Bye-bye 'honours, even?'

Well, I got them, so it was finished!

'Gone weird' - hmm. Well, I have decided, after all, to do a BA. It seems as though I need very little by way of new courses to get it ... so I'd just as well. I would like to do the philosophy course (A211), but I'm not sure I feel confident enough to jump straight into philo essays, so I thought the humanities foundation course (A103) might be (a hoot) interesting. I need to check with a study advisor on Tuesday first though. The current plan is to have a break from science (with the arts) and then return to do the new named MSc in Earth Systems Science, which hasn't even been approved yet! If it doesn't get given the go ahead, then I'll do the MSc in Science. I have until 26th January to register for next year's course. (I will have to cancel my registration of S369, but I will still read the books).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I feel like a potato ...

... stuck in the dark, with no air.

Christmas was *OK* as Christmasses go - plenty of family and gifts and chocolates and savouries containing sausages or equally questionable fillings. The turkey was a bit overcooked and the sprouts were like bullets, but all presents were happily given and received. The hub bought me a beautiful aquamarine and diamond ring - for a Christmas and graduation present. I was quite amazed at that!



So, all was fine - but I feel flat, flat, flat. However, I forced myself to go out this afternoon - and feel a little bit brighter after a long drive and a brisk walk on the (very cold!) moors!


No, you cannot have any grub - it's illegal to feed the ponies!

I've also booked my graduation ceremony at Torquay's Riviera Centre for 14th April. Dreading it!!




Remnants of Christmas

Jack Sparrow stands atop cake, surrounded by cracker gifts.

Yer tis!

I haven't booked my grad ceremony yet though - I'm really not sure that I want one!

Soul searching

I still haven't decided what to do with myself now. I'm feeling rather flat. But I think that I should take my time over this and have decided to take a 'year out' and have registered for S369, The Geological Record of Environmental Change, for next year. It's the course I would've done this year instead of S330, but it wasn't running. Although not an easy course, it is only 30 points and I intend to 'go easy' with it, as I'm going to study it purely out of interest; I just thought I should do it before I completely move on. I might not even take the exam, as there is no point.

After that .... who knows. I could do a BA - or I could do an MSc. My heart and mind yearn for the MSc, but my wallet tells me not to be so daft. I don't know ... but I have a year to figure it out.

We should hear confirmation of our degree classifications tomorrow - and we can also then make our graduation ceremony arrangements. I'm really not sure about that ...

Soul soothing

We all went to the annual carol service at Buckfast Abbey yesterday afternoon. As usual, the abbey was filled to the brim - and, as usual, people brought babies ..... The acoustics are incredible, and I don't think I have captured them very well on these shabby little digital camera movies - but they give a flavour.

This one is sung by the choir as they enter the abbey (Jistebnice Cantional)



and here are links to a few more snippets.

Once In Royal David's City
The First Nowell
Cantique de Noel (choir) (beautiful)
O Come All Ye Faithful

My one complaint is that they left out 'Hark the Herald Angels' this year.

Well, well, well ....

The exams people listened to my plea and released the results at 11:50 this morning!

and

I passed SXG390, grade 2!

and

I PASSED S330!!! By the skin of my teeth, but I only need to pass for the 2.1 hons!

No idea what to do now - I need to let this sink in for a bit.

Message to the OU Exams Office

HURRY UP!!

Please.

What is a blog?

According to Uncyclopedia:

"The blog is an important and recently introduced aspect of the much-lauded "Care in the Community" treatment for the mentally-handicapped. Mental patients (from the schizophrenic [1] to the learning-disabled [2] to the just plain weird) are invited to express their fears, suspicions, experiences and cravings by means of one of these occasionally-updated internet logs."

There is also a pretty accurate description of a geologist on there!

God bless Ikea!

We now have storage! The trip up to Bristol last Thursday, was more of a trial than usual, because of the atrocious weather! We did a little shopping in Cribbs Causeway (after Ikea) and when we came out, it was blowing an absolute hurricane and pelting with rain - and we couldn't find our car ... Then we got stuck in the traffic on the M5, for about 3 hours, as the motorway was closed, due to an accident involving a lorry and gas canisters. We got home very late.

BUT, a blitz over the weekend saw our bathroom quite transformed!






