it's (not) friday, but i'm still in love #9

Apologies for doing this on the wrong day, but although I was supposed to return on Friday, I was seeing my friends until quite late, and ended up missing the fast train by a matter of seconds. As a result, I didn't return home until after midnight. I was exhausted, but I'd also had a huge amount of alcohol (my friend Joe is currently earning ridiculous amounts of money, and as such is very generous with his disposible income!), so I wasn't exactly in a good position to write a coherent post anyway! I've also been sorting out my new room and indulging in various craft-related activities, which I shall undoubtedly share here at some point in the future.

 [Boy and cute puppy. Is there any better sight? Well, maybe if he were holding a kitten...but it's still adorable.]

At any rate, it's been a really good week. My boyfriend and I have gone from living together to living in the same city to living in different counties, and since we may end up doing our PhDs in different places, we might not be able to live together for the next four years or so. I will confess, I've been quite worried about the new long-distance aspect of our relationship, but going to stay with him for the last few days has confirmed that it's not really anything to worry about: we only live about 40 miles from each other, after all! Not having seen him for a few weeks has made our time together more special, and although I can't wait until I see him again, I know it's going to be fine.

I'm also eager to see him again for more selfish reasons. T'boyface's family have recently acquired a new puppy, a gorgeous brown cockerpoo who looks like a teddy bear made into dog form. He's incredibly young, and even though he can only be walked for 10 mins at a time because he's so little, he's full of energy and very excitable. He's a bit of a terror, as evidenced by his love of chewing on shoes, his wanton destruction of toilet rolls and his desire to treat the heather as his own personal trampoline, but he's utterly adorable, and he's made me appreciate dogs in a way I normally don't. (I usually regard them as inferior cats.) This was best proved when he tried to nibble on my favourite Converse and my reaction was to pick him up and fuss him. I think it's love!

Ever since I became aware of them a few years ago, I've loved the Cambridge Satchel Company
Their satchels are more known for being very neon and fashionable, but being an old-fashioned girl, I love their traditional brown ones. Unfortunately, they cost rather a lot, so I've been holding off on ordering one, but when this clearance sale was advertised on Facebook, I couldn't resist! This beauty has such a minor imperfection I can hardly see it (it's a missing stitch or two, it's practically imperceptible), and the huge discount I got as a result made it wonderful value. I did make my parents laugh though, since my main consideration when choosing a satchel was 'can I fit enough books in it?'

My grandmother's cat Polly is such an elegant little pusscat, and she rarely stays still enough for a photo. I felt rather honoured that she let me snap this picture of her (although she did disappear to frolic in the sunshine soon after!)

 

I've mentioned the Cambridge Botanic Gardens on here before, and I must urge everyone to visit there at least once when the weather is good, because it's utterly beautiful. I love living in a place with so much greenery, it makes everything better.

[*]

Seeing old friends and sorting out my room has made me discover old music, and I was pleasantly pleased to find out that I had more PJ Harvey albums than I remembered! Appropriately for this post, my friend Joe introduced me to PJ, and I introduced him to Ani DiFranco, which I think is a fair trade. I started out with Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, which is a wonderful album, but I've grown to love her variety more and more as I've got to know her repetoire better. My current favourite is When Under Ether, a fantastic dark lullaby with a haunting piano accompaniment. I can't wait until she tours again, I'll be there with bells on (metaphorically or literally, I haven't decided yet.)

The aforementioned drunkeness with my boyface and friend Joe was part of a long day in London, which involved much bookshopping, alcohol and general frolicking. I miss hanging out with Paul and Joe a lot, so it's wonderful when we can all meet up, but perhaps my favourite part of the day was going to the London Review of Books Cafe for lunch. Not only is their Earl Grey delicious, but I had pea guacamole on toast with artichoke hearts and salad.

Oh, who am I kidding? The best bit of the day was bookshopping in Foyles, one of my favourite bookshops. These Penguin English Library editions are utterly beautiful, and surprisingly affordable (I got both of these for £9). I'm on an E. M. Forster kick at the moment, so I'm looking forward to reading Howard's End, and my friend Vic and I are going to be discussing The Monk soon when she starts studying it next year. Also making an appearance are my current read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which I can no longer read in bed because it's so heavy and stressful on my wrists, and my favourite childhood companion, Connie.

[My friend Joe and boyfriend Paul, posing with cider. Joe's comment on this photo was 'We look like a couple of gays', which sounds incredibly homophobic, but rest assured, he was kidding, and playing on the fact that whenever he and Paul meet, we joke that Paul's more physically affectionate with him than me!]

As I mentioned, I spent a lot of time on Friday night drinking cider with my boyfriend and friend Joe. As always happens when we meet up, there was much ridiculous conversation, minor political squabbles and some incredibly sexually inappropriate discussion, but it was really good fun. I've missed this sort of ridiculousness since leaving my undergraduate days.