Pounced (by sarah)

I went to my last scout meeting of this term last night - it was the family fun day and AGM. The commitee said they where organising it all. We arrived and the first thing that gets said to me is - have I organised cover for myself - well yes.

The second was - am I still ok to do a presintation. still? erm.... this was the first I had heard about it, apparently I was supposed to have a five minute presentation about the stuff I'd been doing with the Scouts. Then I ended stranded on the travers wall with what seemed like hundreds of beavers who werent really big enough. Alaric was off doing a blind trail.

Then I ended up leading/being the only one doing the campfire songs aswell - with kids who didn't seem to know any songs :/ Still the kids seemed to enjoy it but I felt a bit drained afterwards. Scout stuff is being a bit difficult for me at the moment and all I keep thinking about is Alex meaning that anything scout realated makes me want to cry.

The Ferfer, The Wheelbarrow and the Stream (by sarah)

On Sunday dad was supposed to burn the tomato plants as they have been wiped out by potato blight - he however didn't get all of this done as he went hypo. So with the promise of a cake (made by Diane from the village) he set off to finish the task in the dark.

He wouldn't have done this and would have been sensible and done it the following morning had it not been for Barbara (Al's aunt) who stated that she had asked us to burn them weeks ago and the blight had now spread to her plants. I was a little confused as I thought she had suggested I keep the plants to see what tomatos I could get off of them dispite the blight. I was origonally going to just destroy them. She then got angry that it was potatoe blight and was worried about her potatoes as well - but I've already had to dig all mine up as the blight had got them about a month and a half ago!

Dad valiantly headed out with his torch and was a bit longer than I expected (I was burning his dinner - I actually managed to set it on fire but don't tell anyone), then he appeared with a soggy leg. Not best pleased he informed me that he had been trying to locate the paths edge miss judged and stuck his foot into the stream, the wheel barrow had then come off of the wooden brigde he was wheeling it across and had pulled him right into the stream.

I tried not to laugh at his misfortune but somehow managed to fail much to his chagrin!

Poor Hat Man.

Three Funerals in a Week (by sarah)

This coming week I shall have three funerals to attend - that will make four so far this month.

They are - Gladys who was a lovely bubbly ninety year old who used to deliver the post in the village - she has a leap named after her where she used to jump across the stream. She delivered the post quicker than they can in the vans and was always on time and in all weathers. She recognised Alaric as being Lionel's and told us how he used to deliver the christmas post with her. She was always ambling slowely to the village pub for lunch and/or to the village church, she was lovely and interesting to talk too.

Gorden who has been sick for a long time with lukemia and hip and heart problems but he did seem to be doing ok and had not long returned my superbikes book before being taken intohospital. Up until this year he roasted the deer for the village feast and was always taking off bits of wooden furniture from here to fix for us becuase he liked doing that sort of thing. He'd not long found his freedom again with a mobility scooter and last I saw him he'd been trundling across the common taking the dogs for a walk.

Then there is Alex, his is on Friday we have had to wait for his body to be released - this one is hurting so much and I can't bare the wait for it nor do I want it to be taking place but it must and maybe then I'll be able to face the fact that he is actually gone.

I Miss Geeks (by sarah)

Yesturday we went to my Friend Andrews birthday party. I went along before Alaric did as he wanted to mow some of the lawn here. I'm not really focusing on much at the moment with the Alex stuff going on resulting in me telling Ella that I had left her wash bag at our place (she'd forgotten it the day before) and getting someone to txt Al to ask him to bring it, only to discover that I had actually packed it :/.

We had lunch in a lovely mediterean place where I had the most gorgous chocolate fudge cake I think I have ever tasted - I also think I went up about three dress sizes just from sniffing it! I saw people I hadn't seen since before our wedding! I had in short a great time.

Again they where all Imperial geeks (when I say Imperial I mean they went to Imperial College with me). There were mathermaticians, computer peeps, a physicist, a chemist and a geologists. Of course they all do programming now but wow! Conversations that you can really get your teeth into! And when asked what I am currently up to and saying making Websites had them nodding and saying 'haven't we all' rather than people looking at me like I am a hydra!

We played a game called Illuminarti which was about conspiracy theories and was really funny though didnt really work with the number of people playing and every one was mean to poor Ella (bar me) - ganging up on her to remove her prematurally from the game.

Andrew put on the most amazing spread of food for the fondues he did! He did one with boiling oil that had two types of red meat and samon to dunk, there was freash bread to dunk in the supurb cheese fondue. There was also a tomato bread to dunk.

He then did two chocolate fondues - one white chocolate which I had never had, the other dark. There was water melon, strawberries, orange, bannana, apple (though this was with the cheese fondue as well) and other sundry fruits to dunk! I was in heaven - even Alaric managed to enjoy this chocolate fondue and as he doesn't eat chocolate that is some feat!

We left well after midnight and I was back there today for lunch - first though we went to the park to look at the animals - there are chipmonks in Cheltenham! I never knew! I just have to take Jean there at some point. I think I went a bit too gooey over the animals.

We had another fantastic meal and I bugged everyone for sponsorship but more on that later.

I've had a great weekend, though I have been a bit of a wet blanket and people have been very tolerent especially Ella who I told off for no good reason :/ its that being around a three year thing. The sadness was there though, and I wanted to run away from Andrew at some points becuase he is an old uni friend here near me, who is showing me stuff around the place - this is what Alex was doing and I would have introduced them at some point. It just felt like tempting fate - I knwo it is silly its just how I feel.

Our Cover is Blown (by sarah)

Yesturday me and Ella went for a walk in Cranham - she took lots of photos including some of Betsy (a cat) for Barbara. We walked to the Black Horse, our village pub, in a sort of round about way. Ella many listerning to me being sad about Alex and I mainly held her camera lenses which she seemed to be changing every few minutes.

I realised that I hadn't got to tell him that I would be back doing geology and i was upset becuase I had realised that I had been sending emails about his funeral and all the rest of it too his inbox. I run a mailing list for the goelogists and of course he was on it - I felt very bad about this and it was helpful for me to go through my feelings with Ella. Though she didn't know him she is an Imperial person and also went through Wilson's death with me two years ago. She knows what its like to loose a peer.

At the Black Horse we met Andrew another old Imperial geek and abit later Alaric arrived. We then proceeded to have one of the most stimulating conversations I've had for months. There was physics, there was politics, there was maths, there was philosphy, there was engerneering, there was info on the second world war, there was pyromania, there was science and reasoning in all its guises and then of course there was the Scifi!

And there was a pub full of villagers, a pub full of people who have now seen the true geekness that is me and Al and you know what? Though those who know us smiled and said hello there where some people in the pub who where glaring! Glaring at us becuase it would appear that we had the audacity to tell maths jokes and talk about science fiction plots deconstructing them into real science and speculation.

So after three years our cover is blown - I wonder slightly what the long term affects of this are going to be? Hopefully if people are acting as proper adults - nothing.