Whistle-stop tour

..of a busy few weeks!
I haven't been online for ages, so I need to catch up with myself. I went up to Leeds a couple of weeks ago for Phil's wedding. It was lovely, and not as scary as the last church wedding I went to! Phil was on a real high; he's such a nice guy it made the day really special. Andy and I stayed at the Headingly Lodge, which looks right out over the cricket pitch, so we were both happy (sad, I know). The next day we went for a drive to Ilkley, and walked up to the Cow and Calf Rock. There are some excellent climbing routes there, but we were slightly lacking in any equiptment. I did try a heroic solo of a nice off-width crack,... but gave up after about 3 seconds of scary trainer sliding on wet rock type traumas. After a walk, during which we dislodged grouse from the scrubby undergrowth (damn, keep getting the famous grouse advert music in my head), we headed back into town. I got the train to my parents, and Andy drove back to Southampton.

I was at a conference in Liverpool for a few days. It was useful to do a talk, but also it was excellent to meet up with so many friends. I had a brilliant night in the Krazy House for a barginous 6 quid :)- I'm trying to cut back on drinking to help with the running and also my general health, but its great to see its not inhibiting my fun :). That weekend, I was back in Yorkshire, as dad was at an Army Cadet camp in Catterick. I tagged along and it was fun, appart from getting lost on the tank training ground, oops. North Yorkshire is truley beautiful, and my only regret is I never had a camera with me. You couls spend days hiking and photographing, its wonderful.

After Liverpool, I went to Swindon for 2 days to do a 'Communicating Science to the Public' course. I was a bit annoyed about the 800 quid cancellation fee- the time when Andy leaves is fast approaching, so the last thing I wanted was to spend 2 days in Swindon... But actually the course was a brilliant laugh. I wanted to be a journalist when I was a kid, and it kind of took me back into that. It was emotionally very drainign though- I had to defend my project when there is no human interest side to it; its basically pointless.

I finally got back to Soton, and its brilliant to see Andy again. We went to Jongleurs on friday with Anna and Ros, but I spoiled it a bit by being a miserable cow; I really didn't want to spoil Andy's night out, but I feel so bad. I have yet another cold, and I feel like my insides are being pulled out- I'd do anything to not have to say goodbye to Andy on thursday. Its like a real brokenhearted feeling, and its excrutiating. Its so hard to cope with, because it feels almost like a premature ending to something amazing. Hopefully I'll get to visit in November, but its a long stretch from waking up next to somebody every day.

I just had a nice sunday lunch with Andy, Simon, Jules and Chris, and now I'm in work... but only to write this and do some faffing before I get back into work tomorrow. I've just discovered that the guy who is supposed to be doing some of my data processing (becasue I'm basically incompetant) is leaving on wednesday.. so you could say I'm fairly screwed! Ah well, good to be back?