The weekend already

Yet again the week has flown by, almost without me realising! I've been incredibly busy with marking books & assessments for school throughout the week. On Wednesday Will left for Budapest in Hungary. He was meeting up with some Eastern European colleagues in order to put together a joint proposal for a large research grant. All I know is it has something to do with getting robots to talk to each other... He came back late last night after his flight was delayed, & he said that it went well.

We didn't end up getting to bed until nearly 2am this morning so today was a huge sleep-in. It was an exeat weekend meaning I didn't have to get up for my school rugby coaching. I had to ref a match between my boys & another school on Wednesday. It's not something I enjoy doing at all, but it went well & my guys won 49-0. I assure you that it was nothing to do with the ref!!!

Today was very chilled out. We watched a bit of the European rugby, then I went to the gym for a good session while Will went off to his usual Saturday afternoon Volleyball. I'm currently killing a bit of time while waiting for dinner to be ready. I've got a roast chicken in the oven, complete with roast potatoes and sweet potatoes, & will stir-fry some sugar-snap peas when it is nearly ready. Yum yum yum.

Almost a British citizen

As some of you know over the last year or so I've been jumping through the hoops in order to be granted British citizenship. Well, I am very nearly there... My application has been successful and I have been invited to a citizenship ceremony on March 2nd where I swear my allegiance to Queen and Country etc etc & am presented with my certificate. It then means I am eligible to apply for a British passport.

Aside from that, there isn't much news to report really, hence the longer than usual gap between posts. The cold snap has broken & it is now relatively mild (highs of around 8 or 9 degrees, so almost double figures!). The lake has now totally thawed.

The new term at school has started well, & I can't believe that 2 weeks has passed already. I'm training pretty well at the gym at the moment, but still haven't been back to rugby training since injuring my knee back in October. I should know my MRI scan results in the next week or two.

Lastly, I am LOVING the Twilight books! I've read the first 3, & one of the girls in the boarding house is going to lend me the 4th one tomorrow so I can read it over the weekend. Will & I went to see it at the cinema just before school went back & we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cold snap

As you might have heard, Britain is in the middle of a cold snap at the moment. This past week the daily high has been 1 or 2 degrees, with lows of -3 or 4. It's the longest period of sustained cold dry weather in about 20 years. This has resulted in the lake almost totally freezing over for the first time in my 6 years at Bearwood. I didn't quite trust it enough to put my full weight on the ice!
In the foreground of the pic below you can see a golf-ball on the surface of the ice. Some of the golfers have had great fun hitting balls out onto the lake. We watched one ball bounce a couple of times, then skid along for 100m or so!
On Monday morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow, which made the lake even prettier still...

Tonight is meant to be -5 degrees, making it the coldest night yet. Luckily our house is warm & cosy with all of its radiators. When Will drove me to the hospital at 9am this morning for my MRI scan it was still -4 degrees. We had our two new GAP students arrive for the start of the new term, & after leaving the warmth of the Aussie summer they are finding the weather a little bit hard to adjust too!

First post of 2009!

Will & I saw in the new year with a very enjoyable cocktail party at George & Hannah's. It was an excellent night, & it was well after 3am by the time we staggered home through the woods.
At midnight we braved the -3 degrees to go outside & watch George setting off some fireworks

Last night we had another meal round at Scottie & Sarah's. The second in a week which is pretty good going! It was another very pleasant evening, & this time Willem, plus a friend of Sarah's were also there. This time it was -4 degrees walking home through the woods, but it was gorgeous, with the lake partly frozen over.

Tonight we are going to go watch the Twilight movie. The girls in the boarding house at school gave me the first book to read over the holidays, saying that it was amazing. I got very engrossed in it & finished the book in 2 days! I now need to read the others in the series.

Will & I are both back to work tomorrow, but it's only a teacher-only day for me, so a gentle way to ease back into things. On Tuesday morning I go to Royal Berks hospital for the MRI scan on my knee.