There is still a fair bit to do but, apart from putting up the blinds and some pictures, it can wait until after Christmas.

Water on Mars?

NASA scientists think that there could be water on Mars - or at least, they think there may've been water on Mars during the last 5 years! New photos show deposits in gullies, that weren't there before (the deposits). These deposits could be CO2 or rivers of dust. Or they could be WATER! How exciting!

See New Scientist.

So what do you think?

click pic for bigger

My little world of what ifs

The results are fairly imminent now - some postgraduate results came out today. The '15th December' message has also appeared on my SXG390 page, so despite the imminentness of things, that one isn't as imminent as I'd hoped. What if the results come out tomorrow when we're up in Bristol. What if the weather is so bad (as forecast) that we can't get back and I don't know they're there? Well, they will wait!

What if I've passed S330? (Now then, there's a forlorn what if if ever there was!). What should I do? I have been over and over the artsy course descriptions and, in all honesty, I don't fancy doing an artsy course. So I could do the Masters? But it's so expensive! There's always the Crowther Award! But you have to apply the year before, I think - so if I applied and, even if successful, I would have to wait until next year to start. And I couldn't afford it else. And why am I thinking of doing a Masters? Could I do it? What if I couldn't?

Ho ho ho!

What if I've failed S330?? LOL - well, that's almost a given! However, I have changed my mind slightly over SXN390 (nuke waste project), because I have so always wanted to do S369. So I should do that one. What's one more exam? I could even do it if I passed S330 and had to wait another year for the Masters (if successful with the Crowther plea). I could do it for fun!!

(However) What if I get a 1 or a 2 for SXG390? (I would be disappointed with less). (And failed S330). Then I would stand a chance of a first!!! So would I then want to do S369 with another exam - or should I do SXN390 to stand a chance of a 1 or a 2??? I don't know!!

And what if I've passed S330 AND SXG390 and I take my 2:1 (which I would, if that's what it is) then what would I do next year?

Confused.

Syzygy Mimistrobell (that is my Second Life name, but I cannot access the game on this PC, due to having an inferior graphics card or something - I can only access on my laptop and as I can't get at my laptop at the moment, I cannot play it. Not that I want to play it. I got myself a free pair of purple leather jeans and somebody approached me and I flew away!! It's very odd - all those people on that game are actually REAL!)

Back to it ....

The bathroom work is limping along.



We've now got to the stage where we're thinking about storage and (I) have decided that Ikea cabinets would be the most economic/useful - so we will have to drive up to Bristol (probably Thursday), which is a horrid drive and one which we only did last week!! We'll do some Christmas shopping while there, and make a day of it.

I'm all flu and dithers at the moment. I wonder if thoughts of the impending results has anything to do with it .... ?


There is no such message on my SXG390 page - maybe that result'll be out earlier???

Praha - a city of fascinating hats!

We returned from the Czech Republic on Wednesday, having had to fly back with a cold, which resulted in deafness and a near-exploding face. I'm still suffering! However, it was a very interesting trip.

A letter to the DIY fairy

Dear DIY Fairy

Please help my husband. I (sillily) accused him of not being able to multi-task, and now he's gone multi-tasking daft. He has the bit of wall (what we call 'ground zero') down, but not all. He has most of the white tiles grouted, but not all. He has cleaned off the grout from some of the grouted white tiles, but not all. He has fastened most battens (for the cladding) onto the wall, but not all. He is now taking the floor up (as asked to by the plumber), but not all. And he's doing it using a HAND SAW. If I enter the room and cheerily ask "done that little job?" or offer suggestions (like "shall we get in a man?") or assistance, then he barks at me, so I retreat to other rooms, all of which are hovels, containing a multitude of bathroom bits, tools, pieces of wood, nails - and several inches of oak leaves in the kitchen. What is complete is the grouting of the travertine tiles and the cleaning up of the same (I did both jobs). If I could get to the windows, I would measure them up for voiles. If I could get to the toilet, I'd make myself a cup of tea ...
Yours desperately,

Evidence

Under a cloud

We had a real-time observation session with S194 tonight - alas, it was cloudy at Milton Keynes (as it was here), so they had to give up.


Next session is planned for 11th December.

