So.. this'll be a short one, as I have yet to finish packing. I still can't work out how to do the clothes, but everything else is starting to come together, made quite a lot easier by the realisation that some of the stuff can just go into carrier bags and put in the car as it is. I've got so used to rendering everything train-portable that I'm still trying to use every inch of space efficiently, wrapping breakables in the middle of a suitcase of clothes etc.!

 

 

Most of my family and I went on the Cut the Carbon rally in town today. There's a team of eighteen marchers (including a second cousin of ours!) who are walking a thousand miles through Britain from Belfast to London, holding rallies in the major cities that they pass through and campaigning all the way. A thousand miles ent bad going!

 

It's primarily organised by Christian Aid - the official site to go to for more information is here, although needless to say, there's a Facebook group as well. The Birmingham rally, I am glad to say, was collectively organised by Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and the Stop Climate Change Coaliation (- although there were the inevitable smattering of alternative pressure groups adding their presence. Friends of the Earth is fair enough; we also accumulated a variety of pamphlets from the Stop the War Coalition, Animals Count, and "Go Vegan - There's No Such Thing As An Environmentalist Meat-Eater". We turned down an offer to buy a copy of the 'Socialist Worker', although the man probably did have a point when he said that it was profit-making and hard driven capitalism that was to blame for the state our environment's gotten into.)

 

Unfortunately it seemed to have been fairly appallingly advertised as only about a hundred people turned up - for a city as big and accesible as B'ham, that's pretty pathetic really, although I daresay that the Bank Holiday didn't help. We marched through a pretty deserted area of Digbeth, as well, which wasn't nearly as effective as marching past the Bull Ring would have been - although they probably had security to think about, and it had already been moved from Cannon Hill Park due to waterlogging.

 

I feel a long discussion of environmental issues coming on. I fear, however, that it will have to wait, as go pack again I must. Another time. Soon!

 

(Whadda we want? CUT THE CARBON! When do we want it? NOW! Whadda we want?...)

 

As I type, I am packing to go up to Durham once more. Well not literally as I type - that would require a manual dexterity and an arm-length that I simply haven't got. But as I type I am meant to be packing to go up to Durham once more.

 

We are driving up (!!!) on Tuesday, Mum and Peter and I, in order to take some stuff up to the house by car. Basically, our experience at the end of last term made the point that a full year of university luggage cannot be carried by myself and Dad on the train - and this time I'll have bedding and kitchenware and the like to contend with as well as the standard clothes and books and bits and pieces. The compromise, then, was to drive up now while it's still the school holidays, rather than trying to be dealing with it of a weekend in September (the most chaotic month for weekends in our household, and that's saying something).

 

I have to say, I'm really looking forward to getting up there again, even though I don't think that any of my friends are going to be up simultaneously (- there's a meet-up in London, annoyingly, on that Tuesday that I won't be able to go to). I've been getting pretty bad-tempered at home lately... that intense irritation and frustration that I now associate with the start of the holidays when you've just had ten weeks of independence and suddenly you need to start acting as part of a family again. There's been other stuff going on as well, admittedly, but I'm sure that what it boils down to is that I'm bored and missing people, and therefore grouchy. Going to the house and sorting stuff out there will be a very tangible way of keeping myself occupied, and it'll be nice to see Durham again!

 

The down side is that whatever I then want to have at home for September and subsequently take up on the train, I have to be able to carry and manage myself, which is easier said than done if you're talking about a whole month's worth of stuff. Still, that's what you get for going to university 200 miles away, I guess!

 

There's been something up with my MSN for a goodly while now, as anyone who talks to me semi-regularly will know. It basically stops me sending and receiving messages completely at random - they used to bounce back, whereas nowadays they simply go off into the ether, but it's not to do with the internet as I can be talking to one person perfectly happily while another window stops working. This is more than a little frustrating and more than a little inconvenient on occasion - so after one non-conversation too many, I have taken the advice of the uncommunicatee (if that is indeed a word; I have a sneaky feeling it isn't) and downloaded Skype! So far this has worked, the fact that I own neither a webcam nor a microphone not a problem.

 

However I only have one contact so far (the said uncommunicatee). So if anyone else has Skype, add me and we shall chat unencumbered by Microsoft!

 

to my sister, who has, put simply, kicked ass!

 

 

 

Peter is not impressed...!

 

I hate it when people don't say what they actually mean. That could apply in all sorts of contexts, and no doubt I'm as guilty as the next person in a lot of them, but I guess that I'm particularly referring to the social niceties that have grown up around the question "How are you?". Granted there's quite a lot to be said for making an effort and not whingeing, and granted there's quite a lot to be said for people minding their own business at times, but I hate this fixation that everyone always has to be "good, thanks!", or "great!" when they're obviously not.

 

As a result, I try to be as honest as possible. In person, this is made easier by the fact that I am rubbish at acting out emotions - if I'm tired and grumpy, I will act tired and grumpy. If I'm making an effort, it may just look like I'm a bit subdued, but I'm not one of these people who can plaster on a grin and bound across the room regardless. Over MSN or on the phone, the latter in particular for some reason, it's sometimes more difficult to tell. But I find the whole social complex towards not 'admitting' that things aren't necessarily all happy-smiley all of the time really annoying. If someone asks me how I am and I'm not great, then I'll say so. I might not reply "terrible, actually, I hate life", but I'll say "they've been better" or something to that effect. If I don't want to talk about it right now then I'll say so, and the conversation can move on. I do try to avoid meeting people/ going on MSN when I'm in a really foul mood 'cos it's just not pleasant for anyone, but the flip side is that when I say that I'm good, or that something was particularly enjoyable, then the chances are that I actually mean it! And that's the whole point of communication, right?!

 

 

On that note, then, my two-and-a-half week holiday in France was OK. France itself was lovely, and we were pretty lucky with the weather - only a couple of days when it rained for any considerable amount of time, with the odd storm mostly at night. That makes quite a big difference when you're camping, albeit Eurocamping. There were some fantastic days - we went for some really nice walks, canoed/ kayaked for 15km apiece on two separate occasions (once on the Vézère, once on the Dordogne itself), and had some lovely lazy days just reading and pottering about the campsites, both of which could be strongly recommended (although for different reasons). We went to a small chateau one evening with candlelit gardens, groups of musicians placed at strategic points - that was just magical!