Hellooo! You've been doing some SERIOUS travelling!! I'm jealous... although you never know, hopefully I'll be doing some more myself in the next few years! The essay isn't going too well to be honest. I've got the wrong attitude to it, I've already convinced myself that IT CAN'T BE DONE. Which I know is ridiculous... but I obviously don't know it ENOUGH. Ack. I'm so frustrated - it's really going to pull my average down. BUT, I guess I can only do the best I can do and there's no point worrying about it because worry won't get anything written. I've harped on for quite long enough and apologise. Hope you've been well and enjoying yourself! xx
Good morning, ep - re: the aussie cousins - went to visit in 2007, they made me most welcome and I have a permanent invitation to return, which I may take up some day. Loved Australia, amazing scenery, such friendly people, wicked sense of humour! Flew to Sydney but didn't see as much of it as I wanted as a certain G W Bush was there at the same time and much of the city was closed off (literally, with fences) for 'security reasons' - grrr. Flew up to Cairns, went on a glass-bottomed boat to see the Great Barrier Reef, up the mountains on a narrow gauge railway and back down over the tree-tops in a cable car, flew to Alice Springs, then went on to Ularu, walked round the Rock at dawn (well, not all of it, just a little way - not bad for a lady of a certain age with two steel hips!), flew to Melbourne, toured the area, flew to Adelaide, went over to Kangeroo Island for a couple of days, flew to cousins in Perth, thought I was going to have a few days r&r but they had a three day tour of the southern tip of the continent planned for me. Was exhausted but enjoyed it all. Then I came home via China... went to South Africa last year, staying home this year (I've got to have the Builders in and am not sure how long they will take so have not committed myself to travel) but going to Egypt next year. Have case, will travel! Didn't travel much after early forays into Europe and over to the States - bought a house and became 'poor'! Married a marine engineer who had travelled the world in his job and just wanted to settle down when he finally came ashore, though we did travel a bit within UK. We planned the trip to China as a retirement treat, meant to go via the Trans-Siberian railway through Mongolia, but sadly he didn't make it to his retirement, so I went on my own, all the time thinking 'Geoff would have loved this!' Didn't think I would manage the railway, having watched a tv programme on it - no platforms, you have to scramble up and down ladders to get on board and the hips were very new then and I was still very stiff, so went the 'soft' way, by plane and boat and train and coach. Loved China, would go again - though I have a list of 'must see' places and time is not on my side. Hope the essays are going well - they are going, aren't they? (She said severely....) get that nose to the grindstone - the end is in sight - well, it would be if you raised your head from said grindstone! ) Have a good week-end. Kay.
Yes! All is good with me. Spent Easter seeing various family members and avoiding writing important essays for uni... as you do! Glad the old internet's back up and working. Our router goes down ALL THE TIME, it's so frustrating! You have cousins in Australia?! Blimey - why aren't you on a permanent visit?!
Many, many apologies for not replying sooner, ep - my Internet Server has been having major problems and I have been unable to get on-line since 4 April - I have just managed to get back on-line via the pretty route (Google), don't know why I didn't think of it before, think I need some Internet tuition from a ten-year old... Now have rather a lot of catching up to do, 69 e-mails, mostly interesting 'junk' but one from Australian cousin worried that I might have fallen off the edge of the world! Hope you are well and enjoying life.
kasie, that sounds unbelievably complicated! Good for you though, I'm a firm believer in CONTINUING TO LEARN NEW THINGS, ALWAYS. I've got to admit, as soon as I took my last exam knowing I would never have to do another, the motivation kinda simmered out. Having said that, I enjoyed it so much that I don't want to let the knowledge fade entirely. As soon as I'm finished this MA and I've got actual TIME on my hands (if there is such a thing) I'm going to throw myself back into it again. Even if it IS almost entirely useless in the real world! At least your Welsh is going to be beneficial to you on a day-to-day basis!
It was the bane of my life for a while - I'm surprised how much Ican remember of it of it however - not that I've much call for descriptions of battles and mead halls, these days! I'm learning Welsh at the moment - well, I live in 'Welsh' Wales and hear it spoken around me so it's a matter of courtesy really. But it is hard - the grey matter does not function at the speed it used to! And Welsh has some grammatical rules I've never come across before, I'm only just coming to terms with mutations - you change the first letter of a word after certain prepositions or if the word is the object, or...or.. It's a bit like changing 'a' to 'an' before a vowel but not nearly so straightforward, the word ends up looking totally different which throws you at the beginning. For instance 'Caerdydd' (Cardiff) becomes 'i Gaerdydd' (to Cardiff) but 'o Nghaedydd' (from Cardiff) - it's all meant to confuse anyone who isn't Welsh! At least I don't have to take exams in it! It's voluntary!
Heheh - there's nothing like a bit of medieval-language-learning to spice up a Sunday morning, ey?!
And Hi to you too, EP! Old Norse, eh? Stopped short at Old English, myself - and that brought on tears of blood!
Just popping by to say hi: HI! EP