Sprecken vous Italiano?

I'm testing out the development of the new OU Beginner's Italian course. (L195 Andante Beginners' Italian). This will last for 6 weeks and entails, I'm not sure what yet! My materials arrived this morning.


It's a pack, which includes a book ("Colloquial Italian" by Sylvia Lymbery), cassettes and CDs. The really interesting part though, is that we will be trying out the OU's new Virtual Learning Environment, and we have to write blogs and play with wiki and lyceum. Could be fun!

For the Lyceum online tutorials, I've had to buy a headset and have been practising with it this morning! I CAN BE MARIA!! LOL!

Bathroom update!

IT'S WRECKED!!



We have a week to try to sort this out!

I feel sorry for the hub, as he has to come home from work and then face working on the bathroom!


Then he doesn't have time to do the ironing!!

Beta blogger?

I've just changed over to the new 'beta blogger', powered by Google (they are into everything now?). I appear to have a search bar at the top of my blog now (unwelcome) - but, everything else seems to be more or less the same! They promise lots of extra utilities and stuff - if only I had time to find out more!

New Game!

Thanks to Bill, I've now discovered YouTube, which is a very useful place to stick all those really useless videos you take with your digi camera! Here's a very exciting clip of Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone, back in July (I'm at the end in the red T-shirt!).



Now I'll be able to do movie updates on the bathroom!! :)

Just bought this!

Hehe!

I spy a plumber!

He came out this morning and will return on Friday week to take out bath, sink and radiator, so that we can do the tiling etc. (I wish it had been sooner). For some reason, he says we need, not only a 4 inch plinth underneath our shower - but also a 3 inch x 5 inch boxing in effort around the wall, to the waste. So that means that we'll have to take legs of cupboards and bolt them to the wall ... Not very happy. Goodness knows what else is going to go wrong!

I took this picture of myself today (as you do) to post on the conference, as we were discussing hair and age. Nobody thinks I'm too old to have my hair this length. In fact, nobody thinks that there should be any difference how long your hair is whatever age you are.


Anyway, I think I look very studious! Talking of which, I've finished S194 - and just have the ECA to do (which, actually, isn't all that easy!) I'm a bit disappointed, because it took me to chapter 7 (of 8) to get to anything I hadn't already learnt from previous courses! And now, I have 3 months to hang around doing nothing! Not that I have a clue what course to do next year anyway - it depends on the S330 re*ult. It'll probably be SXN390, therefore. And there are some weird things going on with regard to nuclear waste, at the moment. 'Bribe' for councils to take atom waste and seemingly no geologists involved in deciding on a suitable storage place. Worrying.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

... to my baby, Nicholas Jon.




1st Birthday

Now he's all grown up, has a BSc in Chemistry (with Astronomy), a job as a civil servant and a wife, Nicola.

And he's

30 YEARS OLD!

AGHHHHHHH!

Where's the plumber II?

This arrived today.


Dual flush and with a 'soft close' seat - therefore, for a toilet, about as interesting as it gets! But it has to sit in our living room as every other room in the house is filled to the brim with other bathroom bits!

Where's the plumber?

The house is a tip, with bits of new bathroom everywhere. Shower cubicle, shower tray, shower, tiles, basin, taps, blinds .... and new towels are neatly 'rolled' into a basket and they're getting dusty! The plumber got married on 30th September and then went on honeymoon to South Africa and Mauritius. It seems he got lost.

This is how the bathroom looks now. Shocking!!!! Actually, it no longer does look like this, as the wallpaper was stripped yesterday! I just can't wait to get rid of
those horrible tiles, which have been there for 20 years ...


Yuck!

Yawn ....

This was my 'blog' for the National Trust. They certainly struck lucky with my interesting day!!!

