Digest
There is another of those things that I think I should write about here even though I don't write here any more, and it's a good one this time. In fact, there are two of them:
Tom and I are engaged. He asked me (being the more cautious, it was his prerogative to decide when to jump in) to marry him on 25th March, which was his thirtieth birthday. He'd chosen a beautiful ring; mangosteen has taken some splendid photographs of it, which are here and here. Mike conjured impromptu champagne as soon as I'd accepted; Liz gave us a betrothal gift of a KitKat; my nan had to have a little cry and a small sherry; Mike and Rick lent their house for a party; Matt donated a great deal of booze; everyone gave us cards, of which Susan's was hand-made, and congratulations, and more fizz of all kinds; colleagues did uncharacteristic things like hugging me and signing SMS messages with kisses; Zoë came dress-hunting with me at the very earliest opportunity; Jonathan gave us some very welcome John Lewis vouchers; Hilary gave me a book about wedding planning and, very perceptively, a box to keep the ring in so I don't lose it when I take it off to do the washing-up; everyone is wonderful, especially my impending spouse. It's a bit strange following my last post with this one; I miss being able to tell Oggie about everything, and it makes me think what a different world this is from the one I was in a year and a bit ago, yet-or it might be an "and"-it doesn't stop it from being wonderful.
And on Monday I received a letter confirming that I have a studentship in the Bahn Laboratory at the Institute of Biotechnology, and I'll be leaving my current job at the Careers Service to start there in July. It's a summer research studentship, except that I'll be there for longer than the Long Vac. That's good too.
Tom and I are engaged. He asked me (being the more cautious, it was his prerogative to decide when to jump in) to marry him on 25th March, which was his thirtieth birthday. He'd chosen a beautiful ring; mangosteen has taken some splendid photographs of it, which are here and here. Mike conjured impromptu champagne as soon as I'd accepted; Liz gave us a betrothal gift of a KitKat; my nan had to have a little cry and a small sherry; Mike and Rick lent their house for a party; Matt donated a great deal of booze; everyone gave us cards, of which Susan's was hand-made, and congratulations, and more fizz of all kinds; colleagues did uncharacteristic things like hugging me and signing SMS messages with kisses; Zoë came dress-hunting with me at the very earliest opportunity; Jonathan gave us some very welcome John Lewis vouchers; Hilary gave me a book about wedding planning and, very perceptively, a box to keep the ring in so I don't lose it when I take it off to do the washing-up; everyone is wonderful, especially my impending spouse. It's a bit strange following my last post with this one; I miss being able to tell Oggie about everything, and it makes me think what a different world this is from the one I was in a year and a bit ago, yet-or it might be an "and"-it doesn't stop it from being wonderful.
And on Monday I received a letter confirming that I have a studentship in the Bahn Laboratory at the Institute of Biotechnology, and I'll be leaving my current job at the Careers Service to start there in July. It's a summer research studentship, except that I'll be there for longer than the Long Vac. That's good too.