~ ANNE! ~

We are into my last day of being 24. This is not as exciting as it might have been, but I am pleased, because in my mind birthdays are still a Big Deal. I mean really, what�s not to celebrate? I am glad that I was born in the first place and I�m impressed that I�ve managed to make it through another year without any major mishaps. That alone seems like a pretty good excuse for a lot of cake.

It�s looking like less than a week�s worth of celebration this year, which is fairly muted for me. Doing something birthday-ish tonight (I�m hoping it involves chocolate, preferable a prolonged trip to Plasir du Chocolat on the Royal Mile), which means I�m leaving work insanely early. Very pleasant. Brad is taking me for Thai tomorrow to somewhere in Stockbridge that I�ve been meaning to try. And then on Friday we are having a party of some variety� sort of. I can�t be bothered to plan anything so Brandon and I will probably just have people round for Crown Royal and maybe wander down to Stockbridge.

The conversation at work today is revolving around grey hairs and wrinkles, which most of us have discovered at some point (in my case wrinkles yes, grey hair no). We�re all in our mid-to-late-twenties and this is a slightly depressing tangent on the eve of my quarter-century. I am veering wildly between feeling like I�ve managed to reach this age without actually accomplishing anything much, and feeling that I�ve actually crammed quite a lot in considering I�m only halfway through the decade.

Had tea with the Islanders last night. Kelly is leaving to go back to PEI in two weeks (although Lins will be sticking around till the spring). Depressing� You can only forge a little community for so long if everyone WILL insist on moving around all the time!

Oh yes, and had a pretty decent trip back from down south, thanks, all things considered. Travelling on a Sunday is never a good plan (perhaps I should have gone with the original idea of coming back very very early Monday morning). Got stuck at Cambridge station for an hour between trains� on the other hand had a pretty good time walking through Cambridge looking through peoples� windows, so that was fun. They appear to be far less fond of curtain than inhabitants of Edinburgh.

Very glad I went down for the weekend. Peter and Diane spoiled me rotten and I enjoyed every second of it. They have the most comforting house I�ve ever had the fortune to stay in and I slept better than I have in a long time. Also they tell really interesting stories. Visited some other relatives as well, including Peter�s brother David and son Hugo and families, and finally made it to Norwich Castle. Well worth seeing � good exhibit about Boudica and every single group of people who have inhabited Norfolk in the last 3000 years. Tick one more castle off the list!