"Woke late. Drab day (what's new?). Received a postcard from the Philippines this morning - a Postcrossing one - showing a picture of a Ming vase. (Postcrossing is a current worldwide activity, whereby we sent out postcards and receive cards back, from anywhere in the world - it's supposed to get people back to 'writing' and sending stuff by mail, rather than by text or email). Had a discussion, re global warming (there are people who actually believe we can cure it ...) on the FC conference (an online conference provided by the Open University (a distance learning university). Downloaded my OU S330 (oceanography) exam paper, from last week. Worked out that I have failed (again!). Had lunch (beans on toast). Spent the afternoon doing a new home page. Don't like it much. Hub at work all afternoon and evening (he is an Asda delivery man). Son at work all day (he works at the garden centre). I ate a chicken and mushroom pie and a chocolate (Weightwatchers!) cheescake. Gross. Other exciting things which happened today - I fed the goldfish (twice) and the rabbit - watched 'Bargain Hunt' with my lunch - and 'Eastenders' with my supper. (Jake is in trouble, Ruby is a silly sot and Sonia was crying again. Pauline wouldn't be happy if she saw her little boy kissing her (Sonia, that is!)) Now it is nearly time (10:00pm) for hub to come home from work and we will share a bottle of wine together (Italian) - although I water mine down as it doesn't agree with me!"

Reminiscing ...

Went for a stroll down memory lane, late yesterday afternoon - to Mount Wise swimming pools, overlooking Plymouth Sound.



It wasn't like that in my day!! Aged about 11 or 12, I used to come here, with the school, for swimming lessons. There was no wall to protect you from the harsh sea winds then - and it was always winter-time - generally, it was snowing. We used to stand, up to our necks in this freeeeezing cold water (heated pool? don't be silly!) - and were dragged along by ropes and poles. I remember when Susan Mitchell's regulation black nylon swimsuit took in too much water and the top fell down under the weight. A bunch of pre-pubescent girls, giggling at the sight of the first flushes of mammary buds, was about as cheery as these outings got! When we eventually escaped from this frozen water, of course still non-swimmers - an even worse ordeal followed, as we had to attempt to dry ourselves with towels from home (generally thin, 2 foot square ones). Pulling knickers and socks over cold, wet skin is about as miserable as it gets. Before returning to the bus, and back to school for lessons, undoubtedly in scripture or latin, those of us fortunate enough to have a couple pence in our pockets, would drag our trembling little bodies, over to the refreshment hut where we would purchase a cup of hot oxo (yes, an Oxo cube dissolved in boiling water ...) and huddle together on the steps. Today's kids don't know they're born!

Blog for a day

The National Trust would like us all to do a blog of our lives on 17th October. The duller the better, they said! I won't disappoint!

Today I bought our flights for Portugal next year. We're flying from Exeter to Faro, via Flybe - whether that's wise or not!

Do I deserve this?

(scuse out of focus pic).



Little Gem gift box from Lush (gawd, it stinks!) Ring of Roses Butter Cream, Honey I Washed the Kids Soap, Big Calm Shower Jelly, Rock Star Soap and Honey Trap Lip Balm. Paul bought it for me. "A present for you, for doing the exam." "But I'm pretty sure I've failed it" "Doesn't matter, you worked hard and tried". It brought home to me what were the REALLY important things. At last I have some time to spend with those important things - my family.

First thing we must do is to buy a new toilet!! I think the bathroom man might be starting next week - oh heck!!!

I b*llsed it up!!

I was really poorly on Tuesday - gastric stuff. And I haven't eaten anything for a couple of days, so wasn't feeling too grand this morning, for the dreaded thing. But, otherwise, I was as prepared as I could've hoped for (I didn't know all that much, but that's beside the point). Anyway. I read (quickly) through the paper and thought 'I can pass this'. I eagerly set into the 10 short questions (worth 40%) and was pleased that I reckoned I'd done enough for 20% on that. So then, just 10% each on the 2 longer question (of choice out of 5) and there was my unexpected pass! I was feeling rather bubbly. I chose a question I thought I could do quite well. The biological one; not because it was biological - I hate biology, but because I knew the answers! Or so I thought ... I wrote about 4 pages and then, when I got to the last part, I realised I'd done the WHOLE THING WRONG!!! When is a --> not a --> - when it's a <-- - that's when!! But I did it WRONG! That is a cardinal and unforgiveable error! The trouble is because I didn't know my -->s from my <--s, the rest of my answers which followed were completely WRONG too! I panicked. I should've done the thing again, but I only had 30 minutes left - and still had to do another question. I picked the wrong 'other question' and could only answer a very small part of it. In retrospect, I should've redone the question I'd b*llsed up, because then I would've passed; I'm pretty sure. But I haven't....

