a deposit on the first one we saw. It was really lovely - a great sitting room, big kitchen, side covered outside bit, off-street parking, and 6 bedrooms, 3 of which are en-suite. The rooms are small (presumably the house is made to only have 2 bedrooms!), but it'll do the job, and with the lounge we won't need much space in our rooms. The 2nd house was nice (bigger bedrooms) but the lounge was in the basement - felt like walking into a dungeon. The third house was newly revamped, but unfortunately was ALL corridors - the kitchen was a tight galley, and there was no living room (just a breakfast bar). All in all, a good choice was made. Now all we have to do is set about planning how to "make our mark". Get out the spray paints and skull-and-cross-bone stensils!

bathtub 2

Today the bathtub made it to its final home - the english faculty. One excited drama-studio fellow helped us lug it down the stairs, and the world was happy.

in Cambridge, there is a bathtub...

In Cambridge, there is a bathtub...

It was thrust into the world many moons ago with a hiss of smouldering iron and clank of moulds. For a numer of years its history has remained elusive. No-one is really sure where it lived (though presumably in someone's bathroom) or what its purpose was (some suspect it was used as a bath). However, it was eventually picked up by the Cambridge ADC theatre who required it for a play, and it played the role of 250lb* cast-iron bathtub expertly; like no actor could have done**. However, its weight and unstoppable bid for the crown of King-of-all-rustedness led the prospect of its final days being lived out in the pouring rain with nought but a prop-filled skip for company. Its number was up, until a play was written. A play so perfect that it required a bath.

THIS bath.

Like greenpeace to an oil spil the directors of this play flocked to the bath's side with friends and taxis in tow to bring it to its rightful place back on the centre stage. After much scooping, de-watering, turning, seat arrangement, huffing and also puffing, it was positioned on the back seat of a taxi and transported to that so illustrious of Cambridge colleges, Clare. Here it was unloaded by a team of handsome muscle-men*** and was given its own room complete with central heating. So royal was this bath that mere "acting-removal-person" plebs were left to walk or cycle to Clare while the bath rode in its carriage of expense.

And so it was a happy day for the bathtub. Soon, oh so soon, it shall have its golden day once more, soaking up the applause in the English faculty like those goading sponges and their soap-water.


* estimate
** (the phrase "no human could play that part" springs to mind, but no doubt Andrew could have had a good bash)
*** Me, Vicky's friend Joel and a Taxi Driver. So awe-inspired by the life-story of this bath was the driver that NO questions were asked. And why would they be!?

The Ent last night was really good fun. We danced pretty much continuously (with the odd drinks break) from 10 till 12.30 when it closed. It was an indie/alternative set, so we got to hear such classic wonderments as the Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Maximo Park, and, really impressively, Doves (Pounding). Really good fun.

TDL SAVED!

In other important news. TUDOR DRIVE LIBRARY HAS BEEN SAVED! See the article in the Surrey Comet:

How to avoid lions, bears and catch up vaguelly on what I've been doing.

It's been a while again. I was being so post-worthy last month, and this month it has just died.

"Could you rinse a lion if it charged at you?" Apparently this is the best tactic should a lion be attempting to take-down your LIFE in a big field, try and rinse it. The best way to do this is to SHOUT and RUN and WAVE YOUR ARMS. Freak it out, just like you would a small cat in the road that has just stolen your chicken fillets. Just so you know. Don't try this at home (lions don't really go in suburban London), OR with bears. They get "scratchy".

So now you know.

In other news, I had a formal with Tiffin friends and Uni friends, which was really good fun. Rahul and me beat the buttery staff at pool, and Chris told us all about facebook. ALL about facebook. He really is the king of that place, though merely through total-man-hours-spent. Natalie is going to London to be a REAL LIFE DOCTOR, Andrew is cool, and Joe is the May Ball President! Hardcore!

Also, we went to see Tom perform at West Road with his quartet. He played Schubert, though not after we'd watched a concert pianist playing many a piece, each interspursed with violent, AROBTTH inducing bows. He was good, just bowed. ALOT.

Tonight is my "daughter's" birthday, so we're going to TeriAki (mmm noodley goodness - in other news a Wagamama is opening in Cambridge. Finally!), which should be really good fun. There's then an indie/alt Dj in the cellars, so no doubt we shall toddle down there.

Sorry for it being so long, hope you enjoy the album spinny chart below:

"An Essay Bastard: The illegitimate offspring of my brain." Alex

Spinny Album Chart

The soundtrack to my life.

Courtesy of Jenjen,
How to make the soundtrack to your life…
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle/random
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

• Opening Credits: Sunday, David Bowie
• Waking Up: Vegetable, Radiohead (ahem!)
• First Day At School: A Whisper, Coldplay
• Falling In Love: Sebastian, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (blimey!)
• Fight Song: The Hardest Button to Button, The White Stripes (amazing!)
• Breaking Up: It Ain't Necessarily So, Nicola Benedetti
• Prom: Gleaming Auction, Snow Patrol
• Life: Oh You Pretty Things!, David Bowie (so true...)
• Mental Breakdown: Paper Lies, Marillion (clearly I'll break down over money)
• Driving: Packing for the Crash, Tom McRae (scary... this is completely random...)
• Flashback: Billets Doux, Django Reinhardt
• Getting back together: Script for a Jester's Tear, Marillion
• Losing your virginity: Aftermath, REM
• Wedding: The Fountain of Salamacis, Genesis
• Birth of Child: The Hindu Times, Oasis
• Final Battle: You Fool Noone, Deep Purple
• Death Scene: No Cars Go, The Arcade Fire (aw)
• Funeral Song: Cave, Muse
• End Credits: Shine it All Around, Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation

I have never heard anyone so excited about pyrex bowls as I did today.

