A talk on giving talks (by sarah)

I went into college on Monday and met up with my friend David for a coffee before the lecture which was nice even if I was being a bit a flake - and his supervisor appeared and he felt too guilty and went back to work :/

It was odd being around the IC campus once more it was like being transported back in time about five years but into a parrallel universe where everything was just slightly wronge - like the walkways gone and is now in the libarary and there is a cafe in the the libary - why oh why couldnt they have had that when I was there - thats what me and Ella always said it needed - that and 24 hr access!

Anyway I then headed over to the UCL campus and turned up to the lecture room and panicked that there where undergraduates in there with microscopes and the like doing some petrology.

But then Martin turned up and we went in anyway - talking loudly and scaring all the little UG's away 🙂

Then Franky turned up and a girl from another course (Chemistry related I think) - the lecture was on how to give our 15 minute talks next week - first off eeeek eek eek - what do you mean next week? Panic! - then - wow they actually managed to give an hour lecture on giving a fifteen minute talk :/

At the end we found out that we really are down to 3 - the other moon girl has left and one of the other guys has changed to a PhD.

That is one hell of a drop out rate - maybe its the part time thing - we all have other lives and this is the thing we 'fit-in' when it is really a full time thing in itself.

I feel abit said that we are down to three - and I'm still not properlly registered :/

Jean’s New Bed (by sarah)

Jean's new bed a.k.a. my cousins old bed arrived - Al bought it back from London with him in the van and then we had to face the task of getting it into the little box room. It was decided that the only way was through the window - so Dad and Al with Jean supervising proceeded to be the 'chuckle brothers' and managed to get the bed in!

Here is my bed protector and my sole contribution to this whole thing! Yes I know its a piece of card board but it was needed to stop the bed being wripped apart by the catch on the window.

Of course this ment a slight rearrange of Jean's room including the toy chest being moved - I really should finish painting it - it was one of my nan's old ottamen.

Jean and Daddy then put the winni the pooh bed spread onto Jean's very own Dovet which was entertaining to watch!

Jean then just had to try her bed out - she's decided its a princess bed as it has a pink plush headboard!

Sunday night was her first night and there were not the pitta patta of feet that we were expecting but instead there was a flomp sound - Jean had fallen out of bed but was still a sleep and only woke when I put her back in the bed. Later on there was an even softer flomp (mainly as I'd put the arm chairs cuosins beside the bed) - this time there was a little cone of dovet with a wide eyed Jean head sticking out the top looking around solomy in the dark. I tucked her in over by the wall - she didn't fall out any more - nor in the subsequent nights which is good - but feeling a bit stupid that I hadn't realised she would fall out :/

Another Funeral (by sarah)

Today is the funeral of a family friend, he died at the beginning of the month and there had to be an inquest and things - me and Al only met him once when we made him a birthday cake and assorted other things back in the autum. The son of one of Barbara's friends he seemed very nice and we had been corrasponding via letters and cards since.

Obviously we found out too late to go to the funeral and Barbara said yesturday even she wasn't sure if she could make it. Barbara's not having a good time with funerals at the moment, in that her friend who died the other week is having a closed funeral for family only - this I personal feel is a bit harsh as they saw an awful lot of each other and Barbara was on the list to be phoned incase of death and now she can't even go to the funeral :(.

Stupid as it seems this is making me very very nervous about everything - due to human nature we look for patterns and this pattern is one I don't want to see.

I feel very sad about Simon as the death was a bit of a shock.

Babble (by sarah)

Jean has been doing something interesting with language - she is pretty good at talking and is often mistaken for being older than she is but she sometimes gets the word sounds back to front or just uses the wronge word full stop.

But the really interesting thing is that she will purposly babble at you - just a stream of noises whilst grinning - she knows they make no scense but tries out different combinations and watches the adults to see if they react to any of the sound combos - she knows there are lots of words she deosn't know and is looking for new ones.

However she is also a bit naughty in that she has cottoned onto the fact that there are words that alot of adults react very strongly to certain word sounds! And sometimes - esprcially when Barbaras around I think that they are the ones she is actually looking for :/

No Mummy they are my Best Friends! (by sarah)

Jean gets upset if I tell the cats off for things like raking the seat - she does this by crying, 'No Mummy they are my Best Friends!' or Hydrogen is her best friend or mini or Helium depending on who is in trouble.

Even when Mini has upset her she defends her, this is interesting as it she has definatly developed a scense of us and them but this isn't a clear cut relationship.

She will defend me and daddy from Nanny and Ferfer and Barbara but she defend them against people in the 'outside' world. She has also started to say names from pre-school as her best/specific friends and there is definatly a social dynamic forming there.

She also pretends to be a baby or a mummy and takes car of random things like she'll tuck a shoe in for the night and sing it a lullabye. She is always tucking Mini up for the night to which our grumpyest cat responds by purring. Jean also cuddles the cats which they just put up with though if others do it they mew pathetically - there is definatly a two way relationship there.