Very CROSS with myself. I wouldn't be cross with myself to fail - but I am cross with myself for letting myself down so badly.

READ THROUGH THE PAPER THOROUGHLY!

READ THE QUESTION!!

Exams! (If only this had been an assignment!)

Oh, bother! To make matters worse, still upset, I went around to see my Dad and had a row with him!

Well, I can, at least, look forward to doing SXN390 next year now (probably on nuclear waste) - and finish off my honours next year, as I had originally planned. Yeah, the oceanography was a 'bonus', but I COULD'VE passed it!!

Off now to open up the S194 book - what joy not to have to do any more revision!

Nodules!

'Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep,
The Kraken sleepeth ..."

Thank you to Alfred, Lord Tennyson for this introduction to the chapter, "Biogeochemical Activity in Deep-Sea Sediments", which, amongst other things, tells us all about manganese nodules. They are formed by authigenesis. At least the top bits are, as they take iron and cobalt from the sea-water (somehow). And the bottom bits (below the sediment) are formed by taking manganese, nickel (?, what is Ni?) and copper from the pore waters. So that is diagenesis. The Indians are exploiting these. Churning up the sediments with enormous suckers and dredgers - all for a few handfuls of metals in a ball.

I'm just about ready to drop. So much to try to take in - but no sooner does it go in, than it slips out again. It's all quite hopeless, I'm afraid! I think I will do a quick wiz through trophic levels and 'Laws' and then wait and see what the fates have in store.

I am determined that, if nothing else, I shall write neatly.

Retail therapy!

I had a break from the revi*ion today - and we braved a visit to the new shopping centre, which opened today! They estimate that 100 000 went through the gates - and it felt like it! I wasn't sure what to expect - as the outside of the place is an absolute monstrosity - but the inside is very COOL and I was pretty impressed!



M&S, Boots, Next, Primart and Waterstones are HUGE and very spacious and light - much like the stores in an American mall. Lush and Hotel Chocolat could've been a bit bigger though! Oh, and ...


OK!


Caffe Mocha (decaff).


We were pretty worn out by the time we escaped - but it was a most welcome break from the other. It seems as though a lot of people are feeling like I am - the more we study; the less we appear to know. And I knew very little in the first place! Oh, well, head down tomorrow and the next day and the next - how I shall celebrate when it's all OVER!

Malcolm has a friend!

Welcome, Bubbles ....


Unfortunately, Malcolm doesn't appear to want a friend - and is terribly territorial, butting poor Bubbles up the bum and shoving him out of the way constantly! They appear to be a little more peaceful today ...

I also added a stone sucker (that's what they called it in the shop) to the tank - it's meant to deal with the algae. It's a bit like a spotted slug, which suctions itself onto the pump. We named it Thing.

Where's this then?!

I was feeling pretty low, the day before yesterday - and the postie put this through my letterbox!


Which cheered me up no end! Ah, my mountain! The card even shows the hotel we stayed in, by Lake Union!

Thank you, Sarah - and good luck with your studies!

This was a Postcrossing card, of course - and I've now got 66! My history map looks like this!

Not long now!

The wierdest thing is that I am no longer worried!! After some fraught encounters with past exam papers, I got myself seriously stressed and I had a half mind to cancel my exam (what hope is there?), but then decided I wasn't a quitter. However, in the process of telling myself it doesn't matter too much, and looking forward to what I might do next year, I'm actually now rather looking forward to FAILING!! But I'll do what I can, and, if by some major miracle, I were to pass, then I can re-examine my options - depending on how I've also done on SXG390.

I've hidden all my past S330 exam papers away, and am sticking to my revision list only. This is the short version - there is a much longer, more specific one, but this is the gist list!

UNCLOS
Amphidromic systems (practise diagrams etc)
Geostrophic flow, divergences, convergences etc
Energy transfers
T-S diagrams
Estuaries, deltas and beaches
Hydrothermal plumes etc (look at those equations!)
UPWELLING
Sedimentation
Hydrothermal vents, esp Mg
Things like thickness of thermocline etc
Check up on seismic measuring thingies
¹³C
delta¹⁸O
Total carbon
Turbidity currents
Med, Black Sea, Gulf Stream, Juan de Fica

and a few more. If I spent less time making lists and getting on with it, I might do better!