More later.

Or maybe I'll just leave it like that actually, seems quite magical.

Comic Tales of Criminal Insanity

Porters with concerned looks wandering around Braeside have just reminded me of the "prolific burglar" who's imminent release from prison we were warned about. This prompted much increased security measures (not a bad thing), and CCTV photos being circulated, and so I put in a maintenance request to have a lock put on one of my windows (the one without a lock). When the maintenance man turned up the next morning with a yale lock and a confused look on his face, I had to bite my lip. None-the-less he soon realised what I wanted, and I am now secure.

A week later, said prolific burglar is back in custody. AFTER A WEEK OUT OF PRISON. How.. just how can you do that? Either he is a klepto of the highest order, or just REALLY good at leaving clues........

SAVE TUDOR DRIVE LIBRARY

Have just been on the phone to my sister, and I have been given insider news (that I am now going to share with the whole of the internet) that it is proposed that Tudor Drive Library will be closed in the next few months as part of "money saving" cuts courtesy of our wonderful local council (Kingston this is, not Cambridge). So we say goodbye to the local library I have used all of my life, and goodbye to the ladies at the desk who have been there for as long, if not longer. And, goodbye to my poor sister who will be made redundant at 18. Hah.

Intriguingly, the entire library was extended, refurbished and had a new roof fitted only two (possibly fewer) years ago. Surely it would be stupid (not to mention and immense waste of capital investment) to close it, along with the fact that a huge number of local people rely on it. It is an invaluable resource for both young people, for whom it's convenience to an estate which is otherwise isolated (relatively) from local resources, and for old people who cannot walk the few miles to the nearest library.

I'm not talking closure on a rural scale here - it's not like we live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere where the nearest library is 8 miles away, but it's the principle of the thing. It's so well used, and closing it is going to enrage alot of people. Surely a better money saving idea would be to close each of the libraries in Kingston for one extra day a week - thus reducing wage and running costs?

Save Tudor Drive Library.

Daily blogs - what is happening!

I seem to be blogging daily! This is clearly because I am not doing enough work. Well, actually, as my lectures still haven't really got going, and one of my courses is exactly the same as one I did last term, I'm feeling quite lazy. Thankfully it's giving me time to concentrate on my dissertation, which is proving very interesting. Hence the heron - I've just been finding out how they hunt fish underwater despite the refractive distortion of the water surface... I'm going to see my supervisor next week, so I may well start writing up soon! 0 words, 6000 to go.

We had another pool match yesterday, but unfortunately lost 5-4 again. HOWEVER, Matt unfortunately knocked the cue on the white when taking what would have been a winning shot on the 8th game, and our (nameless) opponents jumped on it and demanded a foul. How unnecessary.
Bethmo, Emily and the other inhabitants of Wilflete had a party last night, so we popped over and showed our faces for a bit - played "What's the worst thing that could happen to your friends", which was surprisingly entertaining for a game with possibly the most depressing title ever invented. It included people getting stuck at the age of 10, going blind, going on big-brother and marrying Jade Goody, getting stuck in an Eden project bubble, performing religious faux pas while saving cows and the country splitting in half. Was quite eye-opening.

Marillion - Somewhere else #1

Post number one (of which there will probably be many) about the new marillion album . It's available for preorder at www.townsend-records.co.uk/marillion. For £11.99 + a free DVD. Yaaargh!

12:58 - just preordered mine. Roll on Easter Monday!

"It's nice to see a natsci... over there... leaving," were the words Alextheboy used to sum up our formal last night. Surely tongue-in-cheek and slightly confused - no doubt he didn't expect to give a speech on Tom, Reece and Iona's birthdays, but when none of them would stand up after a round of "Happy Birthday", the onus fell first to Alexthegirl to say something, followed by Vicky, and then, not to be out-done, Alex. He was, of course, refering to TomT's englingness, despite two years as a natsci. Was pretty funny.

Formal was nice - the food was amazing (Fish-cakes to start. Really tasty fish cakes. Then we had some delicious beef for main, and a white chocolate and amaretto chocolate cream cake for pudding. Wow!)

Oh, and I wore the pig cuff-links that Hannah got me for Christmas, and amazing they looked too!

no news ever turned up re. the power cut. My curiosity rages. Curiosity also fed by J.Fro's little poser..

There's some exciting stuff going down in Cambridge today. I got to my lecture at 9am, and was turned away due to a powercut. It turns out that the whole of the sciences site (a Big site) is down. Rumour says a psycho digger maybe to blame. Hopefully some more news will come in later. The plus side is no lectures! Huzzah! Unfortunately the snow melted quickly at about 10.30 when the sun came out, and so it was not a fabled all-the-schools-closed "snow day". Nevermind.

The sky is a strange hue of peach, and the world is white. What a lovely morning. I don't mind the cold, or the fact that I'm up at 8am anymore.