Just got back from Easter, well, returned a few days ago but have been absolutely manic and am going home again this evening - so many family things in Easter!

As it was a big birthday for my mum, and my brother’s 18th the week after, and I had a conference in Exeter in the middle, I decided to stay in Buckinghamshire for about 12 days, which was lovely, particularly over Easter when people were off school and had taken time off work.

The conference.

I was telling someone about this and saying how I wished I could be one of those people who gracefully glides through life without making a total fool of themselves on a regular basis. I am not. The night before was fine; turned up to a very nice hotel  booked via LateRooms (which meant I paid a third of the price, score!) with a good restaurant, had a nice evening, no problems at all. In the morning, following a locely cooked breakfast I checked out at 8am and started the fifteen minute drive to my destination, where I was presenting a paper at 9am. I got very lost. The map stopped just short of where i needed to be, and the page I needed in the other map was missing. Eventually I pulled over and flagged down two men in a white van who had a map, and though they apparently had no clue where they were either, I managed to find it and head towards the university. Not that I could find it. Exeter University does not want you to find it. At 9.30 I found it. At the very top of a hill buried in a wood. Ran into the building looking for someone who could tell me where the building was but of course, being Easter, nobody was there. When I did find someone he tried to get me to go to the drama workshop he was running. I insisted on having directions to the right building for my conference, which sounded like it would take half an hour to walk through the woods to get there. Thankfully, he was a sweetheart, told me his wife was running the conference (I wonder if she knew he was trying to steal her delegates…or at least the  tardy ones) and drove me to the other side of campus when I said I should have been giving a paper half an hour ago! At the room, of course I couldn’t even sneak in and sit at the back. No, I had to go in and announce that I was the remaining speaker, very sorry for my lateness and deliver my paper.

Anyway. I had some interesting discussions over the day with people, and met Viv Gardner who I think might be my internal examiner - I apparently didn’t make too poor an impression! - and she recommended an external. My supervisors are looking into it

Birthdays

My mum’s went very well - lots of family around, having a nice weekend together and going for dinner. I think she had a good time and  enjoyed herself. A few days later we went to see Oliver!, one of her birthday presents, which was really good despite Rowan Atkinson being on holiday

My brother’s birthday was spent in Eastbourne - he had decided he wanted to go to the seaside and play crazy golf. Boys are weird Was a lot of fun though for the most part, and entailed another cooked breakfast

Thesis

Following a meeting with my supervisor, I am panicking slightly. I have to have a completed full copy done by the end of June - apparently this is essential if I want to submit in August. Which is probably not impossible but does mean that I will be doing little other than that and working for pay for the next two months, which isn’t that much fun - I hate rewriting! But I am looking forward to having the finished article in my hands, and the only way to do that is to finish it!