The ballet tickets have arrived - our new shopping centre opens this Thursday (Starbucks, Hotel Chocolat, Build-a-Bear, Lush ... ) and Malcolm Dumpling-Smith has a new tank, with amazing bubbles. Do you think he looks lonely?


Life doesn't get much more exciting than this!

We're going to the ballet!

I bought tickets for Prokofiev's Cinderella, being performed at the Prague State Opera! Whoo! The problem is, what to wear! They suggest that smart casual will be OK on one page - and then, on another, they tell you to wear suits and evening gowns! Heck!

Our seats are in one of those little boxes!:)



How exciting! Of course, I've had to buy the CD from Amazon - and, of course, I've had to make up the order so that I get free delivery - so have also bought a Czech phrasebook and another guidebook.

Revision is BORING!

and I'm eating and eating and eating ....

Last week I was full of total despair - this week the total despair has turned to THIS IS SO IMPORTANT - WORK!! I keep trying to tell myself that it's not important - but, of course, it IS important. (Though not that important ..) I feel ever so slightly less panicked since I got TMA04 back. 74% for that, which is genius standard! So I must be understanding something, although I can hardly find any correct answers amongst the masses of red writing! But, mainly, the past exam paper questions are still a mystery to me.

I've been through all the books and all the summaries etc for those blocks. I know, from those, which topics to leave as hopeless (they include - surprise, surprise - waves)and I have made another list which are topics which keep coming up in the exams and which I might be able to do something about (ie READ stuff and LEARN stuff). So, onwards .... I shall be SO glad when this is all over ....

I'm getting worse!!

Despite putting in hours and hours of work, I looked at some past exam papers this afternoon, and, questions (I swear) I could've done before, I can't do now!!

(Last year's exam).

"Explain why physical weathering is more important than chemical weathering for supplying dissolved salts to the ocean at high latitudes."

I wouldn't know ...

"Sketch the likely annual cycle of phytoplankton productivity in the North Atlantic at ~45 deg N. Explain why the pattern of productivity at this location is different from that in the Scotia Sea."

Where's the Scotia Sea?

The thing is, I might *know* some things - or I might *understand* some things - but I can't put it all together, sideways. My head hurts if I try! These two questions (above) are actually easy ones ... there are much, much worse!

I felt like phoning the OU and cancelling my exam. But I guess I must plod on. It's not really that important (I'm looking forward to doing SXN390 next year, as I know I won't pass this thing!) - but I should give it a go (preferably without going completely off my head).

I want to pick up S194 and get on with that (Introducing Astronomy). I'm doing this short course, so that I can pick up a Certificate in Contemporary Science, for which you need to have completed 6 short level 1 science courses. But I cannot pick it up until this monster is out of the way!

Isn't life grand!

The weather has improved dramatically over the past week - and the sunshine has not only cleared the spots from my forehead, but also eased those stress levels (a bit!)

This was down by the river Tamar on Thursday evening.


That's Brunel's famous rail bridge - and that's Cornwall 'over there'.

I hardly seem to be home though, so the revi*ion is not actually undergoing leaps and bounds or anything like that. I went to an S330 tutorial this morning though. That really only managed to tell me that I know even less than the little I thought I might know! The highlight of the morning was when the tutor slid the whiteboard out of the way and wrote an equation (in big red letters) onto the WALL!!

EVERTON beat Liverpool 3-0! And spent a couple of hours TOP OF THE LEAGUE!

And I cancelled the Algarve villa booking. I found a much nicer villa, out in the countryside (though still very close to the beaches), with fabulous views and a karaoke machine! :)


It's the "Casa Dos Choupos", which translates to "House of the Poplar Trees".



Can't wait!

Spots on my forehead

My daughter-in-law tells me it's a sign of stress. Stress? Why would I be stressed?

I HATE REVISING. LOATHE IT. Friday, I sorted out my papers and got ready. Saturday, I went into Staples and bought a Pukka pad and some highligher pens. Sunday, was my birthday, so we went to Newton Abbot Rock 'n' Gem show and then to Exeter. Monday, I did an hour's proper revision and then became depressed (6 weeks of this?) Today, I did a couple of hours (when Tuesday is my big free day and I should've done hours) - but I'm still missing out the bits which I didn't understand the first time!! It's boring. So, so boring ...

