"There is nothing to be alarmed at in reality"

It is four weeks now since I left England, *sigh*, and reality is well and truly setting in. It has been lovely seeing friends here and catching up, though I am missing England and a particular Englishman an awful lot. It is amazing how quickly I have started to fall back into old routines. I am back to work at my Saturday job, but have told my typing job to shove their typing up their arses, (not in so many words) as they were going to decrease my rate of pay from the miserable amount it was to an even more miserable amount. This was, I was told, because of the drop in the Aussie Dollar. For an Australian company, hiring Australian workers in Australia and only taking Australian jobs, I can't see how that would be an issue. However I think it will be the best thing I have ever done, and a wonderful feeling to tell them that I would be unable to proceed!

However, to make up for the lack of this job, I have taken on a new venture, tutoring at uni!(argh) My supervisor is also the lecturer on the course, and I am the only tutor, so those things are in my favour, though having never tutored before, I am naturally freaking out!! I am a little excited, perhaps 1%. Mr A thinks it is great, and it will be good experience, if it doesn't send me over the edge!

It seems like I am going to be insanely busy this year, which will be good in a way as it will make it pass by quickly. Though as I want to try and finish up ASAP, I hope it doesn't melt away too fast!!I have so much to do on my thesis, but a new sense of determination and motivation is pushing me on. Some how I have broken it up into 10 chapters, of which I have written the equivalent of 4, but all of which will need to be redone. I am thinking March next year, my supervisor is thinking July....we will see. It will be a battle of wills and if I can defeat procrastination, I might just do it!

HH

"They left England with the probability of being nearly a twelvemonth absent."

After leaving Ireland I had a week and a half left in England, to enjoy and misadventure as I saw fit. Lunch with Foodycat was my first port of call, and then I headed South to see Mr A. We explored the delights of his little local pub, which was a good real ale pub, and where we had Smoke Beer which was an unique, strange and delicious beer in which the barely is smoked prior to being used for the beer. Poor weather kept us indoors and then poor organisation prevented us from going anywhere too far a field. However we took a reasonably optimistic weather forecast and headed to Battle for the day to see the Battle of Hastings site, which was very interesting and rather beautiful. We rambled about in the mud most of the afternoon and then went to the pub for a quick pint. Four pints later we were both starving (and getting a little drunk) so we marched back up the hill for dinner and another pint before making our way home on the train. We also headed to Ramsgate for the day, though the weather was bloody awful and the ship we went to see disappointing. I think we ended up walking about 8 miles, again in mud! I was up to my ankles in mud, and if I had of had long petticoats on (thankfully I was wearing a shorter dress and slip than dear Lizzy), oh my, 6 inches deep I'm sure they would have been. It was too cold and far to go to the main harbour, so I didn't see where dear Georgiana had almost eloped, but walking along the cliffs, I could imagine it quite well. It actually felt almost Gothic, so it wasn't altogether unliterary. The misdaventuring went really well, and so now I have to work out what to do about it, I don't want the story to stop here, and niether does Mr A, so we will see. It is now a question of if he can come over for a holiday at Christmas, and when I can get over there, perhaps for more than a holiday....But I won't bore you anymore, but will just put up some pictures. Enjoy.

"How much your friends in Ireland must be enjoying your pleasure on this occasion"

Once more my bold resolve to blog more often has weakened and failed, even though procrastination should be at an all time high. Surprisingly, it is not.

I thought I would blog, mainly in pictures, the end of my UK trip. It was a wonderful trip, not least of all due to my misadventures, but also it was wonderful spending time with my extended family, particularly my Nana, with whom I spent many an evening just sitting quietly with, watching telly and chatting. Whilst in Ireland we did a lot of driving and saw a lot of the country which was lovely, as well as taking in some nice pubs and spending time with the family. Needless to say there were many tears shed as well all left Ireland, though hopefully it will not be so long between drinks and we will be back there again soon. More on my last week in England will follow shortly, but for now here are some of my favourite pictures from Ireland.