And, as it’s a time when the majority of my family are available, I’m at home for a while. It’ll be the last time for a while that it’s a week of so because I got a new job (yay!!!) at the University. Which means one day of study, two for my current employer and two at the university. I’m quite pleased about the prospects of this, as it means I’ll be able to save a decent amount towards next year.

One side effect is that I keep having to check myself and remind myself that it doesn’t mean I can afford a new laptop yet….though I would adore one. Mine’s good, but it is about four years old and noticeably not as shiny as it used to be. Slower, generally, and the battery life is slowly getting shorter - although nowhere as bad as my acer laptop used to be, at about half an hour! I much prefer macs and don’t think I would ever go back to a windows out of choice…

I’m currently struggling to write a chapter on Charlotte Bronte, specifically Jane Eyre and Villette. Struggling because they don’t really, truly, fit in with the subject the other chapters are discussing…but was fairly adamantly to be included. Which they can be, but mostly tangential and stretching, which I would like to avoid as much as possible.

I’ve been going swimming a couple of times a week, and am starting to feel some benefit from it, I think. Some people have commented I look better, which is nice, and I have definitely noticed an improvement in how fast, far and long I can go for before having to collapse in a heap. I enjoy the shakiness when I emerge from the pool which is a great incentive! So far I’m up to about 750m in about half an hour, which probably doesn’t sound like very much but considering I was essentially terrified of the water about six months ago I think it’s pretty good!