I booked a villa in the Algarve for June next year! Well, I was just drifting around here and there - and found a really cheap one! As it was practically all booked up for next summer, I thought I'd better get in quickly - so put down a deposit. Villa Marachino (cherry?) Albufeira. It's nothing special. But it is CHEAP!



3 bedrooms, private pool and a high roof. Never been to Portugal.

And look! Blueberries!!


It only took 2 years to grow this amazing crop!!

Crystal mush. What the heck is that? Mumble, mumble ....

Interflora called!

I've never had flowers delivered by Interflora before - other florists, yes - but never Interflora!


Beautiful roses from Heather! (It's my birthday on Sunday - OMG, another one!) She most certainly brightened up my day enormously!

The house is full of towels - red ones and turquoise ones (no, not together, I don't think) - which arrived today. Still haven't bought the shower enclosure, as we're quibbling over the height of the blasted tray! The house is also full of boots. Best not to mention them. Boots, that is. There are so many! (I ordered several for fit - and they all fit!)

Well, this will be my oceanography revision diary for the next 6 weeks. It will be even more boring than normal, but I found keeping a diary helped to motivate me when revising for S260, so maybe it'll work this time. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get! Today I just had a read through some past exam papers and half frightened myself to death. No idea on most. I doubt I would have much idea even with the books in front of me. This course is a DEMON!

I was thinking of doing an MSc after this (if I could get some help with the fees!) - but I'm pretty sure that I will have another year to get the honours. Probably the most sensible thing to do would be to give up now. But quitting's not really a good idea - you'd always wonder if the questions were on things you actually knew! I will get stuck into it proper tomorrow. I think I've got transform faults and fracture zones worked out - that's a start! (I just wish I understood all the chemistry stuff!)

September's calender picture is of Grand Teton, btw. Been there (although only very briefly).

Nearly time to turn over the calender!

I get really excited about this! The calander behind this PC is a US National Parks one - August has been Crater Lake NP (not been there) - no idea what September's will be (I really haven't looked! :))

So, almost September. Let's hope the weather will be better than August's was! And 1st September means that I get to post my SXG390 Mt Rainier project report - hooray, will really be glad to see it go tomorrow, as I keep finding things wrong!


It's really heavy. The Post Office now have a new way of charging - they charge by SIZE rather than by weight. However, this is both large and heavy, so they will charge a fortune, no doubt.

Also ready to go tomorrow, is S330 TMA04. So now, with SXG390 and all the S330 assignments out of the way, I can settle back to revise ... WHERE TO START!! A warning to anybody contemplating studying S330 - it's MOUNTAINS of VERY DIFFICULT material - and all for only 30 points!


4 and a half inches of books!!



Still trying to sort out the bathroom. The basin and stand arrived today - it's very nice indeed! But we've been agonising over whether to get a rectangular shower enclosure or an off-set quadrant. Finally, we decided on the rectangular, only to then discover that the flippin' shower tray is 6.5 inches high - WHY? That's no use, because we need a 4 inch plinth underneath, to take our pipes. Would need a stepladder!

Father is still very unwell. He doesn't eat. We buy him food - we cook him food - but he doesn't eat it. So, he doesn't exercise at all because he feels faint when he stands up. And he won't take his pills (the diuretics) because they make him pee and he's too weak to go upstairs. Otherwise, he is well .... I am angry at the NHS actually - they appear to have just dumped him. He's an 83 year old, frail man who's just had by-pass surgery, but NOBODY (other than the woman who comes in for half an hour each morning and writes down things like, "William was up and dressed" - but she's not medically trained), has been in to see him. A stand-in for his GP popped in the day after he came home from hospital, but that's been it! He was wheezy and had a cough on Monday night. He called for a doctor and they said to GO UP TO ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY!! So, my hub had to fetch him and take him up there! They were up there until gone midnight! We just don't ever know if what we try to do or suggest ("EAT" "EXERCISE" "TAKE YOU PILLS") are the right things to do. He needs reassurance - and not from us.