2 weeks till the holidays!

I'm getting excited about our trip to Canada already! Apparently they've already had a lot of snow in Kimberly where we are going, so it's guaranteed to be the whitest of white Christmases...

I had a good weekend, starting with going out in Reading for Kate's birthday Saturday night. We went to a Spanish tapas bar & had a really nice meal. I drank more than I usually would the night before a rugby match, but hey, it was for a special occasion! Will had been in Birmingham with his Reading Uni korfball team that he coaches, & he was planning to come & join us in town, but decided he was too knackered. Not surprising really since he'd been up since half 4 in the morning & driven to Birmingham & back! He did come & pick me up from town though, bless him. He's a lovely man :-)

Rugby on Sunday was a day I'd rather forget... We lost 8-7 to Richmond, & it was really frustrating because we had our opportunities, just couldn't convert them. We got over the line in the first half but the ref ruled a forward pass, then we should have scored moments later but one of our players lost the ball over the line! We were probably the better team on the day, but they kicked a penalty with 10 minutes to go & managed to defend their slender lead. We've never beaten Richmond so to get that close was very frustrating. We played well though, so I guess that's something to take from it...

Tomorrow night I'm going to Reading Uni to watch Will give a talk. He was one of only 6 from the Uni selected to present in their public lecture series, so it's quite a big deal. His topic is "Will humans continue to win: Playing games with artificial intelligence" If you're interested in more info the link is http://www.reading.ac.uk/publiclectureseries/pls-willhumanscontinuetowin.asp My head of department Scottie is also going, & we're taking a minibus of seniors from school. The rest of the week is also quite busy with rugby training on Wednesday, then I'm going to watch the senior production of "The Real Inspector Hound" on Thursday night. Drama is quite strong at Bearwood & this play is meant to be very very funny.

God Save the Queen

Apparently today was the 60th Wedding anniversary of the Queen. Good on ya Lizzie and Phil! We sang 'God Save the Queen' in chapel this morning in recognition. I've lost count of how many times I've sung it over the last 5 and a half years! I almost know it better than the kiwi anthem!!!The Pigeon Detectives gig last night was awesome, we had a great time. We started with dinner at 'Sweeney Todd's pie shop' which is a Reading institution. It serves tasty home-cooked food at very good prices. There is no menu as such, a little old lady who appears to have worked there all her life comes around & tells you what pies they have left that night, then you just choose what veg you want to go with it. Will had a venison & wild boar pie, whereas I had rump steak & stilton.



The first support act was a band called 'Wallbirds' who were a kind of indie rock outfit with a distinctive folk/country bent! They were loud, manic, but very good fun. Next up was 'One night only' who were OK. Their single 'you & me' was very good & will probably be quite big, but other than that they were a bit dull.



The Pigeon Detectives rocked!!! They were very very good. Their front man Matt Bowman was an utter maniac with no regard at all for his personal safety! He was leaping & jumping all round the stage all night with a boundless energy. He jumped into the crowd at one stage for a spot of crowd-surfing, then when he was eventually hauled back up to the stage by the bouncers he complained that someone had punched him. He also had no regard for his microphone... He was twirling it around all night & throwing it high into the air & trying to catch it, which to his credit he probably did more often than not. It was great not having to go into London for the gig... Will drove into Reading, we parked a few minutes away from the venue, then after the show we were home in 10 minutes.

Not much other news from me... The rest of my week is quite busy. I've got rugby training tomorrow night, duty in the girls' boarding house Thursday night, then duty in Blake, the boys' boarding house on Friday night. It's my only Blake duty for the whole half-term so I guess I can't really complain... Saturday night I'm out for dinner in Reading for Kate's birthday while Will desserts me for the weekend (again!) to go to a korfball tournament in Birmingham. Sunday my rugby team have a home match against Richmond, then by that stage there will only be 2 & a half weeks until Christmas holidays! Canada here we come!!!

Light at the end of the tunnel...

It's just gone midnight, & I've just finished my very last report! Yay!!! I've pretty much been a report writing machine all week, not to mention weekend, so it's a great feeling having them done... I can finally claim my life back! Will has been pretty busy at work as well, so the house hasn't been much of a priority of late, I don't think we've cleaned or vacuumed for at least a couple of weeks! Oh well...

It's COLD here at the moment, over the last 3 or 4 days it feels like winter has well & truly arrived. It's nice & cosy inside though with all the heating on.

Tomorrow night (or, technically I suppose, tonight) we are off to see the Pigeon Detectives at the Hexagon in Reading. We saw them at Reading festival at the end of summer & they rocked! For those that haven't come across them yet they are a young UK Indie band with great catchy tunes. Check them out, they seriously do rock.

3 & a half weeks till the Christmas holidays & counting... Bring it on!!!

Remembrance Day

Am just back from my rugby match against Portsmouth. We drew 19-all, but the mood amongst the team was as if we lost. We really should have taken it. We almost stole it on the last play of the match when a move came off & our fly-half got over the line, but the ref judged her to have been held-up. I got player of the day for the forwards which was nice. Over here the forward & back of the day from both teams traditionally have a sculling competition to down a pint of beer. My team knows I refuse to do it, so I got away with a pint of squash!

It's been a busy day... I got up early to get some reports written before I left for rugby, then managed to mark a class test on the minibus on the way to Portsmouth! I'm now going to settle in for another few hours of work... I've got the reports due tomorrow finished, but need to make a head start on the ones due next week.

By the way, we've finally decided on a wedding date... 12th April next year. To be more specific, that's the day the big party will take place, & we may/may not have the actual registry office ceremony on the same day as well. Mum & dad have booked flights to come over here next April, which gave us bit of a hurry up for actually making a few plans... I think it was the folks saying "you ARE going to get married when we're over there, aren't you?"

Finally, connected...

Gidday,

Just over a week ago we finally got our internet at home sorted, so I now feel connected with the greater world. No excuses for not keeping this regularly updated now though...

Things are all good here, I haven't really been up to much of late. Will hasn't been very well the last week or so with a rotten cold, & I'm still trying to shake the very end of it myself. On Sunday my rugby team had a good 29-5 win against Wimbledon, meaning we maintain our second spot in the league. I've been asked if I'm interested in attending the county trials next month, but I don't think I am. I did my dash with competitive rugby back in NZ & am happy just enjoying myself over here. This Sunday we have Portsmouth away, which is always tough. They are known for always having a fairly sizable pack... I had to get special permission from the Headmaster to miss the College Remembrance day service in order to play the match.

A few things have happened around the house lately... The groundsmen at school have cut down one of the huge trees in our section for us, meaning we now get a lot more light in the house & on our top garden. They might also chop another one down next time they are around this way. We've also had a pump installed, meaning we can now work our new shower properly. They had installed the shower previously, but because the water tank is at floor level there was no water pressure at all. The last couple of days we've had a workman in tiling the bathroom for us, so it now looks a LOT better. For those that have been here, those horrible brown bits are no longer...

It's crazy busy at school at the moment, with reports due over the next couple of weeks. Seniors are due on Monday, then juniors the following week. Rich, Goody, I bet you don't miss this time of the year!!! On that note, I'd better sign off here & knock a few of the buggers off...