Hurrah for holidays!
The last week has been really, really good. On the Sunday of Glastonbury, those of us who weren't at Glastonbury went round to John's for a Sunday roast. It was really nice with everybody contributing to the yummy food and Liz and I having a bit of a "lard-off" trying to out-do each other to see who could make the most calorific potatoes. (I did roasties in a gallon of oil, she did mash made with cream and loads of butter. It was good. I'm not sure who won). We cheered ourselves up about missing out on Glastonbury by continually reminding ourselves that people at Glastonbury would not be eating such nice food. Or indeed be enjoying the luxury of sitting on chairs etc etc.
On the Monday evening I went out for dinner with Caroline, whom I hadn't seen since she moved to London back in the autumn. It was really good catching up and hearing all about her exciting new life down there. We also got dinner cheap on some vouchers her dad had given her, so this was especially satisfying. In conclusion: I miss Caroline and she should come back and visit more often.
On Tuesday it was my graduation which was a really lovely day. My mum, dad and nan all came up for the day and were dead excited and happy and impressed with all the naff bits of the ceremony like the pipers and stuff. It was a lot of fun getting to dress up in the robes and everyone looked so good in them and it was just so nice seeing everyone I'd come up through medical school with going up to the front and getting bopped on the head and also seeing all our professors who'd taught us since first year looking on. Aw. I have had such a lot of fun at medical school, I really can't quite believe it's over. I went out for lunch with my family and pottered around town with them until they got their train home to Sheffield in the evening. Then I went out for drinks at the Balmoral with Katya and Michael and their families, which was very nice and rather swish. I'd never been in there before and it was rather exciting. After drinks, I went to meet up with everyone who'd come back from Glastonbury and we ended up at the Blue Blazer, having a lovely time. I was very, very happy indeed that day.
On the Wednesday it was Ros's birthday and we went out for curry at Kismot. I was very happy because Keri came through from the super-grim hospital at Kirkcaldy for it and it meant I got to catch up with her again- hurray! It was a good evening, even though I spilt wine all over the table and Keri got confused between the words "poppadom" and "condom" in an amusing manner in front of some people who'd never met her before.
On Thursday it was my graduation ball which was too much fun. Which was good, because the ticket had cost a bloody arm and a leg. We went out to Hopetoun House in coaches from George Square and when we arrived we were greeted by waiters and waitresses with trays of champagne for us to drink in the courtyard outside. Then we got piped through to the mega-posh dining room (you know you are somewhere fairly ridiculous when you have to process through a hallway where the walls are covered in mounted stuffed tigers' heads in order to get to dinner) where our awesome pharmacology lecturer gave us a speech and we then got served four courses of yummy yummy food. After dinner there was a highland marching band in the courtyard, which was kind of random, some giant board games including giant Operation and a jazz trio in the stables, where they were serving cocktails. Then we went back inside the main hall for the ceilidh, which was brilliant fun with free bacon sandwiches and everything until it changed into a cheesy awful disco at midnight. I went to keep Katya company with her broken foot at that point and we perfected the art of comedy chair-dancing to cheesy crap. I had a lot of fun anyway. I was really sad and nostalgic at the end of the evening though, because it was the end of it all and the last time our class would probably all be together in one place before people move down south and to other parts of Scotland for their jobs next year. I still just can't quite belive it's all over, especially because my first job is with all people from my class anyway and it seems just like a continuation of how things were before, in a way. Hmm.
On Friday I had to go the dentists, which was relatively non-traumatic and then to sign the lease and get the keys for our new flat, which was very exciting. Afterwards I went round to Adam and Robbie's flat for a game of Risk, the Godstorm version. I hadn't been to their new flat before and got given a guided tour of their many, many cupboards, with one or more of my friends hiding inside each cupboard. It was really sweet. However, I had also never played Risk before and as such, had never quite appreciated what an utterly, utterly wretched and tedious game it can be. It seems to turn boys into the most boring people on the planet. I was unable to take a game where you had to summon the goddess of magic or the god of death or accrue faith tokens and collect miracle cards entirely seriously, but Adam, Ben, John and Ali got really into it. The rules were stupidly anal and pedantic and I didn't have the patience to put up with them all. Each round was called an epoch, which at first I thought was quite cute until I realised it was actually quite an accurate description of the lenght of time required for everyone to play their stupidly complex, multi-staged turn. When we actually bothered to time Adam playing his turn, it took him 40 minutes and we don't think that was his longest one by any means. I was bored to tears by the whole thing, really. Melissa, Nicola, Keri and I resorted to entertaining ourselves by hiding the minature elephants in peoples' pints and having a party in the "underworld". Keri and I also fashioned miniature white flags of surrender for all our troops out of toilet paper when we realised we were about to be annihilated. I suspect we probably spoilt the boys' game a bit for them though by being unable to take it seriously enough. I ended up in the pub with Nicola, John, Ben and Ali though and that bit was quite good fun. Remind me never to play Risk ever, ever again though.
On Saturday Adam and I helped Keri to move her stuff into the new flat and then in the evening we had dinner there, which was lovely and quite exciting, starting to feel like this awesome flat is actually ours. Then we went across the road to the Cask and Barrel for pints afterwards. I am so happy that that is going to be my new local; it is a thoroughly lovely pub.
On Sunday I had to pack for going on holiday and tidy up the old flat a bit for our landlord to show it to prospective tenants. We had a tea party in the new flat in the afternoon and in the evening I went to the Bongo Club to see The School with Nicola and John. The School were lovely, but it was a rubbishly promoted gig, with the audience composed of the three of us and a handful of bemused, drunken randoms. We danced lots at the clubnight afterwards though, which wasn't actually too bad.
Today I came home to Sheffield and went out with Lucy to see The School for the second night on the trot, not that I'm stalking them or anything. They were playing at The Red House with MJ Hibbett, Pete Green and Slow Down Tallahassee. It was lovely. Hibbett was supposedly previewing his debut Edinburgh Fringe show, but it seemed to be essentially the same material I have seen him do every other time I have seen him play, so I think it was perhaps pushing it a bit to call it a new show. Which is not to say that it was anything less than ace, though. Pete Green was lovely as usual and SDT were awesome. The School were better than last night too, probably just because the acoustics were better and the crowd were more interested, but still. It was nice to catch up with Lolly and also good to see Cara and Chris there too. It was a very twee gig, really, exemplified by one point where a cat turned up outside the glass door and a bunch of ageing twee men all started squealing "Aw! He wants to come in! Bring him into the gig!" and brought the poor, terrified cat in to see the end of The School's set. The poor cat was terrified of the noise and of being mauled by a bunch of enthusiastic indiekids though and promptly fled to the door, asking to be let out again. It was pretty funny.
Anyway, this has somehow turned into an epic and I have to be up at horrendous o'clock tomorrow morning to go to the airport. I'm going away with my mum and Lolly to see my family in the Caribbean! Via New York! I'm very excited and so can't get to sleep, even though I really ought to. Perhaps switching the computer off would be a good start.