How many Oxford students does it take to change a lightbulb? Yesterday, eleven of us, several cups of tea and a very helpful scout. There have been some fun moments like that. And whilst there are swathes of people who really like drinking to wade through, (as littlered2 discovered when she wandered over to my room on the first night here), there are also ( Read more... )

*zips suitcase shut with much huffing*
*sits on suitcase*
*bounces*
*falls off suitcase when the zip gives way and it explodes open*

I feel that British schools are failing to teach us an important life lesson: do not bounce on your suitcase, no matter how temptingly squidgy it is. It Will Not End Well. The sad thing is, the same thing happened ( Read more... )

It's Ramadan again! My favourite time of year, though I have to admit that I'm a little glad it ends before Freshers week begins. Last year I posted a list of 10 things to expect from Ramadan. I was sitting around ignoring my Evil Reading List From Hell and emphatically not thinking about the chocolate in my drawer, when it occurred to me that I ( Read more... )

So! Last weekend life was filled with reprobates. I felt that it deserved a journal post, and sat down to write it, when my home was suddenly invaded by adorable little demented children. They screamed. They climbed over me. They pulled my hair and poked my parrot. I think he's been scarred for life. I know I have been ( Read more... )

Coming home, I'm beginning to realise, is more or less the worst part of going away. It's not that your parents are any less tolerant, or that your room is any smaller, or that your town is any more boring, it just feels like itYou know that things are bad when you're missing the cold showers you took over a drain in the floor, or the cockroach ( Read more... )

When I was a grumpy pre-teen, tramping along behind my parents at Heathrow, waiting to jet off on another family trip to such exciting places as Tunisia, (home of handcrafted leather goods, handcrafted leather goods, and even more handcrafted leather goods), I used to gaze, wide-eyed, at the gap year students and other backpackers who strolled ( Read more... )

Over the past couple of weeks I've been forced to confront the major flaw in my gap year plans. It's that I didn't actually plan anything for the month after Paris. I believe I might have actually forgotten that the month of May exists. This is worrying enough in itself, but there is worse to come ( Read more... )

It is strange being home again. It's a bit like being forced into clothes that don't quite fit any more. I don't think I was quite ready to come back. I said a very sniffly goodbye to my room in Paris, the cat who used to shed all over my bed, the lady at the cafe nearby who gave me cheap sandwiches, and various other friends and trailed back ( Read more... )

Various happenings have been afoot recently ( Read more... )

Oh dear. A few days ago at work, I was sitting happily at my desk, munching surreptitiously on cherry drops and typing, when the TV monitor in the corner of the room began to flash red, important looking 'breaking news' signs at us. We all stopped working, unashamedly, to watch. First, there was a speech from Mr Bush, in which he called Iraq a ' ( Read more... )