~ ANNE! ~

Sorry for the long silence. I have been working hard and playing hard and just generally totally exhausted. But wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to anyone who bothers checking.

I will be in Corris for Christmas. Nope, I don't know where that is either. Let me check. Ah. South of Snowdonia. Neat. All I know is it's a three-hour bus ride that I am not necessarily looking forward to. However, I do get a Christmas dinner on Boxing Day with my supervisor and other Canadians that should be quite nice. Still depressed about not being home for Christmas, but never mind. I just hope no one dies this time.

In exciting news, I think I have a place to live! Moving has been foremost in my mind for months now, as I'm getting quite sick of living without a freezer, washing machine or proper cooker (we just have a sort of mini-oven with two burners on top. Not only not really enough, but I can barely reach my pots to stir!) The last straw was when I received a text message telling me some random guy had moved into the house in my absence. There aren't any locks on the doors, and he could have been anyone. Luckily he's quite nice, but I would have appreciated some advance warning and maybe the chance to meet him!

The new place is in Upper Bangor, which means extremely close to school and the lab. Probably a five-minute walk, in fact. It's a tiny little terraced house but I met the owner, who is lovely, and it's clear she's taken good care of it. She's Welsh and about my age and moving in with her boyfriend, and I got a very good vibe - she seems reasonable and very nice. Fingers crossed it holds true. (To put this in perspective, consider my adventures with an estate agency. In order to rent me a house, they wanted me to fill out a six-page form, pay �70 for the privilege of having someone check my references, and either come up with a guarantor that lives in Britain OR pay six months rent up front. Er... no thanks).

So move-in date should be January 6. January is going to be very interesting. Besides moving, I'm doing two research-assistant jobs, marking first-year papers, invigilating (ie. proctoring - keeping an eye on people writing exams) and, oh yeah, doing assignments and working on my thesis. Also Liam arrives on January 27. In a way I'm dreading it, but everything I'm doing is positive and good experience and most of them make me money as well, so I don't want to give anything up.

I'm dragging loads of work along with me to the cottage, but we'll see how much gets done. If it turns out to be three or four days of total relaxation - that might actually save my life.

I don't think I'll have internet out in the boonies, and am not sure what my plans are after that... so probably talk to you in the new year!